In Ukraine, experiments in the field of urban planning are still perceived as an unjustified risk. Authors of master plans and concepts prefer to follow years of proven practice or copy references from successful cities in Europe, without thinking too much about their appropriateness and viability in local circumstances. Rethinking in conditions of fierce competition, shortage of resources and locations suitable for large-scale complex development requires time and effort, and few people agree to invest "in the long term".
And now, in the conditions of economic crisis, prolonged war and chronic chaos with the regulatory framework, the Vlasne Misto team proposes to switch from the topic of urban development to the creation of new ones. Not in Kyiv, where developers are elbowing each other and the existing buildings, but in a 30-kilometer suburban zone. Within the boundaries of the Dmitrivska OTG, the territory with a total area of 450 hectares is already ready for the creation of the first cluster autonomous town for 32 people. For life surrounded by nature, with low-rise buildings, a full range of services and infrastructure, but without the stressful loads of a big city. PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA previously wrote about the start of sales here.
The cluster city boasts an enviable location among forests and lakes. Image courtesy of Vlasne Misto
The results of the administrative-territorial reform of 2015 and the implementation of the law "On Voluntary Unification of Territorial Communities" turned out to be ambiguous. The reform provided for the creation of more viable structures during the unification of villages in the OTG and the formation of a nucleus, due to which it was possible to develop dying settlements. In the absence of a clear leader, the association is accompanied by disputes, a struggle for resources and pulling the blanket. In the worst case, the result of combining the weak is the sum of the negatives.
Due to its proximity to the capital and the Zhytomyr highway, Dmitrivska OTG belongs to prosperous and promising communities. However, the proposal to incorporate an investment core into its composition from the outside opens up new horizons.
Project Vlasne Misto deserves attention as a subject of urban studies. It is worth considering carefully and in dynamics, tracking the progress from ambition to implementation. We begin the cycle of articles in which we would like to consider the prospects of the Ukrainian cluster city with an introduction.
Market square with craft eco-shops. Image courtesy of Vlasne Misto
Within the boundaries of the Dmitrivsk OTG, the territory with a total area of 450 hectares is already ready for the creation of the first cluster autonomous town for 32 thousand people
PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA: To dive into the topic, we need to look at it retrospectively. Tell us about the evolution of the idea. How did it all start and how did you manage to consolidate the efforts of like-minded people?
Yaroslav Korniachenko: While still developing detailed plans of territories for the development and construction of various projects from 2 to 50 hectares and conceptual plans on the territory of more than 200 hectares, I constantly focused on the value of the location, the multifunctionality of quarters and microdistricts, the integrity of architecture, national characteristics and the spectrum of various social trends — instead receiving tasks from customers for a dry economic calculation! It looked as if the values that are prominent for civilized countries remained insignificant for Ukrainian developers.
Yaroslav Korniachenko, CEO of Vlasne Misto
Before the birth of my daughter, in 2011-2014, I worked on a rather interesting project in the Crimea, where my team and I created a concept of food security for the southern coast: with a diverse network of farming settlements and production facilities, integrated into recreational areas and locations of temporary and permanent residence. Later, the daughter grew up, and in search of a future place of residence for the family, it was decided to create a project of a new standard for Ukraine from scratch. Thus began the countdown to the creation of the concept and the search for a location.
The first sketch concept had a working name Stone Forest - this name corresponded to the materials that were to be used in the base, but the goal was not to create a stone forest, but on the contrary - to integrate the city into the natural environment and the location as a whole, so that they become one whole. I met with Volodymyr Nepiyvoda (YOD Group) and Viktor Kudin (KUDIN architects), and then the process of creating the final version of the concept began. We and our partners are united by common values, energy and, in fact, the project, which has new for Ukraine social, ecological, energy, people-centered urban planning principles, corresponds to the latest trends of sustainable urban development.
PM: Who is on your team? What are the motivations and goals of your partners?
AS.: Our team is quite large, and you will gradually get to know it. These are owners of land plots, investment funds and private investors, "mentors" are professionals in their fields, who with us will implement the highest quality infrastructure facilities in all sectors (education, medicine, energy, HoReCa, Retail, Hospitality, service and production of craft products). These are also like-minded artists who want to develop Ukrainian art, masters of their craft, and many more people — producers of services and building materials, designers, engineers, who in the process of cooperation already become our future neighbors and simply strive for the perfection of the project.
