Revisioning Obolon: Socially Sustainable Strategies To Post-Soviet Neighborhood

Revisioning Obolon: Socially Sustainable Strategies To Post-Soviet Neighborhood

Transforming the built enviroment by integrating new outdoor spaces in the three differen scales of intervention: the microdistrict, the neighborhood and the building.

Shchukina Alisa 2022

A Design Thesis Booklet submitted to DIA Graduate School of Architecture in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of

Master of Arts (MA) in Architecture at Hoch schule Anhalt, Germany Year 2021/2022

Copyright © 2022 Shchukina Alisa, 5027295

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review.

Studio „Blue, Green & Red“

Booklet Part II, Research thesis: Revisioning Obolon: Socially Sustainable Strategies To Post-Soviet Neighborhood

No. of Pages: 45 as of 17th Juni.

Advisor : Vesta Nele Zareh, Prof. Dipl.-Ing Stadtplnung

Co-Advisor: Anastasiya Ponomaryova

The completion of this undertaking could not have been possible without the participation and assistance of Vesta Nele Zareh and Anastasiya Ponomaryova. Their contributions are sincerely appreciated and gratefully acknowledged.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

0 Introduction

Personal statement Problem statement

Terminology

1 Understanding Obolon

Kyiv’s development Public space in Kyiv Obolon in the past Site analysis

Functions

3 Socially sustainable strategies

Socially sustainable strategies Design proposal Microdistrict scale Neighborhood scale Building scale

References

List of illustrations

Personal statement

From my background of growing up in Ky iv, I had minimal experience with urbanized quality public spaces. I grew up in a neigh borhood (microrayon) designed and built in the 1970s. Although there were and are still appearing new high-rise buildings, the mas terplan is of the Soviet era.

My memory of public space is infinite lawns between houses, huge distances, and a shortage of active public space. I spent most of the time on playgrounds, in the school stadium, in the forest, or by the lake. Lakes are typical for this neighborhood. It was swampy countryside before it was de cided to connect to Kyiv in the 1930s. I do not consider the forest and the lake to be ur banized public spaces. Before housing con struction started, these were landscaped public areas and are currently used chaot ically. The improvised use of each resident of such zones indicates a lack of places of attraction within access from their home. Even though there was always much green ery around residential buildings, no one ev er used the lawn. Usually, it was even sur rounded by a low fence not to damage the lawn. All courtyards are filled with cars and extend to wide highways like most modern ist neighborhoods. The public space in such a neighborhood was a department store in the center near the transport interchange. In modernist districts, a department store (universam) was usually the central market place, occasionally with a cinema or café. Its essential elements were also triumphing squares or squares of the friendship of na tions. Nevertheless, such squares were al ways empty or solely lawn with a stella. While growing up, my impressions of pub lic spaces led me to understand that public spaces and life were not considered when such areas were planned. The link between public life and public space is a mutual and dynamic relationship that conducts new spaces for the new formats of public life. Hence, my interest in the research refers to examining public life in my city, specifi cally public squares, with a hypothesis that underusing and not overusing public space is the main problem. The carrying ability of

most urban public areas is above their us age, where typically, the people themselves decide the level of crowding.

Regardless, some public spaces are better used, planned, and maintained than others. That is why different types of squares are described following their origination, typo logical classification, usage, and activities. The focus of studies looks at the relationship between the public space design, its form, use and contents, and practices of people occupancy.

Problem statement

Serious questions arose regarding the Modern movement’s model for urban plan ning and large-scale urban revival in the 1970s and 1980s. The banlieues in France, the council estates in the UK, the plattenbau in Germany, neighborhoods like Tensta in Sweden, or the microrayons in Eastern Eu rope are well-recorded phenomena. In the West, all these urban areas have (in a gen eral sense) several standard features: they are products of a time when modernism as a method of urbanism was flourishing when mobility by car was a central charac teristic of the city; the welfare state created numerous collective structures; the belief in a compliant society was very prominent (Paans and Pasel 2014).

