Urban Village: The Best of Different Worlds

Let's talk about agricultural intervention and the phenomenon of the urban village: the origins of the idea, the providers of the concept, the implemented plans, the ambitions of Silicon Valley, as well as the trend of urban farming, which is gaining momentum, and gardens in Manhattan. And let's try to imagine whether the urban village can become a bright, significant inclusion in our reality.

 

When downshifting is not an option

Take the best of both worlds: keep the main advantage of the city — energy and networking, but live in harmony with nature and know your neighbors face to face. This is perhaps one of the most dramatic questions of our time. The most dramatic, because few manage to satisfy him. Not everyone likes the idea of ​​moving to the suburbs, and even more so - beyond the 50-kilometer mark from the city limits, even if it is a modern settlement with infrastructure and broadband access to the Internet.

The search for new successful planning solutions is being experimented all over the world. In New York, residential, office and commercial blocks are strung together on ecological ridges similar to the famous High Line; Barcelona is divided into superblocks, where the roads are left only around the perimeter of the square, giving the inner passages to pedestrians; in Paris, the "15-minute city" program is being promoted. And in Great Britain and on the California coast of the USA, urban villages are being built.

If the City is the embodiment of cultural integration alongside globalization, then the Village is a place where we find peace of mind. What is an "urban village" in the modern sense? Ideally, this is a predominantly pedestrian, green, lively area populated by healthy and happy people. A bit like the neighborhoods that Jane Jacobs was nostalgic for, but much more comfortable, more ecological, more technological. With IoT-connected rooftop gardens and urban farms.

Do you remember the expression "the bend of the city and the village"? This social movement, inspired by the Bolsheviks, involved the exchange of resources for cultural values, the exchange of bread for spectacles. After the completion of the new economic policy, the twist turned into a forced pro-rationalization — the robbery of the peasantry, a famine, which turned the border between the countryside and urbanized territories into a deep socio-cultural chasm. In general, in Eastern Europe, already since the Middle Ages, the concept of "village" has acquired rather negative connotations. This is a reference to ignorance, backwardness, rigidity and poverty. These are roadlessness, low-paid work and lack of services and entertainment.

But in Britain, the village has been idealized for centuries as a paradise lost by the townspeople. Bucolic England has always been the focus of art and literature — praised by poets, writers and politicians. For the British, the village, with its flourishing gardens and friendly neighbors, is still the best possible form of spatial and social organization today—even in a resolutely urban society of the 80st century. Therefore, it is not surprising that the concept of urban villages appeared precisely in London. Or to be more precise, in Buckingham Palace. It happened in the XNUMXs of the XX century.

 

Project of the Prince of Wales

Everyone knows about the retrophile architectural preferences of the Prince of Wales, who does not hide his dislike for modernism, let alone deconstructivism and futurism. "A terrible boil on the face of a beloved and elegant friend", this phrase, which was uttered by Prince Charles back in 1984 during a speech to RIBA members, where the project of an extension to the National Gallery in London was discussed, is still remembered.

But if we examine the position of the heir to the throne in more detail, it turns out that he generally called for what everyone who calls himself an urbanist is now calling for - to give preference not to dazzling abstract design for the sake of short-term financial benefits, but to the search for beauty, harmony, connections with nature If we judge by deeds, and not by words, the Poundbury project became a demonstration of exactly how the Prince of Wales envisions an urban village.

Poundbury is an extension of the city of Dorchester. As the largest landowner in the Duchy of Cornwall, the Prince allocated 190 hectares of land for development and announced that he would take it upon himself to create an attractive multi-functional and socially mixed settlement. Here are four principles that, according to the prince, reflect the philosophy of the experimental village:

1) аarchitecture: beautiful and reflects the local character and originality;

2) жitlo: affordable social housing is integrated with private, does not differ from it and is just as diverse;

3) пroaster: designed for pedestrians, not just cars;

4) вusage: combination of housing and offices with retail, as well as public spaces.

