Holistic Archipelago

Holistic Archipelago Master in Advanced Architecture Iaac 2014/2016

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Holistic Archipelago Global urbanization is obsolete, and eager to be eradicated.

Author: Ksenia Dyusembaeva Supervisor: Vicente Guallart Assistant: Ruxandra Iancu Bratosin Insitution: Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalunya

MAA02

Thesis presented to obtain the qualification of Master Degree from the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalunya.

Barcelona, September 2016

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Index

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Introduction o Acknowledgment o Abstract o Prologue

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Theoretical framework o Industrialization o City- archipelago

11 12

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Research framework o Location o History o Socio-economic o Environment and ecology o Existing sources of energy o SWOT

15 16 20 26 30 32

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City Morphology

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Strategy o Micro-unit analysis o Productive Program

53 78

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Proposal o Program distribution o Mine morphology o Productive mine o Earth scrapers

99 116 119 124

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Conclusion

132

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Appendix

134

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Bibliography

7 8 9

138

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Acknowledgements First of all I would like to thank my family for their help, support and constant interest in my work.

Special thanks to: Vicente Guallart Ruxandra Inacu Bratosin Areti Markopoulou Maite Bravo Ricardo Devesa Manuel Gausa Mathilde Marengo Diego Ramirez For the support and guidance that made this research possible

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Abstract The era of global urbanization, brought the overpopulation of the cities. With each new wave of immigrants, life in big cities is becoming harder.

The spread of urban lifestyle on larger areas leads to the aggravation of environmental problems, to the growth of transport flows. This does not lead to decentralization of the population, but rather means “spreading concentration�. The cities, in turn, are trying to react on it, and start losing their borders and becoming chaotic, endlessly-growing spots. If there is a limit to the city growth? How does this process can be stopped?

By searching for answers to these questions, I decided to look at the problem from the other side. Instead of constantly modernizing the cities and trying to cope with the flows of people, there might be more profit to create the conditions in less developed cities, in order to stop the migration of people from there.

I used The paradigm of the Holistic Archipelago as an optimistic envision which can face the imminent obsolescence of Mirny as a city, which represents the direct effect of global urbanization and harmful economies. The main question was whether the city can fight the planned obsolescence, which is dictated by the mono-production. After a deep analysis of the city morphology and theories about the sustainability, the strategy was based on a creation of microproductive units.

These units consists of six crucial elements: density, diversity, energy, water, food and waste.

By implementing this program as a layout to the entire city, the harmful presence of mono economic processes will be overthrown by diversified and distributed economies. This new social and economic ethos will fight to prevent the upcoming obsolescence by providing managerial polices and technological solutions to the city.

Keywords: Holism, City Archipelago, Sustainability, Mono Economy, Micro-Production.

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Prologue The aim of this work was to find solutions to the problems of the industrial cities with insularity condition. Such mining cities are the worldwide phenomenon, and the problem is not only that they are becoming abandoned with time, but also what they leave behind.

Analyzing one of these cities through the lens of modern self-sufficient city, I was looking for a way to use theories of urban development in a particular case. What are the key factors required for the city to change their permanent way of being that is gradually leading them to the collapse? The goal was to create not just favorable living conditions, but also the use of exclusive features that differ from other cities, to be unique and have opportunities for further development.

Alongside the theoretical framework, the analysis ofthe city as a aliving organism converage and becamethe main core of this thesis project. Coming with the studies of the practical application of certain theories and ideas, this work is more practical in nature, with the possibility to continue the research of the subject for more detailed study and further development of possible scenarios.

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Theoretical Framework

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More than one-half of the world population lives now in urban areas, and virtually all countries of the world are becoming increasingly urbanized. This global phenomenon was caused by the industrial revolution and mass production, which changed material production, wealth, labor patterns and population distribution. The new industrial labor opportunities caused a population shift from the countryside to the cities. Cities started to expand mostly in width and the process is still ongoing.

But what if there was also an opposite process? What if the industrialization made people move from the cities to the suburb?

Population shift from the cities to the suburb.

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Theoretical Framework

According to Rem Koolhaas and his theory of the city as archipelago in a project “The City of the Captive Globe”, he describes an urban condition that, through the simultaneous explosion of human density and invasion of new technologies - constantly challenges its limits as a city. Urbanization imagined as a collection of different and competing, built “ideologies”. The more different the ideologies, the more the urban order that maintains them is reinforced. Here the potential agonism between built forms is absorbed by the managerial order of the urban layout. Koolhaas called his model an “archipelago”: advocating the capacity of a city to be organized as a conjunction of islands with its own ideologies where the grid is the vast sea of urbanization and the plots are the so called islands.

From the theory of Pier Vittorio Aureli, these enclaves can be considered as a direct consequence of the power of the capitalist economy, because capitalism always unites and integrates the city to absorb, use, control and to organize work and turn it into a profit.

Exactly capitalism always carries out the segregation, when it comes time to accumulate and distribute that profit. Social discrimination dictated by the selective space of the enclave is ultimately based not on politics, but on the absolute sovereignty of the economy as a form of management of the urban life.

Rem Koolhaas ,“The City of the Captive Globe”

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What is going to happen if one of these enclaves with its own ideology detaches from the archipelago?

What if this ideology is based only within the term of industrialization; furthermore, which causes a severe and continuous damage to the environment?

Detached island

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Research Framework

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MOSCOW

SAKHA REPUBLIC

Detached island

ALMAZY ANABARA

NIZHNE - LENSKOYE

UDACHNY DIVISION

I found an example of such enclave in my own country. It is located on the west part of Siberia in Yakutia and called Mirny.

AIKHAL DIVISION NYURBA DIVISION

MIRNY DIVISION

Diamond divisions of the Sakha Repubkic

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Research Framework History of the city

Historical Timeline

In 1955 a group of geologists found a Volcanic pipe with kimberlites inside. It was the second diamond deposit found in USSR. In 1957 when extraction works started this place got the status of a city; after its foundation, the population grew until 34 000 16 // Holistic archipelago

people. This City arises in a scale of a neighborhood according to the number of its population and advocates a paradigm of a city-neighbor, which acquired mostly all of the commodities that a city requires within the scale of a neighbor. The works of extraction were

carried out by an open-cast until 2001, when it formed a pit depth of 525 meters and a diameter of 1.2 km. After it became dangerous and they moved to underground mines, which will last for at least another 50 years.

PROCESSING PLANT 3 CAPACITY: 2MLN TONN ANNUALLY

VODORAZDELNYE GALECHNIKI PLACER MIR PIPE UNDERGROUND MINING

DREDGES 201, 202, 203 CAPACITY: 4MLN TONN ANNUALLY

IRELYAKHSKAYA PLACER INTERNATIONAL PIPE UNDERGROUND MINING

Mirny Mining and Processung Division

Nowadays Mirny Mining and Processing Division is developing the following deposits: Mir and International kimberlite pipes, Vodorazdelnye Galechniki, Irelyakh and Gornoye placer deposits, and Tailings of Processing Plant No. 5 (technogenic deposit).

Deposit tube “International” was opened in 1969 and located 16 km south-west of the Mirny city. From 1971 to 1980 the works were carried

out by the open way, since 1999 mining was started under the ground.

The field “Irelyakh placer” (length 26.5 km) located in the valley of the river Irelyakh. The base is located in 22.0 km to the south-east from Mirny city. Nowadays the valley placer is already finished; terrace placer works are carried out by open pit and drag.

GORNOYE PLACER The field “ Vodorazdelnye Galechniki “ was discovered in 1956 and located near the Mir pipe, on the outskirts of the city.

Field “Mountain” was discovered in 1956. It is located on the left bank of the river Malaya Botuobiya, 26 km to the south-east from the Mirny city. The technogenic deposit “Tailings plant No. 5” is located near the mouth of the stream, in 4 km to the south of Mirny.

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Research Framework History of the city

Unlike many northern projects in the Soviet Union, the city was not built with an approved general plan.

Since the 1950s the city grew around the quarry “Mir�, which determined its current status, as its architectural and planning problems.

The territorial development of the city is significantly limited by the town planning, which was developed spontaneously and simultaneously during its active growth. The growth of the city to the east is limited by the mine and the airport. On the southeast, the city is skirted by the road with heavy trucks and transport technology. In the northeast, there is a large gas boiler, where housing is prohibited. The development of the city on the north is limited by a processing plant and on the west by a natural area.

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Zoning map of Mirny

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Research Framework Socio-economic Framework

Demography, labor market and employment.