We all want to live in a new way, without expecting someone to do something for us. We want to live in comfort and safety, enjoy the time spent with our families, develop in a sincere and open society, live in houses and apartments that are built from natural and high-quality materials, implement a project that will give everyone an impetus to think about the future, rationally use natural resources and reduce harmful emissions into the atmosphere.
We implement educational institutions with an innovative approach for our town with Volodymyr Kozlenko and the KMDSH team. The first SPA hotel is implemented by the Ukrainian investment Multi-family Office AFA headed by Yuriy Prus. Recently, at the official opening of sales, we agreed and are preparing a memorandum for the joint implementation of the medical town with Vitaly Girin and the team of the ADONIS network of clinics. The number of partners is growing, in particular, with each new future resident of the cluster city.
A recreation area and a place for practicing yoga surrounded by a forest. Image courtesy of Vlasne Misto
PM: Can the creation of Vlasne Misto be called a project: does it have clear deadlines, entry and exit points? What stage are you at now?
AS.: Vlasne Misto is the newest project of an autonomous city from scratch for a population of 32 thousand, integrated into a context with clear principles of sustainable development. We started designing more than five years ago and have been building for the second year. Unfortunately, the difficult year 2022 made some adjustments, but we did not lose faith and became stronger, rallied, expanded the team, finished the projects of many infrastructure facilities and blocks of low-rise buildings, we are now undergoing examination and receiving permits to start construction work. The planned time frame for the implementation of this large project is the creation of 4 functional zones in 16 years. During five years of designing, my team and I developed various options for sustainable implementation and, in addition to plan A, we also have plan B and even plan Y.
We want to live in comfort, safety, enjoy time spent with families, develop in an open society, live in houses that are built from quality materials
PM: Which architects and planners do you work with? Is the final concept and master plan of the territory ready? Are you planning to use a single design code in architecture and landscaping?
AS.: At this time, the master plan has been approved by all participants and me as the CEO. It meets all the implementation plans and values that we wanted to embed in it. The architectural part of individual residential buildings, block buildings, low-rise buildings of the first 4 years has been completed. Some projects undergo examination, we receive permits. Most of the infrastructure facilities have already been designed, the implementation will take place according to our plans. We continue to build the first educational institution this year.
Today we continue to work on architecture with KUDIN architects, YOD Group, LAWA, SIMPLI & Katya Virovtseva. Our reliable designers are Osnovnyi Moment LLC (Andrii Bidakov and Dmytro Kochkaryev). We develop projects of external networks and internal communications with MICOMFORT, Prøectum.
In order to achieve the integrity and harmony of the city, we chose a single design code and approaches to designing the architecture of all objects for the entire period of project implementation.
PM: Is environmental friendliness and green technologies in the construction of architecture and infrastructure a response to market demand, or is it rather a matter of social responsibility?
Y.K.: The social responsibility of the nation is growing every day, especially when you and I have more than 70% of water bodies polluted due to invasion, destroyed and partially captured power generation network, etc... Of course, the state of the economy also affects the pace of development of these technologies on a large scale. In our project, we have balanced capital costs for these technologies with operational costs in the future to fulfill our social mission, which we will implement with the help of residents and their personal values.
Economic, energy and ecological are the three main principles of sustainable development of our city-cluster, which help to create safety and comfort, bring rationality and reduce the impact of city life on the environment. In combination with educational facilities, laboratories, and a network of sensors, we will be able to develop innovative technologies, teach them and highlight their value even outside our city.
The market square is the heart of social life in Vlasne Misto. Image courtesy of Vlasne Misto
PM: You mentioned the sustainable development of the cluster city. Are energy efficiency and sustainability plans based on actual calculations? Regarding the construction process: could you please tell us more about what exactly makes it environmentally friendly? Is it about the use of eco-materials (which ones exactly?) or about the fact that residential buildings will be certified according to LEED, BREEAM? Do you plan to certify objects?
AS.: The principles of sustainable development of our cluster city, which I mentioned above, are confirmed by programs, projects and clear calculations. The economy is based on the latest technologies, people-centeredness (this is comprehensive support for the development of a society of sincere and open residents who develop and develop), strong ties between participants to achieve higher quality and added value for everyone, expansion of the sales market, a rational urban planning decision, the ratio of the number of workers places, niches for business, production of goods, services, art to the number of residents, guests of the city and the region as a whole.
Economy, energy and ecology — these principles of sustainable development of the cluster city are confirmed by programs, projects and clear calculations
Energy efficiency is calculated for each building and for the entire city as a whole, the rational use of electricity and thermal energy, the production of green renewable energy within the project to achieve complete autonomy of the city in the future (Vlasne Green Industry Park) and to reduce emissions into the atmosphere are assumed.
