Cities of the Future in Russia

Alexey Ryzhkov

DOI 10.55140/2782-5817-2022-2-S2-4-9

The article presents a vision of the concept Cities of the Future in Russia by Alexey Ryzhkov, the founder of Seven Suns Development, e.Development, and the Positive Changes Factory, a social investor and author of the "Brighter World" concept.

Alexey Ryzhkov

Social investor and the founder of the Seven Suns Development Group and the Positive Changes Factory

In his June 2022 article "Russia – the Country of Positive Changes,"^[2] Alexey Ryzhkov comes to the conclusion that the next evolutionary step in the development of the humankind and the society in the most global sense is the construction of the Humane Society, the ultimate foundation of which is, put in one word, good. Since Russia is the only possible carrier of this model society, the pillar of the future life order, then to make it possible, it is time to start talking about, developing and implementing the most effective modules for implementing the model.

This means one or more modules saturated to the extreme with various aspects of the future life order model, which can be easily integrated with the current life order of the society, and deployed, with all their aspects, into the living system of the society with the least conflict with the existing organs and systems and the respective risks.

In this respect, the most suitable module seems to be that of the creation of "Cities of the Future." Cities of the Future are obviously the one module with most complete attributes of human life and society of the future, being essentially a scale model of the society, so all the necessary aspects and spheres of the new life model can be elaborated in the process of creating Cities of the Future.

To achieve this goal, an important element of prioritizing specifically the module of creating Cities of the Future is its multitasking – the ability to raise and solve simultaneously a great number of systemic issues necessary to build a new public system, without facing the significant risks of full-scale development of such a system, as any specific aspect and the entire system can be declared as experimental, until we are confident enough in the status of that aspect or the system in general.

Also, the Cities of the Future module can be used to address one of the most important objectives for Russia – that is, gluing together all its territories and turning them into a single effective and well-orchestrated organism. It seems necessary to address this task by defining various development concepts for different parts of Russia – Okrugs or Regions, each of which would have to perform its own unique function aligned with the predominant strengths, determinations and qualities of the respective territory and its population. At the same time, the development concept of each region must be fully aligned and integrated with the overall development concept of the country as a carrier of the new model of society’s life order – the Humane Society, revealing its various facets. This approach will enable turning the country into a single living organism, where each part is an organ performing its own function, rather than all doing the same thing, interfering and competing with each other and thus undermining each part’s capacity and ruining the synergies. It is therefore possible to develop each region into a unique competency center and the respective center of gravity for the people of appropriate nature, aptitudes, abilities and talents for certain areas of life coming from all over the country and beyond. These competency centers and centers of gravity can emerge in such sectors as education, science, culture, energy, security, economy, management, technology, production of certain goods, agriculture, various intellectual spheres, etc. It is important to emphasize here that we are not talking about the division of functions and their isolated performance by one or another part of the country; each region would still have all the institutions necessary for a fully independent functioning, with a focus on the development of a specific aspect.

An important element of prioritizing specifically the module of creating Cities of the Future is its multitasking – the ability to raise and solve simultaneously a great number of systemic issues necessary to build a new public system.

By implementing such a mechanism, we could "turn back the tide" of the current wrongheaded urbanization process, when the country’s population gravitates towards maybe fifteen to twenty cities, and ultimately to just one or two metropolitan regions, leading obviously to numerous risks and challenges.

The City of the Future, as a model, could be a territory where the people can live a full life, in and of themselves. It can be divided into residential areas, natural areas needed to maintain the environment of the common space, land for agricultural production, industrial areas, public recreation and leisure facilities (parks, squares, embankments, etc.), commercial areas (offices, business centers, etc.), consolidated trade zones, all necessary local and general social infrastructure to ensure the complete cycle of society functioning in all aspects of life – pre-school, secondary and higher education institutions, research centers, cultural amenities (theaters, cinemas, musical schools, concert halls, museums, etc.), and healthcare facilities (clinics, hospitals, medical institutes, etc.), and so on. Zoning of the City of the Future must be carried out in accordance with the new norms to ensure its integrity and self-sufficiency in performing its internal and external functions according to the principle of "autonomous organism."