There are no traditional settlements of indigenous peoples in the area. According to the statistics* for 2015 year, the total population of the city is 34836 people (16867 - men , 17969 - woman, from which 8863 - are children), from which 22800 are employs and mostly in a diamond mining company “Alrosa”.

Despite the increase in the birth rate and natural population growth, the balance of migration remains negative. In addition, even with an increase in the number of employed in the industries mining, real estate transactions and services, there are still problems with getting a well-paid job, as employers mostly have vacancies with low salaries.

The spatial organization, urban regulation.

Despite the availability of natural resources (minerals) that are required in the field of construction and building materials industry, construction is carried out very slowly, due to the range of reasons: • adverse climatic conditions (permafrost), and, as a consequence, the need for the pile foundation with the preservation of soils in the frozen state, with the arrangement of the ventilated underground; • large number of days per year with low temperatures, preventing the maintenance of construction works and requiring additional costs; • delivery of goods comes with numerous transshipments, which sharply increases the cost of construction materials, machines and mechanisms; • high proportion of industrial buildings located near settlements.

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Production sphere.

Mirny is one of the most industrialized areas of the Sakha Republic, and has industrial enterprises, the main specialization of which is the extraction of diamonds, oil and natural gas. However, all this led to the fact that one of the main problems of the city became a single-industry structure of the economy.

As a result of the diamond mining industry there is a huge dependence on the “ALROSA” and the absence of alternative advanced industries capable of supporting the city’s economy.

Oil and gas industry represents: • the presence of large reserves of natural gas and oil; • construction of the pipeline; • implementation of gasification process in certain districts of the city.

The food industry represents the presence of enterprises, producing food products, consumer goods - city dairy, a network of bakeries; firewood. Potential of dairy allows to fill consumer market with domestic products, which is not inferior in quality to imported products and also has an acceptable price.

Disadvantages of the food industry are: • the high cost of food products; • the development of trade, the import of food products from Moscow,

Novosibirsk, Irkutsk; • low salary is the main reason for the resignation of specialists from the

food industry; • obsolete equipment, its deterioration; • low level of renewal of fixed assets.

Transport and communications, road management.

In turn, there is a number of weaknesses, such as: • poor development of infrastructure necessary for industrial

development of the district and the city including the transport system

and energy supply; • low level of specialized staff • the possibility of extraction of existing wells significantly exceed local

market needs;

Distance to the nearest town (village Almzany) - 30 km, to the Yakutsk city (capital of the Sakha Republic) - 800 km, to the port Lensk- 250 km. The main type of transport, which is used for the connection with the “mainland”, is air transport. In winter shipments are delivered by ice roads which can be exploited only when the temperature is below zero, in summer- delivery is carried by waterway via ferry Ust-Kut-Lena, then by road. Mirny city has public transport, which goes through 3 different routes, 21 taxi services and 7 freight services.

The greatest advantage of energy of the city is the presence of the regions largest producer of electric power -cascade Vilyuiskaya hydroelectric power plant.

The most strong points are: • well-developed air communication with the

central regions of Russian Federation, Yakutsk, Aikhal, Udachniy; • presence of the road network of Federal and Republican connections; • construction of a Federal highway “Vilyui”; • existence and development of telephony, including mobile operators; • availability and development of radio and telecommunications, as well

as communication via the Internet; • transition to digital television and telecommunications.

Nevertheless, the quality of the existing infrastructure does not allow to use the HPP at the appropriate level: • most of the transmission lines have a service life in excess of standard; • substation“Mirny” 220/110/10 kV is operating since 1967: the

equipment is physically and morally outdated and is in critical condition; • lack of special equipment, including all- terrain vehicles to search for

damage and operational restoration and repair work, high physical

deterioration of equipment; • significant growth of tariffs for energy resources.

Weaknesses of the communications: • mix of different types of vehicles in a single stream (public transport,

cars and trucks); • insufficiently developed system of parking; • narrow streets and roads.

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Research Framework Socio-economic Framework

Diamond company.

Alrosa is the leader of the world diamond industry and Russian partially state-owned diamond mining company, which is also responsible for the condition of the city. Nevertheless only 3,2% of all the tax payments are going to the budget of the city, which in turn cannot provide decent living conditions. The rest 13,8% are going to the budget of the Sakha Republic and 83% to the federal budget of the Russian Federation.

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Social services.

Agriculture.

Culture.

Cultural sphere has the productive functioning of eight cultural institutions, such as: the Palace of Culture, theatres, library, museums and children’s art school. Like most buildings in the city, the major funds of cultural institutions, which were built in the period before the nineties, have a high percentage of deterioration, as well as underdeveloped material-technical base of cultural institutions.

Agriculture is poorly developed, agricultural products are supplied from neighboring regions and from outside the Republic. On site there are 6 horticultural societies of citizens.

Physical education and sport.

The presence of well-equipped base for doing physical culture and sports: fitness center, swimming pool, stadium, Sports Palace and the ski base. Despite the organization of urban activities to promote a healthy lifestyle, the percentage of people engaged in physical culture and sport, is quite low, especially for socially unprotected layers of the population. Low salary, lack of housing for workers of physical culture and sports led to the lack of sustained motivation and financial incentives for specialists of high qualification to work with the sports reserve and high-class athletes.

Consumer market and entrepreneurship.

The consumer market of the city includes: 127 small and medium businesses to provide services of various kinds, 97 facilities of domestic services of the population, 265 retail facilities, 12 wholesale warehouse, 27 public catering facilities. Carried out active works on creation of associations, unions, and groups for business, promoting effective interaction of municipal authorities with the business community. Created “Business Development Center”, whose main purpose is creation of favorable conditions for development of small and medium-sized businesses. To enrich the consumer market with environmentally friendly and ecological products there are annual fairs of local agricultural producers of the Mirny district, Almazny province districts and Yakutsk city.

Development of small businesses is conducted primarily in the fields of trade, consumer services, and only a small number of individual entrepreneurs work with industrial and agricultural bias. All this is happening due to the lack of qualified personnel and insufficient level of professional training.

The number of animal heads: cattle – 16; horses – 12; pigs – 82; poultry – 35; goats – 20.

Sown area - 170.37 ha, including: potatoes - 138.6 ha; open ground vegetables - 31.77 ha; greenhouse vegetables - 149.8 ha.

The total volume of agricultural production in the year: Livestock and poultry - 4.63 t; Milk - 6.78 t; Eggs - 6940 pieces; fishing – 0 t; vegetables – 1558,86 t; grain – 0 t.

Despite all the attempts of cultivation of vegetable crops on farmlands, Agro industry of the city has significant problems: • youth focused on other sectors of the economy due to the low

profitability of agriculture; • lack of pasture grassland near settlements, pastures are covered with

bumps and swamped; • the high price of imported concentrated feed and lack of centralized

supply to the area and specialized points of sale.

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Research Framework Socio-economic Framework

Citizens appeals.

Themes of citizens appeals to the Administration of the city: On the first place there are housing issues -885 (35%), including: the privatization of residential premises - 448, registration of contracts of social hiring -226, housing 63, improvement of living conditions – 59, the recognition of the poor citizens - 40, registration issues– 22, providing housing for young families -21, etc. Along with this, people concern about resettlement from emergency and dilapidated housing.

The second place represents questions about architecture - 441 (17,5%), of which 167 statements about the preparation of documents for the redevelopment or conversion of premises, 274 statements on various urban planning issues (approval of urban development plans, architectural and planning tasks, acts of input of objects in operation, the transfer of residential premises into non-residential and nonresidential to residential, etc.).

On the third place there are requests for housing and maintenance of housing - 369 (14.6%). The concerns of the citizens are caused by the issues of improvement of adjacent territories, construction of playgrounds, cutting of green spaces, repair of porches, construction and repair of roads in the city.

During the year there were also appeals about employment, transport and communications, traveling beyond the Far North, the allocation of housing subsidies or certificate providing housing for public sector of employees, public peace and other.

Appeals of the citizens.

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Housing and communal services.

Mirny is a collection of houses of various stores and years of construction. Total square coverage of residential area is 658254,02 m2. Mostly there are 4, 5 and 9 store buildings constructed in the 1970-80s, but there are also two-stores wooden houses from the 1950-60s.

The housing stock in the city has a high level of improvement of public services (squares, parks, sports facilities, etc.), as well as the possibility obtaining funding from the Federal Housing and Utilities Reform Fund, participation in Federal and state programs on energy and resource saving.

