Rozhdestvenskaya Storona (original name: Rozhdestvenskaya Sloboda) — an innovative nano-prefecture within Nizhny Novgorod. At the design stage the project became famous for its ambitious but publicly unspecified plans to remake the territory and to move residents out into "social housing". Serikov, a deputy of the Regional Legislative Assembly and in the 1990s the head of the Nizhegorodsky District, was appointed head of Rozhdestvenskaya Storona.

The essence of the phenomenon

Judging by the policy statements made in the media by the city's leaders and by the documents supplied by the developers, "Rozhdestvenskaya Storona" is a revival of the idea of Nizhny Posad — the first self-governing zone within the bounds of Nizhny Novgorod — under the present-day conditions of a large urban agglomeration of the 21st century.

The characteristic features of a rise in the economic attractiveness of historic localities in the Nizhny Novgorod Region are usually the following developments: the displacement of the permanently resident population, a rise in property prices (since the reform was announced, the rise in property prices on Rozhdestvenskaya Street has amounted to 30%), the opening of entertainment establishments and office zones, and a permanent search for investors for cultural and tourist clusters, technology parks, postmodernist festivals and development projects in the adjoining historic areas.

Strategy and preliminary procedure for developing the territory

Report on the results of the meeting on the "Rozhdestvenskaya Storona" project, Green City Business School.

On 29 March 2011 a meeting on the "Rozhdestvenskaya Storona" project was held in the Small Hall of the Nizhny Novgorod City Administration.

Time: 29 March 2011, 13:00 -17:00

Venue: Small Hall of the Nizhny Novgorod City Administration

Topic: Drawing up proposals for developing a concept for Rozhdestvenskaya Street and the adjoining territory and priority measures for its implementation

Participants: the Head of the Nizhny Novgorod City Administration, representatives of the expert community, members of the Nizhny Novgorod Association for Management Development, specialists in architecture, construction, political science, sociology, psychology, strategy, marketing and economics, businessmen, journalists.

Moderators:

  • V. D. Kozlov, rector of the "Green City" business school, professor, Doctor of Economics
  • A. A. Serikov, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Nizhny Novgorod Region of the fourth convocation,

Proposals put forward by the participants, by area:

Economy

  • Determine the project's economic indicators, taking into account the readiness of the owners of the businesses located in the territory to start investing in the project today
  • Hold working meetings with the regional government on granting special tax benefits for investment in the territory
  • Determine the initial urgent costs of improving the street through the shared participation of the regional and city budgets and the funds of the owners of the buildings and businesses
  • Consider alternative sources of financing for the project's implementation (foundations, lotteries, etc.)
  • Determine the cost of reconstructing the networks and engineering utilities

Strategy

  • "Break up" the territory into lots, identifying groups of interested investors within them and designating contractors for each lot
  • Determine the exact boundaries of the "Rozhdestvenskaya Storona" zone and the stages of its expansion towards the Pechersky Monastery and the Romodanovsky railway station, and prepare a street reconstruction project as the basis for future innovations
  • Collect proposals from building owners and businesses on their readiness to repurpose their properties in line with the new concept
  • Invite the owners of production facilities located in the zone to consider options for repurposing and «tailoring» them to the new requirements (showrooms for displaying clothing models and workshops for making them). Offer options for siting the production itself elsewhere in the city
  • Combine a project-based and a process-based approach in implementing the Concept for the development of the zone. In addition to the working groups for preparing and implementing the project, identify process owners, the main stages and the executors
  • Provide the greatest possible opportunity for accommodating public organisations and their representative offices as a centre of attraction and of the shaping of ideas
  • Arrange the creation of «managed squats» - the development of projects to change a building's designated use before an investor is found and the property owner takes a decision

Architecture, construction and landscape design

  • Restore the urban planning council under the city's Chief Architect and its operational body – the Expert Council, with the participation of building owners and potential investors, to discuss architectural decisions and take public opinion into account when buildings are erected
  • Develop a plan for siting, within the zone of Rozhdestvenskaya Street and the adjacent areas, venues for unique large-scale Open air events (concert venues – amphitheatres on the slope and on the water for staging theatre and opera performances and holding air shows)
  • Decide whether the tram tracks need to be preserved in full or in part, or replaced with alternative modes of transport (cab drivers, a horse tram, etc.)
  • Make the fullest possible use of inner courtyard spaces – putting them in order and finding ways to use them is an integral part both of innovation in the zone and of preserving the present pattern of use. Recommend to owners and investors the technology of glazed courtyard roofs as a mechanism for using them comprehensively

Branding

  • Create on the territory a museum of Minin and Pozharsky, dedicated to these two great men and to the events of 1612
  • Create an exhibition complex – a branch of the museums of Nizhny Novgorod, with themed displays organised on the «All in one» principle
  • Provide for the fullest use of the street as the city's «Hotel gateway», attracting investors to use the existing buildings as high-class hotels. To this end, provide not only for resettling the residential sector but also for relocating office premises (chiefly those of state institutions)
  • Create a zone for exhibition activity not only «indoors» but also on the street. It may be possible to gradually move part of the informal crowd here from Pokrovskaya Street, to set up mini-stages for amateur and professional street music-making, and so on
  • Develop an original idea for a recreational leisure area as a counterweight to foreign ideas of shopping and entertainment centres of the «Fantastika» and «Mega» type
  • Identify sites for regular 3D and 4D laser shows as an «innovation magnet», and identify the contractors and the concept
  • arrange children's leisure areas along the lines of mini amusement parks, where families could spend time or leave their children for a while

