The common basis for various urban planning activities to create new cities, rebuild and renovate existing cities is a unified idea of the formation of the architectural and planning structure of a modern city. As a general concept, the architectural and planning structure of a city means the placement on its territory of zones for production, housing, public centers and recreation centers, the creation of a system of connections between them and the structural organization of each zone. This is united into one whole by the architectural composition of the city plan.
The single concept of “architectural and planning structure of the city” is revealed by a set of principles for its construction.
Functional zoning. A modern city is a complex complex of territories and structures occupied by manufacturing enterprises, residential complexes, public centers, outdoor recreation areas, transport and engineering structures. The main functions of the city are stably materialized on its territory and subsequently they are not so easy to change. Therefore, the first principle that brings order and system to the planning organization of the city is functional zoning, the division of the city into parts for various purposes based on the leading function (work, social life, everyday life, recreation).
The idea of functional zoning in urban planning is not new. It arose at the beginning of the century as a rationalistic reaction against the chaotic mixture on the territory of the city of dwellings, factories, factories, warehouses, access roads, built in a disorderly manner in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. By the middle of the century, this idea took shape as a leading urban planning concept, but it also revealed its shadow sides. Vast territories organized on a monofunctional basis lose many of the qualities inherent in a full-fledged social life of the city and need to be reasonably supplemented with elements of public purpose. The need for mutual complementation and enrichment of functions in different parts of the city makes it urgent to search for integrated forms of the architectural and planning structure of a modern city.
The consistent division of the city into parts for various purposes and functional zones, testifying to the success of the social organization of work, life and leisure of citizens, at the same time aggravates the problem of the planning integrity of the city. None of the functions of the city, taken separately, exists on its own. The alternation of life cycles of work, life and rest is the basis of the urban way of life. Therefore, the planning structure of the city cannot be reduced to the structural organization of functional zones and their elements. It is determined primarily by their rational mutual location and the possibility of creating a convenient, permanent and reliable connection between all parts of the city.
The differentiation of a city's territory into structural zones that have different values and are characterized by different typological features is a property of all cities in the world. The functional organization of the city territory is based on the principle of identifying city territories that perform similar functions.
For many decades, the practice of city planning organization was based on the idea of a clear differentiation in time and space of the main functions of human life: work, home and rest. This is reflected in the methodology for functional zoning of territories, which, in accordance with the requirements of SNIP 2.07.01 - 89. involves dividing the city into three main zones: residential, industrial, landscape and recreational(Fig. 2.1). These zones are connected into a single whole by a transport system.
Residential zone (population settlement zone)- territorial space intended for the implementation of everyday functions of the population. It houses housing stock, public buildings and structures, as well as individual communal and industrial facilities that do not require the establishment of sanitary protection zones.
The main elements of the residential area are:
a) residential neighborhoods and neighborhoods;
b) areas of institutions and service enterprises of non-microdistrict significance;
c) public green spaces of non-microdistrict significance;
d) streets, roads, driveways, areas of non-microdistrict significance.
Production area designed to accommodate industrial enterprises and related facilities, complexes of scientific institutions with their pilot production facilities, utility and storage facilities, engineering infrastructure facilities, external transport structures, non-urban and suburban transport routes. The production zone usually includes subzones (districts):
· industrial;
· scientific and scientific-production;
· sanitary and protective;
· utilities - warehouses.
Industrial production often creates unfavorable sanitary, hygienic and environmental conditions, both on the territory of the enterprise itself and in the surrounding area. This makes it impractical to locate businesses in residential neighborhoods or service areas.
Even if there are no negative environmental consequences, locating large industrial enterprises in residential areas is often impractical, since they require too large areas of territory. This forces businesses to move to peripheral areas of the city. Large cities are characterized by the location of such enterprises and environmentally hazardous industries in special industrial zones.
In order to protect the city population from industrial emissions, a sanitary protection zone. When locating industrial enterprises, the sanitary and hygienic characteristics of production are important, which significantly influence the size of sanitary protection zones, the conditions for the formation of industrial areas and the entire structure of the city.
Communal and warehouse area formed to accommodate warehouses of trade organizations; enterprises servicing vehicles (tram depots, trolleybus and taxi depots, harvesting machine depots and others); consumer service enterprises (for example, factories - laundries and dry cleaning factories); supply and distribution bases and warehouses for material and technical supplies.
Landscape and recreational zone- a zone in which there are places of mass recreation for the population, large tracts of greenery, resort areas and areas of protected landscape.
The urban area also includes other lands where nurseries, cemeteries, individual objects of engineering infrastructure and external transport are located, landfills for the disposal of household waste, lands for agriculture and more. The listed functional zones, especially residential and industrial ones, are rarely created in their pure form. In most cities, the type of zone is formed according to the predominant location of objects of a certain functional significance. When forming these zones, it is prohibited to include objects in them, the joint placement of which is not permitted by sanitary, hygienic, fire safety and technical rules.
When designing cities, the correct mutual placement of functional zones is important. For example, a residential zone should occupy the most favorable areas in the city - dry, elevated, well insolated, close to green areas and reservoirs. In relation to the industrial zone, residential areas should be located on the windward side and upstream of the rivers.
It is advisable to bring communal and warehouse areas closer to the industrial areas of the city, using inconvenient and limitedly suitable land for construction and sanitary protection zones of industrial enterprises.
It is advisable to form a landscape and recreational zone in areas with natural landscaping and ponds, taking into account the possibility of providing them with convenient transport connections. A special role is given to the suburban area as a territory intended largely for recreation of the population.
It is recommended that external transport structures be linked to the road network. Railway stations should be located on the side of the main part of the residential area, providing convenient transport connections with the city center, residential and industrial areas. Freight railway stations are located outside residential areas.
Correct functional zoning of territories has economic and social advantages compared to the free placement of city elements. Economic ones consist in the possibility of saving urban areas, in reducing the expenditure of funds on the construction of engineering and transport communications, and on landscaping areas. Social benefits are manifested in preserving and reducing the load on the natural environment of the city, in improving the living conditions of the population by increasing the convenience of using transport and cultural and public service facilities.
Urban planning practice of the late 20th - early 21st centuries. showed that the real process of functioning of large developing cities does not fit into the framework of “classical” functional zoning.
Firstly, at present there is, and in the future, an even sharper increase in employment of the population in the sphere of management and services is expected, i.e. in precisely those institutions that, due to the conditions of their location in the city, gravitate more towards the center than to isolated ones production zones. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly difficult to localize areas of noticeable concentration of jobs in any particular area of the city. It covers industrial areas, the city center, and residential areas of the city. Residential neighborhoods are quickly becoming saturated with a network of service establishments, and business developments are gradually being introduced into residential development.
