Kazan is habitually associated with the Volga, but the city was founded and formed on the banks of its left tributary, the Kazanka River. From here they took water for the economy and production, here the main mill was installed, then the Admiralty, ships approached the Kremlin along Kazanka. Until now, almost half of Kazan residents live within a 15-minute walk from the river, but only 10% of the coastal areas are accessible or suitable for recreation.
In the Development Strategy of Kazanka, which was prepared by the bureau
Orchestra Design, many numbers. Their visibility, perhaps, is a natural consequence of the fact that citizens were involved in the project: 400 activists were involved at the stage of survey work, more than 100 working meetings, project seminars, research walks, educational events were held. An intuitive online platform with a river map collected 600 suggestions. You can get an idea of how all this works with the help of a public program compiled for one of the future parks on Kazanka, you can get acquainted with it here.
Note that Tatarstan is perhaps the only Russian region where participatory design has become an integral and even routine practice. And it began with the invitation to the capital of the republic of Natalia Fishman-Bekmambetova and the start of the Program for the Development of Public Spaces.
So the numbers. The strategy covers 3000 hectares from the Volga to the Blue Lakes - one of the famous attractions in the vicinity of Kazan. A chain of 12 new parks with a total area of 1,536 hectares will stretch on both sides of the river, which will increase the green space of the city fivefold. All territories along the Kazanka River will be connected by 150 km of bicycle routes, 32 new bridges and 33 “ecovorots” - entrance zones with parking lots, resting places and points for separate waste collection. The length of the circular route between the parks will be 68 km.
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zooming 1/7 Assessment of the flow of visitors to the new parks on Kazanka. Development strategy for the coastal areas of the Kazanka River 2020–2030 © Orchestra Design
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zooming 2/7 Coverage of the Strategy. Development strategy for the coastal areas of the Kazanka River 2020–2030 © Orchestra Design
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zooming 3/7 Key elements of the Strategy. Development strategy for the coastal areas of the Kazanka River 2020–2030 © Orchestra Design
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zooming 4/7 Ekovorota - entrance areas of a new type. Development strategy for the coastal areas of the Kazanka River 2020–2030 © Orchestra Design
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zooming 5/7 The online platform kazanka.tatar was launched to collect opinions and ideas from residents. Development strategy for the coastal areas of the Kazanka River 2020–2030 © Orchestra Design
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zooming 6/7 Results of the program for involving residents in the project. Development strategy for the coastal areas of the Kazanka River 2020–2030 © Orchestra Design
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zooming 7/7 Scale of the Strategy. Development strategy for the coastal areas of the Kazanka River 2020–2030 © Orchestra Design
For each park, not only a detailed master plan has been developed, but also a socio-cultural program, which will be determined by the theme: "Sports Park", "Festival Quarter", "Knowledge Park", "Kazanka Bay" and others. The first park has already opened - it is "Uram" near the Millennium Bridge with the largest open area in Russia for extreme sports. The second park "Manzara" will be located opposite the Kazan Kremlin and will open the panorama of the historical center of the city.
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zooming 1/4 Conceptual master plan of the park "Gardens at Kazanka". Development strategy for the coastal areas of the Kazanka River 2020–2030 © Orchestra Design
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zooming 2/4 Conceptual master plans for the Coastal Quarter and Russian-German Switzerland parks. Development strategy for the coastal areas of the Kazanka River 2020–2030 © Orchestra Design
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zooming 3/4 Conceptual master plans for the Savinovsky and Five Rivers Parks. Development strategy for the coastal areas of the Kazanka River 2020–2030 © Orchestra Design
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zooming 4/4 Conceptual master plans for Staraya Kazanka and Kazanka Bay parks. Development strategy for the coastal areas of the Kazanka River 2020–2030 © Orchestra Design
It is assumed that after the implementation of the strategy in 2030, Kazanka will become the country's first national park, not just within the city limits, but in the very heart of the city. The strategy focuses on health, ecotourism and the green economy, and according to the calculation methods of the WHO, the decisions of the strategy will help to reduce the citywide mortality rate by 13.4% and reduce the level of respiratory diseases by 30%. All this allows us to assert that the future Kazanka is capable of changing the lifestyle of an entire city.
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zooming 1/4 Park "Russian-German Switzerland". Development strategy for the coastal areas of the Kazanka River 2020–2030 © Orchestra Design
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zooming 2/4 Park "Old Kazanka". Development strategy for the coastal areas of the Kazanka River 2020–2030 © Orchestra Design
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zooming 3/4 Sports park. Development strategy for the coastal areas of the Kazanka River 2020–2030 © Orchestra Design
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zooming 4/4 Ecopark "Su Alany". Development strategy for the coastal areas of the Kazanka River 2020–2030 © Orchestra Design
An important aspect of the strategy is the regulation of the development of coastal areas. The River Code protects the ecosystem and maintains accessibility, prioritizing redevelopment, versatility, and tourism, education and leisure infrastructure. After the President of Tatarstan agreed on a strategy in August this year, the Kazan authorities canceled the construction of the Tyubetey Tower and a residential complex in a floodplain grove, as both projects contradicted the recommendations of the Strategy.
The Orchestra Design bureau has been developing a strategy for more than two years at the initiative of the President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov with the participation of the Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin in partnership with the Department of Construction, Architecture and Housing and Utilities of Kazan and under the supervision of Assistant to the President of Tatarstan Natalia Fishman-Bekmambetova.
