Productive Landscapes Bobkova a4

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2 Evgeniya Bobkova

COLOPHON

Evgeniya Bobkova

European postgraduate Master in UrbanismStrategies and Design for Cities and TerritoriesTU Delft – Faculty of Architecture

The thesis has been produced with the guidanceof the mentors:

dr.ir. Stephen ReadTU Delft-Faculty of ArchitectureDepartment of UrbanismChair of Spatial Planning & Strategy

Ir. Daan ZandbeltTU Delft – Faculty of ArchitectureDepartment of UrbanismChair of Metropolitan and Regional Design

Prof.dr.arch. Paola ViganòUniversità IUAV di VeneziaFaculty of Urban and Regional Planning

and reviewed by the readers:

Bruno de MeulderKU Leuven

Isabel CastinieraUPC Barcelona


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3Productive landscapes of Moscow: binding modernities

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements 5

Introduction 7 Preface

Methodology

Problem eld 15

Regional context

ProductionMobility

Open space

Deconstruction 29

Storyline

Urban growth

Policentric supervillage

19th century industrial city

The city of the working class

The rst socialist capital

Celebration of technology

Era of stagnation

Post-socialist city

Conclusions

Dynamic context 73

Real estate market Colonisation of industrial territories

Infrastructural projects

Conclusions

Vision 85

Case studies 97Strategy 130

Re ection 132

References 136


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4 Evgeniya Bobkova

To my family


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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank a number of people who hel-ped me with the completion of my Master Thesis.

First of all, I address my appreciation to my mentorsStephen Read, Daan Zandbelt and Paola Viganò,whose experience, knowledge and criticism wasinspiring me day by day to come closer towards thedeeper understanding of what urbanism really is.

My gratitude also goes to my dear TU Delft col-leagues Andrea Überbacher, Luiz Carvalho,Mrudhula Koshy, Claudiu Forgaci and Tatiana

Starchenko, whose support was so importantfor me during this hard, but exciting months.

And last, but not least I would like to thank my rstteacher in architecture Mikhail Turkatenko, who wasalways thinking independently from his context, andwho motivated me to continue my studies at TU Delft.


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IntroductionPreface

Methodology


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8 Evgeniya Bobkova

PrefaceGeneral context

The city of Moscow is a highly pronounced dominant inRussian urban system. It is the biggest and the wealthiestcity in the country and there is a strong antagonismbetween Moscow and another Russian cities and terri-tories. Being now on the stage of the neo-liberal deve-lopment, Moscow experiences the period of extremehierarchy. It is the one-fth of the Russian economy, andits wealth is based on the concentration of nancialows generated from a huge resource-export income(Kosareva, et al., 2013). Economy of the city is mainlyconstituted by tertiary sector and construction market.

Contemporary city of Moscow is constructed throughthe integration of fast networks and big producti-on hubs: city center, outer ring road (MKAD), areaaround Moscow State University, and a North-Westdirection towards Sheremetyevo airport. Coupled withuncontrolled market forces, this type of developmentresults into the fragmentation of the urban fabric onlocal scale and leads to the loss of basic relationsbetween production and inhabitation. Moscow pe-riphery now is monofunctional, socially deprivedterritory completely dependent from the city center.

The framework for strategic plan is dealing withthe need to change an economic prole of the city:to bring production back to abandoned industrialterritories and to provide spatial conditions for esta-blishment of diverse types of open and safe types ofproduction. If research institutes, techno parks, local

Gasprom headquartersImage source: http://photo-discovery.livejournal.com/1713155.html

Moscow peripheryImage source: author‘s own


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manufacturing, light industries or creative clusters areintroduced in the industrial belt, it would help to bringjobs closer to inhabitable areas, to restructure transportsystems and, in the end, to create a livable city onthe territory where the most of population is living.

City under transformationThe process of colonizing industrial territories is alreadyhappening. Yet, the projects of upgrading industries arevery few in relation to overall building construction (themain demand on market is housing), and their characteris punctual – without complex approach to productionin relation to mobility and surrounding neighbourhoo-ds. Along with market colonization, there are also cityinitiatives to redevelop industrial territories. But, while

the goals of providing jobs, housing and qualitativepublic spaces are declared, the closer look shows,that these projects do not serve the goal of integrationto the urban fabric on the local scale, and, if realized,will possibly reinforce local fragmentation and will notcontribute to the problem of uneven development to-wards the center (see chapter “Dynamic context”).

Aim of the project

The aim of the thesis is to show how to reconstruct liveand work relations in the city of Moscow, and, what ismore important, to demonstrate how to deal with exi-sting complex urban landscape without causing newproblems and not destroying previous modernities, butkeeping alive the bonds that tie the present with the past.

It is done by the study and the evaluation of the logicof contemporary and historical transformations of Mos-cow. The city was constructed through history accordingto certain logic of integration (Harvey, 2003) (throughtechnologies and infrastructures), which often was notcomplex enough: causing fragmentation on anotherlevel, which was out of the planners’ concern. It isimportant to propose a different rationality of actingin the urban space where integration is done not onlyhorizontally, but across all the levels of the scale.

Bringing lacking functions and infrastructure, where theyare needed, is not enough. In order to create placesmeaningful on local and global scale, to spatially andsocially integrate locally fragmented fabric, to activateintroduced functions, to reduce extremely hierarchical

structure of the city, the more elaborate and attentiveaction is needed. The wider goal of the thesis is tocreate an operative metropolitan region, where all thescales are active and integrated. If respect is givenonly to the meaning of the city on the global scale(airport areas, enclaves of business districts, fast trainconnections with another cities) or only to local pro-blems (“beautication” of neighbourhoods, punctualinterventions on industrial zones, minor improvementsin infrastructure), the whole system is in danger to fail.

Even that long-term objective is to create metropolitanregion active on all the levels, the space of action islimited by eastern part of industrial belt. It is now oneof the most deprived parts of the city (fragmented urbanfabric, abandoned industries, low quality housing,industrial pollution, lack of jobs and insufcient infra-structure). At the same time, the industrial belt is now in

the focus of high attention of the city government andreal estate companies. As there is high demand forhousing, and all the other areas in the city are alreadybuilt up, industrial belt in the future will be subjected tomany transformations. How to make this territory workas a heart of a system, instead of increasing an urbandivide is one of the primary concerns of the project.

Research question

How to reconstruct contemporary city andto make it operative across all the scales, wi-thout destroying previous modernities?

Thesis structure

The structure of the thesis includes the problem eld,historical deconstruction, evaluation of dynamic con-text, the vision, three case studies, the strategy andthe reection. The problem eld covers three layers ofspace: production, mobility and open space. The routesof problems are explained in historical analysis. Its goalis to rediscover the palimpsest of Moscow through thelens of changing modes of transportation in relation toproduction and inhabitation. In the chapter “Dynamiccontext” current trends are evaluated. The vision de-monstrates on a city scale how to regenerate industrialterritories without reinforcing discontinuity of urban tisThe vision then is tested in three case studies and elaborated into the strategy for industrial territories, mobilityand open spaces. In the reection part it is discussedwhether developed methods can contribute to a bro-ader theme of transformation of industrial territories incontemporary reality of the cities of post-socialist block


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10 Evgeniya Bobkova

MethodologyCity as a resource

During the course of the last century Moscow was ob-jected to many large-scale transformations. The processeswhich transformed the urban form of the city had theirroutes in complex dynamics of political and technologicalspace. As Moscow was a capital of socialist totalita-rian state for seventy years, political will was most ofthe time directed to accumulating all the power in thecapital city at the expense of the rest (Heller & Nekrich,1986). Regarding the technological space, as all thecities must carry on the same functions regardless theplanning system, its evolution has been following almostthe same route as the western capitalist cities, but with

a substantial time-lag behind them (French, 1995).David Harvey, in his work “Paris, capital of moderni-ty” (Harvey, 2003) discusses the meaning of radicaltransformations in the context of Haussmann’s Paris. Heargues that the idea that modernity means the radicalbreak with the past is a myth (Harvey, 2003) and pro-poses instead (referring Saint-Simon and Marx) that “nosocial order can achieve changes that are not alreadylatent within its existing condition” (Harvey, 2003, p.1). This point is indeed important when remembering

all the modernists of the last century who desperatelybelieved that “modern technology and social organi-zation could create a world without ashes” (Berman,1982, p. 304). Nevertheless, when speaking aboutRussian context, where the “radical break” had startedin 1917 and had immense in scale devastating effects

on the whole country, and, consequently, on Moscow,the notion of modernity deserves special attention.

