It was the second event dedicated to the mechanisms of creating a high-quality urban environment and improving living conditions. The Forum focused on the current situation in Russia’s cities and the development of urban environment.
The Living Environment: Housing and the City Forum was divided into two parts: a business program for representatives of authorities, businessmen, urban planning and architecture experts and ‘Urban Weekend Festival’ for all the citizens.
Business program of the Living Environment: Housing and the City Forum was focused on the following issues: making proposals on the legislation that should improve living standards and urban environment, sharing best practices in designing affordable and quality housing, promotion of modern standards of housing and urban improvement in Russia.
Participants included: Nikita Stasishin, Deputy Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation; Andrey Chibis, Deputy Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation; Alexander Plutnik, CEO of DOM.RF; Valery Radaev, Governor of the Saratov Region; Alexander Mamut, Chairman of the Board of Trustees; Fadi Jabri, Executive Officer Principal of Nikken Sekkei; Sergey Gordeev, President of PIK Group; Bart Goldhoorn, American architect and city planner; and other experts. In total, 634 representatives from 76 Russia’s regions participated in the business program.
As a part of the ‘Urban Weekend Festival’ there were City Tours Days and Urban Picnic with local and Moscow-based street food entrepreneurs, open lectures for urban entrepreneurs, 5 km run in the central historical part of Saratov and city tours created by locals. Everyone interested might have attended round tables on urban planning. The highlight of the ‘Urban Weekend Festival’ was a firework on the embankment.
Alexander Plutnik, CEO of DOM.RF, noted: ‘We are delighted to see that our events evoked such a great response among the citizens of Saratov. ‘Urban Weekend Festival’ attracted over 55.000 people, around 300 people attended the screening of the movie ‘A Bridge Is Being Built’. Over 1000 locals enrolled on city tours and also over 1000 people joined a run. Around 1100 visitors attended lectures by urban entrepreneurs. Over 15.000 people participated in the ‘Urban Picnic’, while the following performance was attended by 35.000 citizens.’
