What should be the new cities in Siberia
Information appeared in the domestic press that the forgotten Soviet project of the city of Elektrograd in the Minusinsk Basin could be revived as part of the town-planning initiative of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. Abstract ideas and good wishes are beginning to take on quite concrete forms, so let's add our own "five kopecks" to them.
First of all, I would like to explain why we support Sergei Kuzhugetovich's proposals so warmly. The fact is that this is the first global and positive project for the internal development of Russia. How many years have we written with bitterness and lamented that petrodollars are continuously withdrawn from our country, stimulating the economy our direct competitors, if not enemies. How many times have we expressed fears that as a result of the creeping expansion of immigrants from the PRC, Russia may actually lose territory beyond the Urals. And now, finally, a sensible initiative was announced aimed at the development of Siberia and the Far East. And we are not talking about the construction of some next pipeline through which oil and gas will go to China or Europe, but about the project of new cities for ourselves, for the Russians. Well, how can we not support this initiative of the Minister of Defense?
Let's try to look a little into the future. The future, its image, is something that is so lacking in modern Russia. We have neither ideology, nor any kind of super-task to which the state and society should strive. We just go with the flow, and our neighbors in the CIS are scattering to the sides. But this urban planning initiative of Defense Minister Shoigu is a chance to shape the image of Russia of the future, to prove to everyone that we can put things in order at home and become a new center of unification. We can build new cities, incorporating in them the best of what has already been invented and created by others, and then they will become the prototype of the gradual renewal of our country.
But how to make Electrograd desirable for Russians? After all, it is not easy to motivate a person to move from their native places to a completely uninhabited city. The main condition, as it seems to us, should be the fundamental difference between Electrograd and all other settlements in Russia, including Moscow and St. Petersburg. A new city in Siberia should include all the best that has been created by man today. It is by becoming a "dream city" that it will be able to attract hundreds of thousands of Russians, and Technology and the solutions that will be applied and worked out during its construction, in the future can be extended to other cities of our country.
Smart cities
The introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into the urban environment is one of the most demanded global trends. The goal of a smart city is to improve the quality of life of its population by increasing efficiency in literally everything. Connected in a single information network, hospitals, schools, libraries, law enforcement agencies, power plants, utilities and other services will allow consumers to rationalize their financial costs and spending of time, this invaluable resource. By automating public services, the number of bureaucrats can be drastically reduced, possibly multiple. Life will be easier, faster and safer.
Not the last important decision here will be the introduction of unmanned vehicles, both railway (trams and metro) and wheeled (regular buses and taxis), as well as full coverage of the settlement with 5G and 6G communications.
"Green cities"
Currently, the global struggle for the environment is dictating new standards. We can make new cities with a minimum carbon footprint. Public transport must be made electric, and owners of electric vehicles must be completely exempted from the transport tax.
It is possible and necessary to build entire areas initially pedestrian, free of cars. Instead, create a whole network of bicycle and electric scooter paths. A green park should be laid out in the center of each new district. Energy-efficient residential buildings should be built no higher than five floors, and high-rise buildings and skyscrapers can only be left in a business center.
It will also be necessary to introduce technologies for the treatment and reuse of effluents.
Sustainable cities
When building new cities, it is possible and necessary to take into account the chronic diseases of Russian megalopolises. Who is not tired of the fact that every summer they turn off the hot water in order to master funds for the "repair" of heating networks? In Germany, for example, there are no annual cutoffs in water supply at all. Nothing prevents you from laying pipes once, which will serve for more than a dozen years; to lay asphalt, which even in Siberian realities will not have to be changed for 15-20 years. And such technologies we have... Russia is quite capable of bringing the quality of urban infrastructure to a completely different level, which today is inaccessible even to Western countries.
Of course, the implementation of all these plans requires competent and honest managers. At the same time, the introduction of an electronic construction management system, and subsequently the city itself, will ensure the rational use of budget funds, as well as protect private investments.
The new city, if it is as we described above, will undoubtedly improve the international image of our country, become a new chapter in its history, and also launch a large-scale program to improve the quality of life in Russia.
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