In historical analysis, I will deconstruct the cityof Moscow into spatial-temporal layers, and ex-plore the processes hidden behind each stepof city evolution, behind each modernity.

First of all, it is necessary to study modernities of the pastnot only as the acts of “creative destruction”. There werealways hopes, dreams and fears that were motivatingpeople for action (Harvey, 2003), and it is crucial tostudy planning failures of the past from this perspective.Planning actions always served particular rationalitiesto achieve particular goals and never meant to causefragmentation, or social segregation or the like. It was

external effects of planning actions that were causingproblems, rather than the planning actions itself. AsStephen Read writes “at different times different integra-tions have been effected, establishing in each case adifference between what was included and what wasexcluded in network or empire, as well as boundariesbetween these domains. The domain of the inside andincluded in the network dened edges beyond whichthe domain of the excluded started” (Read, 2009,p. 092:3). Exploring hidden order behind seeminglychaotic actions is one of the ways to learn how the city

was constructed through history. Furthermore, it helpsto propose a more elaborated rationality of actionon the territory. Every intervention will always have itsexternalities, and it will always result in fragmentation,as it is never possible to cover all the negative issuesor to satisfy all the actors. But it is possible to reduce

the externalities to the minimum if the deeper understan-ding of the hopes and fails of the past is developed.

Evolution of technological space

Evolution of Moscow is studied through the lens oftechnological progress, which includes of evolution ofinfrastructures in relation to the changing modes andtypes of production and patterns of inhabitation.

The idea of “technology” is described by Hard andMisa as “the human-made materialities designed with theneeds of the urban population and urban commerce inmind” (Hard & Misa, 2008, p. 6). Newly introducedmodes of transportation (whether it were the tram net-works, or underground lines or highways) had always a

goal of not only improving accessibility, but of re-formati-on of the city (Read, 2009), they were a response to thecrisis of previous modernity. And, as it was also noticedby David Harvey (2003), the result of the improvementin infrastructure is often not the solution of the problemof congestion, but recreating it on another level of scaleand with different speed (Harvey, 2003). To conclude,despite the fact that technology is frequently understoodas a modernising and integrating force (Hard & Misa,2008), its effects on another levels are ambiguous.

Acting across scalesAt this point the issue of scale is critical. As evolutionof technology means the expansion of spaces wherepeople and commodities can move (Harvey, 2003),the evolution of the city is also marked by radical jumpto another scale. Change of modes of transportation


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also involves changing patterns of production andinhabitation (Smith, 1984). Jump in scale can result inseries of problems, such as uneven distribution of jobsand housing, urban sprawl, socailly deprived areas andso on. This is how Neil Smith in “Uneven Development”(1984) explains it: “the geographical limits to dailylabour markets express the limits to spatial integration atthe urban scale: where the urban limits have becomeover-extended, there threatens a fragmentation anddisequilibrium in the universalization of abstract labour;where they are too constrained geographically, the urbanlabour force is comparatively limited and the possibilityarises of premature stagnation in the development of theproductive forces.” (Smith, 1984, p. 137). If networks ofrelations between production and inhabitation, in orderto be effective, should not be over-extended, but at the

same time not limited geographically, that means thatthey should be meaningful across several levels of scales.

Relations between production and inhabitation arearticulated through the infrastructures, and the signi-cance of places is formulated by the overlappingof infrastructures of different scale and speed (Read,2009). Nested hierarchy of scales is the critical con-dition which makes the place operative through all thelevels. And, to get a real sense of local and globalscales working together in everyday life of the city

users, the possibility of an easy switch between scaleshas to be performed (Read S., Budiarto L., 2003).

As I have discussed before, each step of the cityevolution was marked by a certain rationality, whether itwas integration of local quarters of artisans into globaltrading routes or integration of heavy industries and city

center through the undeground networks. I suggest, if it ispossible to imagine a next step in a city evolution, not asan another jump towards bigger scale of infrastructures,but as a step back in order to integrate, to bind all thealready existing spatial-temporal layers of space together.

Technological progress does not necessarily meana speed-up. Fast infrastructures of Moscow city (bothunderground network and roads) serve now as tran-sit routes and keep periphery connected, but at thesame time segregated from the rest of the city. Deve-lopment of the slow modes of transportation couldbe a means to integrate local neghbourhoods intoglobal city processes and to make spaces of sociallydeprived periphery attractive through all the scales.

What is more, the evolution of modes of produc-tion allows to downsize manufacturing processes,and, many of them are not dangerous or pollutinganymore (Whadcock, 2012). Thus it is possible tobalance the uneven distribution of jobs and housing,by bringing Industries where they were before – toindustrial belt. Surrounded by densest residentialdistricts industrial zones could become new pro-duction hubs as alternatives to the city center.

Localization and step back in scale also mean the

possibility of the in situ expansion, where consumptionof existing space is intensied and restructured, insteadof the endless sprawl of the metropolitan area (Smith,1984). In metropolitan area, where daily journey to workreaches up to two hours, this point is essential, and thesize of industrial territories (approximately fteen thous-and hectaresoverall) makes the intensication possible.

Waste landscapes

If new modernities have always been making themodern cities old-fashioned and obsolete (Berman,1982), it is necessary to claim, that any process oftransformation should be strongly tied to the context othe existing urban fabric. One of the challenges of thethesis project is to test how to transform waste landsca-pes of Moscow, not ruining them. According to AlanBerger, waste landscapes include not only abandonedindustrial platforms, but also landscapes of dwelling,transition, infrastructure, exchange and contamination(Berger, 2006). This is, actually, the whole peripheryof the city. “In these apparently forgotten places, thememory of the past seems to predominate over thepresent. /…/ They are foreign to the urban system,

mentally exterior in the physical interior of the city, itsnegative image, as much a critique, as a possiblealternative.” (de Solà-Morales Rubió, 1995). What isalready there, even if perceived as waste, is also thehistory to accept and preserve, instead of neglecting itand transferring the problems to another level. Ignasi dSolà-Morales Rubio (1995) argues, that waste landsca-pes (or “terrain vague”) can be kept and transfromedthrough the attention to their conituity: “we should trearesidual city with a contradictory complicity that will nshatter the elements that maintain its contiuity in time

and space” (de Solà-Morales Rubió, 1995). The wastelandscapes could be incorporated into the city’s circuitsthrough the new infrastructures passing through them, tinfrastructures that would bring ow of people, activatenew functions and facilitate intensication, but that woukeep existing artefacts on their place, alive and reused.


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12 Evgeniya Bobkova

Methodology

Problem Field

Utopia

Production Jobs vs. decaying industrialplatforms

Jobs vs. residential areas

Urban sprawlDecay

of academtowns

MobilityPublic transport vs.car-based development

Open spaceLoss of scale

Crisis

Deconstruction (City as a resource)

Policentric supervillage Colonisation ofindustrial territories

Infrastructural projectsExisting zoning plans are not able to controlmarket forces and do not deal with theproblems of industrial decay, social depriva-

tion and transport collapse

Evolution of historical space through the logic of integration

PastRegional context City scale


City of the working class

First socialist city


Era of stagnation

1812-1880s

1880s-1917

1917-1932

1932-1957

1957-1971

1971-1991

Present 1991-... Post-socialist city

Dynamic context

General plan 2010Land Use and DevelopmentRegulations

Real estate development

Big boxes

Brownfields

Gated communities

Highways

Insufficient public transport networks

Integration

Fragmentation

Underused rail network

Research question: How to reconstruct contemporary city and to make it operative across all the scales,without destroying previous modernities?


