The city is what surrounds us daily, we go to work, to the store, to the park, walk or just look out the window – we see and immerse ourselves in the urban environment. It shapes the mood and sets the pace of life. Therefore, the development of the urban environment and its improvement are immensely important for public health. A quality environment makes residents calmer and happier.
Attention to improvement is felt today not only in megacities, but also in small towns, this applies to both streets, squares and the local area. And if earlier the yards were engaged only in elite-level housing, now this is a mandatory requirement even in the economy segment. But buyers do not want to stay only on their territory, residents of the city want to walk along the embankments, relax in squares and parks, play sports outdoors. Therefore, the plans for the integrated development of territories increasingly provide for public spaces.
Investments, not expenses
For a long time, investors were not just not interested in the development of parks and squares, but also tried to refuse from the existing property unloading it to the municipal authorities. But the situation changed radically a few years ago, when there were clear examples proving that the development and improvement of the environment leads to an increase in the value of real estate. Everyone is interested in this: the city, as the number of taxes collected increases, developers, as the cost of real estate increases, and buyers purchasing apartments with a new quality of life. It is easy to recall examples in Moscow of how the quality of life has improved during the improvement of the city embankments of the Yauza, Chermyanka, Moskva River and how these once terrible city wastelands now attract visitors on weekends.
Changes are not only taking place in the capital. In small towns, regional owners of large enterprises also realized that they need personnel to continue the work of enterprises, and in order for residents to stay and not move to regional centers, they need to create a comfortable urban environment. This is how squares and parks, as well as sports grounds were developed. In large cities, the main engine of change is different: developers need to attract buyers to increase profitability, and for this, you need to have not only beautiful new houses, but a comfortable space around the neighborhoods. As a result – modern beautiful courtyards, children’s and sports grounds.
Individual solutions for each territory
The improvement of urban areas is of a different nature depending on the location of the site in the city, its size, environment, infrastructure. In the city center, the high cost of land and urban activity disposes to carry out landscaping mainly of a recreational, relaxing nature: parks, squares, boulevards – places for contemplation and recreation. On the periphery of the city, near residential areas, it is necessary to organize leisure activities for the population, create activity zones, so various sports and playgrounds, places for recreation appear.
All happy areas are equally happy, each depressed area is unhappy in its own way. Therefore, improvement solutions should be different, taking into account all the specifics of the location. In some cases, they should be completely extraordinary. For example, closing the main streets to create pedestrian zones or organizing a city park in former industrial areas, and for connectivity – a park over a road or a road over a park. There are many solutions, in each case it must be individual, performed directly for this place.
Individuality and sustainability
At the moment, there are three main areas in which urban improvement is developing especially actively: manufacturability, environmental friendliness, sense of place.
- Technology
More and more modern technologies find their application in the field of engineering support and management of improvement projects. These include smart lighting control systems with brightness and color control, watering, video surveillance and access control, garbage collection and disposal, and soon, I hope, the fight against snow and ice. All this allows not only to increase comfort, but also to reduce the cost of operating spaces.
- Ecology
Environmental issues and solutions to reduce the negative impact of anthropomorphic factors on the environment are increasingly being addressed in the design. For example, the organization of controlled traffic of visitors, systems for the collection and use of rainwater, sorting and processing of waste, landscaping of roofs.
- Place
The global trend towards the creation of own individual place in our country is aggravated by the trauma of typical Soviet microdistricts and high-rise buildings, when it was almost extremely difficult to distinguish even cities. Therefore, now there is an active search for individual drawings. If there is an opportunity to somehow preserve the existing features of the place: old buildings, ravines, slides, a piece of rock – they are being preserved, protected, emphasized or, if absent, – created. An art object, an individual sports town or a playground, designed specifically for this place, enriches the space and makes it special. The variety shown by domestic architects, designers and artists cannot but rejoice. Almost no project is complete without original solutions.
Evolution of improvement
Improvement remains one of the key factors influencing the decision to buy an apartment. High-quality improvement of the adjacent territory increases the level of comfort of city residents. We see that the improvement is spreading and is increasingly taking over not only the courtyards, but also the adjacent territories. The improvement of adjacent territories will evolve towards the creation of multifunctional all-weather spaces, an increase in environmental requirements, the use of heat recovery technologies, collection of surface water and snow, cleaning and waste disposal. And we are excited to be part of creating that future.
By Maxim Dolgov, founder of the DA Architectural Workshop