The sociologist Richard Sennett defined dead public space as the area dedicated to the circulation of cars and people, proclaim ing that it has lost its nature as a place to stay. He said that “the erasure of alive public space contains an even more perverse idea - that of making space contingent upon mo tion...the public space is an area to move through, not to be in.” (Sennett 2017). Var ious factors contribute to the spread of this problem. On the one hand, new commercial trends based on the clustering of commer cial activity in shopping centers and de partment stores, with the current growth of Internet sales, lead to the gradual disap pearance of small stores on our streets and, consequently, to the degradation of street life.

On the other hand, the development of new technologies and the Internet has led

to new media, virtual social networks, and new leisure activities such as video games, which have changed our social behavior. This was a direct consequence of numer ous group events traditionally held in public space moved into the private sphere. Therefore, parks and squares have lost some of their function as meeting places. One of the consequences of the underuse of public space is that it can sometimes lead to a perceived sense of insecurity. This makes citizens afraid to use public space because they believe it is dangerous. In other cases, while public space may still be used, it no longer works as a communal space for col laborative activities or as a place to social ize and meet new people. The tendency for public space to lose its public function de activates part of the city’s ability to socialize (Hernández Mayor, Hernandez, and Casano va 2014).

Many urban planners and designers have recognized the importance of attractive, functional spaces for social interaction and other forms of urban activity, provid ing places to socialize, eat, or relax. Public spaces play a critical role in maintaining the attractiveness of public areas as places to visit and live, where people can take advantage of a good environment. A quality pub lic place is considered a place where the action is a crucial aspect of it. According to Clay (Clay 1958), the quantity of activity in open spaces depends on the spatial enclo sure’s feeling to people, and public spaces should stimulate social mix since that adds life and vitality to the atmosphere. Camillo Sitte, who was the first to study the square typology, also considers a sufficiently pub lic square a place that keeps the spatial en closure and irregularity (Collins et al. 2006). These qualities could provide the users with a feeling of well-being, comfort, and pleas ure and therefore eventually determine the choice by the public for such spaces.

This thesis is guided by the belief that too much public space is no public space if it is not activated.

The fate of traditional public spaces in post-socialist cities is very complex. Re search on the transformations of the last quarter century in them shows that the eco

nomic restructuring of land use, large-scale privatization of state and municipal proper ty, and deregulation of urban planning have already significantly changed and continue to change urban space. Both the traditional public spaces of the historical urban core and the new post-war modernist public spaces with their former ideological load are being transformed into “goods” that must be economically “efficient”. The lack of local self-government and the still unbuilt post-socialist sense of the “common” in cit ies only contribute to processes of aliena tion of the social function of public spaces and the privatization of “no man’s land”. This is related both to their privatization and to the decline of public life, the disappearance of the very phenomenon of the public in dividual and the blurring of the concept of place in contemporary culture. This leads to the emergence of supermodern «non-spac es» - «non-anthropological» spaces with out identity and history, places of tran sit, consumption and uncertainty, which erases the value of public spaces, subor dinates them to transport (transit) needs and excludes social activity from them.

Since the post-Stalin Soviet urban planning returned to the modernist principles, in particular functional zoning, mass residential development and orientation towards auto mobile traffic, the urban public spaces were divided into three groups: the system of public centers, the system of highways and the system of green spaces.

Conventional types of activity in public spaces included state holidays, Party and Military parades, and the like, while any al ternative use of these spaces (for unofficial demonstrations, rallies, protests) was not al lowed. Both the city’s wide network of social infrastructure institutions (medical, cultur al, sports, children’s) and its public spaces, aside from serving and displaying ideology, served primarily to normalize the Soviet per son, to reinforce and reproduce the Soviet type of normativity. The only type of Sovi et public spaces where ideological control was a little weaker were Parks and Recrea tion and markets.

Post-Soviet cities are characterized by global trends of privatization and commer

cialization of public spaces.

Terminology

The general meaning of public space is a place that is usually open and accessible to people. The term has evolved from an un derstanding of space rather than private space. Ali Madanipour and Han Meyer, urban design professors and specialists in public space, define it as a place where different flows meet or allow for the material and non-material exchange beyond the private sphere. As Jan Gehl notes, public space is where meeting, trade, and traffic functions come together (Degros and Bendiks 2020).