The news that Prince Charles decided to play Baron Osman caused a huge scandal. Newspapers competed in epithets, talking about the expansion of neo-Luddism and the exercise of retrophilia. Critics were convinced that the middle class would not want to buy housing in social housing, that a dense urban environment would not suit the tastes of the British, who saw the ideal of a private estate, and that industrial and commercial companies would reject the idea of ​​locating in such a predicted unsustainable environment - a fake traditional organically developed village.

If the city is the embodiment of cultural integration along with globalization, then the village is the place where we find peace of mind

Construction of Poundbury began in 1993 and is scheduled to be completed in 2025. Today, Britain's first urban village is home to around 4 people. And, surprisingly (the editors of PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA are also impressed), most of the pessimistic forecasts have not come true yet!

Prices for real estate in Poundbury start from a quite democratic (by the standards of Great Britain) check of 120 and reach the bar of 1,7 million pounds. At the same time, looking at the street, it is impossible to distinguish with the naked eye which is a social apartment and which is a luxurious penthouse: all the houses are built as solidly and qualitatively as possible. Streets are designed to prioritize pedestrians and cyclists, but that doesn't mean cars have been kicked out of Poundbury - they're just parked in underground car parks.

Special attention is paid to the cleanliness of the visual environment. You will not see air conditioning units on the facades, and antennas on the roofs: all engineering communications are hidden. No billboards and minimal road signs: drivers are expected to respect the rules, be able to assess the situation and always give way to a pedestrian. Instead, all the buildings have built-in huts for birds - barn owls and swallows. And, of course, Poundbury has elements of a natural economy: a community orchard, a vegetable farm and even a pond for breeding fish, geese and ducks.

Construction of Poundbury began in 1993 and will be completed in 2025. Today, about 4 people live in Britain's first urban village

And what about architecture? All of it, according to the preferences of the Prince of Wales, is decorated in Georgian and neoclassical styles, with columns and porticoes. For some, this circumstance is enough to brand Poundbury a "retrophile", but a study by Oxford Brookes University found that 86% of Britons would like to live in a similar place.

Some believe that the reason for the success is that the planning of the first urban village was entrusted to Leon Crier, a famous provider of new urbanism. Someone is sure that the decisive factor and guarantee of a good implementation of the project is the patronage of a member of the royal family, a kind of administrative resource. And someone will notice that historically Dorchester is a rural hinterland, so the new residents of Poundbury are from a patriarchal society who are ready to humbly accept all decisions from above.

Leon Krier himself, the author of the master plan, says that he gave Poundbury "healthy bones", but for the second decade his brainchild is developing in an evolutionary way: "Modern Poundbury is not like the plan drawn up 20 years ago. It is formed independently, adapting to changes every day."

 

Circulation and export of the template

The success of the first British urban village gave rise to the development of many similar projects in Great Britain: for example, Bordesley Urban Village in Birmingham, Garston Urban Village in Liverpool, West Silvertown Urban Village in the Royal Docks in London, etc. But in each individual case, the concept was adapted to local specifics.

The co-founder of the British Urban Villages Group, Tony Aldous, the author of the manifesto "Urban Villages, the concept of creating sustainable multifunctional urban settlements", formulated the following criteria.

1. Population: 3–000 people of various ages and social groups.
2. Territory: large enough to accommodate the necessary infrastructure and maximum self-sufficiency of the settlement.
3. All important facilities are within walking distance.
4. There is a central square.
5. There is an elementary school.
6. Retail trade facilities are distributed throughout the territory.
7. Various forms of real estate ownership: private, communal, municipal.
8. Well-developed public transport, combined with city-wide transport.
9. Slow traffic.
10. The architecture is in harmony with the features of the area and topography.
11. There are architectural landmarks, visual accents.
12. Blocks, streets and buildings correspond to the mixed-use concept.
13. The streets are passable, convenient for pedestrians, there are no dead ends and barriers.
14. Clear and logical navigation.
15. Architectural, visual diversity of buildings and spaces that change and adapt over time.
16. Lively spaces in front of houses.

