Written for 2015 Masdar Engage Blogging Contest
Togliatti. Noospherical capital of Volga Basin.
Not merely a term, not merely a location.
The city was carefully planted and grown as an
ideal location of socialist future. Even many years of unstable economy and
troubled management didn’t change the basics: that place is made for creative
and sustainable living.
Thinking of future, I will try to
envision optimistic scenario and unveil creative potential of Togliatti. Not
necessarily it may evolve that way, but still, my dream has a foundation.
In 2030, my ideal Togliatti will generally keep
its urban structure, spreading along the river with the solid urban forest in
the middle.
FOOD PRODUCTION will use the potential of forest,
the river and the lakes. Several initiatives for recovering the population of
Volga fish are being made; forest is harvested by individuals naturally. We envision
vertical urban farms and park gardening, as well as green roofs and indoor food
production. We will also incorporate nearby rural settlements and build a
sustainable urban agriculture, since there is already a belt of “dachas”, the
task is to organize them in more sustainable ways. We will also follow conscious
birth control to keep population within ecological capacity of the place.
WATER is and will always be everything
for us. We will spare the use of underground waters, providing better education
for people and spreading innovations at home – sustainable laundry and
dishwashing, new waterless toilets. Water is for drinking.
We will also install new capacities of
biological treatment facilities, possibly using urban forest more extensively
as a filter for our wastewater. This may involve creating new ecosystem using
nanotechnology and bio 3D printing.
We will transform urban gardening, implementing
innovative irrigation to minimize wastewater.
We will recover the forest and try to get back
to the unique urban green belt that was built in Soviet time.
TRANSPORTATION will also shift back from system
dominated by individual motorized vehicles to public transportations, including
ecobuses and light rail. Bicycles (both mechanic and motorized-electric) and
skis will continue to spread both as a convenient transport and means of
pleasing oneself with water and forest landscape.
We will build an ecopath along the water that
will bond much of the city together and become a public place.
WASTE management is going to change a
lot. Since the city has lots of highly-qualified chemists and ecologists, we
will strive to find new ways of reusing plastic and food waste. We will
introduce separation of waste by users and try to get rid of excessive
packaging. We will use nanorobots to decompose waste on the elementary level,
and start building from new generation of recycled materials. Food waste will
be turned into soil, using biotechnology and a network of urban waste
collectors. Much effort will be made in upbringing of new generation in the
right way: conscious way of life reduces waste.
ENERGY will come from sun and the water.
Hydroelectric powerstation will still be there, but we will try to minimize consumption
with passive housing and smart transportation, LED urban lighting and smart computerized
networks, controlling energy flow. Waste can produce energy, too.
As one can see, all of
these themes – energy, water, transportation, food and waste are interconnected
in all possible ways. Probably, the single thing that we need now is a critical
mass of people able to think of urban future in the same holistic way. This is
my biggest hope and biggest effort – to help to raise these people and become
such person myself. And this little elaborative study kept me on the right
track.
