The number of urban dwellers is growing rapidly around the world. As a consequence, urban problems are growing and urban systems are changing fundamentally. The need for a successful combination of infrastructure modernisation and addressing urban environmental issues allows architects and urban planners to implement the most daring and extraordinary projects. Let us tell you about the most interesting urban solutions in current global practice
The problem of ecology on the planet, the fight against greenhouse gas emissions and waste are becoming increasingly urgent every year. The concentration of air, water, and soil pollution in cities is still a global concern. In addition, the world is changing in other ways: new eras and cultural trends are also affecting the need to redesign cities. The latest technology is transforming the city into a place where many opportunities can be realized, and modern urbanization is making it a promising trend.
A significant influence on the development of modern world urbanism was made by documents created in the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries: these are the results of the latest Congress of Modern Architecture (CIAM), the Charter for New Urbanism, the Canons of Sustainable Architecture and Urbanism and others. From these trends and documents 10 principles of Intelligent Urbanism had emerged by the end of the last century. Among them are the ideas of balancing the urban environment with nature, attention to ecology, respect for the traditions and cultures of its inhabitants, and the idea of the need to allow people to meet as many of life’s needs as possible within walking distance, thus reducing travel time and the need to use transport.
The new urbanism is reflected in the redevelopment of old infrastructure, transport systems according to the modern needs of the city, the development of parks and gardens, and the construction of modern smart homes.
Garden city
The idea of the garden city dates back to the late 19th century, when it was described in a novel by the English sociologist Eberniser Howard. Howard’s project involved building small towns (for a population of no more than 30,000 people) with a garden in the centre and residential houses built in concentric circles around it. The idea was born in an age of burgeoning industrialisation and increasing turnover of industry. But at that time the urbanization of the population was growing rapidly, and so the idea of a garden city could no longer be exactly translated into reality. However, Howard’s designs did result in the construction of Welin and Letchworth Garden City in England, but they were not popular, and the expansion of garden cities did not happen.
Thus, the concept of building a garden city from scratch turned out to be utopian in reality. But the idea of a green city itself is still alive and well today. In recent decades, against the backdrop of the deteriorating ecology of megacities, various urban greening projects have been adopted. One of the most unusual ideas right now is the construction of green forest skyscrapers, of which several have already sprung up around the world. The most ambitious project in this direction was the development of the Chengdu area in China in 2018. Here, nine multi-storey residential buildings have been built with small gardens on their balconies. Over time, the success of the Chengdu project took a hit: the balcony gardens took root and actually covered the facades of the buildings, but the high humidity in the air caused mosquitoes to settle in huge numbers. In the end only ten flats out of more than 800 were inhabited. The reason for the failure of the project has now been cited as being ill-conceived and the lack of a clear maintenance system for the garden houses.
Similar to the Chengdu houses, two green Bosco Verticale high-rises were built in Milan in 2014. Here, cherry, apple and olive trees are grown on the balconies. The success of the project is largely due to the fact that the plants themselves are less involved than in Chengdu, and regular care is provided for them.
An equally successful project was the Oasia Hotel Downtown in Singapore, completed in 2016. The hotel is an aluminium-framed tower with tropical plants and grapes growing on the surface and inside. A total of 21 species of plants grow on the façade and 33 more inside. The plants keep the air fresh and cool, so there is no need for special ventilation inside. The plants themselves are irrigated by precipitation and do not require daily maintenance.
Russia is now building its own garden city. It is to appear in the New Moscow area and has already been named Voronovo-City. The idea of the project is focused on the balance of nature and the activities of city dwellers. There will be residential houses not higher than seven floors, the ground floors of which will be occupied by public and social spaces. A non-trivial approach is also evident in terms of roads: for example, the main four-lane highway is not planned to be located outside the settlement, but instead to run through the city centre, but to be arranged as a boulevard — several rows of trees will be planted.
Photo: Flacon Design Factory
Lofts from old factories
The era of industrialisation and the industrial upheavals of the second half of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th gave the world many plants, factories and large enterprises built in the classical way — with red bricks. They were often massive, multi-storey buildings with large interior spaces, strong and sturdy, built “for the ages”. Nowadays, most of them have fallen into disuse, and some of the former factories are being torn down, or are “out of hand” for some of the buildings.
A fundamentally new solution for organising these often large-scale spaces came in the early 20th century, when former factories and plants were converted into lofts and used as art and business spaces, and as restaurants, cafés and other public spaces.
In recent years, in Moscow alone, numerous buildings of the Prokhorovsky Trekhgornaya Manufactory, the former Ralle perfume factory (now known as the Flacon design factory), government wine warehouses (Luch factory), the Einem confectionery factory (Krasny Oktyabr) and others have undergone reorganisation of former factories. A park and a number of public and cultural sites have recently opened in St. Petersburg on the grounds of New Holland, a former shipyard. It is worth noting that many enterprises of the past centuries are still in operation, but production facilities have been moved outside the city limits and are now located in the regional districts. This is due to both the expansion of production capacity and the fight for ecology in the city.
