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Russia will have its own eco-city: Sakhalin authorities dare to establish a new city

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Russia will have its own eco-city: Sakhalin authorities dare to establish a new city

The Sakhalin Oblast is planning to create an eco-polis by 2030. The editorial board of Made in Russia has studied the concept of this ambitious idea.

The issue of territorial division is quite acute in Russia: due to the outflow of population, small towns in the remote areas are dying, while capitals, on the contrary, suffer from overpopulation.

It is still a difficult situation to reverse - regional authorities are losing to capitals and million-strong cities in terms of financial opportunities and, consequently, in terms of infrastructure, education level, cultural and entertainment programs. The trend is only gaining momentum.

The ideas to reanimate the emptying cities more often than not turn out to be too ambitious, instead the officials get stuck in trying to save what is left and the plans for the construction of the whole city become something out of fantasy.

But in 2020 it became known that Agency for Strategic Development "Centre" in partnership with the Institute of General Plan of Moscow is planning to develop a model of eco-city in the Sakhalin region. It will be situated on the territory of the Korsakov urban district.

Unfortunately, at the moment there are not many details of the new town. Sergey Olontsev, Deputy Chairman of the Sakhalin Oblast Government, speaking at a press conference in Moscow today, said that the authorities intend to attract investment to the region through the construction and breathe life into the existing city of Korsakov.

"Ecopolis is one of the key territories of the agglomeration. It is a new city that will include the port city of Korsakov. Based on that message, the new area will be developed. The place was not chosen by chance. The development and reconstruction of the Korsakov port will allow its integration into the international global transport and logistics infrastructure. It is an objective prerequisite and driver of the coming changes", Olontsev emphasized.

Alexey Rakitsky, Minister of Architecture and Urban Development of the Sakhalin Oblast, said that the eco-polis will be one of the most important parts of the new agglomeration. "By 2030 we plan to increase the population of the agglomeration by 50 thousand people," he said.

According to the initiators of construction, the eco-polis itself could become home to 25 thousand people by 2030. For them, 1 million square meters of housing will be built. At that, all buildings in the city are not expected to have more than 7 stories.

An educational block of four schools and eight kindergartens will be built in the city. "We want our talented young people to receive a quality education and to stay working in Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands," Olontsev explained.

He also noted that the construction should be as environmentally friendly and waste-free as possible. It is already known that the city's embankment will be built from the soil dredged during the construction of the Korsakov port.

"Ecopolis will be Russia's first climate and environmental standard center, a multimodal international logistics center in a special economic zone with a special registration and resident activity regime," Olontsev believes.

The authorities explained that the project was a commercial one, involving investors. Thanks to the construction, about 15 thousand new jobs may appear in the district.

Contest

The final look of the city will be formed within the framework of the contest organized by the Center strategic development agency.

Competition was launched on May 12. On June 7, it will finish accepting proposals. On June 23, five winning projects will be chosen.

Their authors will engage in more detailed development of their ideas and will be able to attend a kick-off seminar in Korsakov. Final results of the competition will be known in September.

Sergey Georgievsky, Director General of the "Centre" and head of the Organising Committee of the contest, pointed out that a sociological survey is being conducted in the district in parallel with the contest. It will help to define a portrait of the future citizens of eco polis. This will help to build a city that will best meet the wishes of residents.

It is also worth noting that "eco town" is only a category of the city. Its name, as the authors of the idea hope, will appear within the approved town-planning concept and will be agreed with the local residents.

We would remind that the last Russian city was founded in 2012 - it was Innopolis in Tatarstan. It was created for the development of information technologies and innovative high technologies. Before that - in 1994 - a new capital was built in Ingushetia - the city of Magas.

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