Re-Imagining the future of the cities: “Shaping Davos” event session in Moscow
Within the framework of the World Economic Forum, held January 20–23 in Davos, a series of debates called «Shaping Davos» was organized in a number of cities all over the world. The discussions held under the auspices of the Global Shapers Community hubs brought together young professionals and recognized experts from different areas who discussed topics related to the agenda of the Davos forum. The topic of the Moscow meeting was dedicated to the future of cities. During the teleconference the discussion was joined by the representatives of four cities around the world and experts of international scale.
The key idea of the project was to identify timely local agenda concerning one of the important issues discussed at the forum with the help of hubs and to show the interest and the desire of young people to participate in decision-making; they also wanted to exchange information with the colleagues from other cities. During the teleconference, the participants of Global Shapers Community managed to discuss topical issues related to global development and the role of local communities in decision-making with their colleagues. Modern technologies allowed the organisers to link 20 hubs from around the world; the center of this discussion was located in Swiss Davos.
Representatives of the Moscow Global Shapers community organized and took part in the session on January 23, the topic of which was “Rethinking the future of cities.” Islamabad (Pakistan), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and Pune (India) joined Moscow on its discssion. Carlo Ratti, the director of the “Laboratory of sensitive city”, MIT (Carlo Ratti, Director, SENSEable City Lab, MIT), and Naheed Nenshi, the mayor of Calgary, Canada (Naheed Nenshi, Mayor of Calgary, Canada) acted as panelists in Davos. The event was moderated by the professor of the School of Journalism at the City University of New York, Jeff Jarvis (Jeff Jarvis, Professor, City University of New York — Graduate School of Journalism). All participants of the session discussed the question of “How to change the city’s infrastructure to meet the needs of growing urban populations?”
The subject of the discussion in Moscow was related to the challenges modern cities are facing and their influence on the behavior of citizens and the decision-making process. The speakers included the assistant of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Moscow Global Shapers Community hub member Natalia Fishman; curator, architectural critic, the President of the Association of architects, urban planners and developers “MARSH Lab” Elena Gonzales; the partner of Aventica company, editor in chief of the “UrbanUrban” project Egor Korobeynikov; architect and urban planner, founder of the “Apparatus” studio Alex Sabirullov and senior lecturer of the Cultural Management Department Nikolai Pryanishnikov.
The participants were asked to determine the circumstances and factors that cause the rethinking of the city as well challenges related to it. The problem of the low level of trust of citizens to the administrative authorities became one of the most discussed issues — emphasis on it was placed both at the discussion in Moscow, and in Natalia’s speech during the teleconference with foreign colleagues. It is not only the lack of trust as such, but the lack of communication tools to create these “trusting relationships”. The authorities, on the one hand, and citizens, on the other, do not understand the goals and interests of each other and speak different languages when discussing the issues related to public space. The lack of common language, the difference in ideas about available resources and strategic objectives do not allow officials and citizens to build constructive partnership. Certain steps have been taken to develop this understanding, but their sincerity, efficiency and success vary widely depending on the area and the human factor. Thus, it is imperative to build institutions and mechanisms that promote the so-called advocacy planning development of the city, with the help of which the representatives of the authorities and urban activists would able to broadcast their opinions to each other concerning the implementation of initiatives that affect the life of the city and changes in it.
City authorities have already made attempts to overcome this problem. In Moscow, the main measure to achieve this was the development of the “Active citizen” mobile application — the system of electronic referenda, allowing citizens to vote on a number of proposals. Despite the criticism of the application related to limited choice (of available options), the “Active citizen” has become a significant advance towards the building of the bridge between the officials and the city dwellers.
Artem Gerasimenko, the moderator of the discussion and the curator of the Global Shapers Moscow hub describes it as the “two steps forward — one step back” situation. Experience is an effective “tool” used in urban space, because even if the emerging initiatives do not lead to expected results or are incomplete, the accumulated knowledge allows us to analyse already taken steps and their effects, infer necessary conclusions and apply this experience in future.
According to Nikolai Pryanishnikov, it is very important to involve activists not only into local but also into strategic, global, decision-making. If there is no understanding, concerning strategic issues (e.g. highway construction, and so on) or if there is no agreement between the parties and people do not feel their involvement into the project, they can automatically create protest groups that will oppose corresponding decisions and their initiators.
On the other hand, apart from the dialogue of the public with the administrative authorities, there is the problem of their excessive cooperation. It might sound strange, but “embedding” urban activists into the power system distorts the impartiality of their actions; but activists can do things in a certain opposition to the city’s leaders and, thus, help them to avoid potential errors in the transformation of urban infrastructure.
As Elena Gonzalez has correctly noted, the city is a huge mechanism, and activists have to take into account different needs of its residents. Accordingly, decisions must not be prejudiced and consider the interests of those groups of citizens who (and whose initial problems) seem not to be concerned. For example, when a progressive step is made, such as the introduction of bicycle lanes, it should not affect the convenience of getting around the city for road transport.
A number of topical issues were raised during the discussion of the agenda by Davos experts. Colleagues from the hub shared their views on the main challenges faced by modern cities and their attempts to fight them — population mobility and the problem of the large influx of people from neighboring villages to big cities; shortage of electricity; the absence of a safe pedestrian infrastructure; congestion of highways and traffic; urban overcrowding.
Overall, as emphasized by the Mayor of Calgary Naheed Nenshi, the inhabitants of most cities around the world face very similar challenges and problems — everyone wants to live in a safe area with developed transportation, health and educational infrastructure. Accordingly, it is important not just to take into account the difficulties citizens are experiencing, but also to try to understand the barriers for effective transformation of urban spaces, in accordance with the needs of their residents.
It is safe to say that the discussion took place in the atmosphere of mutual interest and trust. All participants thoroughly prepared for the task, designed local agenda and listened to their foreign colleagues’ opinions. Each participant presented his/her view on what is happening in the cities and outlined his/her vision of further development. Significant contribution was made by Moscow hub shaper and Assistant of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Natalia Fishman.
The main flaw of the discussion was the absence of Moscow officials, responsible for the development of systems of citizen involvement into decision-making in the field of landscaping. Perhaps, the reason for that was inconvenient time — the discussion took place on weekend’s morning. That is why the organizers of the debate from Global Shapers Community suggest organizing a series of such discussions.
A common theme for further discussions will be dedicated to the process of achieving of one of the global objectives of sustainable development of the United Nations (Sustainable Global Development Goals) — Goal №11. It runs as follows: Sustainable development of towns and communities. According to the shapers, with the involvement of people responsible for decision-making, as well as experienced and young professionals and students, increases the chance of building a sustainable mechanism to achieve objectives in one single city greatly. The organizers plan 10 such events, during each of them the participants will meet and discuss important issues with each other and colleagues from other cities through videoconferences.
Author: Artem Gerasimenko, Asya Alieva