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Problem statement Vision

Bringing productionback to the city

Case studies

Mobility

Overlapping of infrastructures ofdifferent levels, expansion of slownetworks of public transport

Open space

Downscaling plot structureGreen carrying structuresIntroducing hierarchy of publicspaces

Production

Remediation of polluted territoriesGrassroot strategiesUpgrading research institutesUpgrading light industriesNew rules for real estate developmentTo integrate TOD stations into local fabric

Strategic planfor industrial territories,mobility and public spaces

Modification

To provide spatial conditions forextablishment of knowledge-basedeconomy and susatainable types ofproduction which are only possible inan open and mobil e city, and couldstimulate a reuse of derelict industrial

territories and further integration ofghettoes into healthy urban environ-ment

Loss of relations betweenproduction and inhabitationhas lead to extremefragmentation of urban fabricon the local scale

Shifting the center

1. Productive Village

2. Human scale neighbourhood

3.The gate to the East

Corridor 1Production areas on industrial platformsconnecting neighbourhoods

Corridor 2Local centers in dormitory districts

Corridor 3Integration of productive landscapes intoglobal processes on city and metropolitanscale

Result

Reflection


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Problem eldRegional context

City scale:Production

Mobility

Open space


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16 Evgeniya Bobkova

Regional context

Metropolitan area

Moscow is located along the Moscow River in theCentral Federal District of the European part of Russia.The population of the city is ofcially 11.5 million people,and 15.5 million in Moscow agglomeration. Yet, theestimated non-ofcial population is close to twentymillions. This number includes everyday commuters wholive in Moscow region but work in the city, non-regi-stered residents and illegal migrants. Starting from the1990s the city of Moscow and Moscow Region aretwo independent federal subjects of the country. Urbanplanning strategies of the Soviet period considered thecity and the Region together, but during the last twenty

years the two subjects developed almost independently.

There are three civil airports, one airport as a testingground for aviation and two military airports. The biggestairport Sheremetyvo is located to the North-West fromthe city and acts as one of the major attractors for theglobal business in Metropolitan area of Moscow.

There are several academ towns surrounding Mos-

cow. In soviet times they used to operate as scienceand research clusters of high technologies, but afterthe 1990s there was low demand for their resources.Now there is a threat that they can become Mos-cow dormitory satellites (Molodikova & Makharova,2007), as the city is sprawling and there is an extremeneed to build housing to accomodate migrants.

Yaroslavskoye highway: urban sprawl in North-West directionImage sources: author‘s own


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Moscow region. urbanised territories. Source:GIS data

Academ townsSource:maps.google.com

AirportsSource:maps.google.com


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18 Evgeniya Bobkova

Industrial platform South Port and dormitory district PechatnikiImage sources: author‘s own

Production

Jobs vs. decaying industrial platforms

The former industrial areas occupy now seven-teen per cent of the city. Most of these areasare concentrated along the ring railroad, butmainly in the eastern part of the city.

In the nineties, with the transition to service-orientedeconomy, most of the industries within the city havedeclined, the number of people involved in productiondecreased from 1,2 millions in 1990 to 284 thous-ands in 2011 (Vendina, 2012). At the same time, theamount of jobs in the center is close to 2.4 million1.

Location of the main industries on the East has causeda reasonable disparity between the Eastern and theWestern part of the city (Vendina, 2012). As the ecologyin the western part is much better, than in the east (dueto the lack of the industries), neighbourhoods there aretraditionally associated with a more qualitative living.What is more, while the Eastern industrial part mainlyaccommodates working class related to production, thebiggest universities and research institutes are located in

the western part of the city. The presence of the biggestairport Sheremetyevo in the North-West direction fromthe city is an another aspect causing the tendency of bu-sinesses to gravitate closer to the western part of the city.

1 Strategy of the Socio-economic Deve-lopment of Moscow till 2025.


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20 Evgeniya Bobkova

Production

Jobs vs. residentail areas

After the shift to the market economy in the nineties,the accessibility and importance of the center resultedinto radical increase of the rent prices: many residentsand lower level services were forced to move out fromthe inner city (Wiessner, cited by Stanilov, 2007).Many former residential buildings were reoriented toofce and commercial use, and during the 1990sthe population of the inner city decreased by 200thousands people (Bater, cited by Stanilov, 2007).

At the same time, while the most of the peoplelive on periphery, around 65 per cent of jobsare located in the center (Bokova,2010).

The core of the city is now the strongest dominantin the city. It accumulates most of the functions,and all the infrastructures converge in the center. Atthe same time, monofunctional periphery remainsparalyzed and dependent from the center.

It is necessary to reconsider the relations bet-

ween jobs and residential areas and tobring jobs closer to where people live.

Tverskaya streetImage source: http://ak7.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/5956796/preview/stock-footage-moscow-russia-march-trafc-of-cars-in-moscow-city-center-tverskaya-street-near-the.jpg


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Investment attractiveness (in red) and densest dormitory districts (in black)Sources: Vendina, O., 2012. Social atlas of Moscow. Annex to Project Russia: Greater Moscow, 4(66), p34,

Population census 2010

center: 62% of jobs

periphery: 92% of population

Distribution of population and jobsSource: Bokova, A., 2010. Moscow: Diagnosis. Project Russia, 57, pp. 77


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Mobility:

Public transport vs.

car-based developmentLarge dormitory districts on the periphery are notadequately served by metro lines and are still hardlyaccessible, despite the fact that the metro system isrunning on the maximum capacity (with the 40-se-cond interval between the trains). The populationdensity of residential areas increases towards peri-phery, up to thirty thousand people per km2 (the darkgrey on the map), while areas in the center, with thedensest undeground network have the populationdensity of less than ten thousand people per km2 .

Conguration of public transport networks is pri-marily a result of a strong historical dominance ofthe city center, where most of the jobs are currentlyconcentrated. If restructured in order to connect thedensest residential areas and industrail platforms,public transport networks could become a strongcatalyst for regeneration of deprived areas.

Moscow trafc congestionImage sources: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Moscow_trafc_congestion.JPG


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The densest dormitory districts (in black) in relati-on to public transport coverage (in red)Sources: GIS data, Population census 2010


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24 Evgeniya Bobkova

Mobility

Public transport vs.

car-based developmentThe road network density, due to the large scale ofurban blocks in the periphery, is not high enough inrelation to population density to provide a “healthy” ope-ration of transport networks. Global metric choice (on theleft) shows that fast roads serve mainly the center of thecity, which is also due to the road width is car-oriented.

Local metric choice (on the right) shows missinglinks in local street network: in some cases becau-se of parks, but mainly because of dense railnetwork and industrail platforms. Closed for thepublic, and not having enough streets they serveas the strongest barriers in an urban fabric.

Moscow segment map global metric choice R38000Sources: tracing on maps.google.com


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Moscow segment map local metric choice R600Sources: tracing on maps.google.com


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26 Evgeniya Bobkova

Open space

Loss of scale

Moscow inner periphery (territory between MKAD1 andthe Third ring2 ) is currently a large buffer zone betweenthe city and the region. It is homogeneous and mono-functional, it keeps global scale “through” movementand it lacks local identity. At the same time it representsalmost 93.5 per cent of the city territory and accommo-dates 92 per cent of the population (Bokova, 2010).

The size of urban blocks, as well as population den-sity increases dramatically towards periphery – thelargest dormitory districts as well as industrial platformsare marked by a complete loss of the human scale

In order to make it easier for small actors to colonizethe availible areas and to make the dormitory districtswalkable, it is necessary to downsize the enormous plotsof land and to introduce hierarchy of public spaces.

