|
Problems confronting Russian cities can be divided into two groups: «essential», i.e. problems intrinsic to cities as evolutionary systems, and administrative, that is secondary problems derived from inability of administrative systems to cope with development processes.
Comprehension of both types of problems seems impossible without clear understanding of the role of cities in global post-industrial society.
Realization of the two types of problems requires a thorough understanding of the role of cities in the global post-industrial society. It can be said without exaggeration that practically all core elements of innovation economy are concentrated within urban areas. The same is true for capitalization and administrative structures. Generally speaking, in spatial terms, modern economy is located in cities. All other territories are no more than supporting and back-up systems.
Current lack of broad understanding of the concept leads to fundamental underestimation of the role of cities (in Russia as well as in other countries) and to multiplication of «natural» problems connected with cardinal changes in the functional of urban areas.
Accelerated growth of megapolises and of some cities with population of over one million, a natural process for the advancing development stage of post-industrial economy, is regarded as a negative phenomenon. So, administrative efforts are taken to restrain the growth. At the same time, objective growth limiters (primarily, engineering infrastructures) have actually become «vulnerable», and brining them into line with the current level of urban development requires considerable investments that are beyond the resources of municipalities and RF constituent units.
Extensive growth of cities with population of over one million is strictly limited by the Federal Act N 131-FZ «On general principles of organization of local self-government in the Russian Federation» of October 6, 2003 which de facto prohibits changes of municipal entities? borders. In this situation megapolises are being managed mainly at tactical level , with the planning horizon of 2 to 3 years, which inevitable leads to serious mistakes in town planning.
Development of large and small cities is limited primarily by total budget deficit. Usually, the size of the city is inversely proportional to the size of the budget. Often a federation constituent entity is responsible for three fourths of the city budget. Such administrative structure requires excellent mutual understanding as well as smooth interaction between the RF constituent authorities and municipal authorities that is seldom realized in practice. Hence, numerous conflict situations and uncoordinated administrative decisions which evidently do not contribute to solving urban development problems.
Apparently, optimization of urban development management can be achieved on the basis of the interconnected system of strategic planning documents at the RF constituent and municipal entities levels. The system is based on regional social and economic development strategies with the planning horizon of 20 to 25 years. There is a well established procedure for elaboration of regional development strategies: specified requirements to the documents have been formalized and 5 — 6 groups of experts have been identified as leading strategy developers in Russia. As a result, almost half of RF constituent units have got proper regional development strategies.
Territorial planning schemes of the RF constituent units to be developed under the RF Town-Planning Code should actually be territorial blueprints for regional development strategies, as is usually the case. Nevertheless, this principle has to be formalized legislatively. Otherwise, the absence of clear source of strategic goals and priorities for elaboration of territorial planning schemes make the process of planning useless to put it mildly Also, it is most important to formalize legislatively the spatial and time scales for this type of activities — 1:200 000 — 1:500 000 and 20 to 25 years.
The above-mentioned strategic planning documents at the RF constituent?s level act as a framework for similar documents at the municipal level, i.e. city development strategies and general plan, that are similarly interlinked. Obviously, it makes sense to design strategies for cities with the population of 50,000 to 100,000. At the same time we should not rule out elaboration of strategies for small towns, although I am not aware of such practices.
The General Plan can be described as the blueprint for the city development strategy. The key question to be asked in the process of preparation of the plan is: «What for?» In fact, it makes no difference for urban planners what the designated purpose of the territory is .They create what they are told to — a military camp or a capital city of a region. Therefore, the system of development priorities should be explicitly reflected in requirement specifications and determined by strategic-type documents.
The RF Town-Planning Code allows urban planners to do territorial planning with minimal labor inputs compared to the Soviet times. Actually, the documents released today offer a concept of a general plan rather than a full-fledged town-planning project. Their primary goal is to identify the types and general pattern of future development. The issues of zoning, town-planning requirements and neighborhood development are solved in the process of further elaboration of town-planning documents.
The next stage is consulting in the sphere of development. What is the current practice in Russia? A person acquires or inherits a plot of land and starts wondering what to do with it and how to use it rationally and profitably. The fact is that in most cases there are no territorial planning documents that regulate the use and development of land
To give a qualified advice regarding potential development and land uses permitted in a specific area an expert should be familiar with and, even more important, should have a good understanding of the city development strategy and the general plan. It is important to have the clear understanding of the city?s current development stage and an adequate analysis of its potential. Good knowledge of types and formats of projects associated with a certain development stage of the city makes it possible to elaborate an adequate investment consulting project for a section of the city area or for some specific sites.