It is possible to develop each region into a unique competency center and the respective center of gravity for the people of appropriate nature, aptitudes, abilities and talents for certain areas of life coming from all over the country and beyond.

Some of the following principles can be integrated in the design of the Cities of the Future:

• Population – up to about 100 thousand people;

• Total area – up to 25 km2 (for example, 5x5 km);

• Land distribution and urban zoning must follow the established norms in proportion to the total land area, to avoid disproportions and misalignment: natural territories – at least (%), public rest and recreation areas – at least (%), urban commercial and trading areas – no more than (%), residential areas with complete internal infrastructure – (%), etc.;

• Requirements for the availability of local infrastructure must be established in proportion to the capacity and purpose of the residential areas, including new types of infrastructure (neighborhood centers, community centers, urban public spaces, art spaces, co-working areas, etc.);

• As far as the local transportation is concerned, the City of the Future must prioritize the use of small and eco-friendly transport – bicycles, electric vehicles, etc.;

• Convenient and compact – the standards must establish that each urban planning unit (block, neighborhood) is to be supplied with everything necessary for the most convenient use of facilities by city residents, minimizing the need to travel around the city (to other urban planning units) and maximizing the efficient use of time;

• Eco-friendly – the cross-cutting principle of using the most environmentally friendly technologies in design, construction and operation in all areas of activity;

• Other principles.

It is particularly important to develop the infrastructure representing each sphere of life in the Cities of the Future (security, environment, provision of basic resources and needs, business, economy, finance, trade, lifestyle, fashion, management, education, culture, science, religion, worldview, etc.), each becoming a model of the development of the respective sphere in the future life order. These facilities will act as the drivers of reforms and transition towards the new life model, both for their specific spheres and the society as a whole.

Addressing the issue of building these representative facilities will require engaging the country’s leading development institutions in the corresponding areas in the joint design process, each being responsible for their own aspects in the life order of the future.

When developing new models for the organization of various spheres of life in the future and the new life order for the society of the future, all the development must be based on a single denominator, the fundamental idea of good and its manifestation, deployed and applied through various channels in each sphere.

At present, the Association of Volunteer Centers of Russia has created and operates the federal «Dobro» ("Good") Platform. The Platform has developed rapidly and widely since its launch; its underlying model of social interaction between the people based on mutual help, mutual assistance, and mutual kindness has proven relevant and viable and has received a vocal response from the majority of the country’s population who had the opportunity to experience it. This once again confirms the basic genotype of the Russian person, which is not limited to any specific national, territorial, etc. attributes but represents a universal foundation of traditional values and a certain natural moral choice of being above all a human.

We consider it reasonable to implement the Cities of the Future project largely on the basis of the Dobro Platform and the respective Association of Volunteer Centers, since this endeavor must be focused around ideology and common sense, and this will be the most adequate entry point into the project, setting it up for proper public presentation and the involvement of key development institutions and the state. The worldview vector of this Platform, although it may require some refinement and broader deployment, generally corresponds with the general future ideological vector of Russia and is aligned with the scope of the Cities of the Future project to be carried out under Russia’s flag.

Another issue of fundamental importance for joint development of the different aspects of the future life order is the consolidating ideological function of the common denominator of Good, which the namesake Platform ("Dobro" means "Good" in Russian) can be responsible for.

Since the concept of the Cities of the Future is based on the overarching idea of good and the «Dobro» Platform is already in operation, we suggest the following name for the project: Cities of the Future – "Dobro.City."

Of course, the overview in this article is somewhat simplistic, and the model of the Cities of the Future needs to be elaborated in more detail, which will be done in the process of working on this large-scale project.