- Oleg, how did this idea come about - using architectural and urbanistic means to solve the problems of Teriberka, how did you come to it?
Oleg Stepanov
- In 2015, when the film "Leviathan" was released, Teriberka, the village in the Murmansk region, where this tape was filmed, became associated with the ruin of rural areas in Russia and with all their problems. The founder of the LavkaLavka farming cooperative, Boris Akimov, came up with the idea that if the situation with Teriberka could be reversed, it would become exactly the same symbol of rebirth. And in 2015, we, LavkaLavka, made a small festival with our own funds, brought musicians, cooks, athletes to Teriberka in order to draw the attention of society, the media, the authorities to its beauty, natural resources and, at the same time, to the deplorable situation there.
There was a great resonance, since Leviathan played down, and our festival - up, in the opposite direction. Much has been written about the festival, and the whole country learned about Teriberka. National Geographic has ranked the village as one of the 20 most beautiful tourist destinations in the world. People started coming to see Teriberka. Small business developed: hotels, a restaurant were opened, a fish factory was re-launched - with new Norwegian equipment. These positive changes attracted the attention of the government of the Murmansk region, which began to cooperate with us and support the festival.
And by the third year, when I was offered to supervise the “Teriberka. New Life”, it became clear that, as in many other similar cases, such active attention of business, authorities, tourists to any place leads to its chaotic development, to the destruction of its features, natural beauty, and it eventually loses its attractiveness. Realizing this, I suggested that the governor of the Murmansk region create an architectural and urban commission within the Teriberka development group - so that these specialists would draw up a village development plan. These are, first of all, architects and urbanists, as well as sociologists, economists and biologists. We worked for almost a year as part of this commission and group. And the festival, which took place this July, became the focus of these efforts and the demonstration of those ideas, thoughts and sketches that emerged during the year's work.
Yaroslav, as a member of this team, could you outline the main directions of its work?
Yaroslav Kovalchuk
- I was invited there by Andrey Cheltsov and Oleg Stepanov in the spring of 2017. At first, there were just expert discussions, Andrey suggested sketches. We came to Murmansk to discuss the development concept. And at some point it became clear that we needed to concentrate our efforts. Oleg offered me to supervise the architectural and urban session at the festival. I organized a discussion platform, inviting there people associated with the Arctic, with the development of northern settlements, or simply with extensive experience in urbanism, construction, urban planning. A series of discussions, reports, discussions lasted for two days, from which the main ideas crystallized, directions - where we will move in the future. At the same time, what was important to me, the session was held in an open, public format. Not only did the invited experts broadcast there, but residents also actively participated - although not always constructively. But nevertheless, thanks to our colleagues, we managed to bring almost all discussions into a constructive channel and reach points of consensus with residents and the administration about what is most important for Teriberka now and where we want to move together.
And the next stage, which we are now approaching, is the development of a master plan, that is, a strategy for the spatial development of Teriberka. The terms of reference on the basis of which this master plan will be developed is the result of all our discussions before and during the festival. This is a fundamentally important point - the fact that the terms of reference as a document grew out of public discussion.
Oleg, when you came up with the idea of developing a master plan, what problems of Teriberka did you think - and still seem to be - the most acute?
Oleg Stepanov
- Here I would give a vivid and simple example. In Teriberka, a Soviet fish factory was restored, and it received the most modern Norwegian equipment, now it is one of the most advanced in the country. According to various estimates, including the owner himself, from 600 to 800 million rubles were invested there. At the same time, the plant is constantly experiencing personnel difficulties. Despite the fact that its territory is landscaped and that a hostel-hotel has been built there (it even has surplus places, and therefore it is open not only for the plant's staff, but also for tourists), despite the higher average salary in the Murmansk region, to work there, according to the owner, only scourges agree, marginal elements - both local and from other cities and towns of the Murmansk region. And there is no disagreement in the answer to the question "why": because Teriberka is famous as a place where it is very bad and inconvenient to live, where there is no infrastructure, where everything is dull and hopeless.
If the investor spent tenth or twentieth of his investments on the development of the village itself, and not just the territory of the plant, then the workers who come there would receive a completely different standard of living, because, as we now see from single-industry towns, people are interested in the level of not only income, but and comfort, this is associated with the self-awareness of people in space, then, whether they consider themselves to be either temporary workers or permanent residents. In the second case, they are much more serious and responsible both to their place of residence and to their work.
Therefore, the main problem for Teriberka is infrastructure in a broad sense: both public spaces and communications. Hence, the solution of social problems and the development of small business follow - which is very important, since when big business comes in, it doesn't really change the way people feel, creating a monotown. And small business opens cafes, small hotels, hairdressing salons, creates a service sector, small enterprises. This is how the environment itself changes, and people begin to feel much more comfortable.
Therefore, I now see two key problems of Teriberka. This is, on the one hand, the arrangement of public areas, and secondly, it is the development of local small business. At the same time, it is important to involve in the development of public spaces and the service sector not only local residents, but also those who would like to live there. So that people feel that this is not only the business of the government and visiting investors, but also their own business.
