Strategy session on urban development was held in Ufa with urbanist Ilya Varlamov

The Ufa Congress Hall "Toratau" hosted a strategic session, "Integrated Urban Development", with urbanist Ilya Varlamov's participation. Among the attendees was the Head of Bashkiria, Radiy Khabirov, and his Chief of Staff, Alexander Sidyakin.

Ilya Varlamov shared positive examples of comfortable environment development in different cities of Russia and the world. For example, in one of Australia's cities, when it was impossible to build an ordinary embankment (the buildings stood close to the coast), the authorities implemented a project of an embankment on a footbridge over water to give the townspeople access to the river. Alternatively, in neighboring Satka, they managed to raise industrial tourism focused on the local quarry, using the charity funds to improve the city: residents were given grants of 100 thousand rubles for painting and repairing facades. Another good example to follow is neighboring Izhevsk, where parks operate self-sufficiently, without municipal funds' involvement.

Then, the strategy session participants - the heads of municipalities and their employees - worked on six cases of the most common urban problems. Experienced experts worked with the teams.

The most "unattractive" for the participants was the topic "Involvement of residents in the territory design ". At the same time, it caused the greatest resonance when discussing the presentation. The main problem here is overcoming the passivity and negative attitude of the population.

Also, the topics "Tourism" (it was proposed to update the law on tourism, define tourist sites), "Bicycle and pedestrian accessibility" (to synchronize repair programs), "Design codes and entrepreneurs" (to introduce changes in FZ-131 and municipal regulations to oblige business to coordinate design with the authorities legally), "Cultural heritage sites and historical environment (to attract regional and federal subsidies and grants, change the standards for the historical environment: a protected zone of 200 m limits the development of territories) were discussed at the strategy session.

"It is nice that you are also discussing comfortable cities. The main global trend today is that cities are becoming fairer. That is, any resident, regardless of their social status, age or income, should feel comfortable. It is best to check this on the elderly. There should be benches every 50-100 m where you can rest or put your bag. This is an opportunity to cross the road without underpasses with a bunch of stairs - a barrier-free environment. There should be regular public transport. Make the city convenient for the elderly - and then it will be convenient for everyone," Ilya Varlamov stated in his speech.

The strategy session was organized by the Institute for the Development of Cities and Villages of Bashkortostan.