Within the thesis framework, Public space is an urbanized environment formed by buildings and structures regardless of own ership, can be easily accessed by people, and are fundamentally places of destination for public activities. It does not necessarily have to be purpose-designed spaces. How ever, they must have the possibility of being used as a location for a human gathering where users have the freedom of movement.

UNDERSTANDING OBOLON

Kyiv’s development

Kyiv’s development had a range of impor tant events that affected its urban planning. It is essential to know these changes to un derstand why there are only particular types of squares in some city areas and what the formation of ancient squares depended on.

The city is located in the Polesia wood land ecological zone and the East Euro pean forest-steppe zone. The Dnieper riv er always was the central planning axis of the entire settlement system, directed in a northwest-southeast direction. The first settlements appeared on the west bank of the Dnieper river due to its natural land scape. It was a strategic location for pro tection, defense, and trade routes along the Dnieper river. The Upper City was formed on the high west-bank plateau of the Kyiv hills, named Starokyivska Hill and Zamkova Hill. The lower city was in the lowland next to the Dnieper river, Podil. These settlements are called the Protoky ivan settlements.

In the 13th century, these settlements merged, and the hills of Starokievskaya, Zamkovaya, and Podil made up the territory of the future Kyiv. Due to this, ancient Kyiv was polycentric. The city was located on the hills extending a chain along the Dnieper. The city remained polycentric till the 19th century.

In the 19th century, fundamental changes took place. Three main streets connected the three historical parts of the city, and a new perpendicular to the axis of the Dniep er, namely Kreshchatik Street, appeared. It is still the main street of the city. The new administrative center of the capital was or ganized there. These changes happened following the new masterplan.

In 1921 Kyiv became a part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which became a republic of the Soviet Union. The develop ment of industry had a considerable influ ence on the territorial development of Kyiv. In connection with the execution of the country’s industrialization, the area of Kyiv grew by almost ten times, and the provinc es of the east bank were joined to Kyiv. The entire east bank has been built up with mod ernist neighborhoods in the last 70 years.

2020 Figure 1. Kyiv urban growth. Source: author.

Public space in Kyiv

Sites from different city areas were select ed based on when the neighborhood ap peared to assess Kyiv’s public space. The ra tio of the built environment to public space is used to evaluate. With a minimum of 57%, most spaces have more than 80%, which is a considerable amount of public space. There is more public space in the areas built after World War II. Consider Krier’s view on European Public Space Quantity Ratio from “Architecture: Choice or Fate?”:

a. 15 – 20% is too little Public Space; b. 25 – 35% is the Good Proportion; c. 50 – 60% is too much Semi-Public Space; d. 70 – 80% is too much Public Space (Krier 1998).

This means that overall the percentage of public space in most cases in Kyiv is too high.

However, this space is in poor condition most of the time and has no activities for people. This can be a problem and cause neglect of public space. As Hertzberger suggested: The main point is to give public spac es form so that the local community will feel personally responsible for them. Each member of the community will

contribute in his or her way to an envi ronment that he or she can relate to and identify with it. The services rendered by the Municipal Public Works depart ments are felt, by those for whose ben efit those departments were created, as an overwhelming abstraction; it is as if the activities of Public Works are an imposition from above, the man in the street feels that they “have nothing to do with him’, and so the system pro duces a widespread feeling of alienation (Hertzberger 1998).

This leads us to the idea that the more pub lic space, the less public space. Because no one dares to take responsibility for it, every one leaves it empty, waiting for some ac tions from the management.

Figure 2. Kyiv public space ratio. Source: author.

OBOLONSKYI

PODILSKYI

DESNIANSKYI

SHEVCHENKIVSKYI 3 km

SVIATOSHYNSKYI SOLOMIANSKYI

PECHERSKYI

HOLOSIIVSKYI

DNIPROVSKYI

DARNYTSKYI

Figure 3. Kyiv’s districts. Source: author.

Figure 4. Kyiv’s map. Source: author.

Obolon in the past

After the liberation of Kyiv from occupation in 1943, active reconstruction of the capital of the Ukrainian SSR began. However, in the following decades one of the biggest prob lems of the capital of the country was the lack of funds. Capital of the republic was the lack of housing for its citizens. The first an swer to this dire housing problem was mass erection of so called “Khrushchevka” blocks of flats. These two- to five-story houses, which first gave many Kyivites their own apartments.

