According to the HSE City website, a team from the Faculty of Urban and Regional Development of the Higher School of Economics of the National Research University prepared a master plan for the development of Ussuriysk and presented it to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Ussuriysk is a very interesting city to work in. Since developing a master plan for such a city requires an integrated approach, faculty experts with different competencies such as economic, design, spatial, engineering were included in the project. As a result, our team managed to create an extremely smart product that will help Ussuriysk realize its potential,” said Evgeniy Mikhailenko, director of the City Center and Dean of the Faculty of Urban and Regional Development at the Higher School of Economics.
The final stage of development of the master plan took place simultaneously with the worst flood in Ussuriysk in the last 10 years. Taking into account the risk of such disasters and their recurrence in the future, the final master plan reflects various supporting solutions that strengthen the protection of the city and rural areas from floods and ensure their development.
The most important of these are a new dam system and a “green” stormwater channel: these will ensure safety and quality of life in the city and offer new opportunities for entrepreneurs to develop previously unsuitable areas.
Also in Ussuriysk, the Green Island park is being revived. It is also planned to build an international exhibition center next to which an agricultural-industrial technology park will be located.
Master planning is becoming the gold standard in the current urban development system. According to Dom.rf, 150 master plans for Russian cities have been developed since 2010. Projects in master plan format make it possible to justify decisions taken taking into account all aspects of city life, from the city economy to environmental quality and from the needs of residents to various natural features.