While there are a number of negative factors, not allowing to call the conditions of life favorable: •

• •

• •

•

•

decline in commissioning of residential buildings; large proportion in a wooden dwelling; high level of deterioration of heat and water supply networks, sewerage and, as a result, a significant loss of energy; high level of energy tariffs; low capacity of wastewater treatment plants; low level of implementation of energy- saving and other advanced technologies; large number of unclaimed networks and electric power facilities in the city.

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Research Framework Environment and ecology

Climate.

Mirny city is located in the North Temperate Zone of the Northern hemisphere.

The climate is sharply continental, with long cold winters and short hot summers, with large amplitude vibrations in temperature and short duration of transition periods. Fluctuations in temperature during the day and between day and night can be very large, especially when the sky is clear, which is happening due to significant fluctuations in the values of radiation balance. (App. 1, App. 2) Humidity reaches the highest values in summer, in July, the smallest - in winter.

Its distribution is affected by the nature of the terrain and topography, especially during the summer, in accordance with the height the absolute humidity decreases, in the winter - increases. Relative humidity varies over the year in a fairly wide range. The annual course of relative humidity has two peaks, one - in the winter, and the other - in the fall. The oscillation amplitude of relative humidity is 30 40% in summer and 1 - 4% in winter. (App. 2) The amount of precipitation significantly decreases in the direction from West to East and increases with height. (App.2) The calculated value of snow load – 1,45 kPa (145kgs/m2). Snow cover appears in Mirny usually on 3 of October, and is

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formed by the 9 October. The destruction of the snow cover is happening around 2 of May, and melting on 8 of May. Winter pressure distribution contributes to the development of southern, southwestern and western winds (October – March), in summer (May – August) the wind direction changes to the opposite direction.

Analysis of changes in wind speed during the year shows that the strongest winds occur in spring and autumn, and in summer and especially in winter dominate weak and moderate winds. (App. 3, App. 4) The amount of heat received from solar radiation on a horizontal surface defined according to the data, in July is 5410 kcal/h*m2 from direct and 1046 kcal/h*m2 from scattered radiation during the day. The average amount of heat is 2,700 kcal/h*m2.

According to climatic zoning Mirny city refers to the area 1A, construction-climatic zone with the most severe conditions. (App. 4)

Ecology: According to the analysis of the natural environment and ecology, main benefits, that city have are: • availability of rich mineral deposits; • availability of water and forest resources; • reduction of air pollution from hydrogen

sulfide by the implementation of the dry

conservation of the mine “Mir”.

While the disadvantages are represented by: • an imbalance in the condition of ever-frozen

subsoil as a result of human activity, the

danger of man-made disaster; • lack of scientifically developed regional

environmental program; • presence of unauthorized dumps.

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Research Framework Environment and ecology

Water.

The only source of water supply is the reservoir of the Irelyakh river. Chemical composition represents low-mineralized hydrocarbonate magnesium-calcium, neutral. It meets the requirements of drinking water, except for high iron content and biological oxygen consumption in the spring time. The concentration of total iron during the entire year does not meet the acceptable limits for the conduct of the fishery.

The main disadvantage is: • insufficient capacity of the water treatment plant; • discrepancy of existing water treatment technologies to water quality; • low level of availability for the needs of future construction; • high deterioration of networks.

Landscape.

The topography is gently undulating with an elevation ranging from 320 m to 360 m above the sea level. The dominant vegetation type is boreal forest, predominantly larch, with some fir, spruce and pine. Wood is used by the local population as a building material and firewood.

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Due to the diamond-mining activities, which led to a change in the composition of the soil, all the green spaces in the city are artificially planted. Open pits generate a substantial quantity of waste rock, the disposal of which occupies large areas of land that ultimately require re-vegetation. Most of the waste rock is geochemically benign and does not give rise to poor quality drainage water, although a small portion can have high concentrations of salts; this material is usually isolated and deposited in mined out areas of the pit.

Tailings supernatant water is typically highly mineralized. All ALROSA tailings facilities now operate on a zero discharge basis, with water being re-circulated to the plants. Seepage through the dam walls is restricted by the systematic enhanced freezing of the walls; any residual seepage is collected and returned to the tailings impoundment.

During dry summer months, fugitive dust from un-surfaced access roads can be problematic, causing both a nuisance to adjacent residential properties and to reduced visibility on access roads and in working areas. Mirny Mining and Processing Division maintains a program of dust suppression using water sprays.

The surface of rock dumps and benches is also treated with bitumen emulsion to reduce dust emissions when necessary.

Waste Management System.

Waste management system in the city of peace conducted by burial in the solid waste landfill. This method of utilization is characterized by the variety of environmental and economic disadvantages, and in particular the fact that the landfill occupies large areas, thus making them unsuitable for a more rational use over a long period of time, in other words makes the soil unfruitful for at least 50 years. In addition, through the wind, dust and debris from the landfill spreads for many kilometers around, thereby contaminating the environment and harming human health and aesthetic appearance of the city. Also occurring on the landfill combustions, which are formed as a result of improper operation of the solid waste landfill, do not contribute to improving environmental level and also represent the difficulty to extinguish.

The reason of that is the result of improper use which led the increased temperature and, as a consequence, the release of methane in the process of microbiological and chemical reactions taking place in the debris, followed by ignition which is almost impossible to extinguish.

As a result, of prolonged burning of garbage at the landfill atmosphere as a bonus gets the emissions of such harmful substances as: • Sulfur; • Amorphous carbon; • Nitrogen oxides; • Benzopyrene; • other “fresheners”, the most active of which are the dibenzofurans

and polychlorinated dioxins.

Soil of the landfill contains the liquid filtrate which is replete with a huge amount of soluble organics and heavy metals, in particular mercury, which in case of destruction of the protective shaft or prolonged torrential rains can get into the groundwater and, consequently, can poison all that is able to reach. As the main disadvantage of solid waste disposal on special landfills is the fact that even after elimination it continues to poison all around for many decades, thereby presenting a real threat to the environment and human health.

In addition to the existing landfill, there is also a number of unauthorized dumps of solid waste, which cause even more damage. Continued use of the landfill for storage and disposal of solid waste can lead to the contamination of toxic elements in soils, and groundwater. During the precipitation in the warm period of the year in body of the dump, which has acid environment and methane fermentation, creates a filtrate containing organic matter with sufficiently high concentration.

Therefore, sorting, processing and decontamination of waste should be priority actions in terms of environmental protection.

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Research Framework Existing sources of energy

Mirny city is a part of the Western energy district, where the main suppliers of energy are the companies JSC “Yakutskenergo” and JSC “ALROSA”.

Power supply system.

The main consumers of thermal energy “Yakutskenergo” are the population and the domestic sector. Requirements for thermal energy at the Alrosa objects is provided by their own heat source (boiler). There is a presence of 8 boilers located on the territory of the city with a total capacity of 579.54 Gcal / h

Cascade viluysky Hydroelectric Plants (HPP): • Stage 1 [“Yakutskenergo”] Vilyuyskaya HPP I and II (100 km from the

city), power 680 mW, the annual output is 2.71 billion kWh; • Stage 2 [ALROSA] Vilyuyskaya HPP III (60 km from the city), power

277,5 mW, annual output is 0.57 billion kWh.

Heat load: • existing buildings and urban welfare - 149.7 MW (128.7 Gcal / h); • industrial enterprises - 210MW (180.6 Gcal / h).

ALROSA enterprises consume 60% of all electrical power

The water supply system.

Heating system.

In the Mirny city there is a centralized water supply system. The source of water is a reservoir on the river Irelyakh (V = 20.44 million m3). The reservoir is designed to provide drinking and industrial water supply for the city. It is located 3 km to the West from the city and was commissioned in 1964. The river is powered by snow and rain, the main water inflow (91%) is during the period from May until June. Irelyakhskoe reservoir is formed by an earthen dam at 44.2 km from the mouth of the river Irelyakh with freezing system. The Irelyakh river is the left tributary of Ochchuguy -Botuobuya, which is in turn right tributary of Viluy river and left tributary of the Lena River. Allowable amount of water intake is 13381.10 thousand m3/year, including for the needs of the population – 3375.40 thousand m3/year for other needs 10005.70 thousand m3/year.

Heat sources: • 50% natural gas; • 25% electricity; • 25% oil boiler fuel.

Natural gas: • Yakutskaya State District Power Plant: power generation – 368 MW,

heat – 548 Gcal/h; • Yakutskaya Thermal Power Plant: electricity generation – 12 MW,

heat – 497 Gcal/h.