Nevertheless, the need for housing was quite high, considering that the population of Kyiv was gradually growing.

This situation was taken into account by the authorities in the new general plan of the city of 1967, which provided for the con struction of new residential districts, one of which was Obolon territory.

It is located in the northern part of the city, on the first floodplain terrace of the right bank of the Dnieper. The area of 1356 hec tares planned for development is intended for housing construction. The total popula tion of the area is expected to be about 200 thousand people. The territory of Obolon is bounded from the east by the Dnieper, along which the development front will stretch for 4.5 km, from the west - by a railway line and from the north - by an external ring road. The area is adjoined by recreation areas in the floodplains and industrial areas. Design and construction of a complex industrial and residential city district of Obolon rep resents an important step in realization of one of the basic ideas of the general plan of development of Kyiv, which predetermines formation of planning structure of the city along the water diameter of the Dnieper as the main axis of urban development

Obolon became one of the residential dis tricts. A group of the state enterprise “Ki evproject” was working on the project of the new dwelling district construction in the north of Kyiv.

The group of the state enterprise “Ky ivproekt” worked over the project of the construction of a new residential area in the north of Kyiv: Khlebnikova, J. A. Paskevich,

OBOLONSKYI

Figure 5. Obolonskiy district areas. Source: author.

Figure 6. Obolonskiy district map. Source: author.

and engineers S. P. Dudnik, A. S. Stekel, V. S. Koval, N. A. Zakrzhevskaya.

Considering the peculiarities of the Obo lon territory which was flooded every year by spring floods, the first task of the en gineers was to develop a reliable protec tion of the new area against the Dnieper’s floods. To this end, it was decided to raise the shoreline by 4-5 meters, by addition ally reinforcing it with concrete slabs. In addition, the team of authors of the pro ject took into account the proximity of the massif to the potentially dangerous Kyiv reservoir, which is located on the hillocks to the Obolon. It was foreseen, that even in the case of destruction of the dam of the Kyiv Sea, the height of the first wave, which will reach the territory of the dis trict, will not exceed one meter, and the excessive masses of water will descend in the shortest possible time.

When planning the residential devel opment the architects and engineers abandoned the traditional cross streets arrangement in favor of a special - in fa vor of a special - honeycomb shape of the neighborhoods. In each such “hon eycomb” the construction of schools and kindergartens was envisaged. Kindergartens, stores and supermarkets, sports grounds, and many other objects necessary for the convenience of the in habitants. Traffic circles were designed at the intersection of the main highways of Obolon. An important role is given to green areas of the residential area. Given the specific features of the construction of the massif on large areas of washed sand, this category of green spaces is designed as a well-developed system of boulevards and squares, which break up the residential areas and microdistricts with green strips, while also taking part in the formation of a system of pedestri an streets leading to the public centers. Transport routes and pedestrian flows are separated through a peculiar solution of the vertical layout of roads and adja cent areas. The project provides pedes trian accessibility to community centers and subway stations, as well as conven ient connections to the industrial area.

Figure 7. Obolon project 1981. Source: kiev.vgorode.ua.

Figure 8. Obolon project. Source: My-Obolon.

Figure 9. Obolon project. Source: My-Obolon.

Figure 10. Obolon project. Source: obolon.name.

Figure 11. Obolon project. Source: obolon.name.

Site analysis

Figure 12. Obolon area isometric drawing. Source: author.

Site analysis / Functional zoning

Figure 13. Obolon area funcrional zonning isometric drawing. Source: author.

Site analysis / Transport network

Figure 14. Obolon area transport network isometric drawing. Source: author.

Microdistrict #4 / Functional zoning

Figure 15. Microdistrict #4 functional zoning isometric drawing. Source: author.

Parking Educational

Retail / market

Green

Solar radiation analysis

Figure 16. Microdistrict solar radiation analysis isometric drawing. Source: author.

Obolon now / Photo essay

Figure

Problems:

1. filled-up ground, water washes out quick ly, irrigation problems;

2. extreme heat, large overheating, little

greening, overheating in one-room apart ments;

3. cars, parking in the yard and on lawns, damaged green areas, cars do not use com mercial parking lots;

Figure 18. Obolonskiy photo. Source: google map.