1 MKAD – Moscow Automobile Ring Road, the outermostroad, which starting from the 1950s was considered ad a city boun-dary2 The Third Ring – the high speed freeway constructed in2005, basically divides the inner city center of 1930s from the peri-pheral dormitory districts

Dormitory district Maryino (1990s-2000s)Image sources: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ru/


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Plot size (the biggest - dark grey, small grain - light grey)Sources: GIS data


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Kitay-gorodImage source: http://zyalt.livejournal.com/685927.html


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“If modernism ever managed to throw off its scarpsand tatters and the uneasy joints that bind it to the

past, it would lose all its weight and depth, and themaelstrom of modern life would carry it helpless-

ly away. It is only by keeping alive the bonds thattie it to the modernists of the past – bonds at onceintimate and antagonistic – that it can help the mo-

derns of the present and the future to be free”

(Berman, 1982, p. 346)

DeconstructionStoryline

Urban growth



City of the working class

First socialist capital


Era of stagnation

Post-socialist city

Conclusions


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30 Evgeniya Bobkova

Utopia Crisis


Production

External processes(events)

Plans

Planning system

Mobility

Open space

19th century industrial city City of the working class

( 1 1 4 7 ) 1 8 1 2

1 8 6 0

s -

1 8 8 0

s

1 9 1 7

Utopia Crisis

Extreme minimalism

Utopia

Trade Textile industr y Shopping streets along the tram lines

Factories FactoriesElectrification Water supply Sewege

Walkable city Rail network

The Revolution 1917

World War IAbolition of serfdom

Fire of 1812

French invasion 1812

Capital city is Saint-Petersburg

Moscow becomes the capital city Modernisation of economy

Industrial revolution

NEP (new economic policy)partial, temporary revival of private

ownership 1921-1928

Decline of industriesShrinking population

OverpopulationLack of engineeringsystems (electricity, gas,water supply, sewege)

Lack of engineeringsystems (electricity, gas,water supply, sewege)

The Civil War 1917-1923

Nationalisation of the economy

Centrally planned economy

Competitions for “Greater Moscow”

Tram network Rail network Tram network

Organic network of localcentralities and linear public spaces

New scale of centralities (railwaystations) integrated in existingorganic network

New ring of centralities: workersclubs

Craftsmenship

Storyline


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First socialist capital Celebration of technology 1

9 2 8

- 1 9 3 2

1 9 5 3

- 1 9 5 7

1 9 7 1

Post-socialist city 1 9 8 9

- 1 9 9 1

Crisis Utopia Crisis

Heavy industries Shopping malls Business centersHeavy industries + High technologiesSattelite “academtowns”Production closed from public

Heavy industries + High technologiesSattelite “academtowns”Production closed from public

Underground network Expansion of centralisedunderground network

Partial decon-structionof tram network

Expansion of centralisedunderground network

Large scale boulevards as publicspaces - loss of human scale

Unfinished fastroads construction

Fast roads Highways

First five year-plan(1928-1932)

Cold war: Arms raceSpace explorationprograms

PerestroikaPrivatization ofstate-owned assets

Oil crisis 1980sEconomic crisis

Expansion of Moscow admin-istrative boundaries on the148 thousand ha towardsSouth-West (2012)

Era of stagnation (1964-1982)

Industrialisation

World War II

Militarized economy

Collectivization

Decline of industries

Housing shortageHousing shortage

Congestion in communalapartments

Massive inflow of populationfrom rural areas

Lack of consumer goods

Lack of consumer goods Industrial declineDecline of science

Congestion in communalapartments

Massive inflow of populationfrom rural areas

Chronic housing shortageHousing shortage

Loss of human scale in residential fabricLoss of human scale in residential fabric

Insufficient centralised underground network Insufficient centralised undergroundnetwork

Housing shortageLoss of human scale in residential fabricInsufficient centralised undergroundnetwork Traffic congestionSprawl

Inflow of populationfrom rural areas

Utopia Crisis Utopia Crisis Utopia Crisis

Planned centralities in dormitorydistricts do not work as public spaces

Shift to market economy

General Plan of 1935 Technical Plan for new housingallocation 1957

Master Plan of 1971 Master Plan of 1989General Plan of 2010(under transformation, thenew one has to be issued in2015)

No private spaces: communal flatsLarge-scale network of public spaces:City as a monument

Dormitory districtsbehind industrial belt(individual apratments)

Dormitory districts Dormitory districtsGated communities

Era of stagnation


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32 Evgeniya Bobkova

The Russian urban history of the Soviet time is thestory of massive industrialization and industrial policy

(Lappo & Polyan, 1999) in the context of centrallyplanned, command economy and constantly under-developed infrastructure. Urban transformation of Mo-scow was largely inuenced by these processes.

The history of the city is studied through the lens ofchanging modes of transportation in relation tothe evolution of production and inhabitation.

Being trading city with local quarters of craftsmen untillthe end of the nineteenth century, by the beginning ofthe twentieth century Moscow had become industrialcity (mainly oriented to textile production) and biggesttransport hub in the country with nine railway stationsand dense tram network. After the years of the Revolu-tion of 1917 and the following years of the Civil War(1917-1923), when population radically shrank and anykind of production was in decline, the radical transfor-mation of the city took place. Along with the goal tocreate a city as a monument of power, Moscow wasreconstructed to become the biggest hub of heavy

industries. The main attention of planners of that timeand further on was given to developing heavy indus-tries and military sectors of economy at the expense ofmanufacturing, consumer goods, and housing sector(Becker, et al., 2012). Regarding public spaces, - in

context of complete lack of privacy (approx. 4-5m2 perperson between 1920s and 1950s ) (Heller & Nekrich,

1986) a great attention was given to the networks ofpublic spaces and to public transport infrastructures.This type of development (though industrialization wasmade successfully) had put the city of Moscow in a deephousing crisis. In the situation of the constant inow ofpopulation from rural areas and lack of housing stock,the planners of 1950s had radically shifted their attentionto massive construction of pre-fabricated housing. Newdormitory districts were connected with the center andwith the industrial belt through the growing undergroundnetwork. With regards to production, starting from the1950s the attention had shifted from heavy industries tohigh technologies and science (aerospace and nucle-ar technologies). New scientic centers were mainlylocated in satellite “academtowns” around Moscow,and this type of production was in general closed frompublic. After the shift to market economy in the 1990sheavy industries as well as science sector have startedto decline. The city center has become the main nan-cial hub where most of the jobs are concentrated, andouter periphery of the city with the ring road has served

as the main location for the trading sector. Dormitorydistricts, where most of the population is concentrated, inturn, are poorly connected with jobs (as public transportis not effective and car network is close to a collapse)and do not benet from decaying industrial territories.

The deconstruction of the city into spatial-temporal layersis a way to articulate the routes of current conicts within

the city and to explore hidden potentials on the territory.

Maps are made with the use of historical maps andmaterials from the research „Archaeology of Periphery“(2013), excluding layers of production, which are drawnby the interpretation of the writings about each period.


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Local street network Map source: Moscow map 1880, 1852 Sources: http://www.etomesto.ru

Global trading routes (in black) and local quarters of artisans (in grey)Map source: Moscow map 1880, 1852 Sources: http://www.etomesto.ru


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1. Policentric supervillage(1147- 1860s/1880s)

Networks of public spaces

Orthodox churches were focus points of every smallcity quarter. They formed irregular public spaceswhich served for gathering of public guilds (Bo-goescu, 2010). Situated on public squares, theyprovided sense of place for local networks and pla-

yed an essential role in people’s everyday life.

Boulevard and Garden rings were created on theplace of old fortications in the end of the 18th andthe beginning of the 19th centuries respectively. Theyrepresented rings of linear public spaces with beads ofcentralities strung on them. Parks were originally usedfor hunting or as estates of noblemen, but in the 19thcentury they were given to the city for public use.

Tverskoy boulevard (on the bottom) leading to Strastnoy monastery (on the top)Image sources: https://pastvu.com/, http://stchekov.wordpress.com/


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Churches, monasteries and estates as centralities grouped along boulevardsMap source: Moscow map 1880, 1852 Sources: http://www.etomesto.ru

The medieval city of Moscow represents a placewhere infrastructures of different scale are overlap-ping, what makes it meaningful across all the levels.

Policentric supervillage is not comparable with thecontemporary city nor in size, nor in the ways it operates.It also had faced the crisis of overpopulation and hadto deal with the problems of lack of basic engineeringsystems. Nonetheless, the way it was constructed acrossthe scales can be examplary, when new rationalitiesof acting in the urban space are being developed.


