How cities for life are created: a lecture on urban planning was held in the VEB.RF pavilion at the RUSSIA EXPO

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On April 14, the lecture "Cities for Life: Who Creates Them?" was held in the VEB.RF pavilion at the RUSSIA EXPO. Kirill Tesler, PhD in architecture, founder of the architectural bureau Tesler architects, met with the guests of the exposition.

He explained to the visitors how to plan cities so that they would be comfortable for their inhabitants.

Modern urban planning is designed to meet the needs of people, to create space according to their interests. That is why citizens and local businesses should be involved in this process. Without their participation it is very difficult to identify real needs and design an environment that will meet them. Nevertheless, there are a number of parameters that determine how comfortable a city will be for living.

The key criteria of a comfortable environment are saturation with services, safety, intuitive comprehensibility and visual attractiveness. The satisfaction of residents depends on how well these factors are developed, the architect said.

In his lecture, Kirill Tesler paid special attention to urban infrastructure. Living in their neighborhood, no matter how far or close to the city center it is, people want to receive the services necessary for a quality life. For example, sports, quiet recreation, mass events, access to restaurants and cafes, the opportunity to interact with nature and much more. Modern urban planning in Russia is already successfully responding to these challenges. Thanks to this approach, the quality of life in various cities across the country has improved significantly over the past 20 years.

A comfortable life in the city also requires a well-established transit, i.e. a quick way between home, shopping, work and other activities. The expert described how urban transport has changed in Russian cities in recent years. It has become faster and more comfortable, waiting intervals have decreased, transfers have become easier and clearer, and the number of routes has increased. And some changes were hard to imagine even a few years ago. For example, back in 2015, few people believed that Moscow residents would switch from private cars to bicycles, but now the city's bicycle infrastructure has become an integral part of the capital's public transport.

The visitors had the opportunity to talk to an expert in urban planning, and also asked him many questions.