17. Obolonskiy photo. Source: google map.

4. the adjoining building areas are privatized or in poor condition;

5. large distances and a large scale for peo ple;

Figure 19. Obolonskiy photo. Source: google map.

Figure 20. Obolonskiy photo. Source: google map.

SOCIALLY SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIES

Socially sustainable strategies:

Although the idea of social sustainability is extensive, a growing body of studies shows that by improving certain design elements of the built environment, such as accessibility and permeability, a positive effect can be achieved in the social sustainability aspect, leading to improved human well-being. Therefore, social sustainability is important, and there is an urgent need for further de sign research.

Despite the diversity and ambiguity of defi nitions, social sustainability has been con ceptualized around a number of key princi ples, such as equity, democracy and social

engagement, social integration and social mix, social interaction, sense of place, safe ty and security, and the quality of the built environment and housing. Second, social sustainability encompasses both non-physical aspects of the built environment-such as human interaction, sense of communi ty, and social interaction and its physical aspects, such as access to urban services, urban infrastructure, indoor and outdoor housing conditions.

In the Obolon area, Microdistrict 4 was chosen to evaluate the public space and to improve it for the purpose of social sustain ability.

Design proposal

A proposal for Obolon consists in trans forming the built enviroment by integrating new outdoor spaces in the three different scales of the intervention: the microdistrict, the neighborhood and the building.

The generall strategies consists of:

- Mix land uses

- Reduce parking

- Create integrated green space networks

- Encourage urban agriculture

- Strengthen social and cultural networks

- Incorporate great public meeting spaces

- Optimize solar orientation and access

- Develop district and renewable energy systems

- Water-efficient buildings and landscapes

Microdistrict scale:

- Reduced parking and car transition in resi dential neighborhoods

- Car moved to a parking lots

- Optimizing areas with much sun radiation and overheating

- Change overheated surfaces to green - Creating integrated green space networks - Areas for energy systems

Creating integrated green space networks

Remove parking from microdistrict

Green roofs and possible areas for energy systems

Figure 21. Microdustrict scale intervention proposal. Source: author. Neighborhood site

Neighborhood scale:

- Creating mix use pavilions for residents in corporating different functioins

- Creating open public spaces for social in teraction

Building scale:

- Creating intermidiate semi-private com munity spaces, terraces, activating facades

- Optimizing spaces with much sun radia tion by extending balconies

Name: 1-464E-51 Year: 1974

Name: bps-6 Year: 1977

Name: 134 Year: 1981

Figure 22. Existing bulding typologies on the site. Source: author.

Figure 23. Existing bulding photos. Source: google.

Figure 24. Building scale intervention proposal. Source: author.

Neighborhood scale

Figure 25. Neighborhood scale intervention proposal isometric drawing. Source: author.

Pavilion mixed-use / Workspaces / Exhibitions / Public events

Figure 26. Pavilion mixed-use proposal isometric drawing. Source: author. 10 m

Figure 27. Pavilion mixed-use proposal isometric

isometric drawing. Source: author.

Figure 28. Pavilion market proposal isometric drawing. Source: author. 10 m

Figure 29. Pavilion market proposal isometric drawing.

drawing. Source: author.

Amphitheater / Sport

Figure 30. Pavilion ampitheater proposal isometric drawing.

drawing. Source: author.

Building scale / Balconies / Terraces

Figure 31. Balconies and terraces proposal isometric drawing. Source: author.

Figure 32. Balconies before isometric drawing. Source: author.

Figure 33. Balconies with extensions isometric drawing. Source: author.

Building scale / Balconies / Terraces

Figure 34. Balconies before. Source: author.

Figure 35. Balconies with extensions and terraces. Source: author.

References

Clay, Grady. 1958. “What Makes a Good Square Good.” Fortune Magazine The Ex ploding Metropolis:148-154.

Collins, George R., George R. Collins, Chris tiane C. Collins, and Camillo Sitte. 2006. Camillo Sitte: The Birth of Modern City Plan ning. Edited by George R. Collins and Chris tiane C. Collins. N.p.: Dover.

