Urban Planning in Practice

We met Karima Nigmatulina, Deputy Director of the State Unitary Enterprise «Research and Project Institute of Moscow City Master Plan» on the Parking Day. It is the day when within the worldwide campaign the activists of the movement arrange public spaces where usually there are cars parked. The employees of the Institute took part in the campaign and created a “green” area with chess, coffee and Wi-Fi in one of the parking slots next to the entrance to the Institute. But, of course, the R&P Institute of Moscow City Master Plan deals with more large-scale and complicated matters that affect the lives of millions of Moscow residents.

Karima, today in Moscow a lot of attention is drawn to the development of public spaces. How is the Institute involved in this work?

We are actively involved in the study and the development of public spaces. We pay a lot of attention to the education of the customers; we thoroughly explain why it is necessary to use certain planning concepts. One example of a comprehensive elaboration of the public spaces is planned preparation of the concept on the Moscow River development project. It is a global and the most promising project that will greatly affect the development of Moscow public spaces. The project involves the development of the green framework of the city as well as the blue one – all living can be centralized around the river that flows through the whole city.

To start working on the project it is necessary to gather all the data, to prepare technical specifications for the international contest, since the following scale of the project requires an innovative approach; the experts should be able to dwell on how it is carried out abroad. An international competition is the exact experience that allows us to bring together the best and brightest minds and to keep them focused on achieving a particular goal. We would be honored to take on the project starting with the data collection and the organization of the competition up to the detailed processing of the construction documents that will embody the ideas that were raised during the competition.

Now the R&P Institute of Moscow City Master Plan is in charge of the organization of the international competition for the conceptual development of the “Hammer and Sickle” factory. What are the goals that the participants have to achieve?

Competition-wise the site of the “Hammer and Sickle” factory has two frontiers: “the consideration site” and “the designing site.” The consideration site which covers 87 ha is located close to the downtown area and has good transport accessibility – nearby there are a metro station and suburban train stations. These make this part very attractive for development. At the moment it is in doldrums, the production function has been completely exhausted. The reconstruction of the “Hammer and Sickle” industrial zone is covered by the current master plot plan of Moscow up till 2025.

As for the “designing site “, we consider about 59 ha on both sides of the Third Transportation Ring that divides it into 2 unequal triangular zones. While preparing technical specifications we considered the fact that these areas were going to be multifunctional and have residential areas, office, green and public spaces. At the end of the year we will define the winner of the competition and the project offered will surely have to pass an expert appraisal on the possibility of its realization. This refers to its economic component as well.

Full content of this issue you can read here

The full version of the article can be read in our printed issue, also you can subscribe to the web-version of the magazine

Text by Kira Ivanova