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Reserve power - 225.98 Gcal / h

Hydroelectric Plant I and II

Gas Station

Hydroelectric Plant III

Irelyakh Reservoir

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The SWOT analysis of the city shows the main concentrations of internal Strengths and Weaknesses of the city as well as external Opportunities and Threats.

What will happen to the city when it losses its only source of “power”? There are mainly two ways to proceed: 1.

2.

Exodus to the major cities that are affected by overpopulation and leaving a“scar” on the surface of the earth with critical environmental pollution.

Transform the permanent conditions of the city, in order to make it self-sufficient. Create favorable conditions of life in a sharply continental climate, where winter temperatures reach -62 degrees, the local

economy relies only on the extraction of the minerals and the indexes of

pollution are corrosive for its inhabitants. To create a paradigm of self-

sufficiency in this detached island.

I consider that we should stop seeing human presence on the planet Earth as a detrimental to our ecosystem. We should make a radical change of concepts regarding consumer’s attitude to the Nature by giving back to the planet and being responsible for the damage that we bring by our presence.

What is the solution that could face the imminent obsolescence of Mirny as a city, which represents the direct effect of global urbanization and harmful economies?

What should be changed in the core of the city to have the possibility for further development as a self-sufficient habitat?

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City Morphology

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In order to understand the functioning of the city I made a deep analysis of its morphology and dynamics through the Hugh Barton radius of urban influence.

As a measurement, I took a half of the normal radius of influence in order to reduce the time of people circulation outside, as the weather temperature is very low more than a half of the year. All facilities were divided into the main groups: administration and business, commerce, domestic services, recreation and tourism, education, cultural leisure, sport, healthcare, and industrial storage. Next stage was an analysis of existing networks of engineering and transport infrastructure, and distribution of dangerous zones within the limits of the city.

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City Morphology

Administration and Business

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Recreation and Tourism

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City Morphology

Commerce

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Restaurant

Bakery

Retail Store

Cafe

Shopping Mall

City Market

Shops

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City Morphology

Domestic Services

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Banks

Beauty-Salons

Dry-Cleaning

Fire Station

Hotels

Post-Office

Veterinary

TV- Telephone

Press

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City Morphology

Education

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Additional Centers

Colleges

Branch Institutions

Kinder Garden

School

Art School

Sport

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City Morphology

Healthcare

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Clinic

Hospital

Farmacy

Dentist

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City Morphology

Museum

Theatre, concert hall Cultural leisure

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Entertainment center

Library

Ski base

Air club

Pool

Sport center

Karting

Playground

Sport

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City Morphology

Industrial Storage

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Dangerous Zones

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City Morphology

Engineering Ifrastructure

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As an overall, I can argue that the functioning of the main economical and productive source of the city (the mine) represents an important pole of services and social activities, even though nowadays it is no more than just a scar on the planet. Nevertheless, the implication of this productive system results really harmful and scarring towards the city. It takes the main resources of the city (water, energy, social capital) and produces drastic environmental consequences.

Transport Infrastructure

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Strategy

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According to this diagnosis, my strategy relies on the re-thinking of the city morphology in order to provide a more efficient, diverse and self-sufficient systems of production by implementing micro-productive units.

Distribution of the units is defined by a grid of 1x1 km cells within the existing arterial roads, which in turn are the attractor curves for the economic activities and social dynamics. These units are representing solutions for the main gaps of the city, such as density, diversity, energy production, water treatment, food production and waste recycle. The approach is distributed compact city, which can provide high level of diversity of city facilities coming together with a range of labor opportunities.

Micro-productive unit

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Strategy

After implementation of the grid, I made a detailed analysis of each block and compared existing program to the predictable program of microproductive units which was made individually for each of them according to the location, existing infrastructure and real possibilities that they can have in the future.

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Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.1

Location on the map

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Strategy Micro-unit analysis

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.2

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Location on the map

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.3

Location on the map

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Strategy Micro-unit analysis

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.4

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Location on the map

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.5

Location on the map

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Strategy Micro-unit analysis

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.6

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Location on the map

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.7

Location on the map

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Strategy Micro-unit analysis

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.8

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Location on the map

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.9

Location on the map

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Strategy Micro-unit analysis

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.10

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Location on the map

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.11

Location on the map

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Strategy Micro-unit analysis

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.12

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Location on the map

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.13

Location on the map

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Strategy Micro-unit analysis

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.14

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Location on the map

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.15

Location on the map

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Strategy Micro-unit analysis

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.16

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Location on the map

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.17

Location on the map

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Strategy Micro-unit analysis

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.18

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Location on the map

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.19

Location on the map

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Strategy Micro-unit analysis

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.20

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Location on the map

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.21

Location on the map

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Strategy Micro-unit analysis

Existing Projected

Micro-Unit program comparison

Micro-Unit no.22

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Location on the map

As a conclusion the nowadays blocks have mostly 2, maximum 3 elements which micro-productive unit require. As the main gaps, there is a lack of energy, waste, water and food components in all blocks, while density and diversity problem arise mostly on the periphery of the city. In order to count how much of each element does the city need, I made calculations based on real possibilities.

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Strategy Productive Program

Starting from density, I took the population density of the leading cities in Siberia (Omsk, Novosibirsk, Yakutsk, Tomsk, Tumen) and made a comparison with Mirny. The differences was 4,3 times less than the average of this cities. I took this number and made an approximate amount of population 78 // Holistic archipelago

that Mirny city should have in ideal for this size of the territory.

Second circle represents the existing amount of energy, heating, water and food that city has, while the third circle shows the same elements but in amount that city should have according to each

type of density. And if the food is not enough even for the existing population, the energy reserves will be much more than required even for the estimated number of people. The solution of this excess may be the fact that Baikal - Amur Mainline is under an active construction.

The Baikal–Amur Mainline (BAM) is a broad gauge railway line in Russia. As one of the largest railroads in the world it is traversing Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East, the 4,324 km (2,687 mi) long BAM runs about 610 to 770 km (380 to 480 miles) north of and parallel to the Trans-Siberian railway.

The Amur–Yakutsk Mainline (AYaM) is a partially complete railway in eastern Russia, linking the Trans-Siberian Railway and Baikal–Amur Mainline with the Sakha Republic. It surves as a support part of the BAM. Project of AYaM also includes the construction of a combined road-rail bridge across the Lena river near the villages of Tabaga and Khaptagay. This bridge with a length of about 3 km will be the second railway bridge across the Lena river (the

first in the city of Ust-Kut in Irkutsk region) and the most difficult and expensive object of AYaM. Together with the final railway section, which length is approximately 50 km on the left Bank of the Lena river, bridge will provide Yakutsk by railway communication with the South Yakutia and the rest of Russia, ending the “island” situation of local residents. Currently there is no bridge across the Lena river in the Sakha Republic.

Yakutsk is connected with the outside world only ferry in the summer or ice road in winter and by the air transportation. During the spring and fall moving ice on the river makes it impossible to cross.

Strategy of development of railway transport until 2030 is planning the construction of the transcontinental railway line with access to

the Bering Strait, the North Siberian and Polar latitudinal highways. These projects include connecting lines of railroad Berkakit - Tommot Yakutsk, as well as meridional railway lines to the Lensk city and Mirny city, which are essential to the development of railway to the west of Yakutsk, which is rapidly developing due to the prospects of energy complex and diamond mining industry, with further accession to the proposed route of the North-Siberian Railway. All this points to the fact that a new source of life for the city can be the production of energy from renewable sources.

All overabundance of energy generated in the adjacent areas can serve not only as a source of supply for the city and surrounding towns, but also can be exported.

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Strategy Productive Program

After examining various sources of renewable energy, I came to the conclusion that in addition to the existing hydro power plant which is using the energy of water can also be used the energy of wind and sun. To find out whether this is so, I have made an analysis of the areas for the wind regime and solar radiation by month.

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Strategy Productive Program

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Wind

Sun

Due to the fact that the wind speed varies greatly during the year, a wind power plant with vertical axis of rotation is more appropriate than the traditional horizontal axis, as it can operate at low speeds. In addition, this type of wind turbine has other advantages: • can produce electricity in any wind directionж; • no need in strong supporting tower due to generator, gearbox and other

components are placed on the ground; • low production cost in comparison to horizontal axis wind turbine; • easy installation as compared to other wind turbine; • low maintenance cost; • can be installed in urban area; • low risk for human and birds because blades moves at relatively low

speed; • suitable for areas with extreme weather conditions.

For obtaining solar energy is possible to use a new generation of solar panels on semiconductor heterostructures - materials that an outstanding Russian physicist Zhores Alferov explored in the 1960s. In 2000 the scientist received for this work the Nobel Prize. New method of manufacturing solar cells has become profitable due to the fact that China had crashed the market of silicon, which is essential component of semiconductor heterostructures (it fell from $ 200 to $ 20, and became equal to the cost of glass).