Environmental friendliness is the construction of an autonomous modular water treatment complex for 12000 - 15000 m³ per day, which is designed to connect two existing settlements plus a system for collecting and cleaning rain and melt water (about 1 million m³ / year), in the complex it will satisfy the need for household water supply and irrigation of landscaping zones, which according to the maximum calculations is 7700 m³ per day. Autonomous water treatment with a network of 65 wells throughout the city will ensure the supply of drinking water. Also, elements of rainwater retention in the landscaping area are laid in the profiles of the street network. Among other environmental measures, the complex of sorting and complete processing of solid waste should be noted.
Yes, we use decorative natural building materials - stone and wood on the facades of buildings, and we also practice recycling of materials with a reduced level of carbon footprint. But, unfortunately, we cannot technologically abandon reinforced concrete, which is the framework of the main buildings.
During the design process, we developed and patented PRX-panels, new lightweight floor slabs that reduce the use of wood, but at the same time withstand heavy loads. During the implementation of our project, you will see many interesting building materials of Ukrainian origin or joint production with Ukraine from clay, wood, carbon, glass and even from new concrete mixtures.
In heating, we combine classic systems with heat pumps and form the consciousness of residents to reduce the use of natural gas. Today, we are preparing a full calculation of the CO₂ balance for the entire project. To achieve the zero value of this indicator, a large number of green areas around the city were designed. The main object of carbon consumption is the greenhouse complex in the center of the future city (6,3 t CO₂ / day from the air and 7,2 t CO₂ / day from the forced supply system). Approximately 160 hectares of parks, squares, green roofs and pedestrian streets, lawns (1300 t CO₂ / year) are also planned, and 750 hectares of forest massif around the city (about 6000 t CO₂ / year) are also available for residents and guests of the town.
Family house, one of the options. Image courtesy of Vlasne Misto
During the design of individual buildings, we consult with LEED and BREEAM certification specialists and plan the certification of buildings and structures
PM: What do you think are the main disadvantages of living in a big city and the disadvantages of living in a village? Will Vlasne Misto be free of these drawbacks?
AS.: Sometimes what is an advantage of living in the country seems to be a disadvantage in the city — and vice versa! I know it well. Among the disadvantages of most cities, I can include the high density of buildings, as a result, overpopulation and excessive load on infrastructure facilities, the economic attractiveness of buildings in the central parts, overloaded existing transport networks, as a result, hourly traffic jams, the road from home to work, school, medical institution, places of rest takes a lot of time. The norms of parking spaces are designed for the times when a car was a luxury. Now, to park in most parts of Kyiv during the day, you need to be lucky, and in the evening in a residential area - it's like hitting the jackpot! Because of this, we receive reports of high levels of air pollution several times a week. Added to these problems are outdated technologies for cleaning emissions from enterprises and utility engineering networks within the city. Relocation of the former and reconstruction of the latter is almost impossible in the complex, only selectively.
Due to uncontrolled, short-sighted urban planning decisions in large cities of Ukraine, it is difficult to get not only education near the house, but also a timely medical examination. In such conditions, preventive medicine becomes a burden, so we all turn to the doctor only for urgent needs. You can try to go to the cinema only on the weekend, and not only us, but also business owners suffer from this.
A network of stores near the house is developing - the business is profitable, but if the quality or assortment is insufficient, then the consumer suffers. The outskirts of the city are turning into suburbs - sleeping areas of the Soviet era, when life is work, communication takes place within the family or a small group of people. And you often just don't know your neighbors. All this creates an atmosphere of lack of trust between people and lack of security in general.
Yaroslav Korniachenko, CEO of Vlasne Misto
As for modern Ukrainian villages, the lack or absence of high-quality medical facilities and engineering water treatment facilities is an even more global and frequent problem than in cities that cannot cope with the growth of the urban population. Most of the villages to this day do not have high-quality hard surfaces on the central roads and small streets, because of this factories are closed and jobs disappear. Villages become appendages for agricultural holdings. The lack of jobs reduces economic opportunities to receive high-quality higher education and medicine even at a distance, makes recreation and cultural development impossible. Today, the village is the bearer of our cultural traditions and continues to produce high-quality agricultural products in individual households, which are increasingly popular in cities. But they are underestimated, to a greater extent sometimes simply due to the lack of good packaging.
The extinction of villages and, conversely, the growth of megacities occurs in most countries. But, knowing about the shortcomings of cities, it is scary to think what we will get to. I hope not to high death and suicide rates like in Korea, China and Japan due to excessive stress.