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Integration of local tram network into railway network. Railway stations as centralitiesMap source: Moscow map 1915, 1913 Sources: http://www.etomesto.ru


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40 Evgeniya Bobkova

Prokhorovskaya factoryImages source: https://pastvu.

com/_p/a/6/6/3/6633b7b-

1150c3408478f65a21b7006ec.jpg

2. 19th century industrial city(1860s/1880s)

Factories

Modernization of infrastructure was a response to newfactories emerging in the city. Heavy industries werelocated in the eastern part of the city (due to winddirection) and downstream, while light industries andtextile manufacturing were located close to the wa-ter and mainly upstream (western part of the city).

In pre-evolutionary Moscow the main eco-nomy of the city was the textile production.

Despite the fact, that the scale of production increa-sed in comparison to the previous period (factoriesreplaced local quarters of artisans), the relation bet-ween production and inhabitation was still presen-ted, and transportation networks adequately boundtogether layers of production and open space.

Maps of Moscow in the beginning of the twentiethcentury show that the city was not so monocentric as itis now. Being developed without real plan, it expandedtowards the North. There were several reasons for that:

atter topography on the North, swampy lands on theSouth-East, existing ‘strong’ centralities on the North-East(three railway stations, park ‘Sokolniki’), the presence ofanother river Yauza. The location of ring railroad alsoshows that it was supposed that in the future northernparts of the city woud be much more urbanized.

[Utopia]


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Ring of factories: heavy industries (dark grey) on the east, downst-ream; light industries on the west, close to the waterlocal production (grey)Map source: Moscow map 1915, 1913 Sources: http://www.etomesto.ru

[Crisis]

By the 1917 Moscow city faced many common pro-blems of industrial cities of that time. City was over-populated and its structure was still archaic: buildingswere low-rise, mainly wooden,and water supplies,sewerage and electricity were extremely short (Kha-rin, 2007). The quality of life was still very low andurban form of the city required modernization.


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3. The city of the working class(1917-1928/32)

The Revolution, the Civil war and complete restructuringof the society had devastating effects on the city ofMoscow after the 1917. In the rst years of socialismthe whole economy of the city was destroyed and po-pulation of Moscow shrank drastically (Heller & Nekrich,1986). At the same time the capital of the country wasshifted from Saint-Petersburg to Moscow. The city had tobe transformed to represent an utopia of the rst socialistcapital in the world. Not so much was done during the1920s, but it is still important to follow the traces of theconcepts in the urban fabric of Moscow. Transformations,modest in scale, had a strong cultural and historicalmeaning. What was done is the construction of projectsof Russian avant-garde: mainly worker clubs as newtemples of socialism. They shaped a ring according toShestakov plan of Bigger Moscow (1926) which me-ant to reinforce radial-concentric structure of the city.

After the nationalisation of the economy, due to the transi-tion to communism all the local production in the city haddeclined1. The process of disintegration of production

and inhabitation had started from this moment in history.

1 The short period of New Economic Policy, when privateownership was temporary revived was the only driving force, thatfacilitated constructions in the city( mainly engineering systems).

Big Moscow plan by Shestakov, 1926. New centralities built according to Shestakov plan:

Kitchen-factory, Kauchuk factory club, Zuev‘s workers clubMap source: http://retromap.ru/links/album39.html Images source: http://oldmos.ru/old/photo/tag/Branson+DeCou

[Utopia/crisis]

Production

Mobility

Open spaceExtreme minimalism

FactoriesElectrification Water supply Sewege

Rail network Tram network

New ring of centralities: workersclubs


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General Plan of Moscow Reconstruction 1935Source: http://www.kadashi.ru/images/conf/5/Gen%20plan1935.jpg


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46 Evgeniya Bobkova

4. First socialist capital(1928/32-1953/57)

Industrialisation

The plan was never fully implemented. Yet, looking atwhat was done, it is possible to see a logic of upscalingthe city to a single monument. The main transformationinvolved expansion of industrial belt, creation of thewide thoroughfares with new housing blocks along themand introduction of the new underground network. Newinfrastructure was connecting the city center where mostof people was living with the belt of heavy industries.

Public space

New roads even extremely wide were designed tobe used mainly by public transport. What is more,immense in scale they did not serve as transit ro-ads – they were carefully integrated into surroundingstreet network. Yet, this type of roads aggravatedthe problem of trafc congestion, which happenedin the nineties with a rapid increase of car users.

Underground stations were not merely points of intensityin the certain locations of urban fabric. The underg-round network of public spaces was planned in relationto the centralities above the ground. Metro stations,designed as the temples provided continuity and explo-rability of spaces both above and under the ground.

Kutuzovsky prospect,by Naum GranovskySource: http://mosfo.ru/

image/b/229.jpg

[Utopia]

Wooden slums next toSerp & Molot factorySource: pastvu.com


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Underground network (red dashed line) connecting new parts of the city (in red),existing residential fabric (in light red) and new belt of industries (in grey)Map source: Archaeology of the Periphery. Research for the Moscow Urban Forum 2013. Moscow: OOO Printmarket Moscow,

pp.256-257, 284-285; Metromap 1957 http://www.metro.ru/map/1957/

[Crisis]

The main interest of planners was dedicated to the reha-bilitation of the economy, which was completely destroyed after the yearsof the Revolution and the Civil War.

While industrialisation was successful, and deve-lopment of infrastructures provided connections bet-ween production and inhabitation on a city scale,the attention to housing conditions was very low.

Most of the population lived in communal ats (4m2 perperson) or in the wooden slums hidden behindthe posh facades of the new buildings in extremelylow conditions. Crisis of the city as a monumentwas very deep and required strong and radicalactions from the next generation of planners.


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48 Evgeniya Bobkova

4. First socialist capital(1928/32-1953/57)

Big projects as large-scale centralities

After the Second World War the plan of 1935 waspartially changed. Originally planned Palace ofthe Soviets was never built, but several large-scalecentralities were constructed. They were seven high-rises in a city center, and two big projects: MoscowState University and National Economy AchievementExhibition (VDNKh). The last two emphasized theimportance of northern axis (which was there alrea-dy) and the newly introduced South-Western axis.

Starting from this moment urban development on theSouth-Western part of the city became one of themost prestigious districts for living. University campusbecame an important focal point which attracted lateranother universities and research institutes to this area.

VDNKh(All-Russia Exhi-bition Center)Source: http://all-pages.

com/img/repphotos2/

repphoto_4711_2212.jpg

Moscow State UniversitySource: http://uwd.

ru/uploads/post-

s/2009-06/11200720mosk-

vamoskva_194.jpg


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Moscow StateUniversity

VDNKh(National Economy Achievements Exhibition)

Big projects - Moscow State University andNational Economy Achievements ExhibitionMap source: Archaeology of the Periphery. Research for the Moscow Ur-

ban Forum 2013. Moscow: OOO Printmarket Moscow,

pp.256-257, 284-285; Metromap 1957 http://www.metro.ru/map/1957/


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Northern Port

Western Port

Southern Port

New canals linking Moscow with ve seas (in dark blue)General Plan 1935Map source: General Plan of Moscow Reconstruction, Moskovsky rabochy, 1936, p.75

Ports (red outline) and Industrial terrtiroties (in grey)Map source: maps.google.com

CanalMoscow-Volga


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52 Evgeniya Bobkova

4.First socialist capital(1928/32-1953/57)

Celebration of the landscape

Great attention to the large-scale, qualitative public spa-ce greatly inuenced the shape of green and water land-scape of Moscow. Green and blue networks becameboth centralities and carrying structures for the networksof public spaces. System of green wedges was esta-blished to reinforce the star-shaped structure of the city.

Being now one of the greenest in the world,Moscow urban fabric has lost the logic of thecarrying green structure: equally dispersed eve-rywhere green spaces do not serve anymore as

backbones for networks of public spaces.