In parallel with the British, the "urban village" format was studied all over the world, which eventually led to modifications and reinterpretations. An urban village can be a block or a group of blocks that share a common identity or appear within the same plan. To be located in the city center, on the outskirts or to be a settlement "from scratch" with a population of 150 to 5 thousand and an area of ​​1 to 300 hectares. The spread is quite wide, but one of the defining characteristics of urban villages is mixed use, social and architectural diversity, environmental benefits and role as a catalyst for city-wide development.

If the modernists favored spatial forms rather than social processes, the new urbanists build their new urban villages based on such foundations as community, neighborliness, and the formation of a new identity. A century ago, Le Corbusier explained urban diseases as follows: “The city dies because its planning is not proportional to the geometric quarter. The result of true geometric planning is repetition. The result of repetition is the standard. Perfect form."

In the modern imagination, the urban village is the complete antithesis of Le Corbusier's Ville Radieuse. Its design principle is not symmetrical geometry, but sociology: the proposal of a new lifestyle that combines the advantages of urban and rural life.

 

San Jose is the golden mile of Silicon Valley

The development of urban villages is among the top main strategies identified in the General Plan Envision San Jose 2040. In just half a century, San Jose has turned from a garden society into the capital of Silicon Valley and entered the list of the 10 largest cities in the United States with a population of more than a million people. It is the center of gravity for hundreds of thousands of startups and neophytes who dream of a rapid career in large IT corporations. A few years ago, the authorities of San Jose were forced to admit that the city is going through the most severe crisis in the field of residential real estate - there is an acute shortage of it.

In the process of searching for optimal solutions, San Jose has become a laboratory in which innovative planning and design solutions are born and tested. For example, the hackerhouses of Silicon Valley became protocol livings that combined the possibility of living, working and leisure under one roof and initiated the concept of shared living, which was adopted by developers in different countries of the world (read more about this format in the article "Cohabitation — live or survive? Colivings, cohousing and rental houses in the XNUMXst century» in the 13th volume of PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA). Currently, the development company StarCity is building two towers with coliving in San Jose. But in the hierarchy of priorities of the authorities of San Jose, urban villages are in the first place.

The New Urbanists build their new urban villages based on such pillars as community, neighborliness and the formation of a new identity

In the vision of the planners of San Jose, the urban village is a dense multifunctional quarter with a variety of architecture, convenient infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists, which has everything necessary for a full life and recreation, takes into account the needs of people from different socio-economic strata.

San Jose's 2040 development plan identifies the locations of more than 70 future urban villages. Special attention is paid to the so-called brand projects, which should serve as a catalyst that contributes to the development of the entire territory of the district and the city in general. For example, AvalonBay envisages the creation of four public plazas; Orchard Signature is a turnkey public park; Bascom Gateway Station Signature is a public space around the light rail station; Sparta Signature is a square at the intersection of two busy streets.

Also, in order to be included in the list of branded projects, i.e., those in the implementation of which the City Hall will contribute, it is necessary to meet the following criteria: building density of at least 55 apartments (housing units) per 4 square meters. m; focal area; public open space; pedestrian-friendly design; community participation in the project. And, of course, high-quality architecture, landscape design and landscaping.

 

Microformat for Beverly Hills

In the summer of 2020, the Gardenhouse residential complex opened in Beverly Hills - a series of 18 white high-rise villas, flooded with greenery, united around an internal garden. The facades on the street side are covered with succulents and flowering vines - the largest green wall in the USA is the hallmark of Gardenhouse.

