There are no cities in Europe similar to Moscow

Moscow resembles most of all the metropolises of China, Japan and Brazil, but not Europe, Sergey Kuznetsov, Chief Architect of Moscow, told in an interview with the editor of the Investment Portal. What do Moscow and Tokyo have in common? What urban development projects need foreign partners support? And how will the city develop in the nearest future?

What makes Moscow different from other European cities and what do they have in common?

First of all, Moscow has less in common with European cities because it is very big. It can be compared to London, but it is different in size, that is why it is hard to draw a parallel between them. It should be compared to large megapolises with the population exceeding 10 million people. And frankly speaking, Europe has almost no cities and no metropolises that can be compared to Moscow. As for certain user aspects considering the atmosphere in the city I should say that Russia followed particular global and European town-planning trends for a certain period of time. In the 19th century Moscow and other Russian cities, such as Smolensk and Odessa, in many respects developed completely in line the European principles — district-based systems, thoroughfares, courtyards and squares, in other words urban spaces. And now we are facing the situation that emerged in the second half of the 20th century during the Soviet period of construction and development when Moscow and its town planning abandoned the European standards (which in my opinion was wrong) and switched to the micro-district system. As a result we have sparse residential areas with high population density. It is a rather difficult combination that we have to deal with.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin compared Moscow to Sao Paolo at the Moscow Urban Forum. Do you agree with this statement?

It is a good example that we are going to study now. However, analytical surveys show that there is another example that is close to Moscow — Tokyo. We have much in common in such areas as, for example, size, population, type of problems that Tokyo faced some time ago. In the early eighties Tokyo had almost all the same problems we have now: congestion, tailpipe pollution, uneven distribution of population and workplaces, industrial migration becoming irrelevant. All of this appeared in Moscow some time ago. And we are very much interested in both the instruments Tokyo used to overcome this situation and the way it was resolved, because despite the fact that there are still some traces left of the problem, Tokyo managed to tackle it and is nowadays a very comfortable city. Chinas megapolises, such as, for example, Beijing and Shanghai, are also similar to Moscow. In due time, China extensively used Soviet town planning technologies. Both Beijing and Shanghai went through the same development stages as Moscow. That is why their examples can also be studied and used for our development. The same refers to Seoul. All of these cities are very different, but have similar problems.

In what way is foreign experience and capital involved in Moscows development?

Moscow is one of the leaders in raising investments. And such events as the Urban Forum are in fact also a method to get foreign support in the form of information and advice received from your foreign colleagues. Besides, today plenty of foreigners take part in Moscow-based projects. The General Plan that will be adjusted probably with the participation of foreign specialists is also an actual example of support.

The government is also very much concerned about raising foreign investments. The currently launched projects including the renovation of industrial areas, ZIL auto plant, Yuzhny Port and Serp i Molot are associated with huge territories and need investments and therefore partnership. All of this cannot be implemented with only Russian resources, it requires international resources. And the fact that Moscow demonstrates steady economic growth should assure our foreign partners that Russias capital and its projects are a good area for investment.

We also have another advantage over Europe and America: their cities are already constructed and they are well supplied with residential real estate. There is almost no demand because people have what they need. At the same time, population in Moscow continues growing, and there is still lack of residential and office spaces, i. e. they are in high demand which needs to be satisfied. And it is the most important factor for investment. That is why I think many investors are interested in Moscows projects.

How will the city develop in the nearest future?

The focal point will be polycentric development, i. e. beyond the city center. Today, everyone understands and agrees with this. I think it is very important because when the task has been identified and set, you just start pursuing it. Today, we have this opportunity. That is why much can be said about details concerning both the convenience of the environment (the way it should be like) and the system of designing certain projects and approaches, but we have all heard and know the key message, which is not new: efficient transport system, area permeability, multifunctionality and polycentric development. This is what people need.

Original article