In current technologies for manufacturing solar panels thin layer of silicon is applied on a glass substrate. Efficiency of the resulting panel is 10-12%, and with a lifetime of 20-25 years and the warranty of 20 years it pays for itself in 10-12 years. If the glass is replaced on crystalline silicon using semiconductor heterostructures by Alferov, the manufacturing cost of the panel is reduced by half, and efficiency increased by half. As a result, economic efficiency of the panel increases 4 times.

New solar panels are expected to be used to create an autonomous power supply systems with the capacity from 100 kW in places remote from electricity networks, and also to create solar power plants with a capacity of 10 MW.

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Strategy Productive Program

Waste program consists of remediation of the dumps and recycling of the waste, which in turn separates into plant matter and all other matter.

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Dump reclamation.

Remediation activities in the tailings of the diamond quarries should be carried out in the following sequence: • stage 1 - terracing of the slopes and dispositioning of the surface of the

dump; • stage 2 - creating a shielding layer of capillary interrupting materials

(sand, foil, etc.), if soils and rock of the recultivated object contain toxic

concentrations of macro- and microelements and salts; • stage 3– covering the dump slopes with the potentially fertile rocks,

and a fertile layer of soil with thickness up to 1 m. Potentially

fertile rocks should contain about 60-65% of fraction

of physical clay, and topsoil - humus to 1 % or more. The value of

the last measured in the natural potential of the soil

resources of the study area; • stage 4 - combined landscaping adapted to the local environmental

conditions, native species of grass, shrubs and wood vegetation

with fertilization and carrying out irrigation activities; • stage 5 - selective conducting anti-erosion measures, including primarily

the construction of drainage channels, limiting and excluding the use of

technical means that destroys unprotected surface, etc.; • stage 6 - Carrying out recovery works on the land adjacent to the dump

sites. In particular, these include wetlands “dead forest space”.

Plant matter.

With the existing quality of the soil, it was decided to use for compost only organic elements due to its high quality, able to improve and enrich the soil of the adjacent territory, violated by the diamond-mining industry. For this type of compost, only plant matter can be used (tree and shrub cuttings, leaves, lawn clippings, windfall fruit and plants.

The material collected is shredded and sieved in the mechanical treatment unit, which also removes all contaminations and metals. Then it is mixed with precomminuted structural material (wood) and moistened with water. The thus treated raw compost fraction is spread across the composting surface in clamps (heaps). During the entire rotting phase, the material is moved and irrigated with compost turning machines. This safeguards a level of aeration that is essential for optimum processing while maintaining an ideal moisture content. During the rotting period, the material to be composted is subjected to several quality checks. After eight to ten weeks, it is sufficiently mature. From 100 000 tons of

garden waste 40,000 to 50,000 tons of compost can be sieved off for subsequent utilization.

The composting plant should be composed of absolutely waterproof and paved composting surfaces. All runoff and precipitation is collected in a system of gutters and sewers. A reinforced-concrete underground collector impermeable to water and retains the water, which is then discharged into the sewer. In case of heavy precipitation, the rainwater is stored in rainwater reservoirs as well as in an open and sealed retaining basin. This prevents leakage of contaminated water into the soil. All wastewater from the plant is introduced into the public sewer system.

The compost clamps are not irrigated with seepage water but exclusively with service water from the plant’s own well. Thus the metal salts dissolved in the seepage water cannot contaminate the compost with heavy metals, and the compost attains the highest quality level, class “A+”.

Positive aspects of organic waste recycling and reutilization: • Foodstuff production. Organic farming comes with a high guaranteed

yield due to the lower nitrate content than those fertilized with

chemical substances. The copper and nickel content in plants treated

with chemical fertilizer is significantly higher than with compost

fertilization.

• Soil protection and enrichment. The use of quality class “A+” compost

in quantities recommended for organic farming does not harbor any

danger of heavy metal accumulating in the soil.

• Groundwater protection. Intensive conventional agriculture contributes

significantly to increasing the nitrate content of groundwater resources.

Organic farming (with compost fertilisation) completely avoids

this emission into groundwater. The nutrient deposit contained

in compost can be optimally used by plants; as a result,

no surplus of mineral nitrogen compounds (“nitrates”)

will leak into the groundwater.

• Climate protection. The use of compost also contributes markedly

to reducing climate-relevant gas emissions. Compared to conventional

agriculture, organic farming (with compost fertilisation) allows to

decrease this volume by up to 3.4 tonnes of CO2 equivalent/hectare per

year: the use of compost as a fertiliser and soil improver leads to

the formation of “carbon sinks”, which in its turn entails long-term

fixation of carbon in the soil and a reduction of CO2 emissions.

The substitution of chemical fertilisers and pesticides with compost has

likewise positive effects on climate protection. Moreover, the emission of

nitrous oxide is by 85% lower for organic farming (using compost

as a fertiliser) than in conventional agriculture.

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Strategy Productive Program

Organic.

With the existing quality of the soil, it was decided to use for compost only organic elements due to its high quality, able to improve and enrich the soil of the adjacent territory, violated by the diamond-mining industry. For this type of compost, only plant matter can be used (tree and shrub cuttings, leaves, lawn clippings, windfall fruit and plants.

The material collected is shredded and sieved in the mechanical treatment unit, which also removes all contaminations and metals. Then it is mixed with precomminuted structural material (wood) and moistened with water. The thus treated raw compost fraction is spread across the composting surface in clamps (heaps). During the entire rotting phase, the material is moved and irrigated with compost turning machines. This safeguards a level of aeration that is essential for optimum processing while maintaining an ideal moisture content. During the rotting period, the material to be composted is subjected to several quality checks. After eight to ten weeks, it is sufficiently mature. From 100 000 tons of garden waste 40,000 to 50,000 tons of compost can be sieved off for subsequent utilization.

The composting plant should be composed of absolutely waterproof and paved composting surfaces. All runoff and precipitation is collected in a system of gutters and sewers. A reinforced-concrete underground collector impermeable to water and retains the water, which is then discharged into the sewer. In case of heavy precipitation, the rainwater is stored in rainwater reservoirs as well as in an open and sealed retaining basin. This prevents leakage of contaminated water into the soil. All wastewater from the plant is introduced into the public sewer system.

The compost clamps are not irrigated with seepage water but exclusively with service water from the plant’s own well. Thus the metal salts dissolved in the seepage water cannot contaminate the compost with heavy metals, and the compost attains the highest quality level, class “A+”.

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Positive aspects of organic waste recycling and reutilization: • Foodstuff production. Organic farming comes with a high guaranteed

yield due to the lower nitrate content than those fertilized with

chemical substances. The copper and nickel content in plants treated

with chemical fertilizer is significantly higher than with compost

fertilization.

• Soil protection and enrichment. The use of quality class “A+” compost

in quantities recommended for organic farming does not harbor any

danger of heavy metal accumulating in the soil.

• Groundwater protection. Intensive conventional agriculture contributes

significantly to increasing the nitrate content of groundwater resources.

Organic farming (with compost fertilisation) completely avoids

this emission into groundwater. The nutrient deposit contained

in compost can be optimally used by plants; as a result,

no surplus of mineral nitrogen compounds (“nitrates”)

will leak into the groundwater.

• Climate protection. The use of compost also contributes markedly

to reducing climate-relevant gas emissions. Compared to conventional

agriculture, organic farming (with compost fertilisation) allows to

decrease this volume by up to 3.4 tonnes of CO2 equivalent/hectare per

year: the use of compost as a fertiliser and soil improver leads to

the formation of “carbon sinks”, which in its turn entails long-term

fixation of carbon in the soil and a reduction of CO2 emissions.

The substitution of chemical fertilisers and pesticides with compost has

likewise positive effects on climate protection. Moreover, the emission of

nitrous oxide is by 85% lower for organic farming (using compost

as a fertiliser) than in conventional agriculture.

Plasma Gasificator

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Strategy Productive Program

88 // Holistic archipelago

In connection with the existing problem of water shortage due to low capacity of the pumping and treatment plant, located at the foot of the reservoir, was decided to make a switch to the decentralized system of water purification system. The use of local water resources is also linked with urban sustainability which recognises the importance of local solutions and the key role of local governments and citizens in the search of sustainable development.

Stormwater runoff is defined as runoff generated from all urban surfaces while rooftop rainwater is generally synonymous with the runoff collected from rooftops.