This is the first project of the major Chinese architecture company MAD Architects in the United States, inspired by the views of the picturesque villages in the Huangshan Mountains in Eastern China. The very configuration of the complex and the shared common area are designed to encourage "a high sense of community, a sense of individuality and exclusivity" in the residents. Why did Chinese architects decide to leave this green card, choosing the image and typology of an urban village for the premiere project on the Californian coast?

"Gardenhouse is a unique opportunity to influence not only the architecture of Los Angeles, but also to imagine a new paradigm of life on the West Coast - when people are emotionally closely connected with nature. This is especially important for densely populated cities like Los Angeles,” says Ma Yansong, founder and general partner of MAD Architects.

Where to live for the Californian middle class? Gardenhouse - half town, half village - should be the answer to this question

The development of Los Angeles is based on two planning typologies: isolated from the city residences for multimillionaires and apartment buildings for service personnel. But where should the representatives of the Californian middle class live? Gardenhouse - half town, half village - should be the answer to this question. The cost of condominiums starts at 3,7 million dollars - this is a lot even for California, but if you take into account the architecture from the iconic studio, landscapes from Seasons Landscaping and interiors from Rottet Studio, then the price is quite adequate for designer real estate. But definitely not "social".

 

Urban Village in a package from IKEA

In the summer of 2019, at the "Days of Democratic Design", an annual conference held by IKEA at its headquarters in Elmhult, Sweden, a model of sustainable settlement was presented, where private living spaces are combined with spaces under shared ownership, and all issues of living are solved commune Comfort for life, sustainability and accessibility - these are the three pillars on which the project is based. At the same time, "a sustainable lifestyle should not be felt as a burden, but should become a natural part of life."

"The Urban Village project will allow combining privacy with publicity. This gives an opportunity to become a part of a dynamic community and experience all the positive aspects of SOCIALIZATION," is how SPACE10, a research and design laboratory focused on developing new formats of urban housing, presents its project. It functions as a division of IKEA, and the Urban Village project was developed by it together with EFFEKT Architects.

SPACE10 offers future residents of Urban Village to share square meters with neighbors, thus reducing living expenses. For example, residents not only co-own co-working and event spaces, fitness areas, playgrounds, sensory gardens, but can also share a kitchen or living room with neighbors.

But not only sharing makes real estate affordable. Urban Village buildings themselves are modular, they can be transformed and adapted to the current needs of the community. The wooden CLT panel modules will be mass-produced in a factory setting and delivered flat-packed, similar to how IKEA furniture is produced and delivered. According to the developers, the Urban Village project is the most promising housing model of the future and a kind of challenge for those who inflate the real estate price bubble: for investors focused on short-term payback of objects.

This box solution, of course, does not shine with any originality, but it is assumed that it can be integrated as a seal in the existing urban environment, and people will add individuality to the plywood Urban Village.

 

Straight from the garden

But what is a village without subsistence farming? Urban farming is a high-tech answer to the urban citizen's need to "ground". We wrote about how strong this need is and what benefits for health and well-being the "green" process brings in the article "100 reasons to get your hands dirty. Civic activism and garden volunteers» in the 25th volume of PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA. And when we chose an illustration for the article "Happiness index. How to understand, measure and increase happiness in cities» (read in the 10th volume of PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA), then the best visualization of this complex topic was a portrait of a smiling Andreas Kapion - a resident of Oslo with a harvest of vegetables and greens collected at the Losæter urban farm.

Despite the architectural and cultural competition, the Losæter farm attracts many tourists and has become a favorite leisure spot for the townspeople

Losæter is a unique example of agro-intervention in an artificial urban environment. This utterly pastoral slice of country life is located in the heart of Oslo's trendiest Bjørvika district, known for its distinctive Barcode mixed-use architecture, modern waterfront and iconic properties such as the National Opera House by Snøhetta, Deichman Bjørvika Central Library by Atelier Oslo and Lundhagem , as well as the Munch Museum by Estudio Herreros. Despite this architectural and cultural competition, Losæter Farm attracts many tourists and has become a favorite leisure spot for the townspeople.