That is, it is possible, conditionally, by means of the master plan to change the self-consciousness of the inhabitants?
Yaroslav Kovalchuk
- It is difficult to change the self-awareness of residents by means of a master plan. This is a very indirect influence, because the master plan is the target forecast, the ideal picture that we want to arrive at. You can slightly change the idea of residents about their future in the course of its discussion.
However, one of the parts of the master plan is a plan for its implementation, and it must necessarily include a career guidance event and the creation of tools to involve people in the development of the village, in the transformation of public spaces; these tools will make it easier for residents to open their own business, small businesses.
Oleg Stepanov:
- I would like to add that the master plan helps to attract public funds for the development of public zones, because it will not be possible to fully equip public zones with the help of investors and local residents, they are practically absent in Teriberka now. And, as Yaroslav noted more than once, a competent master plan makes it possible to participate in federal programs for the creation and improvement of public spaces, to receive funding for this.
It turns out that the improvement is vitally important even in such cases as Teriberka, where the general situation is critical, especially with the flood zone, which makes half of the village essentially a escheat territory
Yaroslav Kovalchuk
- This is not entirely true, the flood zone still needs to be dealt with. But generally speaking, not only public spaces, but also comfort, quality of life in any settlement, especially in places like Teriberka - beyond the Arctic Circle, in the Far North - this is now the main thing that needs to be changed in Russian settlements. And then we have to look at what this quality of life consists of: public spaces, infrastructure, the state of entrances to houses, engineering systems, the service sector and the leisure of residents. Therefore, our main task is to improve the quality of life and change the atmosphere, mood and image of Teriberka, with which Oleg began. In fact, it is different there, as shown in "Leviathan", this is no longer the worst place in Russia, but, on the contrary, one of the most beautiful, wonderful places.
But changing the negative image of the village in the information field is also a very important goal: so that local residents and people who want to come there do not think that this is some kind of awful hole, but think that it is interesting here, there is something to do, be proud the fact that they live here or came to settle, felt a connection with this place.
Residents of Teriberka, as we saw during the festival, are unhappy with the current situation: in winter they are cut off from Murmansk, the road there is not always cleaned, they want to engage in private fishing, which is impossible, because economically unprofitable. At the same time, they do not want to work either at a fish factory, or in hotels, or at a dairy farm
Oleg Stepanov
- I would say that the situation with the residents of Teriberka is not at all unique, but, on the contrary, is banal. And in 100% of cases out of a hundred - this is the situation about us all as local residents. As long as we are the objects of change, we are always unhappy with everything. There is only one thing to change here - to try to involve people in the process so that they become subjects of these changes. Then the consciousness changes. When you start doing something yourself, you understand how difficult, subtle it is, and that there are no guilty ones, everyone is trying, but not everything works out. The same will happen in Teriberka, as soon as residents from objects become subjects of change.
In September I was in Teriberka, where they laid asphalt on the road. From the tourist's point of view, this is an ambiguous step: this is a place with beautiful nature, the asphalt there is somewhat alien, good dirt roads would be more appropriate there. But this made a fantastically positive impression on the residents of Teriberka: after all, such a road surface appeared for the first time in the history of the village, where there has never been asphalt. Such attention and fulfillment of the promises of the authorities turned out to be an amazing fact for them, even the Teriberian city manager, who was aware of all stages of the asphalt paving project, starting with the tender, still did not believe that it would work out - and when it did, he was absolutely happy. Any changes have a very strong effect on local residents, who for the first time feel that something is really happening. For example, this year, for the first time in 50 years, a new three-storey house has been built in Teriberka.
And from the point of view of work, the situation is the same throughout the country. It seems to me that this situation is largely mental and is associated with career guidance. According to the director of the Teriberka school, its graduates go to study as specialists in the gas industry, because Gazprom was active in Teriberka (
Shtokman field), they collaborated with the school and encouraged children to work in the gas industry.
But Gazprom is no longer there
Oleg Stepanov
- And young people are still, by inertia, going into the gas industry, although gas is not produced anywhere in the Murmansk region. They go to study to be car mechanics, although there are no car repair shops in Teriberka. In general, all the professions listed by the school director are not in demand in Teriberka. Employees of the fish processing industry, builders, workers in the tourist and hotel service are in demand there. There is a dairy farm in Teriberka - livestock breeders are needed there. And not a single employer with whom we spoke can find workers in Teriberka, and therefore all entrepreneurs bring people there from other parts of the Murmansk region and the rest of Russia.
If we talk about practice, in Teriberka, on the one hand, there is beautiful nature, and sometimes you think: why do we need special public spaces, if you can walk anywhere, tundra, beauty is everywhere. On the other hand, in winter, when the landscape is covered with snow, everything is more complicated. Therefore, the eternal question: will these public spaces work in winter? Traditions are important here: for example, the Norwegians are always on the street, and how much do the inhabitants of Teriberka like to spend time in nature in winter?