Consulting services in the development sphere is a new sphere of activity that takes initial steps on the market. Apparently, in the nearest future demand for this type of services will be growing at an exponential rate.
I believe that availability of the above-described system of strategic planning documents is a key element of the city development that determines a logic of managerial decisions for at least a medium-term perspective. Its introduction requires appropriate regulatory and institutional legalization at all levels.
Generally speaking, development and improvement of urban space, creation of living environment with a high level of environmental quality is vital for development of our country. It is important to understand that so far even the primary housing needs have not been adequately met. A large portion of population lives in dilapidated buildings, considerable part of houses constructed some 30-50 years ago («Khrushchev-era buildings») are rapidly deteriorating and need to be replaced by modern buildings.
Current situation in the housing construction sector, including the cost situation and signs of a slowdown in mortgage lending dictates the necessity for a decision regarding social housing construction. First and foremost, I am referring to federal government-funded construction of «economy» class residential buildings for leasing to low-income people (figures of income may vary in different cities). A guiding principle is that such housing can not be privatized. It should be subject of a long-term lease and rental prices should be set in the price range considerably low than market rental prices. For example, at present the rental payment for a one-room apartment in the outskirts of Moscow is about 700 dollars a month. The amount paid for comparable social housing should not exceed 150-200 dollars a month.
Promising solution for the problem lies in large volumes of housing construction across the country. Our current technical and financial resources allow us to launch the program (particularly, if we shift the focus from outdated pre-cast large panel construction to modern technologies that are more efficient , first of all, in terms of their use of metal and concrete). It
It would be also appropriate to discuss pros and cons of low-rise housing: the infrastructure is more expensive but the construction period is much shorter. Town-planning documents should initially include regulations establishing, for example, a three-story height limit in certain areas. It is the normal and legitimate way to initiate the low-rise construction.
I believe such problematic issues dictate the necessity of reconsidering the role of town planners
The very title of the magazine — Gradoustroistvo ( «Urban Planning») advocates improvement of urban space that implicates integrated solutions
Research on capabilities for elaboration of urban-planning documents in Russia was conducted last year. I would like to emphasize that it referred not to voluminous planning or to design of particular buildings but to territorial planning in the new scale of construction as envisaged by
the affordable housing national project. The results were staggering: it turned out that today town-planning organizations are capable of elaborating of no more than one fourth of highly demanded projects. Notably, the planners are available but they are working mainly on voluminous planning projects that are more profitable.
The shift towards territorial planning requires appropriate clear and precise methods. No less important is the necessity for total adoption of digital format planning. The assorted documents for each city are mismatched. The land register, BTI register, various utilities flow diagrams, general plans designed in Soviet days to achieve totally different goals — all these documents need to be brought together. As a matter of fact, this is demanded by the RF government decree on development of information support for town-planning activity. The mass consumer product would cost no more than 10 percent of the cost for development of the general plan . The technology that unites all documents and schemes in one program makes it possible to have an adequate perception of the situation in the city and allows city and municipal leaders to have access to all documents directly at their office desk. It also allows making immediate changes and sending the new data to planners for approval. As a result the city gets a reference guide where every citizen, any potential developer and company may examine any area in the city and find information regarding its utilization at the present moment and in the next 10-20 years, find out what infrastructures are located or would be located there in future and evaluate prospects for development of land.
Most important is to make sure that the planning is performed by professional town planners. This profession requires certain competences, ability to take a comprehensive approach to situation assessment. It is impossible to become a qualified town planner in a couple of months or so. Also, the town planning profession has to be institutionalized. The Ministry of Science and Education has made some steps in this direction (training of experts in this area is planned to start this year). This sphere needs both — the basic education at bachelor?s and master?s degree levels as well as advanced training, because the existing town-planning experts need certain retraining in order to be able to work in present conditions
Also, there are some associated problems. For example, the town planning is not a licensed type of activity. As a result, the work on projects is often performed by incompetent companies. A possible alternative to the licensing is membership in the Russian National Guild of Urban Planners, which is prepared to unite all organizations working in this sphere.
Another problem is lack of regulation in the sphere of pricing policy. The unified price list per se does not exist. I believe it is important to create the proper pricing mechanism, where prices should not be set too high but, at the same time, project companies should be able to generate some revenues. What was said ab ove applies not only to the sphere of town planning but also to strategic planning projects and consulting in the sphere of development.
I would like to finish my description of current issues facing the town development and challenges faced by Russian town planners by saying that I am looking forward into the future of our cities with optimism. The main thing is that the road leading to the bright future should not turn out to be a ring road.
Related links:
Author: Maxim V. Perov, Deputy Director, Center for Strategic Research “North-West”
Source: “Urban Planning” magazine (Moscow)
|