Secondly, the dogmatic application of functional zoning of the city territory gave rise to residential areas and industrial zones that were dying out by the evening. At the same time, there is a negative reaction of the population of isolated residential areas to the isolation of residential formations, their isolation from intensively functioning places of the city.
Rigid functionalism, which once represented an innovative breakthrough towards understanding the city as an integral socio-economic system, is currently undergoing a clear crisis. The construction of a functional structure of a city based on a uniquely fixed spatial pattern of “work - home - leisure” currently seems to many specialists to be an unacceptable anachronism, especially in large and major cities.
The main trend in the development of modern urban planning is the abandonment of functional zoning of the territory of the city center and a clear definition of the boundaries of functional zones, the transition to the creation of multifunctional complexes that carry all the functions inherent in the city: housing, work, recreation, public services.
City planning structure
Planning organization territory occupies a special place among other sections of regional planning, being a connecting link where the interests of various sectors of the national economy and urban planning intersect and are coordinated. The use of district planning materials and the section of the planning organization of the territory in solving architectural and urban planning problems is essentially a process of information exchange. This cross-exchange during the design process is carried out according to the following scheme:
1. Identification of the main planning problems arising from the analysis of the natural and geographical situation, the current level of economic development of the territory and prospects for the development of individual sectors of the national economy;
2. Drawing up a general concept for the planning organization of the district territory for the future;
3. Development of private planning proposals that provide a rational solution to each of the individual sectoral problems of regional planning.
The very concept of “territory planning structure” came to regional planning from urban planning, where terms such as “city structure” or “city planning structure” have long been used, meaning the general planning concept, its original plan or main idea. At the same time, the concept of the territory of a regional planning object is interpreted as a unique complex system, and based on this, the main method of solving the problem is the consistent construction of a number of information and logical models with a gradual increase in their information load.
In accordance with this, under planning structure territory in regional planning, one should understand the model of mutual placement and spatial relationships of national economic objects and the most important elements of the natural landscape at various stages of their economic development.
The main elements of the planning structure of a regional planning object, depending on their purpose, spatial-geometric shape and the nature of the objects forming them, can be divided into:
Major and minor;
Point (planning centers), linear (planning axes) and planar (planning zones);
Natural - landscape (rivers, sea coasts, forests, mountains, etc.);
Transport (various types of transport hubs and highways) and national economic (cities, agglomerations, large industrial facilities).
Each of these elements of the planning structure, in accordance with the characteristics of its impact, forms its own zone of influence.
If functional zoning reflects, first of all, differences in the nature of use of different parts of the city, then the planning structure of the city is expressed in the relative position of the main functional zones and the system of connections between them. The planning structure of a city largely depends on its size and the construction of the city’s transport structure. Transport infrastructure not only fixes the planning structure of the city, but also largely determines its subsequent development. When designing a city, it is necessary to identify its “framework” - the areas of the most intensive development and concentration of the most important functions, usually associated with the city center and main transport routes. The “framework” is the most stable basis for the spatial planning organization of the city over time. In a generalized form, it fixes the geometry of the plan and thereby predetermines the trends in the further territorial development of the city.
It is necessary to take into account that the elements of transport infrastructure are rigidly fixed in space, and this rigidity is higher, the higher the communication class. In principle, three types of city planning schemes can be distinguished: radial - ring, checkerboard and free(Fig. 2.2).
Rice. 2.2. City planning schemes: a - radial - ring; b - chess; in - free
The radial-ring (concentric) circuit contains two fundamentally different types of highways - radial and ring.
Radial lines serve to connect the city center with peripheral areas, and ring streets connect radial ones and ensure the transfer of traffic flows from one radial direction to another. This layout makes it possible to harmoniously arrange the development around the center, where the main objects of public and business development are concentrated (concentrated).
With this layout you can easily get to the city center. The advantage of the radial-ring scheme is the compact shape of the plan, in which the natural environment of the city is least disturbed.
However, the full benefits of this scheme can only be realized in smaller cities. As the territory increases, the central part of the city experiences functional overload and is cut off from the natural environment, and peripheral areas find themselves at a considerable distance from the center.
A variation of the radial-ring scheme is "star" layout. In this case, the development is not located in concentric strips around the city center, but is concentrated along the highways - rays; in this case, arrays of greenery can be placed between the rays of the “star”. In this case, there is a good connection between the outskirts and the center. However, with such a scheme, connections between peripheral regions with each other are difficult. The star-shaped scheme requires attention to the problem of the development of the center and the increase in traffic intensity within its boundaries.
Chess scheme, in which the streets intersect at an angle of 90°, assumes a relatively uniform development of the territory. This type of planning structure has been widely used at all times. The advantage of the chess structure is the possibility of uniform distribution of traffic flows. With this layout, it is easy to demarcate areas.
However, a large number of street crossings increases vehicle mileage and lengthens trips. The checkerboard pattern makes it difficult to form a clearly defined central core and system of centers of residential areas of the city.
Linear (tape) circuit is a kind of checkerboard layout, strongly elongated in one direction. Objects in the central part of the city in this case are located along the main highway or along several parallel highways. The linear layout ensures proximity to the natural environment and main transport routes. This layout allows for convenient transport links, reducing travel time. However, as the city grows and the development zone lengthens, a significant part of the territories finds itself at too great a distance from the centers of various ranks. In addition, the distances between individual parts of the city are increasing significantly.
In some old cities, the central part may consist of narrow and crooked streets that do not have a clear geometric pattern. This scheme is called free.
In practice, the considered main types of city planning are adapted to specific natural conditions. The city, located between the sea and the mountains, usually develops according to a linear plan. The radial-ring structure of the city takes the form of a semicircle when the city center is located by the sea or close to the river. In large cities in different territories, it is possible to use fragments of different planning structure schemes.
The development of high-speed modes of transport and the need for quick and comfortable movement from remote parts of the city to the central one significantly complicate the planning structure of the city. However, all the variety of types of planning structures in different parts of the city mainly fits into the indicated types of planning schemes or their combination. Large cities with a long history are characterized by a combination of all these types of planning schemes, reflecting various stages of urban development.
The basic principles of the city planning organization are:
Flexibility of the planning structure, ensuring unhindered development of the city;
Differentiation of transport routes;
Organization of an effective service system;
Creation of the city’s environmental infrastructure, including a unified system of green spaces;
Efficient and economical equipping of the city with all types of engineering equipment;
Compositional requirements for the city plan (development of the city center, district centers in the city, creation of an attractive silhouette of the city and ensuring visual perception of its main natural and architectural dominants).