Similar projects can be seen everywhere. In the United States, the mayor of the small, formerly backwater town of South Bend, Pete Buttigic, has been actively involved in the reorganisation of former factory spaces. Once an industrial centre, by the end of the twentieth century numerous factory buildings had become derelict and empty. The town itself had fallen into disrepair, its population was thinning and the unemployment rate had reached 13%. Mayor Pete, as he was popularly known, carried out an extensive redevelopment of the former factories into lofts, which now housed cultural centres, business premises, cafés and restaurants. These changes alone have brought unemployment down to 3%, brought the city’s cultural and social scene to a boiling point, and attracted an influx of new residents. South Bend was transformed from a forgotten town to a thriving city, and Pete Buttigic became a well-known figure. The reorganisation of the town helped him to run for President of the United States and to become one of the front runners in the last election.
Vienna is home to an old gasometer consisting of four circular buildings from 1896-1899. These buildings have been empty since 1984, but today they have been restored and converted into cultural and social facilities. There is a cinema, a concert hall, restaurants, a café, a student dormitory and residential flats.
In addition to the buildings of former large factories, small buildings are also being converted into lofts by converting them into residential flats or small cafés. An interesting loft is located in a 17th-century building in central Stockholm, where a former coffee roasting factory has been converted into a flat.
Photo by: Kunststad
And of the other facilities...
Remarkably, apart from factory and factory buildings, other urban infrastructures, even former means of transport, find new non-standard uses.
In Moscow, the old Moscow Circular Railway, built in the 1860s-1870s, was not torn down, but rebuilt for modern transport — the MCC. In Ekaterinburg, however, the authorities did not demolish the old railroad station to build a new one, but preserved and restored it; since 2003, the Museum of History, Science, and Technology of the Sverdlovsk Railroad has been located there. The new railway station that is essential to the city was built nearby, and from there you can now access passenger services.
All over the world, both the authorities and private individuals find uses for old transport. For example, Ryazan has a sweet shop with sweets from an old horse-drawn tram, and Moscow’s Old Arbat has long operated an inn in an old trolleybus. In Vyborg, until 2017, there was an inn in the old motor ship Korolenko.
The gasometer in Oberhausen, Germany, is now used as an exhibition hall. It was once Europe’s largest gasometer — 117.5 metres high and 67.6 metres in diameter. It was built in 1927 and ceased to function in 1988.
The former NDSM shipyard in Amsterdam now operates as the Kunststad art centre. The building was built at the end of the 19th century, but has been empty since 1984. For a long time it was a squat, rampant and unhygienic. At the beginning of the 21st century, the shipyard was reconstructed and now the building encompasses 86,000 square metres used for exhibitions and various cultural events.
Museum objects have opened in many former power plants (such as the Dieselkraftwerk Museum of Contemporary Art in Cottbus, Germany) or water towers (like the Water Universe Museum in St Petersburg).
Projects of the future
The city’s organicity with the current times requires the modernisation of old buildings and the search for new, unconventional solutions. Developments in construction technology make it possible to bring the most incredible projects to life. From the information on already announced urban projects, we can identify the main trends in urban development: it is, of course, the desire for maximum ecologisation of urban space, the search for solutions to make objects as functional as possible. The development concerns not just buildings, but also parks, gardens, rivers and canals in the cities.
In the coming years, the Schumacher district will be built on the east side of the old Tegel Airport in Berlin as part of the Urban Tech Republic. The idea of the project is quite bold, as it is assumed that a person living in this quarter will consume a minimum of electricity and fuel. The wooden residential blocks are located within walking distance of two metro stations (U-Bahn), and the flats and public areas will be equipped with a passive energy-efficient design. According to the project, there will be 5,000 flats.
The idea of using wood again in urban construction may not only be taking root in Berlin. A 140 m skyscraper is being built in Rotterdam using wooden blocks on a concrete foundation. It will contain not only residential flats, but also offices, retail space and a restaurant.
In general, such a concept (combining flats and public spaces in a residential building) is now very popular, because by living in such a house, residents are able to reduce the number of trips around the city, and therefore use less fuel for a car or other transport. There is a well-defined “15 Minute City” concept by Associate Professor Carlos Moreno from the Sorbonne, the idea being that all the things a person needs (work, cafés, entertainment venues and clinics) are within walking distance from home. The Swedish urbanists have gone even further with this idea, creating ‘one-minute cities’ within the street.
Author: Ekaterina Lidskaya
Cover photo: Uwe Schwarzbach / Flickr
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