The project, which is financed by the developers of Bjorvika under the 1% for art law, started as a joint initiative of Norwegian artists, designers and activists passionate about the idea of ​​urban organic farming. In 2015, a convoy of several hundred people with wheelbarrows and carts loaded with fertile soil from rural farms marched along the Björvika embankment to Losæter.

On the territory of 2,5 hectares, allocated by the city and developers, there was a place for hundreds of small isolated towns, and for several common fields, where volunteers grow ecologically clean vegetables, herbs and exotic plants, which then come to the common table during various cultural events and festivals. And also here they grow cereals - to then bake bread in the bakery of the local Korzhev Society. Losæter has a rich not only cultural but also an educational program: here children and adults are taught the skills of urban farming.

An urban village area can also be a farm. Like, for example, the Prinzessinnengärten farm on Moritzplatz in Berlin. In 2009, local residents turned to the municipal land fund and asked to transfer to them an abandoned part of the square, which in the distant future was to be used for development. Over the years, activists have transformed a football field-sized wasteland into a green living space, a research laboratory and an open-air school.

A landmark on the campus of the Alexandria Life Sciences Center in Manhattan is also the urban farm, “the largest modular farm in New York,” as its developers, the architectural firm ORE Design + Technology, position it. In 2011, they created a farm on a frozen construction site to liven things up a bit in the neighborhood and provide a source of fresh produce for trendy restaurant Riverpark, helmed by popular New York chefs Tom Colicchio and Sissy Ortuzar.

ORE used plastic boxes as modules for growing vegetables, complementing the overall design of the farm with stylish fencing, canopies and lighting. The result of these elementary techniques was a laconic and attractive space that everyone liked so much that when construction resumed, the farm was simply moved to the other side of the square.

Today, New York City has several dozen urban farms created as adjuncts to housing or food service facilities.

Currently, the Manhattan Urban Farm is financially supported by the pharmaceutical companies that form the core of the Alexandria Center, but it is open to local residents who want to get involved in learning the basics of urban farming. And the Riverpark restaurant is still popular, thanks in no small part to its reputation for fresh-from-the-garden produce. The example proved contagious, and today New York City has several dozen urban farms created as adjuncts to housing or food service facilities.

Ukrainian developers also did not remain indifferent to the trend. For example, in the residential complex O2 Residence, which is under construction, an eco-farm has an important role - to provide residents with environmentally friendly vegetables, greens, fruits and berries. It will be a whole system of greenhouses, equipped with advanced equipment, functioning throughout the year. Residents will be able to choose a plot for themselves in the greenhouse closest to the house and either take care of it themselves, or entrust this task to a full-time agronomist. By the way, the trouble will be completely symbolic, since technology reduces manual labor to a minimum.

"O2, in my opinion, is not a classic urban village: here the word "urban" is only the building itself, and the whole environment is natural - a forest and a lake. This is life in nature without any compromises, says Anton Fridliand, creative director of SAGA Development. — Therefore, such options as greenhouses and small gardens are very appropriate there. Even those who do not plan to engage in gardening themselves would like to know the origin of the products that reach their table. I am a vegetarian and try to buy farm produce. I can't say that I am very focused on this topic, but if there was such an opportunity, I would gladly use greenhouses."

Urban farming in the O2 Residence concept is also considered as a tool for consolidating the local community

Gardening in the O2 Residence concept is also considered as a tool for consolidating the local community. You can team up with your neighbors, growing different crops, and then exchange the harvest. However, you can not grow anything at all, but simply buy local vegetables at a local store. O2 Residence will be the first residential complex with an urban farm in Ukraine, but definitely not the last.

 

Only a city can be better than a village

It sounds paradoxical, but it turns out that the city is great for farming. It is not at all necessary to have a large plot of land at your disposal. An ordinary plastic box for milk or vegetables, as the example of Riverpark proved, can easily be turned into a small flower bed.