With all the features of the planning structure, formed on the basis of the considered transport schemes, taking into account the real situation, in cities (especially large and large ones) fundamentally different territories can be identified according to the location of zones within the city.
Figure 2.3. Territories by location of zones within the city
City center- a relatively small central area of the city, in which there are areas of administrative buildings, cultural and business facilities, green areas, squares, pedestrian paths, driveways and parking lots. The most architecturally and historically outstanding buildings are concentrated in this zone.
A small and medium-sized city usually has a compact city center. In large and major cities there is a developed spatial system of centers, the main element of which is the citywide center, where objects with a predominant share of administrative and public functions are located. In addition to public functions, the city center also performs residential (in particular, hotel accommodation).
Historical city centers are characterized by dense buildings, radial-ring or similar layouts, the gradual displacement of residential buildings by business buildings, the widespread development of cultural, entertainment, and trade institutions, and a sharp excess of the daytime population over the nighttime population. This zone is the “carrier” of the city’s image, synonymous with its significance and grandeur.
Thus, in Moscow, the historical center is located within the Garden Ring; the historical center of St. Petersburg within the conventional boundaries connecting the main train stations and central metro stations.
When planning a center, its convenient connection with the main residential areas of the city must be ensured. Public transport stops should be located within walking distance from the main objects of the central zone, all functional zones and elements of the center should be connected by pedestrian paths, and transit traffic should be excluded from this zone.
Central zone, in addition to the core of the city, includes the intensively built-up area adjacent to it, as a rule, covered by a ring of railways, stations, industrial and warehouse areas. As the city expands territorially, this zone is increasingly rebuilt, undergoes redevelopment, changes its appearance and acquires the functions of a center. It is also characterized by a significant excess of the daytime population over the nighttime population and a gradual decrease in the size of the permanent population.
The central zone of Moscow includes the territory within the boundaries of the circular railway with adjacent territories, in St. Petersburg - the zone from the city center to the Obvodny Canal, including Vasilyevsky Island, Petrogradskaya Side.
Outer zone- this is the territory of a city without suburbs, where the bulk of the population is concentrated. In Moscow, this zone includes the territory within the Moscow Ring Road, in St. Petersburg - the territory administratively subordinate to the city without settlements subordinate to its administration.
Suburban area unites the territories surrounding the city, the formation and development of which is subject to its interests. This zone performs the important function of organizing recreation for the city’s population, maintaining ecological balance, and locating a number of public utility facilities and external transport. The natural zone houses some of the industrial enterprises and settlements directly connected to the city, and also contains reserve areas for the development of the city.
The suburban area of Moscow includes a forest park protective belt and the territory of satellite cities (Zelenograd, Pushkin, Podolsk and others). The suburban area of St. Petersburg includes urban settlements administratively subordinate to the city, and territories adjacent to the city within a radius of up to 50 km.
Large and major cities in general are characterized by a consistent population shift from the inner rings of the city to the outer ones, a strong development of pendulum migration, and restrictions on urban planning activities in the central areas of the city.
When organizing a residential area, the need to organize all the necessary functional processes in the residential environment (rest, everyday life, maintenance and economic functions) is taken into account; ensuring convenient transport and pedestrian accessibility of public centers, places of work, public transport stops; creation of a favorable sanitary and hygienic environment and an aesthetically complete environment.
The main elements of the planning structure residential area of the city (Fig. 2.4) are residential groups (residential yard, microdistricts, several residential groups united by cultural and everyday objects - KBO), residential areas (several microdistricts united by a common center of regional significance) and planning areas (several residential areas united general center of urban significance).
Rice. 2.4. Traditional city planning structure
Residential group consists of several houses located nearby in a certain order. Several residential groups, united by public, cultural and community facilities and daytime services, form microdistrict . Microdistricts are shifted within interhighway territories.
From several microdistricts united by cultural and everyday service facilities, a Residential area . The planning structure and composition of a residential area are determined by its place in the city plan, natural conditions, the general compositional idea and historical development. An important factor in the planning organization of a residential area is its division into inter-highway residential areas by a network of city roads. Residential areas and microdistricts are formed in accordance with the structure of interhighway territories. Moreover, the more intensively the territory is used, the more transport is required to service it and the more it is divided.
The planning area unites several residential areas and a complex of occasional service facilities for the population. Depending on the size of the city territory and the general planning structure, the residential zone can be formed as one or many planning districts.
All planning elements of the city are interconnected; the planning structure of the city is influenced by the size of the territory, the size of the city's population, natural conditions, morphologists, territories, administrative significance and the period of formation of the genus. All forms of city planning organization can be used at various stages of design and complement each other; if in large and largest cities all planning elements are possible, then in small and medium-sized cities only residential groups, microdistricts, residential areas. In rugged terrain and extreme climatic conditions, residential groups are sometimes formed instead of microdistricts.
From the mid 50s. years, the microdistrict is the most important structural element of the residential territory of cities. Microdistricts house centers or institutions of primary and everyday services, which determines their division into residential areas and public areas. The population of a microdistrict can vary from 4 to 15 thousand people. This depends on the density adopted in a given location, the nature of the development and the configuration of its boundaries, the size of the residential area in which the microdistrict is located, etc. The main public institutions of the microdistrict are a school, as well as cultural, everyday, shopping and children's institutions.
A special role in the microdistrict structuring of the living environment belongs to school buildings. In many cases, the determination of the size of the territory and the population of microdistricts for a given number of floors of development is established depending on the possible capacity of schools and child care institutions. This is explained primarily by the fact that within the microdistrict the child must move without crossing highways.
Taking a standard school for 960 students for placement in a microdistrict and thereby predetermining the population served by the school at 6,000 people (with a norm of 160 school places per 1,000 residents), it can be established that the territory of the microdistrict has 4 - 5-story buildings (with a gross housing density 2800 m² per 1 hectare) should be approximately 20 hectares.
An increase in the area of a microdistrict sometimes leads to the placement of not one, but two schools with a number of places corresponding to the size of the population served. Changes in the number of floors of buildings and the density of the housing stock introduce changes in the population and affect the choice of a typical school and the size of the microdistrict. With this calculation, the population of individual microdistricts may fluctuate within the following limits:
In the multi-storey development zone - 6 - 10 thousand people;
In the low-rise development zone - 4 - 6 thousand people;
Within the estate development - 2 - 4 thousand people.
