Instead, he sees the prospect of Kharkiv's development in the creation of a strategic plan that will be focused, first of all, on the citizens. About this Drozdov tells in an interview with the architect and urban planner Julian Chaplinsky on the YouTube channel CHAPLINSKY VLOG.
"It is necessary to start with the city and what it wants to say to the world. A city is a corporation that directly depends on its residents, and the residents here are the main resource that you need to focus on.
Mobility, polycentricity, polyfunctionality, ecological metabolism... All these aspects are laid out on the shelves when you have a development strategy. And you understand that the city should not be a simulacrum, as in Soviet times - when they made corridors along which the authorities who came from the center travel, therefore the artistic decoration of the facades along these streets should have been the main urban planning," he says.
Norman Foster plans to create a general plan of Kharkiv by the end of June. Photo: ixiqi.co
Drozdov doubts whether these aspects will be taken into account with the participation of Norman Foster. The very form of cooperation of a world-renowned architect with the city authorities raises many questions for him.
"He (Norman Foster - editor) says he is acting not as an architect, but as a foundation that offers a bridge over which UN money will flow, and as a logistics company that will mobilize experts from around the world. So we don't really know exactly what Sir Foster's contract is. What does the general plan mean when the city mayor says, what does Foster mean?
Oleg Drozdov is sure that too hasty and ill-considered decisions regarding operational reconstruction can, on the contrary, harm Kharkiv, make it imitative. In his opinion, the reconstruction process should be long-term and more thoughtful. Here he emphasizes experience reconstruction of Rotterdam, which is still ongoing.
Foster's master plan, The Global City, for an integrated district in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: archdaily.com
"What am I really afraid of? That we are not a developed professional community, that the tasks are incredible... There may be a moment when we overcome one of the colonizers, and we can colonize in another intellectual direction. Therefore, we will receive a form without content, because we have not worked out the issue as a customer... Society as a customer, local experts as a customer...
According to my feelings, it will take 10 years to rebuild Kharkiv. Rotterdam has been under construction and transformation for 70 years, and it is still an unfinished project."
The Ukrainian architect sees the creation of an architectural competition for this proposal as the most expedient solution for the reconstruction of Kharkiv.
"In my opinion, "Kharkiv tomorrow" is more about the ambitions of the community and how it will create the economy. For this, it is necessary to give the opportunity to choose an architect and jointly develop this program and what hubs need to be created."
Main photo: Kostyantyn Chegrinsky / KHARKIV Today
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