Domestic wastewater includes different flows with particular colours: blackwater (a mixture of urine and faeces); greywater (wastewater without excreta), yellowater (separately collected urine) and brownwater or fecal matter (separately collected faeces with water or without water respectively). All these wastewater flows are mixed and collected at the end-of-the-pipe, in wastewater treatment plants and once treated, returned to the receiving water bodies together with valuable nutrients that become lost in the process. Instead of adopting a centralised wastewater reuse management approach, wastewater can be separated and treated at source following an ecological sanitation approach by which the closure of the material flow cycle as well as the use of decentralized systems are promoted. Rainwater harvesting and greywater reuse systems follow the principles of ecological sanitation.

Rooftop rainwater and greywater display better qualities than their respective resultant products - stormwater and wastewater - and therefore, their collection at the source, before they are mixed with other pollutants, leads to a more efficient use of available water. Another peculiarity shared by these two sources is the scale of production and reuse: both are generated at the household level, and may be reused on-site with the installation of relatively simple technologies.

Major benefits of an extensive use of rainwater harvesting in urban areas Short term

Direct benefits

Indirect benefits

Reduced drinking water consumption High collection and distribution efficiency.

Reduced pressure on external water sources.

Conservation of water bodies (rivers, aquifers, lakes).

Preservation of aquatic ecosystems.

Reduction of flood risk.

Reduced risk for disadvantaged groups.

Reduced economic losses.

Self-sufficiency.

Smaller dependency on distant water sources.

Major control and awareness Enhanced rational use of water. of the water consumed.

Long term

Reduction of stormwater flows treated in the wastewater plant.

Reduction of energy consumption.

Reduced use of chemical reagents.

Reduction of operation and maintenance costs of wastewater treatment plants.

Transporting water from far Reduction of energy consumption. away is less necessary.

Less necessity for building hydraulic infrastructures (dams, water transfers, desalination plants).

Restoration of the hydrological cycle.

Savings in the water bill.

Increased purchasing power.

Reduction of non point water Recuperation of aquatic pollution. ecosystems.

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Strategy Productive Program

Main features of centralised and decentralised water management

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Factor

Centralised water management

Decentralised water management

Scale

Large scale systems.

Small scale systems (domestic).

Type of water sources

Distant and local water sources.

Local water sources.

Governance

Top-down governance model.Multi-level governance model.

Ownership

Water supply and sanitation Water supply and sanitation infrastructure is owned by the systems are owned by private public sector. individuals.

Control of the water cycle (power)

Controlled by the public sector and/or private companies.

Controlled by private individuals.

Participation

Very limited public participation in water management.

Active public participation in water management.

Awareness

Citizens are alienated from the water cycle.

Citizens become more aware of the water cycle.

Cost sharing

Highly subsidised.

Full cost recovery.

Water quality

Very high water quality for all uses.

Different water qualities and fit-for-purpose water use.

Health risks

Health risks are very controlled.

Risk management by the individuals is required.

Environmental impacts

Environmental impacts are significant.

Environmental impacts are reduced.

Social conflicts

Dam construction and water Social conflicts are less likely. transfers usually give rise to social conflicts between regions.

Resilience capacity

Limited adaptation capacity Enhanced capacity of to extreme adaptation to different situations. situations.

Socio-cultural domain: changing water cultures.

Greywater reuse.

In urban settings, water undergoes constant transformations from a physicochemical point of view as well as from a social, symbolic and cultural perspective to the point that, as a result, metabolised water is obtained. This perspective draws on the idea of a hydrosocial cycle which considers urban water as a hydrid, formed by nature and society components at the same time. Some features of the hydrosocial cycle are also prone to change during the transition to decentralised water management. In most urban areas, water is allowed to enter the house after being purified and is quickly removed and visually excluded after use. Localised strategies for water collection, storage and distribution are more visible than centralised networks of water supply and therefore, the alienation of water consumers from the urban water cycle is less likely to occur. Given that water users are also more in contact with the means of water production, it is to be expected that water conservation attitudes would become more entrenched in the everyday life of householders.

Greywater may be defined as wastewater without any input from toilet (i.e. without urine, faeces and toilet paper), which means that it corresponds to wastewater produced in bathtubs, showers, hand basins, laundry machines and kitchen sinks, in households, office buildings, schools, etc. Greywater may be also defined as low polluted wastewater since the concentration of micro-organisms and some nutrients (e.g. nitrogen and potassium) is lower than in combined wastewater.

The greywater sources with lower concentration of pollutants (showers and hand basins) are those more frequently reused. Greywater can reduce household potable water usage between 30 to 50 percent by replacing potable water used for toilet flushing, garden watering or car washing for greywater.

In order to deal with the risks and uncertainties associated to the emerging water paradigm, policy-makers and private actors may be interested in facilitating a successful transition towards more sustainable water management by adopting transition management strategies.

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Strategy Productive Program

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In order to find best solution for food production and breaking the import dependency I made a research of which type of food and in which amount does the Sakha Republic need per capita.

Mostly all these products will not be able to grow in a required amount due to the weather conditions. The vertical farming represents solution that can face this problem.

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Strategy Productive Program

Vertical farming.

The vertical farm concept is about maximizing plant density to enable large numbers of people living in the built environment access to healthy, fresh vegetables yearround that are herbicide and pesticide-free. Greenhouses do not achieve the plant densities needed to supply food for the thousands of city dwellers. Vertical farms offer the promise of finally being able to free up large swaths of land from traditional, soil-based agricultural practices, allowing abandoned farmland to return to their original ecological function of providing ecosystem services that promote healthy lives for all living things on Earth, including us. Vertical farms are essential if we are to live balanced lives, and not, as we are still doing, continue to live at the expense of every other creature on our fragile planet.

Advantages of Vertical Farming: • year-round crop production; • eliminates agricultural runoff; • significantly reduces use of fossil fuels (farm machines and transport of

crops); • makes use of abandoned or unused properties; • no weather related crop failures; • offers the possibility of sustainability for urban centers; • converts black and gray water to drinking water; • adds energy back to the grid via methane generation; • creates new urban employment opportunities; • reduces the risk of infection from agents transmitted at the agricultural

interface; • returns farmland to nature, helping to restore ecosystem functions and

services; • controls vermin by using restaurant waste for methane generation.

Aquaponics.

In addition to growing fruits and vegetables, will be important to recommence fisheries, which was lost in Mirny due to the poor water quality and the maintenance of the diamond industry. The Sakha Republic is famous for its fishing, for example, sliced frozen fish (mainly whitefish species, salmon, etc.) ranks 3rd place among the world’s dishes. At the national level, carried out supporting and improving programs for the fisheries industries. Currently, there is an artificial

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way of breeding the sturgeons in Sakha Republic (Siberian sturgeon) which is recirculation aquaculture systems (reuse of water for production purposes).

In the case of the Mirny city, it is more expedient to use aquaponics technology, which refers to any system that combines conventional aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as snails, fish, crayfish or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment.

Aquaponic systems have three main components - Fish, Plants and Microbes.

The microbes are a commonly overlooked part of an aquaponic system, but it is these that do the most important work in the nutrient cycle. Aquaponics uses no soil at all - but it can use either an alternative growing media such as clay pebbles, pumice stone, lava rock or gravel, or the plants can simply be grown in the nutrient rich waters coming from the fish tanks.

Fish produce waste and ammonia - these are harmful for the fish in elevated quantities and decrease the quality of the water. In aquaponics, water from the fish tank is fed to a plant growbed where the billions of naturally occurring, beneficial micro-organisms break the ammonia down first into Nitrite and then into Nitrate.

Nitrate and other nutrients are absorbed by the plants to assist in their growth and in turn, serve to clean the water. Solid waste will also be filtered out of the water by either the growbeds or some other mechanical process.

Clean water is now returned to the fish tank increasing the water quality and providing the oxygenated water that the fish need. This is a natural and sustainable process that mimics an ecosystem and produces high quality food without any chemical inputs.

Benefits of aquaponics: • organically grown produce; • no unnatural Herbicides, Pesticides or Fertilisers; • the freshest, cleanest vegetables possible; • uses as little as 2% of the water normally needed; • higher growth rates and yields; • no soil is needed; • can be easily used in small, urban areas; • no genetic manipulation of the fish; • water recirculation reduces pollution;

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Strategy Productive Program

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According to Jane Jacobs and her study in the book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities”, if the only species of urban districts, useful for the government in real life, are the city as a whole, the street and the district, it is effective to do the following tasks: • To promote the emergence of the living and interesting streets.

