Lev Gordon is the program director of the All-Russian Forum of Living Cities, a member of expert groups at the State Duma of the Russian Federation, ASI and the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.
Archi.ru:
What is the essence of your special project at Zodchestvo -2015? What is its format?
Lev Gordon:
- First, I would like to note that the Festival, it seems to me, was lucky with the curators and the team. From our meetings with Andrey and Nikita Asadov and their enthusiastic colleagues, I got new ideas, warmth and inspiration. Agree, this in itself is not enough. In addition, I fell in love with architecture as a direction, although we hardly touched on deep professional topics. My great-grandfather Lev Nikolayevich Pisarev was a famous architect, under whose leadership 80% of the beautiful buildings in Arkhangelsk were built, but Architecture entered my heart right now - through live communication with the Festival team.
As correctly stated in the Manifesto of the festival - today Man is the main driving force of evolution. And the curators themselves and the team of like-minded people around them not only write and speak, but also show by their example what it means when “An intelligent, educated and active person becomes the main resource of our time. People with modern knowledge, skills and will … launch the mechanisms of development. The idea of the organizing team to gather an interdisciplinary team of professionals, passionate about the development of cities and territories, for the Festival and for further work instantly resonated with me and with what the growing team of experts and practitioners is doing, which met at the Forum of Living Cities in Izhevsk in May and is creating a new one today. vision and tools for the development of Russian cities in the XXI century.
Thus, the curators of the Festival themselves demonstrate an example of people whose “modern knowledge, skills and will” are able to move the world. Thanks to our short communication, I rediscovered the living energy in Architecture, saw the richness and beauty of this profession and wanted to be a part of the upcoming event. It is important to note that the best professionals in any field are integrally developed and must possess these competencies: a) to be in contact with their soul and purpose (this gives inner strength in the face of any challenges), b) to carry out their work with integrity and responsibility (this creates authority and influence), c) come into live contact with other people, understand them and create a field for mutually beneficial cooperation (involves allies and partners and creates a synergistic effect). Such people everywhere and always create a creative environment where the best are attracted and where everything contributes to the disclosure of the potential, both professional and personal, of each participant and the entire team - and this is what allows to create positive systemic shifts both in individual projects and in cities as a whole … I speak for a long time?
No, no, very interesting! Keep going
- And now to your question. When Andrei Asadov and I discovered that he and my colleagues and I from different sides have been moving towards the same thing for years, we naturally decided to join forces. What do we want? MORE LIFE! Everything is very simple. We want to see living cities, a life-giving environment in which a modern person, our compatriots from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad and from Arkhangelsk to Rostov can live happily and work productively. And we believe that there are certain principles of living systems, living cities that create conditions for a harmonious life, prosperity and free successful creativity in the modern world. Andrey's associates even have a book called Living City, which visually conveys many of the principles that I and about 100 colleagues - experts and practitioners of urban development from all over the country - are now putting together as part of the Living Cities national initiative.
For the festival participants, we will offer several formats that may be of interest to those who have already woken up and want to see more living energy in our society, our cities, in urban architecture and urban communications. First, together with our colleagues, we will conduct presentation of the project "Principles of Living Cities" - it will be presented both visually on the central wall of the festival space, and through discussion of what living cities can be and what each of us can invest in the revitalization of urban spaces and communications. Everyone will be able to fill out a questionnaire and formulate their "5 principles of a Living City", which will become the property of History and will be available to thousands of leaders of urban development from all over the country. We are also planning to conduct interactive project session on the joint interdisciplinary solution of an urgent problem (the topic is now being determined with the curators) facing the cities.
The meaning of such an interactive format is to show in practice the science and art of organizing an interdisciplinary approach to solving any problems, to explore together the techniques and skills necessary for an integral comprehensive view of the situation and the search for effective solutions through communication and co-creativity of complementary people from different fields of activity. We argue that many serious problems in today's cities lie at the intersection of different spheres, and their solution requires the ability to combine different views on the situation in order to see it integrally, in its entirety. Only in this way, through the work of the collective mind, we are able to rise above the situation and find a strong solution. And then find the strength to implement this solution.
Also, at the request of the curators, we will conduct master class "Integral approach: theory and practice", where we will consider the principles and tools of an integral approach that can increase the efficiency of solving almost any problem in the field of urban development. The gift for the participants of the master class will be the knowledge and practical methods of work, as well as the book “Integral City” by Canadian scientist Marilyn Hamilton, one of the experts of the Living Cities Forum and a pioneer in the application of tools of an integral approach to urban development.
And finally, we plan to hold an open expert meeting, where all specialists related to urban development are invited to discussion of the Charter of Living Cities - a document now being created in open source format by a community of experts and practitioners from all over the country. Together we will discuss a new vision of the development of Russian cities in the 21st century and outline the ways of its practical implementation in 1000 cities of our vast country.
Participants of the Living Cities movement have been working in practice with key topics for Zodchestvo-2015 for several years. What did this experience give you in interpreting the main concepts of the curatorial manifesto - "new industries" and "human capital"?
- Here I will be laconic and answer with the motto of the Forum of Living Cities. "People are changing cities."
Cities today are the most complex living organisms and at the same time systems of the 12th level of complexity according to one of the scales (for comparison, the Mir space station received a classification of the 7th level of complexity). In a very simplified way, a city is an infrastructure, resources, technology, a management system, internal and external relations, people, ideas and values. So, it is people who move the city along the path of evolution, and among all people, according to studies, about 1% of all are leaders and carry a passionate charge of creative changes. Identifying and uniting these leaders from business, government, society and the expert professional environment is the real action to create internal coherence and actualize human capital. United by a common vision, mutually reinforcing each other, these people are able to create the future, creating cities in which one wants to live and work.
New creative industries, in turn, are a breeding ground for positive change. It is they who often create breakthroughs in technology, support innovation and progress. Let's remember that many inventors - Tesla, Popov, Gates, Jobs - made their discoveries in an environment similar to modern creative clusters, albeit in a simplified form.
Even ASI and RVC in the context of the National Technology Initiative now use such a concept as "garage inventive culture". In the context of the city, an environment that fosters the unification of people with creative interests - similar and complementary, catalyzes the birth of new ideas, products and services that increase the quality of life of citizens and the value of cities - in material and non-material terms. This topic, by the way, will be devoted to the next Forum of Living Cities, and I hope that at the Zodchestvo Festival we will find new like-minded people with burning hearts and an integral vision of urban development, who will be involved in the work of transforming the country.
Finally, I will add that new industries in cities are an example of how cities - like living organisms - adapt to change and develop. Individually and collectively, creators recognize the possibilities and formats of imminent changes and enrich their civilization, country, city, and themselves with them. Such mechanisms are necessary for any living city.
What drives you and your colleagues?
- Perhaps I am mistaken, but now I am sure that each of us follows the inner knowledge that it is necessary. We see the potential of the people and the country and just do our job. When you follow the creative impulse of the Universe, much becomes clear without words. It remains to follow the path.
How do you see the near future of Living Cities?
- A growing network of hundreds of experts and practitioners deeply involved in urban development. Dozens of flexible, interdisciplinary teams covering challenges across the country. National initiative supported by the President of the Russian Federation and the main development institutions. Divine support. Co-creation and development of ourselves. 1,000 living cities by 2030.