The organization of everyday life of the population requires a clear organization of cultural and consumer services. The microdistrict includes a service system that is closely connected with the population and is the most frequently visited. Therefore, certain requirements are imposed on the degree of remoteness of service enterprises from places of residence.
Microdistricts house institutions that satisfy the daily needs of the population. This, as already indicated, is the first level of service, located in a microdistrict within walking distance (no more than 500 m from the house) with a time investment of 5 - 7 minutes.
2.3. Urban zoning
Urban zoning- this is the division (breakdown) of the land territory of municipalities (including settlements) into parts in which territorial zones are determined with the types of their urban planning use and restrictions on their use (urban zoning map of the municipality).
On the urban zoning map:
1) The boundaries of territorial zones are established. Any land plot belongs to only one territorial zone. That is, the formation of one land plot from several land plots located in different territorial zones is not allowed.
2) The boundaries of zones with special conditions for the use of the territory and the boundaries of the territories of cultural heritage sites must be displayed.
In accordance with the Town Planning Code, territorial zoning is carried out in urban and rural settlements. It is based on the identification of settlement zones, united by functional use, parameters and restrictions on their development (Fig. 2.3).
| Engineering and transport infrastructure zones |
| Zones of military facilities, other zones of restricted areas |
Fig.2.3. List of territorial zones.
For each zone, the types of environment permitted and permitted only by special agreement are determined, as well as the shares of the area intended for them. Types of media not listed in the list are prohibited.
For the permitted types of environment in each zone, set the value of the share of the zone area they occupy for the main functions - the minimum (no less); for functions accompanying the main ones - minimum and maximum (from... to...); other functions - maximum (no more). For types of environments that are permitted only by special agreement, a maximum value for the share of the zone area is established. In territorial zones, subzones can be distinguished, the mode of use of which is determined by urban planning regulations.
The composition of territorial zones in settlements may vary depending on local conditions, regulatory legal and regulatory and technical documents of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and local governments in the field of urban planning. An approximate list of territorial zones of urban and rural settlements is established in the Town Planning Code and includes:
Residential areas;
Public - business zones;
Production areas;
Engineering and transport infrastructure zones;
Recreational areas;
Agricultural use zones;
Special purpose zones;
Zones of military facilities, other zones of restricted areas.
Residential areas- these are zones intended for population residence, as well as for residence in combination with recreation or with the maintenance of individual subsidiary farming. There are several types of residential areas:
Zone of manor houses and blocked residential buildings;
Zone of multi-apartment residential buildings up to three floors;
Zone of multi-apartment residential buildings with 4 - 5 floors;
Zone of multi-apartment residential buildings with 4 - 12 floors.
For each zone, permitted, associated and conditionally permitted uses are established. For example, in the zone of multi-apartment residential buildings up to three floors, the construction of manor-type residential buildings is permitted; blocked residential buildings; multi-apartment residential buildings no higher than three floors; libraries; pharmacies with a sales area of up to 20 m²; stores with a sales area of up to 60 m². It can house kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, small catering establishments; medical practitioners' offices; hairdressing salons.
Non-main and associated uses are gardens, vegetable gardens, baths, saunas (subject to sewerage); greenhouses, greenhouses; outbuildings; built-in, underground or semi-buried garages, etc. The placement of a number of objects requires special approval, i.e. they are among the conditionally permitted uses (shops, clubs, post offices, objects with parameters more or less specified in the requirements for development and etc.).
The gap between prestigious Moscow neighborhoods and working-class outskirts is becoming more noticeable year after year.
Today in Moscow there are more and more elite areas fenced off from the rest of the city by high fences. The NG correspondent spoke with German Vetrov, director of the Municipal Economic Development direction of the Institute of Urban Economics Foundation, and with Denis, project manager of the Institute of Urban Economics Foundation, about how the process of dividing into poor and rich areas is going on, and how it threatens city residents. Vizgalov
Is the division of the city into prestigious and non-prestigious areas an inevitable process?
In our opinion, this is an objective process. People have always settled within cities according to certain principles - depending on their profession, property or social status. Remember medieval cities in which there were neighborhoods, settlements, where certain artisans and craftsmen lived. There were also areas where rich people settled. This is the result of a completely natural desire to live next to one’s own kind.
If we talk about Moscow, then even in Soviet times there were differences between the districts. Leninsky Prospect and the university were chosen by academic science, government officials preferred the environmentally friendly western direction, the generals made a choice in favor of Kutuzovsky Prospect, and the southern regions more actively absorbed migrants and visiting labor...
Moscow is still a very atypical city, and we still didn’t have a pronounced division. Moscow was knocked out of the global process of urban development. Segregation in Paris or London has historical roots; the status of neighborhoods there was determined 400 years ago. In our country, this process has been artificially restrained for almost eighty years. Of course, in big cities even in Soviet times there was a division into elite and working-class areas, although not obvious. However, the authorities tried to hush up this topic and somehow smooth out the process itself. For a long time, market mechanisms did not operate during resettlement. The result of such a policy is very unusual - housing of quite different types is concentrated per unit of Moscow area. In a prestigious area you can find an elite house, and next to it a Khrushchev building, and the picture ends up being very motley. It is, of course, gradually eroding, but the consequences of Soviet-era policies will be felt for a very long time. So far, the Moscow real estate market does not have the internal mobility that exists in the West. Our ability to quickly move around the city and change housing when changing status is still very limited. Moving to Moscow is quite a difficult matter. The start of mortgages is changing the picture, but for now mortgages are expensive and organizationally complex.
How do you assess the current situation in Moscow?
Speaking about modern trends, it is important to distinguish between two main types of segregation - ethnic and social. Ethnic segregation - when a city is divided along ethnic lines, ethnic neighborhoods appear in it - Azerbaijani, Chinese, Russian, etc. Social segregation is when poor and rich areas, prestigious and non-prestigious, arise. These two types of segregation have different causes and different roots, each needs to be discussed separately.
As for the ethnic division, it apparently will not manifest itself very clearly. The fact is that in Moscow people tend to identify themselves more with social groups rather than with national ones. What we observe: Azerbaijanis or Armenians who come here at first try to settle in clans - together with friends, relatives, they try to cling to something and on the basis of this organize their national society. However, as soon as their financial situation improves, they move to another, more prestigious area. It has been noticed that in this case people try in every possible way, on the contrary, to merge with the new social environment, and they no longer really want to stick out their national identity. Social identification is more important to them than national identification.
Do you think there is no danger that national ghettos will appear in Moscow, as, for example, in many other megacities?
