It brought together city mayors, architects, developers, restorers, designers, urban planners, developers, and researchers of history and culture from almost 50 regions of the country.
One of the objectives of the forum is to summarize the best practices and develop specific recommendations for their implementation in other regions of the Russian Federation. And the capital of Tatarstan, where the Kazan Historical Settlement Concept of Sustainable Development, developed in 2018-2020, is systematically implemented, is one of those Russian cities where there is a lot to learn.
– State and private development invest a lot in the construction of the high-quality modern facilities that are being built in the historic center. Here it is extremely important to maintain a balance so that the development is useful for the residents of the city, harmoniously fits into the architecture and at the same time is economically justified, – said the head of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov. – Investments in the historic city – long term. It is important to speak professionally about public-private partnership mechanisms, new approaches to the development of territories and develop effective solutions.
He noted that settlements of historical territories have high potential, promoting their development is one of the priorities of the state cultural policy of Tatarstan. There are 3 UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites, 11 historical settlements of regional importance and 2 federal sites in the republic. A total of 1,139 cultural heritage sites have been protected in the republic.
Investing in historical cities – Kazan, Bolgar, Sviyazhsk, restoration of monuments and improvement of public spaces requires a lot of money, but it is worth it. New tourist routes appear, the tourist flow grows – today it is about four million people a year – and with them the economy of the territories.
According to Sergey Muzychenko, Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation, to develop historical centers, clear rules are needed for everyone: so that the investor knows when he will return the invested funds, and the city – what tangible and intangible investments will receive in the end. However, there are still many questions in this area.
– There is such a concept – cure to death, so the most important thing is not to make such rules that work to preserve cultural heritage sites will lead to their loss, – he emphasized.
Sergey Muzychenko spoke about the work on reducing the investment cycle, which is being carried out by the department, and, in particular, about an innovation that has appeared for several months – combining project documentation and environmental expertise. Now, in fact, they are kept in a windowed mode.
At the plenary session of the forum, they talked a lot about the problems faced by not only investors, but also local authorities when building the historical center, discussed the positive experience of Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Vologda. But this is just the beginning. The forum will last two days. Based on its results, specific recommendations will be developed on the implementation of best practices of the best practices in the work of the regions and the federal center.