• To make city fabric more solid throughout the district, which in size and

potential power should pull the city average.

• To use parks, plazas, squares and public buildings as part of this street

fabric; use them to increase its integrity, for its enrichment, complexity

and diversification. They should not isolate from each other different

ways of using or neighboring counties within the district.

• To emphasize the functional identity as well as the identity of the territory.

Diversity, not duplication — that is what encourages cross-use and, therefore, creates the conditions for identification of a person with a vast piece of the city than several nearby streets. Monotony is the enemy of cross-use and hence the functional unity.

To generate a full variety on the streets and in the areas of the city, it requires four main conditions: • District and as many as possible of its constituent parts must perform

at least two primary function; preferably at least three. This

should ensure the presence of the people facing the street at different

time and with different purposes, but using many urban opportunities

together.

• Quarters in the most part should be short. This means that streets and

opportunities to turn the corner needs to be frequent.

• The district should have a mix of buildings that vary in age and

condition, including a considerable number of old buildings, in order to

have different economic benefits. This mixture should be dense.

• The need for a sufficiently high concentration of people, with different

easons of their presence. Including - a high concentration of

people living in the area.

To ensure this diversity of the urban fabric, it was decided to use mix use of residences, facilities and distributed production of energy, water and food.

Facilities are represented by the existing diversity of social activity infrastructure: administration and business, commerce, domestic services, recreation and tourism, education, cultural leisure, sport, healthcare, and industrial storage; with the only change that they will be redistributed mostly by the entire territory. This will release the strict “industrial” borders of the city and will fill each of the

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Proposal

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Strategy Program Distribution

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Starting from density, I took arterial roads, which act as the “skeleton� of the city and in turn are the attractor curves for the economic activities and social dynamics.

Ranging from 5 floors in the center of each block, their height increases as it approaches the arterial roads.

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Strategy Program Distribution

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Implementation of the productive grid, which determines the distribution of the remaining five elements of the multyproductive unit.

The wind farm is located on the site of the north-west tailing, as most time of the year the wind prevails there.

103

Due to the map of the sun radiation, the most productive way to obtain solar energy is by using solar panels on the roofs of houses

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All the energy generated by solar and wind will accumulate in the battery bank, also scattered around the city, and distributed to districts based on the needs of the citizens.

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Strategy Program Distribution

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In order to deal with waste, the first step is the reclamation of existing dumps surrounding the city from all sides and thus hindering his growth and development.

Landfill for organic compost has been placed around the urban farming, as the main source of compost is concentrated in the area of agriculture.

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Strategy Program Distribution

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Facility for plasma gasification is located on the site of the current solid waste landfill.

Concluding step in the waste recycling is the garbage sorting in the city. Due to the fact that plasma gasification method is suitable for almost all types of waste, sorting means the separation of organic waste (mostly waste from the agriculture, greenhouses and vertical farms), and household waste.

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Strategy Program Distribution

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Water treatment plants, distribution facilities, together with reservoirs for different types of water are scattered throughout all city blocks, allowing each unit to have access to the clean and recycled water.

Location of the existing plots of land given over to urban farming

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Strategy Program Distribution

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Greenhouses are located in the same part of the city.

Vertical farms, on the contrary, allow to have dispersed production of food, occupying less space and allowing more people to be involved in the production of their own food.

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Strategy Program Distribution

Each micro-productive unit seek to have a full range of services and opportunities, but at the same time each of them is unique, each has its own predisposition, its history and appearance.

By having the distributed system with a high level of diversity there are still some numbers that have to be improved. The solution lies in the mine, which lost its impact in the past but can revive it again by fostering the productivity in order to the network being accomplished. The common answer of the global urbanization is the high-rise condition, but how this concept can be implemented in this specific situation?

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Atkins, Songjiang Hotel

Nicholas Grimshaw, Eden Project

Matthew Fromboluti, “Above Below”

Matthew Fromboluti “Above Below”,

In the world practice, there are different ways of dealing with the results of mining industry: • Biological direction (land reclamation):

• filling the bowl of the quarry with water (the formation of deep

lakes), restoration of the soil cover around the ponds –

land reclamation;

• filling the bowl of the quarry with land, reducing the depth of

the pit, returning the original shape to the terrain.

• The use of the bowl of the quarry for storage of garbage (the formation

of a large city dump);

• Architectural and Construction direction involves architectural

reclamation.

Architectural reclamation is a complex of measures to improve the environment, restoration of properties, functions, productivity of the environmental space by means of architecture and urban planning. There is a range of problems that arise during designing process in quarries, such as: the depth and dimensions of the career bowl; type of career (soil, composition of soil, the presence of minerals of a certain kind); transport and pedestrian connections and road connections with the city’s urbanized environment; the complexity of the landscape; adaptation of architecture to the terrain; technical difficulty; the functional areas; interconnection between functional groups; aesthetic and the harmony of nature and architecture.

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Strategy Mine Morphology

To have a complete image about the mine, I did an analysis of the structure of the Mir pipe.

The Mir kimberlite pipe is steeply dipping and has a conical shape to a depth of 300 m (+30 m elevation).

The pipe becomes cylindrical at greater depths (300 m to 900 m; elevation range of +30 to -600 m). The width of the mineralised zone drastically decreases at depths between 900 m to 1,000 m where it evolves into a feeder, a sub-vertical kimberlite dyke about 300 m long and up to 25 m to 30 m thick.

The main aquifer represents rocks of the Metegerskaya and Icherskaya suites at depths between 280 m and 320 m in the upper level, and 456 m to 525 m in the lower level. The mineralization (sodium chloride

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content) of the groundwater varies from 95 g/l to 130 g/l and also contains dissolved gases (nitrogen 70% to 90%, methane 5% and hydrogen sulphide 2% to 3%).

The presence of hydrogen sulphide in the brines is a complicating factor. At present, water inflow to the pit is relatively constant. Water is pumped from the pit in order to minimise ingress into the underground work.

Water ingress in the open pit enters the mine at an average of 1,200 m3/hour. To prevent flooding of the underground mine, a 20 m pillar has been constructed between the pit bottom and the mine workings.

The other concern is the groundwater that has the ability to dissolve the host rock, which contains high percentages of salt. If the water management system does not keep control of the groundwater, there is the potential to seriously risk the mining operations.

+328

The layer of seasonal thawing and freezing with the depth up to 5 meters. The temperature of the layer ranges from zero (average summer), to the lowest negative (average winter). As a result of strong changes (phase state) of this layer there are seasonal swellings and settlements of the soil.

0

-140

The layer of annual temperature fluctuations, with a depth up to 30 meters. Typically, this layer is inherent in the highest ice content, consistency of negative temperatures in the lower part of the layer (up to minus 4-5°C) and seasonal variations of low temperatures in the main part of the layer from 0°C to sub-zero temperatures tending to average winter.

Permafrost. Characterized by persistence of negative temperatures, which are not dependent on seasonal fluctuations in temperature on the surface. The lowest temperature is usually peculiar to the upper part of the layer. According to power this stratum is the main and largest part of the section of permafrost. Frozen clays may contain unfrozen water even at minus -50°C.

Backfill curtain Metegerskiy - Icherskiy aquifer system

Cealing curtain Technogenic mass [Dry Temporary] Ore pillar 1st stage of underground mining (34 years)

-615

2nd stage of underground mining (15 years)

-900

Absolute level, m

Section of the mine.

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Strategy Productive Mine

After a deep research of the mine and the surrounding area, it became apparent that structure should go not above it, but through it.

Under the mine passes the Artesian Basin with sodium chloride water, which is used worldwide for the balneological resort.

However, since the main interest of the city was always represented by the diamond industry, there were no thoughts about the healing properties of water. Moreover, as can be seen from the research above, this water is more likely a problem, as it represents a threat to the underground mining.

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To simplify access to the aquifer, is expected to raise the level of the lower mark, allowing water to pass freely under the bottom of the quarry.

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Strategy Productive Mine

In order to build inside the mine, first step involves the strengthening of existing conditions career. The borders of the mine are reinforced by the diagrid structural metal net preventing the landslide.

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Net is renaturalized for better protection of the soil through the roots of the plants. It will also contribute to the maintenance of the microclimate that foster air purification.

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Strategy Productive Mine

Transportation system is going over the mine, where the road network is created by the continuation of existing main roads, axis of the city. Massive concrete cantilever is a transition from the surface to the mine, providing the support to the new transport infrastructure. Road network is made of lightweight carbon-fiber material and serves as an anchor for the hanging towers.