At Vlasne Misto, we try to solve these problems and avoid other disadvantages of living in the city and the village, so we will try to make our Ukrainian City Village format.
Kindergarten with primary school for small residents of Vlasne Misto. Image courtesy of Vlasne Misto
PM: You mentioned earlier that urban development is hampered by the presence of a large number of owners whose interests often do not coincide. Who is the majority shareholder of Vlasne Misto? Who makes the decisions and makes the rules? Will residents who have purchased residential buildings have the right to vote, the opportunity to influence development?
AS.: Today, public access to the registers is open, if a person is interested, he can get all the information. I can say for myself that shareholders are a rather small group of individuals and legal entities. At the first stages of the concept, I worked independently with a group of specialists and designers in order to create a complete concept based on all urban planning principles, in accordance with current legislation and norms. Developed economic plans for project implementation and values for each owner of land plots. When the project was at the final stage, negotiations began. The goals were achieved, the team expanded thanks to contacts or new partners. Therefore, we are rapidly moving forward together!
Yaroslav Korniachenko, CEO of Vlasne Misto
A service cooperative has been established on the territory of Vlasne Misto, each resident will become a member in accordance with the law. All communication, discussion and decision-making regarding the life of the city, environmental, social programs and issues of quality control of the services provided, public events, etc. will take place with the help of a smartphone application. Each resident will be a member of the cluster as a consumer and possible business owner, investor, partner. Everyone's participation in the life of the city is very important.
PM: What are the components of Vlasne Misto's economy: in what proportions do you plan to develop commerce, production and services? Are you planning to form a separate budget from the Dmitrivska OTG, which can be directed to development and beautification?
AS.: Currently, we do not plan to register a separate administrative unit. Filling the budget of the Dmitrivska OTG will provide an opportunity to develop the community as a whole, to balance the quality of educational and medical communal facilities, and to develop the transport network around Vlasne Misto.
The idea of a cluster city extends to the entire OTG and already today connects new massifs, enterprises and even farms to create jobs, stimulates the achievement of a balance of the economy of the region and each resident personally, and increases the level of security. This will definitely have a qualitative impact on the future of Vlasne Misto.
Each resident will be a member of the cluster as a consumer and possible business owner, investor, partner. Everyone's participation in the life of the city is very important
Within the framework of our project, all landscaping, construction costs and costs for operating life activities are provided exclusively by the internal development strategy. Today we agreed on the reconstruction of communal sewage treatment facilities, which will make it possible to connect new households in some villages to centralized water drainage. The project is expected to create 13000+ jobs: this is more than required by urban planning regulations. Educational, medical, recreational, industrial and other facilities are calculated with 15-35% of the stock above the city's needs. At the same time, the leading company helps in the development of external sales markets, develops powerful connections between the participants inside to achieve added values of each.
Full day school. Image courtesy of Vlasne Misto
PM: How do you see the future of Vlasne Misto in 20-30 years? What if the values of the new generation do not coincide with yours, and the children who will grow up will prefer to build a life in big cities?
AS.: In 20 years, I am sure, the city will be completely built and will develop, I think, on much wider territories. And this will give impetus to others: we will see many new local towns.
Already in 20 years, the city will be completely built and will develop on much wider territories. And this will give impetus to others
According to urbanization trends, the world is indeed moving towards creating 700 large megacities by 2050. Ukraine is 10-15 years behind European and world countries, but in some areas of development we are ahead of them. We are a strong nation, the events of recent years have made us wiser, we have reassessed our values, especially regarding the lives of our relatives, peace of mind and time spent together. We know what it's like to lose entire cities, large food warehouses and infrastructure facilities, engineering networks that are localized in one place and on which the safety of 500 thousand or more people depends. We appreciate every liter of water after the explosion at the Kakhovskaya HPP. The socialization of Ukrainian society is at the highest level, and I am sure that we will never lose these values, so the principles laid down in Vlasne Misto will be appropriate for all circles of society.
Yaroslav Korniachenko, CEO of Vlasne Misto
Everything is learned in comparison and depends on education. We have been developing our cities for more than 20 years all over the world, and what have we got? Quality Ukrainian education of our children will give an even greater impetus and desire to live better, appreciate nature, create, create families, restore the nation and raise the country's economy, because we are worth it and have everything for it. We do not need to artificially wash entire islands in the oceans, create linear cities isolated from the desert, we need to preserve our country for future generations and make it, if possible, cleaner, greener and with a strong economy to protect it from foreign invaders.