There is such a danger. Especially against the background of the ever-increasing xenophobia that characterizes the entire Russian society today. But, in our opinion, this will not be a determining factor for Moscow. The Soviet resettlement system, laid down in the foundation, will not allow this to happen.
Why did American and some European cities follow this path? There are, for example, Chinatown or Harlem in New York, Turkish quarters in Berlin...
Well, Americans have their own unique feature - African Americans. African Americans in America are very different in their lifestyle from the rest of the population. There is a very serious social, everyday, cultural barrier between these population groups. We don't have such powerful barriers. Migrants from the CIS countries are much closer to Russians in their mentality, lifestyle and even cultural identification. In the end, we all lived in the Land of the Soviets, fed by the same ideology. Over the years of Soviet power, people have nevertheless become accustomed to interethnic cohabitation.
If we take, for example, Turkish or Arab migration to European countries, it was a monolithic wave and very fast. Our migration process is extended over time: it actively took place throughout the entire Soviet period - 70-80 years. And then - it was more elastic.
Another thing is how the growth of xenophobia will affect it. Here a lot depends on the authorities, on how they will regulate these processes. Today the country does not have a clear migration policy. But we are on the verge of a demographic catastrophe. The country loses 800-900 thousand people a year, almost a million! On the other hand, in our society there is growing hostility towards migrants and guest workers - they, they say, live at our expense and take away our jobs. But migrants are a very important cog in our economy. They occupy those niches in the labor market for which, as a rule, there is no longer demand among Muscovites; moreover, these are the lowest paid places. If Moscow aspires to the role of a World City, then there is no escape from such a process. We must not only come to terms with this, but also be proud of it, no matter how strange it may seem to the average person. Every city, be it New York, Paris or Singapore, is fueled by migrants. In London, for example, one in four schoolchildren do not speak English as their first language, and no one sees anything wrong with this.
What about divisions based on social principles?
Here the situation is completely different. Here segregation will only grow, and grow rapidly. And the larger the city, the more intense this process will go in it, the more contrasts there will be. Both the richest and the poorest people always flock to megacities from all over the country. It is always easier for the homeless, the poor and other marginalized groups to survive in a large city. And wealth is concentrated here - great opportunities, great incomes. Just by the cost of housing today, one can distinguish the formation of respectable areas and poor ones.
Which areas of Moscow are more likely to turn into slums?
The less prestigious segments of the capital have long been known - these are the southern, south-eastern and eastern areas, this is clearly evidenced by the ratio of housing prices. Each district has already developed its own image. And this image is difficult to break (and is it necessary to break it?). However, it is not worth talking about the slums of entire Moscow districts. Moscow is still the capital and, thank God, it has no idea what real slums are.
Is a divided city good or bad?
It all depends on how the townspeople themselves feel about this, how comfortable they feel with such a division. In America, for example, there are no complexes, although territorial and cultural segregation there is strong. Our people are not yet accustomed to such obvious inequality, even external - between microdistricts, individual houses. Rejection, hostility, even contempt for everything “foreign...” generates an adequate counter-reaction - cynicism, aggression. Intolerance makes segregation "bad." It creates closed enclaves inside the city, high fences, everything is only “for its own people” - its own shops, bus stops, places for walking. Each of the divided communities will strive to create their own closed environment behind a huge fence. And from this the degree of segregation itself will increase. It is necessary to maintain a certain balance so that the city remains accessible, so that the urban environment is transparent and permeable to different social groups of the population.
Is it possible to achieve this? What paths are there?
In particular, it is necessary to more strongly develop the community of urban space, transparency, and accessibility of the urban environment. Americans have learned to do this. There, everyone lives in an area corresponding to a certain social status, but everyone communicates together in the same shopping centers, in the same restaurants, in the same public areas. There are cities in Europe that are very socially divided, but these are comfortable cities, with a high-quality living environment. We must try to create normal conditions that correspond to different income levels, then perhaps the contradictions will be smoothed out.
Is it possible to control the process of dividing the city?
It is possible to regulate segregation administratively, but it is difficult. The main regulator in this field is the market. Administrative measures can control the quality of the urban environment, reduce tensions between different areas, and ensure friendly contacts between them. There is a lot of leverage. For example, you can create bus routes that connect different separated areas. In America, there was a practice when schools were built in border zones, and as a result, both rich and poor, African Americans and whites ended up there. There is experience when city authorities redrawn the grid of administrative districts, so that each district received a piece of a poor quarter and a piece of a rich one.
Which European city is closer to Moscow? Who can you target?
From the point of view of the policy of the authorities in managing segregation processes, one can learn from the British, the French, and the Czechs. In the summer there was a conference of mayors, to which the mayor of London came. Someone asked him a question about the fact that London is almost the most “colored” city in Europe; today it’s becoming increasingly rare to see native Englishmen there. He laughed and said that this is exactly what the British are proud of. Because each of the nations that flows into the city gives it the best that they have - culture, knowledge, talents, languages, new ideas, communication experience. The British have learned to be proud of this. Maybe this is exactly what we are missing.
Along with the traditional attractions that most tourists love to see during their travels, there are also special places for gourmets, which are extremely rarely presented as touristic and worthy of sightseeing, but nevertheless, for true connoisseurs of travel, they are a delicacy that is impossible to tear yourself away from.
One of these dishes is double cities, which actually (sometimes formally) until a certain historical moment represented a single whole, and then a border passed through them, and the windows of one house look at the windows of another, neighboring one, located already across the border. The classic, most famous example of such divided cities 30 years ago was Berlin, artificially divided into East and West - with barbed wire and guards in the middle.
This group also includes various settlements that are close to each other, between which there is practically no neutral zone consisting of fields or forests.
1 place. Narva (Estonia) - Ivangorod (Russia). The sight of two parts of a until recently virtually single city, separated by a border river, with two formidable fortresses standing closely and looking at each other, reminiscent of the border that existed in this place many hundreds of years ago - what could be more charming and sweeter? Having climbed a hill in Narva with an observation deck, from where there was an excellent view of the fortresses and the border bridge, along which people walked back and forth from one geopolitical entity to another, I sat for probably an hour and a half, sat, watched this unusual picture of the world order and was glad that I finally arrived at such an unusual place. Deserved 1st place.
2nd place. Zgorzelec (Poland) - Görlitz (Germany). Once a single German city, now divided into a large German part and a small Polish part. The cities are connected by two bridges, which you just want to walk on again and again. One bridge is pedestrian, and the other is a road bridge, which still has customs buildings that are no longer operational. This city was not bombed during the war, so its center with its ancient beautiful buildings comes close to the border river. Just a few steps in one direction - the German-speaking world begins, everyone starts speaking German, a few steps in the other - and already there are only Polish words in the air. There is no transition zone between languages, which is very surprising. There is no physical boundary left, but the linguistic boundary is visible unusually clearly.
