Students of the MSSES master's program "Urban Environment Development Management" developed a project for the improvement of a natural complex in Yasenevo — on the site of an unrealized development designed by the legendary Soviet architect Yakov Belopolsky. The project put an end to the misunderstanding between activists and officials on 2 hectares of complex territory for development and is being actively worked out by the head of the Deputy Council of the Yasenevo municipal district. We learned from all the participants how the educational improvement project became a real prospect for the district development.
Olga Mostinskaya, one of the project developers, student of the "Urban Environment Development Management" program:
initially we faced the task of conducting a pre-project study and prepare technical specifications for architects. We conducted a basic urban planning analysis and a sociological study, SWOT analysis. Such research should be carried out before starting work on the concept in order to understand what territory you are working with, to see its limitations, requests and opportunities. The selected size is considered in the context of the district and the city as a whole.
The site that we have chosen for the development of the project proposal is the boulevard between Yasnogorskaya and Tarusskaya Streets. Its official name is Nature Complex 85. It is located on the highest point of Moscow — the Teplostanskaya Hill and is oriented from north to south. In fact, this is the central axis of Yasenevo. The boulevard is very sunny, with a view of the church and the forest from the upper part. We decided to use this in the project.
Yasenevo is a great area, but the road to the center of Moscow from here takes at least 40 minutes. Not everyone is ready for such a trip to go to an exhibition or take a walk in the park. Yasenevo residents have an explicit request for a high-quality urban environment within walking distance.
The boulevard between Tarusskaya and Yasnogorskaya Streets, which we worked with, according to the idea of the Mosproekt-1 workshop of Yakov Belopolsky, was to become a pedestrian esplanade – administrative, commercial and cultural institutions were to be located here. For its time, the Yasenevo development project was very progressive - many of the urban planning principles familiar to us today were applied here, if not for the first time, then for the first time on such a scale.
However, the 80s came, and the esplanade was never built. Attempts to build up the boulevard were made — they planned to build a shopping center in its northern part, even drove piles, but changed their minds. Now there is a small pond on the site of the pit. Before the development, there was a ravine in which the Bitsa River flowed. The ravine was filled in during the construction of the metro, and the Bitsa was removed to the collector. The groundwater is high — perhaps that's why the construction site did not go well here.
Now the boulevard, despite the status of a natural complex, is actually a wasteland, there are very few trees on it. The houses that stand on both sides of the boulevard don`t have their own courtyards, and the people who live in them would be happy to have the opportunity to walk on a well-maintained territory. But simply improving the boulevard is not enough — you need to slow down the traffic on Yasnogorskaya and Tarusskaya and solve the problem of garages that separate residential buildings from the boulevard. Because of them, cafes don`t take root on the first floors — they are simply not visible from the street.
As a result, the boulevard, which was conceived as a pedestrian axis, the center of the district, is used as a buffer zone between two highways and a place for walking dogs. The territory is complex in all respects, but the study showed that all interested parties - both activists and government officials - want it to be landscaped. This inspired us very much, and we came up with a beautiful story with a multifunctional community center and cafe, a street amphitheater, a ramp for teenagers, a dry fountain for children, a city meadow and a vegetable garden.
Irina Grishina, Head of the Deputy Council of the Yasenevo Municipal District:
Socio-cultural design is one of the most important technologies for managing the city development all over the world. Such projects are also being implemented in Moscow today. At one time, I was very interested in the work on the Sirenevy Boulevard in Troitsk, which was carried out by the MSSES experts together with the city administration, deputies of the Troitsky Deputy Council and local residents — and I asked them to introduce me to the project participants.
I really liked the approach to working on the project — it is important that a sociological study was conducted, a survey of residents. We often hold discussions with already established focus groups, and here we used network interaction between various urban entities, and active groups of residents were involved.
The Deputy Council is that very local government body that should express their opinion. And the most important thing in this project with specialists and MSSES students is that almost all opinions were taken into account.
I hope that this year or at the beginning of next year we will finalize the project of improvement of the district central zone, we will coordinate it with the main stakeholders. Still, initially, this is a training project - there are some shortcomings that specialists should work within any case.
The main task for me now is to connect all the components of this project - to involve the prefecture, the city council, and other executive authorities in the discussion, to hold focus groups that we haven`t held with residents of a certain age categories, and, according to this, to finalize the project, to make it indicative on the scale of Moscow. It definitely has a future!
Pre-project sociological research
Many people think that participatory design is when citizens are asked what kind of lanterns or benches should be put in the yard or in the park. This is not true. The correct statement of the question is what functions of the urban environment, opportunities to spend their free time they don`t have in abundance. The answer to this question, as well as the limitations and identified features of the territory, set the frame according to which the designer offers a solution. And it`s only at this stage that we can we discuss the specifics — benches, bungee jumps or swings of the "nest" type.
As part of the pre-project work, we conducted a qualitative and quantitative sociological study. Our sample in the quantitative study consisted of 100 people. We interviewed activists, government officials and experts — all the main stakeholders as part of the qualitative part. We gathered a focus group and talked to the residents of the district.
We asked how they spend their free time, what they go to the center for, what is missing in Yasenevo. It turned out that among the residents there were already 2 initiative groups, each of which had its own vision of the improvement of the site between Tarusskaya and Yasnogorskaya.
The project approved at that time, although it was held under the "My District" program, didn`t resemble the chic parks in the center. In fact, it was proposed to make one longitudinal pedestrian path, put benches, pergolas, fill an alpine slide, make lighting and randomly plant trees. Anything is better than nothing.