Organisational measures

  • Form a working project group to develop and collect materials and the Concept for the development of the territory, to hold meetings and to prepare the necessary regulatory and working documentation. Place specific strict obligations, deadlines and responsibility on the members of the group. Provide for work within the group to be paid, for which purpose a budget should be determined as quickly as possible and this proposal submitted to the Head of the city administration. Entrust the preparation of proposals on the composition of the group to the Nizhny Novgorod Association for Management Development
  • Determine and approve at a session of the City Duma the status of the territory and the regime for its protection
  • Determine the list of resources required to implement the entire project and the sources for providing those resources
  • Establish within the Nizhegorodsky District of Nizhny Novgorod a separate municipal entity, «Rozhdestvenskaya storona», and draw up its charter, its principles of formation, functions, responsibility and interaction with the authorities
  • Carry out an audit and prepare on its basis a report on the current state of affairs in the territory – which buildings and which businesses are present; audit the problems connected with the street, measure them, and set goals with target indicators as the basis for solving them
  • Prepare a plan for resettling into social housing the more than 300 families living on Rozhdestvenskaya Street, and determine the costs
  • Hold a meeting with the owners of buildings and businesses located in the zone of Rozhdestvenskaya Street in order to hear their opinions and proposals for the concept, and also to identify their possible conflicts of interest as beneficiaries
  • Hold a round table of Stakeholders
  • Submit proposals on organising parking and (or) paid entry into the territory

The project's initial idea: a territorial cultural and entertainment centre

« A prefecture, «Rozhdestvenskaya sloboda», with separate funding may appear in Nizhny Novgorod as part of the administration of the Nizhegorodsky District. This was announced to journalists by the City Manager Oleg Kondrashov after a meeting with former mayors on Tuesday, 15 March.

According to him, the preparation of the documents has already begun. «I have said a great deal about wanting to make Rozhdestvenskaya a territorial cultural and entertainment centre. The new prefecture should also include part of Pochayna. Vadim Bulavinov had Bolshaya Pokrovskaya, and I will have Rozhdestvenskaya», Kondrashov declared.

He also said that a prefect and four people under him will most likely be appointed. These people will have separate real powers. The ex-mayors present at the meeting supported Kondrashov's idea.
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Removal of enterprises

« Rozhdestvenskaya Street is to become the cultural and leisure centre of Nizhny Novgorod. According to the head of the city Oleg Sorokin, Rozhdestvenskaya Street is the only area that has preserved a fully intact historical appearance. «This street has a large number of cultural sites, and it is also located not far from the Volga River – all this makes it possible to create a single architectural ensemble. Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street is the centre of trade, while Rozhdestvenskaya Street will be the city's cultural and leisure centre», said Oleg Sorokin.

<..>

«The general director of «Mayak», Dmitry Malukhin, has already said that he is ready to relocate production if he is provided with a suitable replacement», noted Oleg Kondrashov.

As he explained to journalists, the city administration is currently searching for suitable replacement buildings for these enterprises.
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Paid entry (a permit regime for motor vehicles) in the territory of the sloboda

« The head of the administration of Nizhny Novgorod, Oleg Kondrashov, considers it possible to introduce a permit regime for entry onto Rozhdestvenskaya Street. This is reported by the public relations department of the city administration.

The report notes that the head of the administration considers it advisable to take into account the experience of the twin city of Novi Sad (Serbia) in developing the historical part of Nizhny Novgorod.

«There is no chief architect in the administration of this Serbian city, yet there are very strict building rules in the old part of the city. Construction decisions are taken by the department for the development of architecture in agreement with the Council of Architects, which reviews all projects, assesses them and gives recommendations. The requirements are very strict; they concern not only the external appearance and the number of storeys of buildings, but also the design of signs and entrance doors», noted Oleg Kondrashov.

Kondrashov also stressed that private cars enter the centre of Novi Sad either for a fee or on special permits. «This experience may be useful to us in implementing the project to revive the historical appearance of Rozhdestvenskaya Street», the city manager declared.
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Resettlement of the residents of the "storona" into social housing

« (NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" – Irina Shvetsova) About 370 families need to be resettled from Rozhdestvenskaya in Nizhny Novgorod and the territories adjoining it. This was announced to journalists on 29 March by the head of the administration of Nizhny Novgorod Oleg Kondrashov following a meeting devoted to the reconstruction of Rozhdestvenskaya Street together with the Nizhne-Volzhskaya Embankment.

According to him, people in this territory mostly live in poor conditions – in houses belonging to the dilapidated and unsafe housing stock.