It will provide the family with fresh salad for a week, after which you can sow a new batch of greens. If you install at least four boxes on the rack, then you can harvest almost without interruption. Ideally, the bed should be in the sun in the fresh air - on a balcony, terrace, perhaps be part of a common yard or be located on the roof of a building. But modern technologies make it possible to grow products even in a dark basement under artificial lighting, using nutrient-rich solutions instead of soil as a nutrient substrate.

Square Roots vertical incubators or modular farms designed in the USA are very economical. Green shipping containers converted for cultivation can be stacked on top of each other in unused urban areas (for example, on the site of old garages). Because this technology allows for 8-13 harvests depending on the crop, Square Roots can be used by communities or entrepreneurs to grow vegetables on an industrial scale.

A large and noisy city became a suitable place for farming, and the urban landscape turned out to be a resource for bees

Surprisingly, the big and noisy city turned out to be quite a suitable place for beekeeping! Today, it is even more favorable than the countryside. Intensive agriculture, where hundreds of hectares are sown with monocultures, undermines biodiversity. Pollinating insects, particularly bees, need flowering plants throughout the warm season.

In 2020, a group of researchers from Bristol, Cardiff, and Edinburgh universities found out how resourceful the urban landscape is for bees. It turned out that patches of private front gardens, municipal flower gardens and parks are even richer in nectar than the countryside. In addition, it is forbidden to use pesticides on the territory of cities, which kill insects en masse in rural areas.

On the website of the British Royal Horticultural Society RHS you can find a list of plants that grow successfully in urban conditions and attract pollinators. Among honey plants are such popular salad herbs as oregano, coriander, mustard, as well as aromatic ones: mint, lavender, rosemary.

By growing flowers and herbs on their own balcony or roof, people can simultaneously harvest a solid harvest of high-quality honey. At least, not only British scientists are sure of this, but also the founders of the Brooklyn Grange Apiary project, which installed 30 beehives at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and collect honey with the taste of a big city. An important condition: a separate place is needed for the apiary - and in this case the roof is perfect. It is on the roofs of houses that beehives are installed in Vulkan, one of Oslo's sustainable districts, built on the banks of the Akerselva River.

 

Kateryna Zvereva: "Urban farming in Ukraine is still a hobby segment"

Urban farming can become one of the tools that will help cities recover from the crisis caused by the pandemic and solve a whole set of problems - both food and environmental. The UN encourages the inclusion of urban farming development programs in urban strategies. In July and September 2021, new ways of developing the trend will be discussed at the Food Systems Summit — the UN food systems summit. To what extent is Ukraine connected to this global trend? Kateryna Zvereva, an international consultant of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), answered PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA's questions.

PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA: In your opinion, to what extent is the trend of urban farming, so popular in world capitals, promising for the cities of Ukraine?

Kateryna Zverеand: Urban farming is developing all over the world due to the strong desire of people to live in a more harmonious and ecological environment, and not in a stone jungle.

The growing demand for locally produced healthy food is one of the determining factors in the development of the urban agricultural market. Rapid population growth, conscious consumption of healthy food, and rising per capita income are driving the growth of the global vertical farming market.

The development of urban farming in Ukraine will further be facilitated by other global trends — for example, by 2050, two-thirds of the world's population will live in cities. Rapid urbanization is stimulating urban farming trends. According to forecasts, by 2026 the market of urban industrial farms will reach the mark of $49,6 billion.

PM.: In your opinion, are the townspeople ready to be not only consumers of the products of urban farms, but also to engage in urban farming independently in the communities?

К. WITH.: We can already say that people's thinking is changing: growing your own breakfast or lunch is always interesting. In the world, there is a demand for urban farming technologies, and therefore new forms of it are emerging: from so-called vertical and modular farms to public gardens or farms on the roofs of residential buildings.

Such farms can differ significantly both in the scale of production areas and in the volume of products produced.