It is also important to remember that this is a special village, because the private sector there is practically empty, people live in multi-storey, multi-entrance buildings, so they may have a request for real public space, in contrast to the owners of single-family houses with a yard and a vegetable garden
What ideas, what images of these future spaces do you already have?
Oleg Stepanov
- The fact is that there are conflicts between the village and the environment. For example, within the borders of Teriberka there is a long coastline. It is not at all equipped as a public space, it is in a wild state. On the one hand, it is being built up chaotically, on the other hand, it is savagely used by tourists and local residents. And on the third hand, some of it is not used at all, it is inaccessible. If you correctly design paths for cars, parking, make the coastline accessible, then it will become a public space where people will meet, relax, etc.
Interaction with rocks, with lakes, with a waterfall that surrounds Teriberka is exactly the same: either barbaric use, or non-use and inaccessibility. If the project is designed correctly, it will increase their availability and create a framework for civilized use, and, of course, there is a demand for this.
In addition, Teriberka offers great opportunities for sports. I talked with young Murmansk residents who work on the farm, they want to go downhill skiing, sledging, snowboarding in winter, but there are no lifts, slopes are not equipped.
The eco-trail, which we laid down at the festival, encourages the correct use of the tundra by both tourists and locals. It leads to the bird colony, which is interesting to everyone.
Equipping public spaces is the first task, it will change the mentality of the residents and the feeling that Yaroslav speaks about - the comfort of living and the quality of life.
Yaroslav Kovalchuk
- You said that you can walk on the tundra anywhere. In fact, exactly the opposite. When many people start walking on the tundra, it instantly dies. Trampled land remains of the beautiful landscape, and then the tundra is very slowly restored. The Arctic nature is fragile and easy to destroy. As soon as the flow of tourists increased, and now, according to the head of the village, more than 40 thousand people come to Teriberka a year, the nature both inside the village and around it began to be destroyed. And the design of public spaces, in general, the design of spaces is just a way to change this interaction. If you make the right paths that are comfortable to walk on, people will not walk on the tundra.
The same is the coastal strip. There are very beautiful rocks and the sea itself, flora, fauna … Firstly, it is really inconvenient to walk there, secondly, everything is littered, and thirdly, the coast is now in an incomprehensible state.
The right design is always about solving specific problems. And what will be laid down in the master plan, and what we will discuss and then implement - these are exactly the solutions for these places: how to walk there, where to sit there, where to park the cars. Teriberka should become more comfortable for people.
It is dark in winter, which means that pedestrian paths should be illuminated. At the same time, the sea does not freeze, it is not so cold there and you can walk, but a strong wind is blowing. Accordingly, the design of both buildings and public spaces should be done in such a way as to dampen this wind. I saw the general plan for Teriberka in 1938, where it is proposed to build neighborhoods with a semi-closed perimeter to protect the courtyards. North-east, north, north-west winds are the most dangerous. If you make neighborhoods open to the south, protected from these three sides, then inside, in these courtyards, it will be warm, there in the summer you can plant more heat-loving plants than is typical for these places, and even in winter there will be no wind there. Many such solutions have already been invented, and some need to be adapted.
In fact, both of you have already touched upon the topic of sustainable development, which, however, is not only about preserving the natural environment, but also about the thoughtful use of resources. For a small business and for the efficient operation of a fish factory, a farm, and other enterprises that may appear in Teriberka, energy will be needed, and waste also needs to be carefully disposed of. Will this be covered in the master plan?
Oleg Stepanov
- Our festival was called the Arctic Festival of Sustainable Development. I think for all of us, sustainable development is exactly the ideology on which we would like to base our decisions.
As for the development of heat supply, sewerage, sewerage, the entire engineering infrastructure of Teriberka, then, despite the presence of central communications, it is beneficial to use distributed communications and alternative energy sources in new buildings. Initially, it seemed to me a fantasy, but my opinion is changing more and more, because we, talking with residents, understand how ineffective the central networks are, and that people themselves are already beginning to gradually build distributed communications.
The head of the district says that subsidies for tariffs are so great, because the existing communications are ineffective, and that he would also invest in any alternative, just to get rid of them.
As an option, now new type of boiler houses are being distributed, ready-made inexpensive box solutions specifically for small villages. It may be a heat pump, but even if it is a coal-fired boiler house, it meets all environmental requirements and is very efficient.
Yaroslav Kovalchuk
- Yes, we plan to describe in the master plan all these engineering solutions, how they will develop, what will happen in Teriberka in 20 years with heating and sewerage, how farms and factories will be able to work.
However, sustainable development has several dimensions. The first is ecological. We also talked about the social aspect, that is, it should be a socially sustainable system. Now it is unstable, and all internal contradictions need to be somehow eliminated. And also - economic stability, that is, the economy of the village in the future should work without subsidies or with minimal subsidies. Actually, this is a common frame. And our task is just to understand and propose solutions specifically for Teriberka in all these three large areas.