"Let me remind you that we plan to resettle all the dilapidated and unsafe housing stock in Nizhny Novgorod within five years. The residents of the future "Rozhdestvenskaya Storona" will also be included in this programme, but most likely they will be resettled faster than in five years", - Kondrashov noted.
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Settle either well-off people or special connoisseurs: over 2 months of discussions of the project, property prices rose by a third

« During the two months of discussions on the modernisation of Rozhdestvenskaya Street, property prices in its area rose by 30 percent.

This was stated today by the head of the administration of Nizhny Novgorod Oleg Kondrashov at a meeting on the modernisation of Rozhdestvenskaya Street.

Thus, 370 families from the unsafe and dilapidated housing stock on Rozhdestvenskaya Street, the Nizhnevolzhskaya Embankment and the nearby lanes are subject to resettlement.

"Troubled families live there now. They need to be resettled, everything renovated – into studio flats, for example, or with separate entrances from the street on the second and third floors. After that, settle either well-off people or special connoisseurs. I would gladly live on Rozhdestvenskaya Street myself, it is not far to the kremlin", - Kondrashov said.

Also, at the meeting the chairman of the committee on housing policy and urban development of the Regional Legislative Assembly of the IV convocation Serikov spoke about the need to build mini-hotels to attract tourists. <..>
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The most beautiful street of our city awaits an era of Renaissance

« A MAGAZINE ABOUT ROZHDESTVENSKAYA STREET WAS MADE IN 24 HOURS

Yesterday Rozhdestvenskaya, which by decision of the city authorities is destined to become the calling card of Nizhny Novgorod and a historical and cultural zone for residents and guests of the city, acquired a magazine of its own.

The glossy cover reads «The 25th Hour. Theme: VozROZHDESTVENSKAYA». Such a play on numbers and words is no accident. First, thanks to the «Rozhdestvenskaya Storona» project, which we have been telling our readers about in detail for three months now, the most beautiful street of our city really does await an era of Renaissance.

The number points to the fact that this first magazine of Rozhdestvenskaya Street was created in 24 hours — exactly one day was needed to make the layout of the issue and print it. Incidentally, work on the layout went on from noon of 13 June to noon of 14 June at the Z-top club, and the magazine was printed at the printing house of the Nizhny Novgorod Radio Laboratory).

The magazine is devoted to the revival of Rozhdestvenskaya Street, and the owners of premises located in this territory will become the holders of copies of the unusual print run. According to the head of the working group of the «Rozhdestvenskaya Storona» project Serikov, it is the magazine that will help to begin the work of uniting local businessmen into a single community.
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Discussions

« <..> Hence the question - what to preserve in Nizhny Novgorod and how, if practically everything has already been burnt out. Everything that may be and that may not be.

Carving some part out of the Nizhegorodsky District for a separate «feeding» is an understandable step. It is profitable. One can deal with a single person directly. And let the others sort out the problems in all the rest of the big Nizhegorodsky District.

The carving out of this plot is, first of all, economic in nature. And the formal justification for it is the protection of historical heritage. As Zhvanetsky used to say, «what I guard is what I have». In all of Nizhny Novgorod a plot has been found that will yield the maximum profit. What is there to rejoice at?

The authorities always follow the path of simplification, making it easier for themselves to solve certain tasks. It is simpler for them to work with a separate fragment of the city map. Land yields the maximum profit - the governor knows this, all the officials know it. There is no other resource in the Nizhny Novgorod Region.

Of all of Nizhny Novgorod, the Nizhegorodsky District is the most profitable. And within this district the tastiest morsel is being singled out. So we are seeing the use of a special form of managing the land that brings the greatest profit. After all, it is more convenient to work with VIP clients - they will give more than anyone else.
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Interesting facts

  • The general concept of Rozhdestvenskaya Storona is being developed and refined by a special expanding group of experts under the administration of Nizhny Novgorod, on a paid basis.
  • Marketing activities within the so-called zero cycle of promoting the concept are, according to the project head Serikov, financed not from the municipal budget.

Address

  • The location of the office of the "Rozhdestvenskaya Storona" prefecture is being specified at present.

Official site

  • Rsnn.ucoz.ru (archive) — the official site of the project. Contains a news feed and some materials of the working group (the initial version of the concept and its presentation).

Materials of the working group

The official site of Rozhdestvenskaya Storona as of 12 July 2011 contains the following materials for download: the general concept of the project without its 4 appendices and a 19-page official presentation under the title "Project for the development of the "Rozhdestvenskaya Storona" territory".

The download links are accompanied by the following notice:

« The organizers of the "Rozhdestvenskaya Storona" project invite the The Internet to familiarize themselves with the project concept and its presentation.

These materials of the "Rozhdestvenskaya Storona" project became the subject of consideration by the local self-government bodies and the state authorities of Nizhny Novgorod Region.

We invite interested communities to take part in the discussion of the concept and to express their comments on its refinement. We will also be glad to receive your proposals on the programme of the main events aimed at the revival of Rozhdestvenskaya Street and of the entire adjacent territory of Rozhdestvenskaya Storona.
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Main text

Appendix 3. Marketing appendices. List of "zero-cycle" events

Project presentation

Concept of Rozhdestvenskaya Storona

  • Dmitry Kuzin