The maintenance of urban farms usually does not require the involvement of a large number of labor resources — the emphasis of the creators of urban farming technologies is on the production of products with maximum automation of crop growing processes and minimal use of manual labor. You can manage a modern urban farm, watch how your crop grows - berries or lettuce - even from a smartphone.

The growing demand for locally produced healthy food is one of the determining factors in the growth of the urban agricultural market

Currently, urban farming in Ukraine is a hobby segment. This is the stage of experiments with the technologies of crop cultivation, its implementation and storage. Thus, the share of fruit and vegetable products from vertical industrial farms on the shelves of Ukrainian supermarkets is increasing, and the assortment of microgreens is expanding. And in the recent announcements of EastFruit analysts, it was noted that vertical plants for growing lettuce, basil, parsley, and mint will appear in the Varus supermarket chain in Ukraine.

The farms are modular, expandable and mobile, with fully automated crop management and a sterile environment that requires significantly less human contact. Greens and vegetables grown in this way do not contain pesticides. 90% less water is used than traditional agriculture because the process takes place in a controlled environment and growth cycles are shorter. In addition, smart farming is practically waste-free production.

All kinds of installations consisting of individual blocks of living plants have gained popularity in modern offices. In Ukraine, there is also a tendency to decorate offices and apartments with similar agro-interior solutions. Such "green walls" are convenient for growing vegetables in shops, offices and apartment buildings or anywhere in urban areas where there is little space but many walls.

P.M.: Is it possible+ to fit this trend into the ecosystem of new residential complexes — residential quarters? What do you think are possible "out of the box solutions" that developers could offer?

К. WITH.: Urban farming has already become one of the most influential trends in construction, along with the multifunctionality and technology of "smart" houses. That is why developers and architects envision the possibility of arranging gardens on balconies, arranging "smart" pots and farms on roofs. After all, the city dweller wants to be closer to nature, so he actively fills his life with it.

Urban farming is about technology and the application of IoT solutions. In the future, it will undoubtedly play an important role in cities as an element of countering environmental problems: the shortage of clean soil, water and air. By growing fresh greens, fruits and vegetables in modern residential complexes, people become not only observers, but also active participants in the food system, playing their role in maintaining a healthy ecology. Developers are showing more and more interest in familiarizing themselves with these concepts, striving to bring comfortable housing to the market and create new values ​​for future residents.

 

There will definitely be more

The logic of localism, which is the basis of the concept of an urban village, does not exclude full-fledged relationships with the big city, but, on the contrary, is the main condition. Let's be honest: even despite traffic jams, lockdowns and the possibility of remote work, many of us remain faithful to the asphalt and do not plan to cheat in the coming years. Therefore, the search for new solutions to improve the quality of urban life will continue, especially since we live in a post-industrial era, when the field of experimentation has expanded, as the ecological necessity to separate business and work areas from residential development has disappeared.

The city is a mixture of languages, people and cultures. And cities can be a mix of different planning solutions. The renewal of cities, their growth and development is inevitable, but this process of continuous reconstruction, erasing childhood memories of places and lifestyles, is quite painful. Sometimes so much so that fragile people in desperation stand in the way of construction equipment, protecting what, from an outsider's point of view, has long been outdated and is not an objective value.

It is impossible and there is no need to rebuild everything according to the wills of new urbanism, but if you try to incorporate new bright formats into the urban fabric as painlessly as possible, it will make it more diverse, interesting and attractive. And, probably, in large Ukrainian cities - Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Lviv - there will be more than one place for an urban village, especially since this ecological concept is perfectly suited for the regeneration of post-industrial areas.

 

Cover photo: Annie Novak, founder and CEO of Growing Chefs, an urban farming company, at her first farm, Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, located on the roof of a three-story warehouse building in Brooklyn, New York. Photo: Thibault Montamat, shoot for VOGUE, September 2016 p.

 

/The material is published on the pages #30 volу PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA/