THE CITY I WANT TO LIVE IN: An open dialogue

July 7, 2016

One of the 5th Central Russian Economic Forum events was the open dialogue "THE CITY I WANT TO LIVE IN". The keynote idea of the sections was to consider architectural concepts, construction, preservation of architectural monuments, redevelopment of industrial areas, investments in the development of municipal entities and small towns.

The event was attended by Igor Grekov, Chairman of the Public Council at the Union of Cities of Military Glory, who awarded Nikolay Ovcharov a certificate of honor for active and fruitful cooperation, successful patriotic activities in Kursk City of Military Glory.

More than 200 people representing heads of municipalities, construction and development companies, legal firms and consulting companies, as well as architects, heads of monument protection and cultural heritage preservation departments of several regions, representatives of legal and consulting firms, the PPP Development Center, etc. participated in the open dialogue.

The event was moderated by Valeria Mozganova (head of the Real Estate sector at the Business.FM radio), co-moderated by Maxim Tkachenko (executive director, PPP Development Center).

The open dialogue "THE CITY I WANT TO LIVE IN" was divided into three sections.

In the first section titled “City as an aesthetic and functional human environment”, the Forum participants criticized the current situation in the urban development segment where decisions are mostly taken in favor of big businesses disregarding other industry players’ interests, resulting in a worse aesthetic look of cities and non-observance of scientifically substantiated urban development plans. While being aware of the need to ensure proper development of the construction industry, the discussion participants proposed restraining the influence of development businesses (whose interests are currently dominating the sector) and giving ear to architects, urban planning specialists, landscape designers and transport companies.

In the second section titled “Development of architecture in small cities. Preservation of architectural monuments”, the Forum participants called for paying the highest attention to the problem of preservation and revival of our historical and architectural heritage. The speakers expressed confidence that Russia’s ancient country estates could be commercialized without much damage to them. This requires a competent approach to investment proposals, both “physically” and “ideologically”. Representatives of the businesses community in attendance shared their architectural monument restoration experience. The meeting participants agreed that such meetings should be held more frequently to explain to potential investors how to deal with historical heritage.

In the third section titled “Application of public-private partnership mechanisms to attract private investment in the development of infrastructure in cities and communities”, the participants generally welcomed the public-private partnership innovations in the Russian legislation. However, experts noted that the legal instruments are not quite effective, or even not effective at all. The discussion participants called on legislative authorities to take account of real circumstances and accumulated experience in rulemaking.

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