The Girl with an Oar in Gorky Park, by Naum GranovskySource: http://slavikap.livejournal.com/5826536.html


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Waterfronts and green wedgesMap source: maps.google.com

Scheme of the main thoroughfares, water and greenery.General Plan 1935Map source: General Plan of Moscow Reconstruction, Moskovsky rabochy, 1936, p.280


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54 Evgeniya Bobkova

5. Celebration of technology(1953/57-1971)

The period is marked by a radical change in inhabitationpatterns. Fascinated with technological progress, (therewas a time of space exploration programs) the plan-ners of the city believed that technology can completelychange the way people live. The result was that the pro-duction of housing was put on fully pre-fabricated base.

With regards to production, from this moment,besides industrail belt, it was also concentratedin newly constructed scientic cluster - satte-lite „academ“ towns outside Moscow.

As tis type of production was related to aerospa-ce, aviation and nuclear energy, most of the plantsand research institutes were closed from public.

Starting from the Technical plan of 1957, general planshad less and less inuence on real constructions in thecity. They had more and more retroactive character(Sitar, 2013) and became merely document made tolegalize what already had been built (Sitar, 2013).

Moscow South-West, 1976Source: http://postomania.ru/post273466441/

Production

Mobility

Open space

Heavy industries + High technologies

Sattelite “academtowns”Production closed from public


Partial decon-structionof tram network

Dormitory districtsbehind industrial belt(individual apratments)


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Master Plan 1957Source: http://retromap.ru/gallery/albums/userpics/10055/FF0524_0519571_medium.jpg


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56 Evgeniya Bobkova

5. Celebration of technology(1953/57-1971)

Extreme minimalism

An extreme need for housing coupled with Nikita Kh-rushchev’ s technocratic optimism resulted in an immensein scale program of massive housing construction after1957 (by 1965 amount of massive housing came up to5,02 million square meters, while in 1949 it was 0,4million square meters1). Such a strong jump in scaleand in speed of construction became possible becauseproduction of the housing had been put on a fully indus-trial base. The very idea of housing and open spacerelated to it was reduced to extreme minimalism: homeas a sleeping box, mobility as transit, public space as

“just “ green equally dispersed everywhere (Sitar, 2013)

The idea of modest life, while reducing the complexity ofthe city (or even the complexity of the human being) wasa solution to housing shortage in the end, every familygot the opportunity to have their own place to live.

The underground network was expanded along withdormitory districts, and transportation systems were stillpublic transport oriented. Yet, the pathos of the fastmovement went along with the fascination of the techno-logical progress. It is important to mention, that between1950s and 1970s the amount of goods transported

1 Data from Central Statistical Administration of RSFSR.National economy within 60 years. Statistic Yearbook. - M., Statistics,1977, p. 222, referenced by Sitar, 2013

[Utopia]

Construction of „Khrushchovka“ - rst residentsSource: http://nnm.me/blogs/kot_vaska/kak-stroili-hrushevki/page2/


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Housing typologies by heightMap source: Archaeology of the Periphery. Research for the Mos-

cow Urban Forum 2013. Moscow: OOO Printmarket Moscow,

pp.256-257, 284-285;

14-22 storeys9-12 storeys5 storeysmixed typologies

Housing construction by yearSource: Bokova, A., 2010. Moscow: Diagnosis. Project Russia, 57, pp. 77

before 1956 1956 1966 1976-2005

1965 1975


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6. Era of stagnation(1971-1989/91)

Mobility as transit

The plan of the 1971 clearly reects on the problemof monofunctional periphery completely dependentfrom the center. There is an attempt to decentralizethe city by introducing the grid in radial-concen-tric city and by creating new urban centers withjobs on the periphery. Created in the period ofstagnation of the Soviet system this plan was neverrealized. Yet, some transformations took place.

Several fast roads were constructed, but never inte-grated into urban urban fabric: large scale of dormitory

districts did not allow to create a dense street network.

Master Plan 1971Source: http://www.kadashi.ru/images/conf/5/Plan%20Moskvi1971.jpg

[Utopia]

Production

Mobility

Open space

Heavy industries + High technologies

Sattelite “academtowns”Production closed from public


Large scale boulevards as publicspaces - loss of human scale

Unfinished fastroads construction

Dormitory districts


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Road construction in a period between 1971-1991 (shown in red)Map source: Archaeology of the Periphery. Research for the Moscow Urban Forum 2013. Moscow: OOO Printmarket Moscow,

pp.256-257, 284-285;


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62 Evgeniya Bobkova

6. Era of stagnation(1971-1989/91)

Loss of human scale

Urban centers, though partially realized, werejust immense empty boulevards or squares. Me-ant to be used as centralities, but having wrongscale, they became another non-places or voidsin a huge mass of Moscow Periphery.

Even though the construction of the microrayons wentalong with underground expansion, the pace of resi-dential constructions had been much faster than theexpansion of metro lines (Glazychev, 2008). As aresult, public transport was always congested and is

not able to adequately serve the periphery of the city.

Moscow. Suburb.by Igor PalminSource: https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.

akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/t1.0-

9/395405_362614867098807_

562619517_n.jpg

Moscow. Veshniaki.by Igor PalminSource:https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.

akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1.0-

9/625408_624874737539484_

1463019337_n.jpg

Comparison of the scales of public spaces in the city center(on the left) and in the dormitory district of the 70s (on the right)Map source: GIS data


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Housing construction and new local centers (in red) in relation to underground network (red, dashed)Map source: Archaeology of the Periphery. Research for the Moscow Urban Forum 2013. Moscow: OOO Printmarket Moscow,

pp.256-257, 284-285; Metromap 1991 http://metroworld.ruz.net/moscow/maps_1991.jpg

On this stage, it is possible to observe the comple-te loss of scale in the public space, the crisis oftransportation networks, which become depen-dent from the center and industrial territories.

At the same time, the pace of construction rea-ched such a high speed, that any general plansissued from 1957, were not able to regulate pro-cesses shaping the urban structure of Moscow.

[Crisis]


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General Plan 2010.Zoning planSource: http://gpinfo.mka.mos.ru/kniga_2/ pp 9-10

Land Use and Development Regulations,district PechatnikiSource: http://duma.mos.ru/les_rtf/gen-

plan/tom_1_uvao_new_.pdf p. 35

everything can be transformed. The overall plan ofterritories of reorganization (on the map they are shownin blue) covers almost the whole city. Without givingguidelines of how to build, it only gives prescriptionswhere to build and how much (Muratov, 2010).

The density and the height of urban fabric are establishedin Rules for Land Use and Development (see example).Not only they give very basic quantities, they also donot regulate the scale of constructions: the size of plots

is extremely big. It means that it is possible to build anyproject of any scale, without paying attention to the scaleof public space or density of existing street network.

The key problem of the Plan (which is actuallyis an intended policy) is a complete lack of anyprinciples (Muratov, 2010). The General Plan of2010 allows building anything anywhere.


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66 Evgeniya Bobkova

Production

Mobility

Open space

Shopping malls Business centers

Fast roads Highways

Dormitory districtsGated communities

7. Post-socialist city(1989/91-...)

Big projects: big boxes and highwaysOne of the most important trends from the beginningof the 1990s was a decentralisation of commercialfunctions (Sykora, cited by Stanilov, 2007). Shift oflarge-scale commercial functions to the outer peri-phery, due to the lower administrative barriers for thebusiness community in the Region, meant dramaticchange of commercial patterns. Later “big boxes”developments have spread into the city periphe-ry along the major thoroughfares, forming a newtype of centralities with the residential districts.

From the one hand, contemporary neoliberal deve-

lopment of Moscow is typical for many cities. But, it isimportant to remember that the previous socialist periodswere marked by a constant shortage of consumer goods.

So, the complete reorientation to tertiary sector ofeconomy was not only a global trend, but also aresponse to a deep crisis of the former system.

In this context, an extreme celebration of indivi-dualism and endless consumption is a logicalreaction to lack of privacy and to shortage of con-sumer goods which lasted for seventy years.

Shopping mall „Golden Babylon“Source: http://www.projectline.ru/images/user_images/1273575704.jpg


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Big boxes (in red), fast roads and densest residential districtsSources: GIS data


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68 Evgeniya Bobkova

Industrial platform near PechatnikiSource: author‘s own

7. Post-socialist city(1989/91-...)

Externalities: brown elds

The external effects of the change in modes of pro-duction from industries and science to tertiary sectorsof economy were the huge spaces of exclusion, whichcover almost all the territories of industrial territories.

Rail network designed to serve industries is also de-clining, as the most of the goods are currently trans-ported by cars, and industries are decaying. It onlytransports people from the suburbia to the city.

Industrial platform ProjectorSource: author‘s own


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Declining industrial ter-ritories and railwaysSources: GIS data

C-grade ofces 40%

production, warehouses 40%

loss-making 24%

depreciated assets 40%

effective production 29%

car washes, services 20%

Existing ativities on industrial platformsSources: http://clever-estate.ru/news/pressabout/ostanut-

sya-li-osyi-klassa-s-i-dposle-reorganizaczii-promzon

Resolution No 107-PP, Feb. 24 2004, on the targeted programme of re-

organizing production territories of the City of Moscow for2004-2006


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Conclusions

-

Policentric supervillage 19th century industrial city City of the working class First socialist capital

- If the problems instead of being solved, are transferred to another level of scale through bigger and fa-ster infrastructures, there is a threat that the result would be a fragmentation on a lower level of scale

- Loss of relations between production and inhabitation, and uneven deve-lopment of Moscow city is a direct result of this process.

- In order not to repeat fails of modernists of the past, we should not neglect any of exi-sting spatial-temporal layers, but have to bind together what is already there.


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Celebration of technology Era of stagnation Post-socialist city

-Only by overlapping infrastructures of different scale and speed it is pos-sible to create a place operative across all the levels.

-Policentric supervillage and 19th century industrial city, though had their problems, wereconstructed through the integration of fast and slow mobility networks across all the levels

-Though contemporary city is much bigger and much more complex, than policentric supervillage, it ispossible to extrapolate the principles of integration from organically developed, medieval city.


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Dynamic contextReal estate development

Colonisation of industrial territories


Conclusions


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LegendIndustrial zonesAreas for redevelopment (mix use)Areas to be kept industrialExisting projects from the city (ZIL)

Existing projects from real estate companiesExisting creative clustersSources: GIS data, http://stroi.mos.ru/renovaciya-promzon

http://www.vedomosti.ru/realty/news/18559141/

promyshlennost-sdaet-pozicii

and perspective of developments of surrounding ter-ritories (Vladimirova, 2013). As a result, as GeneralPlan does not guarantee effectiveness, for real estatecompanies is much easier to make punctual projects,according to their specialization, not context, wi-thout giving any attention to the needs of the city.

It is important to mention that pre-revolutionary industrialareas, as they have qualitative architecture, locatedclose to the center and served by public transport, arealready reclaimed as creative clusters. As they operatesuccessfully, this areas are out of the thesis concern.


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76 Evgeniya Bobkova

Colonisation of industrial territrories:

ZIL ( city initiative)

In order to demonstrate how general guide-lines for mix use development and for recla-mation of industrial territories are working, tworecent projects are analyzed and evaluated.

Area of former ZIL (car prodution) plan isowned by the city and is declared to becomethe rst pilot project, where methods of rec-laiming industrial platforms are tested.

Nevertheless, mixity is not precented in th project. As thisarea is locally disconnected from the surroundings, newpart of the city, if implemented, can become another

monofunctional enclave in fragmented urban fabric.

ZIL renovation project (bureau Project Meganom)Sources: http://mirmonolita.ru/_img/1953.jpg,

http://stroi.mos.ru/rekonstrukciya-promzony-zil

ZIL

Area 300 haApprox. investments 4 775 billion euroPrivate investorsTImespan 2014-2018/2022Demolitions 1090 thousand m2

New constructions 3593 thousand m2

Reconstruction 855 thousand m2

Green spaces 82 ha

Housing 15,6 thousand peopleHotels 14,4 thousand people Jobs 45 thousand people


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Evaluation

Land owned by the city

Relatively easy to deve-lop single project

Small residential units

50% jobs 50% housing

Former production is par-tially kept (cars)

Waterfront

Location is not strategic: connected with sur-rounding areas only by highway and railway

Demolition of most part of the buildings

Mix use is hardly introduced even on the projectlevel: production is divided from inhabitaati-on by a highway and vast public space

Cut off from the new developmentsby transit, car-oriented road

Public spaces are immense in scaleand will possibly serve not as car-rying structures but as barriers

Few links across the Third Ring and the river

More than 500 meters between fu-ture railway station and new metro

Redeveloped area is connected with thecity only by highway and railway

On a local scale highway and rail-way will serve as barriers

M

Rail 1km

ZIL renovation project (bureau Project Meganom)http://stroi.mos.ru/rekonstrukciya-promzony-zil


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78 Evgeniya Bobkova

Serp & Molot factory project (MVRDV)Sources: http://www.mvrdv.nl/projects/serp_and_molot/gallery.html

Colonisation of industrial territrories:

Serp and Molot (construction company

initiative)

The project of Serp and Molot factory redevelopment asa real estate company initiative seems to mark a largestep forward: construction company („Don-stroy), whichspecialisation is mainly luxury housing and gated commu-nities, arranges an international competition together withthe city, and chooses the project which is integrated insurrounding context. The street network density providesthe continuity of urban landscape, scale of new housingis almost the same as historical part of te city and mixuse functions are introduced on a scale of buiding unit.

Yet, even if new plots are based on a factory layout,most old buildings have to be demolished. What ismore 50/50 ratio between jobs and housing doesnot contribute to the disproportion of job distribu-tion on city scale: to balance periphery with thecenter, much more jobs have to be introduced.

Serp & Molot

Area 74,5 haApprox. investments 3, 9 billion euroPrivate investorsTImespan 2021Housing 19 thousand people

Jobs 16 thousand people

Sources: http://www.mvrdv.nl/projects/serp_and_molot


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Evaluation

Small, closed building units

Mix use on a unit level

50% jobs 50% housing

Reuse of old rail as a linear park

Possible to introduce tram

Dense street network - integratedinto surrounding urban fabric

Mostly housing

Demolition of existing buil-dings (not possible to keepproduction: heavy industries)

Though mix use is introduced ona project level, on a city scalepropsed ratio 50/50 does notcontribute to the problem ofuneven distribution of jobs.

Serp & Molot factory project (MVRDV)Sources: http://www.mvrdv.nl/projects/serp_and_molot/gallery.html


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80 Evgeniya Bobkova

Plans of road construction(2011-2012 - green2013-2015 - blueafter 2015 - red)Sources: http://stroi.mos.ru/uploads/user_les/

les/dorogi_shemy_pdf/razvitie_dorog1.pdf


Road construction

Current actions for solving the issue of congestioninvolve the constructions of new fast connections, tunnelsand the physical widening of the main thoroughfaresat the expense of pedestrian and green spaces.

Instead of reinforcing fast roads structure it isnecessary to add missing links in local street net-work, in order to transform industries into livableparts of city instead of being barriers and to inte-grate them into surrounding dormitory districts


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Underground expansion (2013-2015 - blue, 2016-2020 - red)Sources: http://www.rosmetrostroy.ru/planmosmetromap2013.htm

Underground and railway expansion

Underground expansion involves the construction of thesecond ring and addition of the new radial lines, andinner ring rail road is currently under reconstruction forpublic use. Though it is clear that the metropolitan cityneeds extensive public transport network, there is a threatthat the construction of the new rings can reinforce thedominant position of the center. The thesis project willtest if it would be possible to reduce possible negativeeffects of new fast neworks, if slow networks are exten-ded and integrated into underground rail networks.

Reconstruction of the inner ring road for public useSources: mkzd.ru

C l i


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82 Evgeniya Bobkova

Conclusions

While the goals of introducing jobs, housing and mixed use functions on industrial ter-ritories are declared, the methods of achieving these goals are not satsfactory.

It is hardly possible to introduce a diversity if the project is based on zoning plans.