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These towers are the micro-productive earth scrapers, which in turn are forming the macro-productive unit. Each tower appears on the intersection node of the roads and represents a mixed-use structure, equipped with sustainable assets such as photovoltaic transparent panels for energy generation, water collection and recycling system. The buildings are located on a distance from the borders of the mine, in order not to violate the thermal balance of permafrost soils.

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Structurally skeleton of each tower is divided into three tectonic elements, starting with the ramp, which serves as the transport access from the new network of roads to the building. The hanging part of the tower consists of vertical connection core, which makes possible the transportation inside the tower, and twisted structures with the led-light greenhouses inside. Lowest structures are the water pipes that serve as suppliers of groundwater to the building.

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Produced waste, as well as in the city, divided into organic and the rest.

Organic matter is used as a fertilizer for domestic greenhouses, and the rest of the waste goes to the city for processing in plasma gasifier.

Water cycle of each tower starts from the extraction of the underground water of Artesian Basin. Before it reaches the tower, it pass the first stage of cleaning through the filters of the water supply pipes. In the water management level it separates to the balneological purpose and domestic services (drinking water is supplied from the reservoir). Water is distributed up and down via twisted structures. Waste water also goes through different stages of treatment, part of the waste water is recycled and another is going back to the source after it passes certain cleaning process.

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Curtain wall provides necessary illumination and natural wind circulation for the tower. Glass panels are orientating themselves according to changing wind conditions in order to create better ventilation.

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Glass shell is supported by a structure that exists outside of the primary enclosure, thus being expressed on the exterior of the building.

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Outer reinforcing structure is the skin of the tower and is made of photovoltaic transparent glass. In accordance to structural logic, the main core of the tower is rotated clockwise and the outer structure counter clockwise to help withstand the gravitational pull and force exerted on the hanging tower.

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Towers, as micro-productive units, house four various programs such as vertical community, food production, water management and balneo resort.

There is no zoning separation by the slabs, all program elements are merging into each other as a single fused organism and connecting via the internal core. Variations in the location and selection of these elements depend on the position of the tower relative to the mine. For example, in a part of the career, which throughout the year practically does not receive direct sunlight, dominate programs of balneo resorts and food production, such as mushroom cultivation, which does not need the sun light.

In each tower there is an event space on the roof top with breathtaking views of the Mir mine and surrounding hanging towers.

All together, these earthscrapers are forming the macro-productive unit, where the new topology is made by the infrastructure grid. This macro unit complete the network and gives the possibility for the Mirny city to have the future as a holistic archipelago.

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The implementation of the micro-productive units can bring a big range of benefits besides the obvious one: • New working places.

• New possibilities for the young generation.

This will prevent their migration of to large

cities.

• Import independency.

• Using the result of excavation works not as

a scar on the planet, but as a possibility to

challenge the architecture.

• Raising the standard of living by improving

the environment and reducing the time

of people’s stay on the street, through

decentralization of the city As a conclusion, I would like to say that implementation of this program is just the first, but crucial step for the city on its way to sustainability. There is a huge opportunity for its further development. One of the possibilities can be the strategy, based on curtain scenario. If in my case the most attractive and reasonable way for the city to have investors is the renewable sources of energy, but it also can be something else, as, for example, the tourism infrastructure. Breathtaking views on the mine and earthscrapers, rich nature of Siberia and artificial landscape, created by the remediation of the dumps.

This city has a lot of potential, which was hidden for so many years. But not anymore.

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133

Appendix

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137

Bibliography

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Books 1. AURELI, Pier Vittorio. Less is Enough: On Architecture and Ascetism.

Moscow: Strelka Press,2013.

2. AURELI, Pier Vittorio. The possibility of an absolute architecture.

Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2011.

3. CACHE, Bernard. Projectiles. London: Architectural Association, 2013.

4. EISENMAN, Peter. Supercritical. London: Architectural Association, 2013.

5. GUALLART, Vicente. The Self-Sufficient City. New York: Actar Publishers, 2012 6. JACOBS, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Moscow: Novoe izdatelstvo, 2011.

7. KOOLHAAS, Rem. Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan.

Moscow: Strelka Press, 2013.

8. RIFKIN, Jeremy. The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power Is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2011.

9. RUEDA, Salvador. Ecological urbanism certification. Madrid: Ministerio de Fomento, 2012.

10. RYBCHINSKIJ, Vitold. Urban designer: ideas and cities. Moscow: Strelka Press,2014.

11. UNGERS, Oswald Mathias. The City in the City—Berlin: A Green Archipelago.

Zurich: Lars Muller Publishers, 2013.

Reports

15. Indicators characterizing the state of the economy and social sphere of Municipality “Mirny City”. Statistics Service of the Federal State, 2014 [viewed 1 December 2015]. Available from <http://www.gks.ru/scripts/db_inet2/passport/pass. aspx?base=munst98&r=98631101> 16. Passport of the socio-economic development. Administration of the Mirny City, 2015 [viewed 30 November 2015].

Available from <http://gorodmirny.ru/socialno-ekonomicheskoe-razvitie.html> 17. Petitions Report. Administration of the Mirny City, 2014 [viewed 4 December 2015].

Available from <http://gorodmirny.ru/obrasheniya.html> 18. Prospective scheme of heat supply of the municipality of the Mirny city, Mirninsky region. LLC Leks-Consulting,2013 [viewed 20 January 2016].

Available from <http://gorodmirny.ru/zhkh.html> 19. The program of complex development of communal infrastructure of municipal formation “Mirny city”, Mirny region of the Sakha republic (Yakutia) for the period up to 2020. LLC Leks-Consulting, 2009 [viewed 20 January 2016].

Available from <http://gorodmirny.ru/zhkh.html> 20. The program of social and economic development of the municipality “Mirny City” for the period 2012 - 2016 years. Mirny city Council, 2012 [viewed 30 November 2015].

Available from <http://gorodmirny.ru/socialno-ekonomicheskoe-razvitie.html> 21. The scheme of water supply and sanitation, of the municipality of the Mirny city, Mirninsky region. LLC Leks-Consulting,2013 [viewed 20 January 2016].

Available from <http://gorodmirny.ru/zhkh.html>

Web 22. City protocol and City Anatomy [viewed 15 December 2015]. <http://cityprotocol.org/>

12. Alrosa Annual Report 2014. Alrosa, 2014 [viewed 25 November 2015].

Available from <http://eng.alrosa.ru/documents/annual-reports/>

23. Historical information about the Mirny city. Administration of the Mirny City. [viewed 21 November 2015].

Available from <http://gorodmirny.ru/istoricheskaya-spravka.html>

13.Budget of the municipality “Mirny City” for the year 2015. Mirny city Council, 2014 [viewed 29 November 2015]. Available from <http://gorodmirny.ru/byudzhet-goroda.html>

24. Hydro power Plant of the Mirny city. [viewed 2 December 2015] Available from <www.rushydro.ru>

14.Independent expert report on reserves and resources of the diamond assets of the Alrosa group of companies. Micon International Co Limited, 2013 [viewed 25 November 2015].

Available from <http://eng.alrosa.ru/investors/reserves-and-resources/>

25. Mirny Division. Alrosa, 2015 [viewed 27 November 2015].

Available from <http://eng.alrosa.ru/corporate-structure/mirny-mining-processingdivision/ 139

Images p.12 http://www.architecture-exhibitions.com/sites/default/files/exhibitions/04_Koolhaas_ Captive_Globe_Dettmar_Zuschnitt_colour_m.jpg p.14 http://whenonearth.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/mirny-diamond-mine1.jpeg p.20 http://s43.radikal.ru/i099/1407/96/312f103a92e4.jpg p.22 http://loveopium.ru/content/2014/05/diamonds/14.jpg p.24 http://s019.radikal.ru/i617/1203/7d/1abd277369c9.jpg p.25 http://gelio.livejournal.com p.27 http://russiatrek.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/frozen-baikal-lake-russia-3.jpg p.31 http://photos.wikimapia.org/p/00/01/77/27/18_big.jpg http://i-russia.ru/media/photos/orig/41d3c5b1c4524d667e6d.jpg http://s53.radikal.ru/i142/0903/78/0c61968ffac1.jpg http://rostneftegaz.ru/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/burenie.jpg p.32 http://gelio.livejournal.com p.115 http://www.evolo.us/architecture/skyscraper-or-sustainable-underground-society/ http://inhabitat.com/the-songjiang-sustainable-hotel-in-china/ http://www.edenproject.com/ p.138 http://img.talkandroid.com/uploads/2013/11/stack_of_books.jpg

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