The City of the Future

As soon as we took a look at our site of 555 hectares, this is actually a new district that will grow into Yekaterinburg, we thought that we cannot get away from this. This is not just the construction of Expo Park, but this is also all of the territory that will be adjacent to it. And then the idea was born. <...> Why don’t we build a city there, as we say, the city of the future? <...> The absolute trend is that there is a concentration of population. Now more than 50% of the inhabitants of the Earth live in cities, in 2020 they will already make 70 percent; there is a concentration of population, we observe it everywhere. Also, the life model has changed significantly, we spend 6 hours or more on the Internet, the labour market is forming in a completely different way — Svetlana Sagaydak, General Director, Bid Committee, Expo 2025.

What is the city of the future? What is the house of the future? <...> And the people inside them are happy. And why are they happy? Because they do not have inefficient time losses, they have high labour productivity, they are economical. At the same time, they do not have a separation of areas, such functional areas that we have had in our history — Natalia Kuzmina, Founder, RESTAVRACIA N, LLC..

The city of the future is being discussed as a part of the Trianon dialogue — this is the proof that there is a real dialogue at the civil society level. Dialogue between two, on the one hand, different, but on the other hand, closely connected by history, close historical ties, countries — Russia and France — Stephan Solzhenitsyn, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company.

Our goal within the Trianon Dialogue is to encourage our Russian and French partners to continue this exchange of views. <...> We just have to constantly exchange opinions on this issue — Pierre Morel, Co-Chairman, Trianon Dialogue Forum; Ambassador of the of the French Republic to the Russian Federation (1992–1996).

All of us understand that cities will change, they will expand, new services will be offered to citizens. And the main question of tomorrow is how to finance everything, all infrastructure facilities, all new services that residents of these cities will receive — Jean-Louis Chaussade, Chief Executive Officer, SUEZ.

We, urbanists, architects understand the extent to which this physical world is heavy, and consequently such investments do not pay off quickly enough. Therefore, all of this evolves very slowly, and sometimes it's just, of course, not in accordance with the political calendar — Christian de Portzamparc, Architect.

The government has a plan that is associated with the construction of waste incineration and other plants. But the people of towns near Moscow do not want these facilities to be built near these towns, because they believe that they will cause damage and, of course, today the authorities are trying to prove that this is not the case, and show films <...> But the citizen of towns of Moscow area still go protesting — Anatoly Torkunov, Rector, MGIMO University.

All of the groups that promote new technologies must understand that it is not just about concentrating on offering some products and services, but also it is necessary to create projects, it is necessary to move on to working with representatives of municipalities. <...> It is necessary to think of the future, 30 years ahead, the city cannot be built in 5 years. <...> There must be continuity. In France, there are a lot of projects that are being disturbed, that are put at risk. A new mayor comes who wants to do something different and make a mark in history — Jean-Louis Chaussade, Chief Executive Officer, SUEZ.

In order to properly see and build the city of the future, we should at least try to make it small. Because the city consists of cells, cells are assembled one by one and they become a big city. <...> The company began working on small projects, and each project had a main goal: the project should be balanced, and in each such building a person should wish to live — Natalia Kuzmina, Founder, RESTAVRACIA N, LLC..

Now we should, probably, move on from the period of experiments to some real issues, and for this we need to evaluate our collective ability to implement innovations. Cities are not islands, so we must act in conjunction with other actors, and, as a matter of fact, there is an entire city association that is struggling with climate problems. And if you look at the issues that unite Russia and France, there are very important points that can unite us: renovation of buildings, public transport, and heating networks — Anton Inyutsyn, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.

Given the growing demand for electricity, availability, reliability of energy supply of such cities, this will become the main parameter of the city's future development. And we, as the energy sector, as an infrastructure branch, must provide the appropriate reliable infrastructure in these cities — Anatoly Torkunov, Rector, MGIMO University.

Perhaps, the cost of living is primarily affected by infrastructure, such as communal infrastructure, social infrastructure, transport infrastructure, these are projects that require large and long-term financing. And here we need an instrument of state private partnership — Alexey Lyaschenko, Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

The tariffs policy should also be balanced. On the one hand, the tariff should be fair and economically adequate to the quality and volume of the service provided. On the other hand, the tariff should provide an efficient operation from the point of view of economics and from the standpoint of engineering of these infrastructural objects — Alexey Lyaschenko, Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.