About New York, London, Paris and other big metropolises they say: "This city never sleeps." Returning to Kyiv, you may think that this city, on the contrary, is always sleeping.
Olga Chernova, chief architect of archimatika projects
Road construction workers, without waking up, sleepwalking through sections of roads and bridges fenced off in connection with the work, and motorists and electric motorists who sleep right behind the wheel of their cars pass by, and, of course, passengers in minibuses and subways sleep on the road. To get to work and take a nap there, too, during afternoon meetings and even in the morning with a cup of coffee in hand. Service call center employees fall asleep while talking to customers. Schoolchildren doze off in class. Students are at lectures, and deputies who grow up from them are in meeting halls.
Perhaps the reason for the city-wide sleepiness lies in the large number of sleeping areas, where there is nothing to do but sleep from morning to night, or perhaps the roots are deeper, and the two towers - Sophia and Pechersk Lavra - resonate over the city of order, which is still in the pre-Christian era eras were inspired by Drimot (goddess of slumber and rest) and her divine husband Sleep (or Unos, who carries the sleeper to the realm of dreams).
Perhaps the reason for the city-wide sleepiness lies in the large number of sleeping areas
And as long as UNESCO and supporters of preservation of historical heritage support this order, forbidding to climb the floors of new buildings, creating obstacles for sleepy vibrations, Kyiv will continue to sleep!
And as long as the city sleeps, we will not have a Kyiv-network, even if it is possible to find a site far from the bell towers. Because sleeping people cannot build networks - cities that never sleep.
Photo: Yuriy Ferendovych
And really, is it worth waking up the people of Kyiv? Maybe some people have beautiful dreams, in which there are no traffic jams and poorly organized streets, and the disarchitecture of the comfort class, and abandoned works of the past under layers of glazing, air conditioners and advertisements! Perhaps, in their dreams, they are going down the Andriyivsky Uzvoz together with Bulgakov and having a leisurely conversation about blood ties with the motherland? Or maybe they, like Mendeleev, are studying some kind of universal explanation table?
Maybe. Although we are not able to determine without psychoanalysis what others see in their dreams, based on some external signs, we can safely assume that some people from Kyiv are definitely having nightmares.
People who sleep cannot build networks - cities that never sleep
Photo: Yuriy Ferendovych
And these dreams of the mind do produce monsters. The fourth nightmare of the architect of the "Podilskyi monster": the customer asked to increase the number of floors... for the fourth time. By fulfilling the three previous requests, the architect had already exhausted his entire toolkit. In response to the first, he added and multiplied attic floors. On the third, it opened (!) the opportunity to add an attic floor above the attic. And immediately doubled the success. But add two more floors? As?..
Eureka! Or maybe try transforming the fifth and sixth floors of the attic group into a two-story group of the second attic? Yes, this is a breakthrough! This is the New Mansard!
The 149th nightmare of the landscape designer of Kyiv Green Building: how to create a new green landmark for a new park? Is the Eiffel Tower a bonsai? There were... Baby elephants? It was Snowdrops! And why not? Let there be concrete snowdrops!
A cyclist as a symbiosis of a person and a bicycle replaces a motorist
The 222nd urban planner's nightmare: a bike lane! bike lane! bicycle overpass! bike interchange! cycling area! bicycle parking! bike park! bike park! bike parade! bicycle urbanism! bicycle city! A cyclist as a symbiosis of a person and a bicycle replaces a motorist as a symbiosis of a person and a car. The new century is a new symbiosis.
The 457th nightmare of an activist: 459 people registered on Facebook came to the protest rally against arbitrary construction on the site, on which it was decided by citizens' will to demolish the square (in the name of which the fence was knocked down and the windows of the developer's construction trailer were broken the day before) participants... two!
The 666th nightmare of the deputy: we failed to vote on amendment 666 to law 665. But for the sake of the possibility of introducing this amendment, the entire law was written! Is it possible to keep the corrupt names of the streets, corruptly renamed by the corrupt (previous) government? Treason! Calling activists!
The mayor's 847th nightmare: "... Today, I invited you, colleagues, to discuss ways to implement activist petition No. 847, supported by the majority of deputies of the Kyiv City Council, on the reconstruction of the Kyiv Sea Dam in order to close the Dnipro River to parameters that do not prevent the flight of birds, as well as rare species mosquitoes and other insects listed in the Red Book, the construction of beaver dams and ponds, as well as the economically expedient construction of bridges and other transport facilities"...
Being in the space of a dream, a person does not understand that everything that surrounds him and happens to him is just an illusion. And finding himself in the space of an unbearable nightmare, he continues to act according to his irrational logic until he wakes up!
Should the city stay awake at night? And if so, why??
What is to be recommended to people who, judging by all physiological indicators, are in a state of wakefulness, nevertheless, act like the heroes of irrational plots of terrible dreams?
Probably the same thing: wake up!
After all, a person needs to sleep from time to time, and even the drowsy state of hibernation as a protective reaction to a reality that is sometimes no less absurd than a nightmare is actually a way of maintaining mental health.
But should millions of people who have gathered together to live in one city sleep at the same time? Or to a certain extent alternately? Should the city stay awake at night? And if so, why?
Photo: Yuriy Ferendovych
In my opinion, yes, it is worth staying awake! And the basic purpose of this wakefulness is to carry into the night, out of the day's field of vision, all that interferes with normal urban daytime life, that which must be done before the day begins. And also remove what is not too interesting to look at during the day.
At night, it is necessary to stay awake and work for road builders repairing roads, and in the morning, in the areas of work where there is no time to finish it, hand over the baton to the morning shift. And truck drivers should transit through the city at night so as not to get stuck in daytime traffic jams and worsen them. It is also worth staying awake at night for the delivery of construction materials and various other deliveries that ensure work during the day.
And, of course, the police, medical institutions and all other services, the time of which is not chosen, must work at night. And also bakers who bake amazingly fragrant warm buns until dawn. And all the night butterflies that gather around the bright, shimmering and iridescent lights against the background of the darkness of the night.
Of course, if someone finds himself in this state, it is better to fly out all the charge at night than to slow down the next day with the sublimation of unreal worries.
Bring to the night, out of the day's field of vision, everything that interferes with normal city daytime life
Photo: Yuriy Ferendovych
And I would also suggest to move the protest rallies near the Verkhovna Rada and the rest of the activists' actions to the night time, after all, maintaining noise-insulating distances to housing. And at the same time, such measures will only benefit: the negative component due to the traffic jams created by the protests will be leveled and elements of youth student romance will be added: guitar songs, night selfies.
All of the above is a natural logic applicable to all cities: in any city it is worth doing so! However, why does it actually work out like that in some cities, while in others "even gas stations fall asleep with the sunset"?
It turns out that staying awake for the city is great, but it still needs to be mastered
I think it's all about the habit of the people who make up the urban community to organize efficient, technological, reliable interactions. After all, in order for a part of the citizens to effectively perform their work at night, the other part of the citizens must provide them with equally reliable and accurate accompanying services: and feed them when they are hungry, and bring them and take them away when necessary - and this requires, in addition to a XNUMX-hour taxi , with the exception of the technical hour, also the metro, as well as buses, trolleybuses and minibuses that run all night on the main routes. And there are also opportunities to deliver and receive the necessary order for continued activity!
Photo: Yuriy Ferendovych
It turns out that staying awake for the city is great, but it still needs to be mastered.
It is necessary to learn to provide service at night - no worse than during the day, in all areas important for the life of those who are forced to stay awake.
