The city is what surrounds us every day, we go to work, to the store, to the park, go for a walk or just look out the window – we see and immerse ourselves in the urban environment. It shapes the mood and sets the pace of life. Therefore, the development of the urban environment and its beautification are immeasurably important for public well-being. A quality environment makes residents more calm, joyful and happy.
Today, attention to beautification is felt not only in megacities, but also in small towns, it concerns both streets, parks, and the area around the house. And if earlier yards were used only in elite-level housing, now it is a mandatory requirement even in the economy segment. But buyers do not want to stay only on their territory, city residents want to walk along the embankments, relax in squares and parks, and do sports in the open air. That is why public spaces are increasingly envisaged in the plans for the integrated development of territories.
Investment, not spending
For a long time, investors were not just not interested in the development of parks and squares, but also sought to refuse, to transfer existing property to municipal authorities. But the situation radically changed a few years ago, when clear examples appeared that prove that the development of the environment, beautification leads to an increase in the value of real estate. And everyone is interested in this: the city, because the number of collected taxes increases, and developers, because the value of real estate increases, and buyers who buy apartments with a new quality of life. It is easy to recall examples in Moscow, how the quality of life has improved with the improvement of the city embankments of Yauza, Chermyanka, and Moskva River, and how these once terrible urban wastelands now attract visitors on weekends.
Changes are taking place not only in the capital. In small towns, regional owners of large businesses also realized that they needed staff to keep their businesses running, and that they needed to create a comfortable urban environment for residents to stay and not move to regional centers. This is how squares and parks, playgrounds, and sports grounds were developed. In large cities, the main engine of change is different: developers need to attract buyers to increase profitability, and for this they need not only beautiful new houses, but well-organized space around the neighborhoods. As a result – modern wonderful yards, children’s and sports grounds.
Individual solutions for each territory
Improvement of urban areas has a different character depending on the location of the site in the city, its size, environment, infrastructure. In the center of the city, the high cost of land and the city’s activity make it necessary to carry out landscaping mainly of a recreational, relaxing nature: parks, squares, boulevards – places for contemplation and relaxation. On the outskirts of the city, near the sleeping areas, it is necessary to organize the free time of the population, create activity zones, so there are various sports and children’s playgrounds, places for recreation.
All happy areas are equally happy, each depressed area is unhappy in its own way. That’s why landscaping decisions should be different, taking into account all the specifics of the location. In some cases, they must be quite extraordinary. For example, closing central streets to create pedestrian zones or organizing a city park in former industrial areas, and for connectivity – a park above the road or a road above the park. There are many solutions, in each specific case it must be individual, performed directly for this place.
Individuality and environmentalism
At the moment, there are three main areas in which urban improvement is developing particularly actively: technological, ecological, sense of place.
• Technologies
More and more modern technologies have found their application in the field of engineering support and management of improvement projects. These include smart lighting control systems with adjustable brightness and color, irrigation, video surveillance and access control, garbage collection and disposal, and hopefully soon, snow and ice management. All this allows not only to increase comfort, but also to make the use of space cheaper.
• Ecology
When designing, more and more attention is paid to environmental problems and solutions that allow reducing the negative impact of the anthropomorphic factor on the environment. For example, the organization of controlled visitor traffic, rainwater collection and use systems, waste sorting and recycling, and greening of roofs.
• Location
The global trend to create an individual, own place in our country is worsened by the trauma of typical Soviet neighborhoods and high-rise buildings, when it was practically very difficult to distinguish even cities. Therefore, there is an active search for individual traits. If possible though somehow preserve the existing features of the place: old buildings, ravines, hills, a piece of rock – preserve, protect and emphasize. In case of absence – create. An art object, an individual sports center or a children’s playground, designed specifically for a given place, enrich the space and make it special. The diversity displayed by domestic architects, designers and artists cannot help but delight. Almost no project is complete without original solutions.
The evolution of landscaping
Landscaping remains one of the key factors influencing the decision to buy an apartment. High-quality landscaping of the surrounding area increases the level of comfort of city residents. We see landscaping spreading and increasingly taking over not only yards, but surrounding areas as well. Landscaping will evolve towards the creation of multifunctional all-weather spaces, increased environmental requirements, use of heat recovery technologies, surface water and snow collection, cleaning and waste disposal. And we are happy to take part in creating this future.