Everything is different here - both architecture and people. And even shops in Poland are open until 10-11 pm, and in sleepy Germany - until 6-7.
3rd place. Mogilev-Podolsky (Ukraine) - Ataki (Moldova). The towns are connected by a road bridge across the Dniester, which can be crossed on foot. Mogilev is Europe, albeit a broken one, and Ataki is real Asia with dirt and crowds of gypsies (this is where one of the centers of the gypsy population in the USSR is). The contrast is huge.
I was also in the following places (all of them are interesting, but weaker than the three mentioned above): Frankfurt (Germany) - Slubice (Poland), Kehl (Germany) - Strasbourg (France), Cieszyn (Poland) - Cieszyn (Czech Republic). Anyone who likes this, I also recommend visiting.
But Brest (RB) and Terespol (Poland) - although close, are not double cities. Between them there is a river, bushes, and there is no need for any effect. There's no point in visiting. Similarly, Shegini (Ukraine) - Medyka (Poland) does not look like a double - although they are nearby, they are separated. But crossing the border on foot in Medyka is interesting for others - the crazy crowds of Selyuki smugglers hiding packs of cigarettes in their underpants and other secluded places. More than enough color...
From those double places I haven’t been to yet:
Greater Slemenzi- a village divided between Ukraine and Slovakia. There is a checkpoint.
The villages of Chertkovo (Voronezh region) and Melovoe (Lugansk region)- essentially geographically merged villages of Russia and Ukraine are separated only by a railway line. The border went right through people's houses.
One of the important sections in the study of cities is their classification and typology. Classification usually means the distribution of cities according to one of the characteristics or a combination of them. Typology should be understood as identifying the totality (types) of cities according to the most important characteristics, and these types do not necessarily have to form a continuous series, where the values of indicators increase and all types of settlements are taken into account, as in their classification. Consequently, these tasks are close and interrelated, but not identical. Typology is a higher level of generalization, allowing us to give a comprehensive description of cities and, on this basis, outline a strategy for their development.
The following classification of cities is most often used in geography:
1) by size (population, or population);
2) functions;
3) the degree of participation in the territorial division of labor;
4) origin;
Classification of cities by size is widespread. Many of its characteristics, such as growth rates, elements of demographic, planning, functional structure, etc., depend on how large the city is.
Depending on the population size in our country, the following groups of cities are distinguished: small - up to 20,000 inhabitants, medium - 20,000 -100,000 inhabitants, large - 100,000 -500,000 inhabitants, largest - 500,000 -1,000,000 inhabitants, and the latter are millionaire cities. (8)
Another author (Lappo G.M.) gives a slightly different classification: small - up to 50,000 inhabitants, medium - 50,000 -100,000 inhabitants, large - 100,000 -250,000 inhabitants, large -250,000 -500,000 inhabitants, largest - 500,000 -1,000,000 inhabitants, millionaire cities. The milestone of 100,000 inhabitants is important. When this value is reached, especially in Russian conditions, the urban settlement becomes a relatively full-fledged city. The milestone of 1,000,000 people usually marks the development of a city into the largest agglomeration. This classification to a certain extent coincides with the typology: we can talk about small, large cities, millionaire cities as certain types of settlements.
Perederiy A.A. also gives his classification. In his opinion, the lower limit of a city is usually considered to have a population of at least 10,000 people.
Cities with a population of 50,000 -100,000 people can be called medium-sized cities; cities with a population of over 100,000 people are traditionally classified as large, and with a population of less than 50,000 people - small.
The last group includes many points with an insufficiently developed functional structure, even monofunctional ones, as well as with an insufficiently developed urban economy. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish among the group of cities with a population of up to 50,000 people groups of cities with a population of less than and more than 20,000. The result of scientific analysis or assessment of development plans often depends on this, since the economic base of most cities with a population of 5,000 -10,000 people, up to a maximum 20,000 -25,000 people and cities with a population of 30,000 -50,000 people have significant differences.
Cities (as well as all urban settlements of the same size, including urban-type settlements) with a population of up to 20,000 people should be classified as small, while cities with a population of 20,000-50,000 people are a category of transitional type between small and medium-sized with the presence of characteristics characteristic of both. They can be called welterweights. According to some indicators, for example, in terms of the share of the population employed in industry and construction, these cities are closer to medium and large ones, while in others, for example, in terms of the share of the population employed in service industries, they are closer to small ones. (1)
Classification of cities by functions. Based on the predominance and combination of various functions, 5 main groups of cities are distinguished.
1) Multifunctional, in which there is a combination of administrative, political, cultural and economic functions of city-forming significance with developed industry and transport. These are mainly large cities that are important regional centers with wide and varied connections.
Cities in which industrial and transport functions of interregional importance predominate. Schematically, this group of cities is divided into industrial, transport, industrial and transport.
2) Cities in which administrative, cultural and service functions predominate. These are mainly small settlements - local centers of lower administrative regions with developed organizational and economic activities.
3) Resort cities.
4) Cities of science (science cities).
Classification of cities according to the degree of participation in the territorial division of labor. This classification identifies cities that serve small areas and are local centers. They participate primarily in local connections, in the intra-district, inter-district, and international division of labor. These differences reflect the scale of the city-forming functions performed by the city.
Classification of cities by origin. In the genetic classification of cities, they are divided according to time and reasons for their occurrence, and the degree of preservation of various historical features in the modern layout and appearance of the city is also taken into account. This classification is important, for example, when studying the internal geography of a city, for solving its planning problems.
Classification of cities by economic-geographical location (EGP). This classification is the most complex and so far the least developed. With its help, you can determine the directions of future development of the city by assessing the potential capabilities of the area or some of its focal points. Depending on the EGP, various groups of cities are distinguished, for example, groups located at intersections of transport routes (Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk), in large mining areas (Donetsk, Kemerovo, Rudny, Zyryanovsk), areas with developed manufacturing industries (Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, Serpukhov), areas of intensive agriculture (Krasnodar, Stavropol, Barnaul). (1.5).
The existence and division of cities into various types is associated with the need to have various components of the economic organism, both multidisciplinary and specialized.
It is important to note that any classification is conditional. The identification of the main functional types of cities does not exclude the presence of many transitions between them, the existence of mixed-type cities, as well as the possibility of identifying additional types and subtypes.
Problems of urban development are of particular importance for geographical science. Cities are the platform on which the interaction of processes and problems takes place, which in turn are studied by almost all branches of geographical science.
The issue related to the study and design of cities requires interaction between the approaches and views of various sciences. There must be an understanding of the city, which is a unique phenomenon of today’s world, where a person will be required to solve social, economic, geographical and urban planning problems that are extraordinary in their complexity and significance.
In addition to the notorious Berlin, there are many other settlements in the world whose residents find themselves on opposite sides of the border. Barbed wire, checkpoints, border pillars - the exclusion zone between states in some places ran through vegetable gardens, central streets and even residential buildings. Sometimes it looks funny, but mostly it's tragic. “My Planet” will tell about the peculiarities of life in divided cities.
Selmentsi
Slovakia - Ukraine
In 1945, in the village of Selmentsi, the Red Army soldiers laid the state border between the USSR and Czechoslovakia right through the main street, gardens and vegetable gardens of the residents. At the same time, some villagers still have a house in one country, but a well and a shed abroad. A couple of houses that interfered with the construction of the barrier line were completely demolished. Since 1947, residents have been divided even more thoroughly: by a three-meter thick fence. To communicate, the villagers resorted to a trick: they threw letters to each other over the fence, and reported the news by singing in Hungarian, which the border guards did not understand: while digging a vegetable garden, they reported in songs about the birth of children, the death of relatives, or upcoming weddings.
Border guards did not even let members of the same family through: for example, the documentary film “Border” tells a sad story about a seven-year-old girl who at the time of the division of the village she was with her grandmother and remained to grow up with her. Her mother watched her daughter's life through the barbed wire: she saw her in a wedding dress and with a newborn child in her arms, but could not approach. When the mother died, the daughter could only look at the coffin from afar.
However, sometimes residents were allowed to visit each other: the walking trail was opened briefly during the Khrushchev and Gorbachev thaws and in 2005, when members of the Human Rights Congress tried to convince the authorities of Ukraine and Slovakia to open the border to locals. However, with Slovakia joining the Schengen zone in 2008, the border became tighter: residents of the Ukrainian village of Malye Selmentsi require a visa to visit relatives in the Slovak village of Velké Selmentsi. Recently, an old underground tunnel was discovered here, connecting the divided parts of the village, through which smugglers transported tobacco products from Ukraine to Slovakia. Local residents consider the border their Transcarpathian Berlin Wall, which, unlike the original, has not fallen yet.
Nicosia
Greece - Türkiye
If in other divided cities the situation is quite peaceful, then in the capital of Cyprus, Nicosia, two irreconcilable enemies coexist: in the south - the Greeks, who formed the Republic of Cyprus and profess Orthodoxy, in the north - the Muslim Turks, who proclaimed themselves in 1983 the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Peace in the city, as well as throughout Cyprus, has been maintained for almost 40 years by UN troops, who have created a dividing “green line” between opponents. The Turks first attacked Nicosia back in 1570: the siege escalated into the capture of the city, thousands of local residents were killed, Christian churches were rebuilt into mosques. With the arrival of the British on the island, there were fewer conflicts. However, in 1963, another bloody feud occurred, and the question arose of dividing Nicosia into two parts: Turkish Lefkosa and Greek Lefkosia. In 1974, radicals came to power in Cyprus, dreaming of annexing the island to Greece. To prevent this, the Turks sent in troops. The landing of the army and ethnic cleansing carried out by the Turks in the North led to the actual division of Cyprus into two parts: and the Republic of Turkey is still not officially recognized by international law.
The Green Line, formed by UN troops, in Nicosia runs right through the citadel, through the Old Town and the main shopping street Ledra. The citadel is divided equally: five bastions belong to the Greeks, five to the Turks, one is controlled by the peacekeepers. The border is marked by a concrete fence or a homemade barrier made of fuel barrels, painted on both sides with national patriotic symbols - Turkish and Greek.
Andrey Kashukov To get to the Turkish part, you need to go through the checkpoint separating both zones and pay €25 for this pleasure - for this amount a pass is issued for a passenger car for a month. Longer “subscriptions” are more expensive. When entering the Turkish part, the first thing that catches your eye is poverty. Dilapidated buildings, fewer cars and shops, broken roads in some places, which we have already lost the habit of.
Maxim Bespalov My passion for borders and abandoned places brought us to Cyprus. And there’s plenty of it there! Europe is full of cities and villages separated by borders, but Nicosia is the most interesting of them all. After all, this city is the capital of two countries at once... This is the border!
We spend the next half hour exploring this fence, moving from one barricaded street to another. In general, border real estate is considered illiquid in Lefkosa. Everywhere we went there was either desolation or some kind of workshops. After consulting, we decided to go straight through the walls of the old city, even though the tourist map ended there... Suddenly we find ourselves at the Ledra Hotel checkpoint. For a long time, here was the only border crossing between the two parts of Cyprus. And the hotel itself has been the headquarters of UN peacekeeping forces since 1974. A week before the trip, Fomka and I discussed the possibility of trying to get to the Greek half of the island...
At the Turkish checkpoint they smiled at us and gave us a passport insert, which they didn’t give us at the airport, but they put an exit stamp in it.
“Just don’t show it to the Greeks,” the border guard advised.
And here we are in the neutral zone, in the buffer zone.
It turns out that it's not scary at all.
We enter the gate separating the zones of influence of the Greeks and Turks and look around.
"Carefully! You are entering Turkish-occupied territory!” - laid out with small tiles on a stone fence.
We approach the Greek post. Greek Cypriots do not recognize the division of the island and the border on it, and therefore, on their side, at the crossings there are not border posts, but police posts. When entering, they simply check your passport, and when leaving, they don’t stop you at all.
“We have such a thing here,” we timidly begin the conversation. - Can we visit you without a visa?
— How is it possible without a visa? - the Greek policeman is surprised. - Well, show me your passports!
He leafs through our documents, finds stamps from Ercan in them and waves his head disapprovingly.
- These are the stamps! You flew to Ercan, but no one recognizes this airport! Sorry, we can't let you in! Stamps!
“And I have an open Schengen visa,” Fomka says.
- A! Visa! Well, you can get through with it! She “beats” the stamp from Ercan. And we can’t let you in,” he addresses Storm and me, “sorry.”
I give Fomka my camera with a request to take a couple of shots on the other side. Fomka goes somewhere deep into the European Union...
