City Projects Foundation


The City Projects Foundation, also called the Urban Projects Foundation, was a Russian non-profit foundation created by Russian politician Maxim Katz and Russian journalist Ilya Varlamov in 2012, and which had ceased its activities by in March 2022. The foundation was aimed at improving the urban environment through the use of modern urbanism data. The foundation overseas several initiatives in Moscow, which have met with mixed reactions from the authorities, and it also worked in many regions of Russia.
In 2019, Daria Besedina, a member of the organization, was elected a deputy of the Moscow City Duma of the VII convocation. In 2020, the head of "Urban Projects" in Tomsk, David Avet'yan, became a deputy of the City Duma of Tomsk, and the head of "Urban Projects" in Samara, Vadim Alekseev, became a deputy of the council of the Oktyabrsky district of Samara.

Creation

The foundation was founded after Ilya Varlamov failed to gather enough signatures to run for mayor of Omsk. Initially, Varlamov's team planned to reconstruct streets and change the overall architectural appearance of the city, but after the idea failed, it was decided to start similar activities first and foremost in Moscow. Later elected mayor Vyacheslav Dvorakovsky supported Varlamov's ideas, stating in his pre-election speech that he was ready to implement his projects.
On June 4, 2012, the project was launched. Katz and Varlamov announced that they planned to make recommendations on the appearance of Tverskaya Street in Moscow, landscaping, placement of street furniture, and more. They planned to give lectures, translate literature, create and distribute visual materials.
The first announced initiatives were:
  • placing street ashtrays on Tverskaya,
  • researching and developing recommendations for improving pedestrian infrastructure on Tverskaya,
  • preparing to hold a Carnival in Moscow,
  • researching and developing a project to change streets, public transport routes, parks, courtyards, and squares in the Shchukino area.
At the same time, Ilya Varlamov explained the procedure for determining and implementing tasks as follows:
The "Projects" are jointly funded through sponsorships and Crowdfunding. Also in 2012, the Information Center of the Moscow Government planned to become an information sponsor of the foundation without financial funding. According to the foundation's report for 2017 and the first half of 2018, the foundation's income amounted to approximately 3.1 million rubles, of which 2.5 million rubles were private donations, 40 thousand rubles were targeted donations to St. Petersburg, 424 thousand rubles were a loan from the founders, 63 thousand rubles were received from book sales and 37 thousand rubles from the sale of products with "Projects" symbols. In total, "Urban Projects" received 2619 donations with an average amount of 952 rubles.
The executive director of the foundation from December 2017 to April 2018 was Pyotr Ivanov.

Activities in Moscow

Before the launch of each project, field research is conducted with the participation of volunteers: pedestrian traffic is studied, pedestrian actions are studied. Data from studies by prominent urbanists are used: Jan Gehl, Vukan Vuchic and others.
To study European cities, as well as to find an architect who would advise initiatives in Shchukino, Varlamov and Katz went on an expedition across Europe. Maxim Katz claimed that the Moscow mayor's office would sponsor the trip, but the information center of the government denied this information about financial support. According to Georgy Prokopov, deputy head of the center, the agreement only concerned the information support of the expedition.
During the expedition, special attention was paid to pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, the organization of comfortable public transport, as well as details of street improvement. Based on the results of the trip, video reports were published.

Improving the Shchukino District

The foundation's first studies were conducted in the Shchukino district. Data on people's activity in the area allowed the municipal assembly to be persuaded to purchase 500 street benches. While conducting research in the Shchukino district, the foundation's volunteers discovered a problem in the arrangement of pedestrian routes and crossings. Up to 700 people crossed the road at the same point on Shchukinskaya Street every day. The collected information persuaded local authorities to paint a "zebra" at this point.
Another direction in the improvement of the district was the fight against illegal advertising. By putting pressure on local authorities and the illegal advertisers themselves, the amount of visual clutter was reduced.
Maxim Katz repeatedly emphasized the need to improve street infrastructure:
To achieve the same goals as part of "Urban Projects," a project for a recreation area on Marshal Vasilevsky Street was developed for Shchukino. Studies by the foundation's volunteers showed that there was a demand for the development of this area for leisure activities. The project involves designing the space in the form of benches descending in an amphitheater, changing the lawn cover, combining kiosks into a common trading zone, installing tables and a canopy to provide shelter from the rain. It is reported that the initiative is supported by the prefecture of the North-Western District.

Prohibition of parking on sidewalks on Tverskaya Street

The "Urban Projects" foundation actively advocates for the prohibition of parking on sidewalks, the development of public transport, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure instead of expanding car roads.
Even before the launch of "Urban Projects," Maxim Katz published his assessment of the allocation of space on Tverskaya Street between pedestrians and motorists: motorists account for 1% of sidewalk users, while they occupy 67% of the space. With the foundation of the foundation, it became possible to conduct a more detailed study of the situation on Tverskaya. Its results were published in the blogs of Ilya Varlamov and Maxim Katz.
On October 12, 2012, parking markings on sidewalks were erased on Tverskaya Street, and parked cars began to be towed by tow trucks. According to Anton Buslov, co-chairman of the interregional public organization "City and Transport", this decision was made after the authorities became familiar with the "Urban Projects" report.
Maxim Katz describes the decision-making process by the mayor's office as follows:
A subsequent survey of Muscovites revealed approval of the ban on parking on sidewalks: almost 75% of respondents "negatively" and "rather negatively" assess permitted parking on sidewalks, and only 13% gave a "positive" and "rather positive" assessment. In addition, 76% of survey participants supported the city government's decision to eliminate parking on Tverskaya.

Ashtrays on Tverskaya

Volunteers of "Urban Projects" conducted a study of the behavior of smokers on Tverskaya. Here, as in other foundation studies, Jan Gehl's methodology was used. On Tverskaya Street, 8 points were chosen, at each of which, for 15 minutes of each hour, the number of smokers, the number of cigarette butts thrown on the asphalt, and the number of cigarette butts thrown into the trash can were counted.
Simultaneously with the research, the preparation of a project for the installation of ashtrays was launched. The design of ashtrays attached to poles was developed by Artemy Lebedev Studio. Varlamov stated that "Urban Projects" would install the ashtrays without the knowledge of the authorities.
The initiative is similar to the campaign of the non-profit organization to reduce cigarette butts thrown on the streets: according to their experience, similar measures lead to a reduction in the number of cigarette butts by an average of 54%. However, government officials reacted negatively to the initiative, calling it a PR stunt, and also reported that the unauthorized installation of ashtrays is prohibited due to safety concerns.

Cities for People exhibition

From November 17 to 26, 2012, the State Museum of Architecture named after A. V. Shchusev hosted the "Cities for People" exhibition of urban projects. It presented the results of research conducted by "Urban Projects". The exhibition stands highlighted the main problems of the city and demonstrated ways to improve the urban environment.
A number of lectures and discussions were held for visitors to the exhibition. They were attended by urban environment experts, Moscow officials, and participants of opposition organizations. Among the speakers were the chief architect of Moscow Sergey Kuznetsov, project coordinator of RosZHKH Dmitry Levenets, general director of Mosgortrans Peter Ivanov and others.
Museum director Irina Korobyina described the exhibition as a new stage in the life of the museum space and a pilot project for building a discussion platform within the museum.

Metro map

The Moscow Department of Transport, together with "Urban Projects", announced a competition for the creation of a new Moscow Metro map, which was to appear in carriages in 2013. The fund compiled a document containing requirements for the new map. In particular, for the first time, the map was to include several options: a compact one, intended for carriages, and a more complete one, placed at stations. Special attention in the scheme was paid to informing about other trunk transport modes and transfers to them. The requirements also included the presence of QR-codes for the Metro website, indication of the location of park-and-ride lots and special markings of stations adapted for people with disabilities.
The selection of works was carried out by a competition commission formed by the fund. Among its members were the head of the design development group Yandex.Maps Andrey Karmatsky, German rail transport specialist Robert Schwandl, advisor to the head of the Moscow Department of Transport Alexei Mityayev and others. In January 2013, online voting was held on the Department of Transport's website, the winner of which was the project of Artemy Lebedev's studio.