INRTU Launches the “Irkutsk on Baikal” Workshop Within the International University of Urban Planning Design

On September 17, the workshop within the 26th session of the International Baikal Winter University of Urban Planning Design started at INRTU Technopark. In order to prepare technical tasks united by the "Irkutsk on Baikal" theme, the participants were divided into five teams.

The urban planning session was opened by INRTU Rector Mikhail Korniakov. He emphasized the unusual format of the event. Previously, the workshop lasted less than a month, now the teams will work for half a year. This is due to the introduction of the Winter University into the new "Urban Space Transformation" master's program. Over the next two weeks the master's students will prepare and present the specifications. They will show the results in the winter.

According to Ruslan Sitnikov, First Deputy Chairman of the Irkutsk Region Government, the Winter University has established itself as a platform for generating new ideas. On a whole, the 26th session topics are related to the socio-economic development of the Irkutsk Region. Ruslan Sitnikov emphasized that the Irkutsk Region has great industrial potential, a rich architectural tradition, and is among the top 10 regions in terms of investment, exports, and gross regional product:

"Our priority is to create high quality living conditions and urban environment. Be thoughtful, creative and realistic about the projects. The government will help you realize your ideas".

According to the mayor of Irkutsk Ruslan Bolotov, students can create promising projects to unite the city and adjacent territories. The mayor noted that nowadays talented young people are not yet restricted by any social, technical and logistical conditions.

Leonid Frolov, Mayor of the Irkutsk District, noted that the district administration hopes to attract creative people to help develop the Baikal region.

Tatyana Trubnikova was appointed the new director of the Winter University, and Yuri Perelygin, the National Guild of Town Planners board member - the scientific director.

According to Yuri Perelygin, the workshop will be attended by INRTU master’s students, as well as architects, urban planners, geographers and physicians fr om Moscow to Krasnoyarsk.

The "Baikal Gateway" team will consider Listvyanka as a part of the Irkutsk District. Another group will focus on creating scientific and educational infrastructure on the Baikal. In addition, they will work on tourism, healthcare and multicultural environment.

"Today it is important to formulate at least one challenge or problem on the chosen topic. The most popular is the one related to the tourism industry. The hardest task is for those who choose multiculturalism. The fact is that not everyone understands how to combine cultural initiatives with urban planning. In my opinion, we should look at the experience of the past, when Russian culture spread to the Asia-Pacific Region countries through the capital of Eastern Siberia, Irkutsk. One of the current projects could be the opening of Chinese, Mongolian or Korean centers in Irkutsk, which would launch joint Russian-Asian educational programs," believes Yuri Perelygin.

INRTU graduate student Svetlana Orlova will work in a group aimed at developing world-class research infrastructure at Lake Baikal. She assumes that the team's work may result in ideas for designing new campuses, scientific institutes and links among them.

The workshop began with introductory presentations. Sergey Alexandrov, General Director of Sagrado Architex, addressed the teams. He outlined the history of Irkutsk and the settlements of the Irkutsk Region, spoke on the region's climate and seismicity. The speaker mentioned the possibility of building a new airport near the village of Pozdnyakova. He also talked about prospects of business, gastronomic and cultural tourism development.

According to Sergey Alexandrov, the urban session’s participants should pay attention to the development of the "triangle" - Listvyanka, Irkutsk and Bolshoye Goloustnoye. Moreover, the lecturer suggested building a single embankment from Irkutsk to Listvyanka. He gave the example of Germany, wh ere settlements are connected by forest and bike trails up to 200 kilometers long.

"The embankment will help create an ecological structure of the area. Today there are legal mechanisms for its construction," the speaker emphasized. 

The event program also included an online lecture by Darya Kiryanova, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. She spoke on entrepreneurship in education and how higher education needs to be updated.

Photos by Arseny Chekmaryov, from websites of the Irkutsk Administration and the Irkutsk Region Government