Valga / Valka
Estonia - Latvia
Valka in Latvia and Valga in Estonia are twin cities with mirrored coats of arms, now separated from each other only by a shallow dry ditch and barely visible boundary pillars. Until 1920, it was a single city of Valk, which was once part of the Russian Empire as part of the Livonia province. Just five years ago, Valga and Valka were separated by a low fence - the border ran right through the center of the city, along the streets and even along the fence of a kindergarten, and in order to get from one part to the other, tourists needed a visa. However, there was no great inconvenience for the residents of the divided city: as members of the European Union, they could pass through the checkpoint several times a day, since sometimes they worked in one part of the city and lived in another.
In 2008, Estonia and Latvia entered the Schengen zone, borders in the city were removed, the customs point remained empty, and the authorities began to develop the Latvian-Estonian neighborhood program. Officially, the city has two languages, but a significant part of the population speaks Russian; since 2003, the Russian-language newspaper “Valk” has been published, whose goal is “through the newspaper to unite residents of the border areas of Latvia and Estonia, to provide the necessary information that each other needs.” From January 2014, when Latvia switches to the euro, another unifying factor will come into play: a single currency.
Olga Fedotova, native resident of Valga (Estonia) I was born in Valka in Latvia, when I got married, we moved to Estonia to live with my husband, so I can compare. Since the times of the USSR, everything here has been mixed up: there are many mixed families that are separated by the border. At the checkpoint there are huge queues, checking bags, stamps on passports, in general, a nightmare. There was a law according to which, without a residence permit, you could stay in another state for only 180 days, and for some it was like this: family in Latvia, work in Estonia, I left for 180 days and then choose: either family or work. Some sold housing in one place and bought in another, others simply crossed the border in the wrong place. We also have citizens and non-citizens, and in addition to everything else, non-citizens regularly changed their passports, since they were stamped at the border. Citizens were not stamped. The borders with the European Union were removed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. We walk freely and as much as we want. When there are some big holidays, fairs, city days, both states take part. In Estonia, the standard of living is higher in all areas, they are closer to the West, but in Latvia it is an order of magnitude lower, there is more chaos and corruption, they still pay bribes to the police, this is not the case in Estonia. Here's an example: we have a river that flows through two cities, its banks have been landscaped: they have made paths for bicycles, roller skates, walking paths, a beach, playgrounds, and benches. In Estonia, they landscaped 5 km - according to European standards, but in Latvia they made at most 500 m: even then the paths were wooden and nothing special. Huge difference! So all the Latvians come to us to relax, ride bikes, rollerblades, and ski in winter, it also seems like it was planned for two cities, but nothing has been done in Valka.
People already know where they can buy things cheaper: something is cheaper in Estonia, they buy it there, something in Latvia(for example, a dentist is three times cheaper), that’s how everyone goes... But in general, in Schengen there is no particular sense of division, that is, there is no sense of the border; There is a language barrier, but spoken Russian and English helps young people.
The idea to draw a border through the houses belongs to enterprising restaurateurs: when at a late hour, according to Dutch law, the establishment had to close, they transferred customers to a table in the Belgian part, where there was no such prohibition
Barle
Belgium - Netherlands
Probably the most bizarre division of the city occurred between Belgium and the Netherlands: the town of Baarle was cut into small pieces belonging to two countries, the border does not run along rivers or fields, but right along bicycle paths, streets, houses and restaurants; sometimes the front door or store window is divided. You can cross the border 50 times in a half hour walk. The Belgian part, called the Baarle-Hertog commune, consists of 24 plots: the smallest is the size of a vegetable garden - 26 acres, of which 20 are surrounded by Dutch territory, and three are adjacent to the Belgian border. The Dutch part is the community of Baarle-Nassau: including seven enclaves located inside Belgian territory. This amazing division of the city occurred as a result of land trade and redistribution between Flemish feudal lords in the 1200-1650s. The idea to draw a border through the houses belonged to enterprising restaurateurs: when at a late hour, according to Dutch law, the establishment had to be closed, they transferred customers to a table in the Belgian part, where there was no such prohibition.
The cafe, located in two countries at the same time, is still in the city. Some “cut” houses have become residential: as a result, the owner sleeps in Belgium, and cooks and eats in the kitchen in the Netherlands. Whether a house belongs to a particular country is usually determined by the country in which the front door is located. The separated buildings have two addresses and two signs with different flags. The state border is not marked everywhere in Barla, but only in the city center: in some places it is lined with crosses made of white tiles, in others - with metal washers. In the rest, you can find out where you are only by GPRS. The city has two city halls, two garbage trucks drive through the streets: Belgian and Dutch, two national telephone companies operate, but residents are allowed to call each other not at an international rate, but at a local rate. However, this division does not bother the residents in any way; they calmly walk back and forth, communicate in different languages, eat Belgian chocolate and Dutch cheese and enjoy other advantages of living on the border: for example, until recently gasoline was cheaper in Belgium, and in Baarl-Hertog there were queues. The Dutch also went there on Sundays, when all the restaurants in Baarle-Nassau were closed.
1st place. Narva (Estonia) — Ivangorod (Russia)
The sight of two parts of a until recently virtually unified city, separated by a border river, with two formidable fortresses standing closely and looking at each other, reminiscent of the border that existed at this place many hundreds of years ago - what could be more charming and sweeter? Having climbed a hill in Narva with an observation deck, from where there was a clear view of the fortresses and the border bridge, along which people walked back and forth from one geopolitical entity to another, I sat for probably an hour and a half, sat, watched this picture of the world order and rejoiced, that I finally arrived at such an unusual place.
2nd place. Zgorzelec (Poland) - Görlitz (Germany)
Once a single German city, now divided into a large German part and a small Polish part. The cities are connected by two bridges, which you just want to walk on again and again. One bridge is pedestrian, and the other is a road bridge, which still has customs buildings, now inactive. This city was not bombed during the war, so its center with its ancient beautiful buildings comes close to the border river. Just a few steps in one direction - the German-speaking world begins, everyone starts speaking German, a few steps in the other - and already there are only Polish words around. There is no transition zone between languages, which is very surprising. There is no longer a physical boundary left, but the linguistic boundary is visible unusually clearly.
Everything is different here—the architecture and the people. And even shops in Poland are open until 10-11 pm, and in sleepy Germany - until 6-7.
3rd place. Mogilev-Podolsky (Ukraine) — Ataki (Moldova)
The towns are connected by a road bridge across the Dniester, which can be crossed on foot. Mogilev is Europe, albeit a broken one, and Ataki is real Asia with dirt and crowds of gypsies (it is here that one of the centers of the gypsy population in the USSR). The contrast is huge.