But the citizens didn`t like it. They insisted on abandoning these plans, inviting a professional design team, and making a normal project. There is a certain logic in this because the mayor's office won`t allocate money for a somewhat well-maintained territory again, and it will be difficult to enter a target program like "My Street". One initiative group made its own improvement plan, which included all the best that can be seen in the central parks of the city.
If any of the proposed projects were implemented, it would be pointless to design anything on this territory. Here you have lanterns, a path, and trees — and the whole plot is evenly occupied.
Yasenevo really lacks a place where citizens could gather, communicate, hold events. And we decided that many people will be happy with such a space, where you can sunbathe in the summer, sit with a laptop or a book, organize events - from lectures, exhibitions and public discussions of important issues for the district.
We were trying not to impose anything, but to read the request of the citizens and the authorities. There is not enough cultural leisure, a platform for communication, there are few cafes in this area. But there is an empty plot with a pit filled with water. This was the starting point.
What can arise on the site of the PC in Yasenevo under the project of MSSES students?
Despite the fact that the boulevard is located between two wide streets, many respondents perceive it as a corner of nature in the city. We decided that it would be right to emphasize and develop it, and we laid out the design of a mixed-grass urban meadow and vegetable garden into the project.
We also decided to leave the pit, but to work with it and turn it into a full-fledged pond, which would turn into a skating rink in winter. We decided that there should be an activity zone for teenagers who suffer from a lack of leisure, and came up with a skate park. A small one - there is only one ramp. A skate park is usually a loud place, and if you place it in the yard, there will be well-founded claims. This became a criticism for the local church once — the sound of bells, given the height of the buildings, could disturb with non-religious residents. And here the place is quite remote from residential buildings.
We propose to place the most multifunctional space - a local community center – at the pond. It consists of two amphitheaters and a large space for exhibitions and events. The street amphitheater rises from the pond to the second-floor level and continues inside the building. We found a great reference pavilion for nature observation by the Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta.
This creates 3 spaces at once, which can be used independently of each other. A street amphitheater with a stage where children can take part in events or play. An indoor amphitheater, also starting with a small platform - a stage where lectures or classes can take place, or you can just lie on pillows with a book or laptop and watch snowfall or leaves swirl outside the window. And lecture and exhibition space. Both the authorities and the residents of Yasenevo could use the community center for their own purposes - the hearings on the next improvement project could be held here. Local businesses could make their presentations here. Large cultural venues - such as the Multimedia Art Museum, for example - hold local exhibitions.
During our design work, we took into account the plans for the construction of a large church in the southern part of the boulevard. Not all Yasenevo residents were happy with it. We tried not to aggravate the conflict, but to make the church part of the city ballet — it successfully fits into the landscape that the residents of the district will be able to observe from the inside of the amphitheater. A pond, aka a skating rink in winter, a street scene, green spaces and the silhouette of a church in the background.
The inner part of the community center is not only an indoor amphitheater. The steps here go up to about the level of the 2nd floor. Under it, there is a fairly large space where the administration, a cafe and a room for storing inventory can be located. In the lecture and exhibition part, the windows are raised to a height of 2 floors, so that the walls are free and there is a lot of light in the room.
It would be great if the residents of the district could shape the cultural agenda of the community center themselves. To do this, we suggest choosing a curator of the pavilion's event program from among the active residents of Yasenevo. It also didn`t arise from scratch as well: the respondent of one of the in-depth interviews that we conducted with the district residents was an employee of the Tretyakov Gallery. In Yasenevo, where more than 180,000 people live, there can be many such creative professionals. This all corresponds to the modern urbanist ideas that the city should be multicentric, that people should meet their cultural needs in their area, without spending an hour on the way to the city center.
Yaroslav Kovalchuk, Head of the Urban Environment Development Management Program at MSSES:
This year, we invited new teachers to our course "Designing Public Spaces" — Yulia Bychkova and Anton Kochurkin, who, in my opinion, are among the best Russian designers. In fact, they proposed this site for a training project. But this is no exception — we always try to choose something relevant for Moscow and the regions for project courses.
Yasenevo is a fairly conservative district, where, for example, there are relatively few independent deputies. But the improvement project, which had been considered before our proposal, caused a lot of complaints from all sides — residents, activists, local entrepreneurs. And when our draft - after a preliminary study - was put up for discussion, the deputies, regardless of their party affiliation, realized that this was a way to reconcile differences.
I really hope that our project will be the basis for what will be built on the site of the natural complex 85 in Yasenevo. It is clear that any project will require adjustments in the course of implementation - this is not the specifics of the training project, something always changes, there are a lot of nuances. But the very ideology and values of the project can be preserved.
It is important for me that what we design with the students on the program becomes real objects. It does not always cause such a resonance as in Yasenevo, but nevertheless. The people who come to study at our program are mostly practitioners - they are involved in real processes. This project gave them the opportunity to apply the skills they had and what they had learned while studying at MSSES. There was such a right excitement, take it and do it!
Evgenia Tijieva, one of the project developers:
The improvement project has now been postponed to next year due to the pandemic and the need to finalize it, but we will keep our finger on the pulse and participate in its implementation. What our students have done is the well-known technology of participatory design. In many Russian regions, local authorities are increasingly resorting to this method, and the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation has even issued a manual on how to involve residents in the public spaces design. In the long term, this is beneficial for all participants in the process - thus, the developer and the municipal authorities can prevent various uncertainties and risks at the later stages of the project.