Degros, Aglaée, and Stefan Bendiks. 2020. Traffic Space: Ein Handbuch Zur Transformation. N.p.: Park Books.

Hernández Mayor, Jesús, Jesus Hernandez, and Helena Casanova. 2014. Public Space Acupuncture. Edited by Helena Casanova and Jesus Hernandez. N.p.: Actar Publishers.

Hertzberger, Herman. 1998. Lessons for Students in Architecture. Edited by Laila Ghäit. N.p.: 010 Publishers.

Kostof, Spiro, and Greg Castillo. 2005. The City Assembled: The Elements of Urban Form Through History. N.p.: Thames and Hudson.

Krier, Léon. 1998. Architecture: Choice Or Fate. N.p.: Andreas Papadakis.

Krier, Rob. 1979. Urban Space. N.p.: Rizzoli.

Moughtin, Cliff. 1992. Urban Design: Street and Square. N.p.: Butterworth Architecture.

Paans, Otto, and Ralf Pasel. 2014. Situation al Urbanism: Directing Postwar Urbanity : an Adaptive Methodology for Urban Transfor mation. N.p.: Jovis.

Sennett, Richard. 2017. The Fall of Public Man. N.p.: W.W. Norton.

Sitte, Camillo. 1979. The Art of Building Cit ies: City Building According to Its Artistic Fundamentals. N.p.: Hyperion Press.

“Squares of Kyiv - Wikipedia.” n.d. Wikipe dia. Accessed February 15, 2022. https://

uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%BB%D 0%BE%D1%89%D1%96_%D0%9A%D0%B8% D1%94%D0%B2%D0%B0.

Stübben, Joseph. 1980. Der Städtebau: Re print der 1. Auflage von 1890. N.p.: Vieweg+ Teubner Verlag.

Zucker, Paul. 1959. Town and Square from the Agora to the Village Green. N.p.: Colum bia University Press.

List of illustrations

Figure 1. Kyiv urban growth. Source: author.

Figure 2. Kyiv public space ratio. Source: author.

Figure 3. Kyiv’s districts. Source: author.

Figure 4. Kyiv’s map. Source: author.

Figure 5. Obolonskiy district areas. Source: author.

Figure 6. Obolonskiy district map. Source: author.

Figure 7. Obolon project 1981. Source: kiev. vgorode.ua.

Figure 8. Obolon project. Source: My-Obolon.

Figure 9. Obolon project. Source: My-Obo lon.

Figure 10. Obolon project. Source: obolon. name.

Figure 11. Obolon project. Source: obolon. name.

Figure 12. Obolon area isometric drawing. Source: author.

Figure 13. Obolon area funcrional zonning isometric drawing. Source: author.

Figure 14. Obolon area transport network isometric drawing. Source: author.

Figure 15. Microdistrict #4 functional zon ing isometric drawing. Source: author.

Figure 16. Microdistrict solar radiation anal ysis isometric drawing. Source: author.

Figure 17. Obolonskiy photo. Source: goog le map.

Figure 18. Obolonskiy photo. Source: goog le map.

Figure 19. Obolonskiy photo. Source: goog le map.

Figure 20. Obolonskiy photo. Source: google map.

Figure 21. Microdustrict scale intervention proposal. Source: author.

Figure 22. Existing bulding typologies on the site. Source: author.

Figure 23. Existing bulding photos. Source: google.

Figure 24. Building scale intervention pro posal. Source: author.

Figure 25. Neighborhood scale interven tion proposal isometric drawing. Source: author.

Figure 26. Pavilion mixed-use proposal iso metric drawing. Source: author.

Figure 27. Pavilion mixed-use proposal iso metric drawing. Source: author.

Figure 28. Pavilion market proposal isomet ric drawing. Source: author.

Figure 29. Pavilion market proposal isomet ric drawing. Source: author.

Figure 30. Pavilion ampitheater proposal isometric drawing. Source: author.

Figure 31. Balconies and terraces proposal isometric drawing. Source: author.

Figure 32. Balconies before isometric draw ing. Source: author.

Figure 33. Balconies with extensions iso metric drawing. Source: author.

Figure 34. Balconies before. Source: au thor.

Figure 35. Balconies with extensions and terraces. Source: author.

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