It is difcult to integrate projects in the surroundings if actions of construction companies are notlimited, and if whole range of possible stakeholders is not involved in the planning process.

There is a little understanding of actual meaning of mixity. In most cases it involves mixing ofhousing or retail with ofces, while other types of production are kept segregated from inhabita-tion (start-ups, knowledge production, R&D clusters, small-scale manufacturing, light industries)

If goal of reconstructing live and work relations is declared, there is a need to in-

corporate all types of open and safe production into city processesMixity on a scale of building unit or on a project level can mean homogenuity on a citylevel and mixity on the territorial level can mean zoning on a level of the neighbourhood

It is important to introduce mix use across all the levels: building unit, ur-ban block, neghbourhood, city district, city periphery.

As most part of Moscow periphery is residential, the ratio between jobs and housing in newlyreclimed territories cannot be 50/50, the percentage of jobs should prevail over housing.

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Conclusions

Infrustructures and mixed use cannot be planned separately.

Tram network is planned independently from fast infrastructures,and its expansion is not part of General Plans.

Fast public transport networks provide points of intensity in ur-ban fabric, but do not connect urban fabric locally

Tram networks offer explorability of urban space

Fast and slow networks should be planned together and benet from each other


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Vi i


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VisionSpace of action

Mobility

Open space

Production


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Vision

The project vision is to reconstruct live and work relations in the Eastern peri-phery of Moscow, towards more even distribution of jobs and housing andproviding spatial conditions for mixity between production and inhabition.

This can only happen along with necessary improvements in infra-structure and along with transformation of pubic space conguration.

In order to fully use the potentials of industrial territrories, it is crucial to incor-porate all the possible open and safe types of production into the processof urban transformation. These would not only be ofces, but also smallmanufacturing, light industries, R&D clusters and knowledge production.


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Space of action

Eastern belt is chosen not only because it is the largest void in an ur-ban fabric. Dormitory districts were actually designed close to in-dustrial belt to provide workers with the place to live.

So, if production is would be brought back to where it originally was, thereis a possibility to shift the center from historical center to the East, as it wouldalready be surrounded by the densely populated residential fabric.

The main integrative force for this process would be slow pu-blic transportation, as an expansion of existing one.

Mobility


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Mobility

Public transport

Existing projects of public transport deal only with fastmodes of public transportation without providing thepossiblity to shift to slower modes of transportation.

Existing public rail, undeground and tram network Source: GIS data

Existing project of undeground expansion and TOD stationsSource: http://mkzd.ru/, http://www.rosmetrostroy.ru/planmosmetromap2013.htm

Proposed expansion of tram network

Ongoing projects reinforce the centralisedstructure of Moscow and aggravate the anta-gonism between center and periphery.

Projects of the TOD stations, if implementedcan become large-scale eanclaves not con-nected with surrounding neoghbourhoods.


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LegendExisting public rail network

Existing underground network Existing project of uderground expansionExisting tram network Proposed tram network Existing project of TOD stationsProposed TOD stations

Proposed expansion of tram network andnew TOD stations

At the same time existing tram network is notefcient and not integrated into existing un-derground and railway network.

What is proposed, is to introduce slow tram net-work, as a continuation of existing one. It wouldgo through the derelict industrial platforms anddormitory districts and connect existing and fu-ture city-scale metro and rail stations.

This would facilitate redevelopment of productiveterritories on industrial platforms, connect densestinhabtable areas with newly introduced jobs andintegrate eastern periphery into the existing move-ment networks on a city and metropolitan scale.

Mobility


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Mobility

Road network

Industrial territories and abandaned rails currentlyoperates as large voids within road network. Small-scale links should be added across rails and industrialplatforms in order to reconstract street network andto increase integration of the dormitory districts.

Industrial areas as voids in the urban fabric(on the left)Redened street network with new majorlinks in red (on the right)

Open space


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Open space

Plot structure

Allotments of industrial territories and dormitorydistricts should be downsized following existing builtlandscape (existing driveways, reused rails). Thiswould allow to introduce new streets, make it ea-sier to regulate new constractions and allow newsmall and local actors to colonize the terrtirories.

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Large-scale grid of urban fabric(on the left)Downsized grid would inclrease the perme-ability of urban fabric (on the right)

Open space


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Open space

Green carrying structure

Despite the fact that almost all territory of dormitorydistricts is green, there is a lack of green structureswhich shape a slow network of public spaces. Atthe same time, abandoned rail network carries astrong potential to be restructured in order to connectexisting parks as main centralities on the periphery.Rails can be redesigned to become boulevards andbike routes to connect parks and water bodies.

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LegendExisting public rail network Main parksAbandoned railsProposed slow network of boulevards and bike lanes

Main parks and abandoned rails


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LegendExisting public rail network Main parksAbandoned railsProposed slow network of boulevards and bike lanes

Proposed green carrying structure

Production


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Production

Small-scale warehouses shouldbe rented cheaply to individu-al entrepreneurs and start-ups.

Parking garages should be repla-ced with multi-storey parkings

Actors: city government, Mos-cow department of cultural heri-tage, land-owners, start-ups

Areas along the new tram linescan boost mix use activities in mo-nofunctional dormitory districts

Actors: start-ups, individual entre-preneurs, local residents

Dangerous and polluting industries (oil re-nery, heavy industries, building materialsproduction) should be replaced, allowedfor land remediation and then reclaimed.

Thermal power plants, and waste treat-ment plants can be kept, but upgradedand surrounded with green buffer zones

Actors: city government, owners of enter-prises, Moscow department of science,industrial policy and entrepreneurship

Existing research institutes (Radioelec-tronics, biomedical engineering, spaceengineering, nanoengineering etc.), lightindustries (textile, furniture manufacturing)and ofces should keep their functions,but upgraded. Their territoties shouldbe open to the public. Military produc-tion should be transformed to civil.

Actors: city government, Moscowdepartment of science, industrial po-licy and entrepreneurship, land-ow-ners, owners of the enterprises,


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Downsized, empty or partially emptyplots on industrial territories can beallowed for intensication (residentail andmixed-use) by real estate developmentcompanies under certain conditions.

Actors: city government, construc-tion companies, land owners

TOD stations, when constructed(approx. 2020) can be developedas bussiness districts, but integratedinto existing urban fabric.

Actors: city government, transportcompanies, construction companies


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Case studies

Productive supervillage

Human scale neighbourhood

Gate to the East


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1

2

3

Three case studies

Productive supervillage


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p g

Context

Declining area of the Southern Port is located

in- between densely populated districts Yuz-hnoportovy, Pechatniki and Textilshchiki.

The whole industrial zone has the area of 900hectares and owned by 240 land owners. Area ofinterventions covers approximately 240 hectares.

The city has the plans to transfrom it both for non-re-sidential and residentail use, but as the land is notowned by the city government, the process of coo-peration with stakeholders is not yet established andreclamation of the territory is happening very slowly.

As it was shown in the chapter „Dynamic context“,the existing methods of reclaiming industrial territoriesfor mix-use and production are not satisfactory.

Thus, the goal of project is to demonstrate how toredevelop an industrial platform in a way that the cityand surrounding residential districts could benet from it.

The elements that consitute the territory of the SouthernPort are in a great deal similar to those that exist onanother industrial platforms of Moscow. So the prin-ciples developed in the project area can be furtherapplied to another industrial zones of the city.

Southern Portmap source:maps.google.com


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Center of innovations „Technopolis“Image source: http://stroi.mos.ru/reorganizaciya-azlk

Declining portImage source: maps.google.com

OfcesImage source: maps.google.com

Concrete siloImage source: author‘s own


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Borders

map source: maps.google.com, wikimapia.org

Location

Analysis

As it was discussed before, Southern Port is strategically

located between densely populated residential districts,so, if well connected, it potentially could become a new,alternative to the historical center, centrality for the city.

Now this area serves as an immense barrier in anurban fabric, as almost all its area is fenced. RiverPort is declining, and old rails serving it, while notin use anymore, still have very few crossings.

Productive Landscapes Bobkova a4

Documents

Transcript of Productive Landscapes Bobkova a4