Residents' preferences will be a decisive factor in redeveloping Nikolsky Public Garden in Gubkinskiy

8 april 2021

The bid for redeveloping Nikolsky Public Garden in Gubkinsky will be submitted to the All-Russian contest of best projects aiming to build a comfortable urban environment in small towns and historical settlements. The idea of improving the area was introduced by the city's own residents at a recent citywide forum. These initiatives have enjoyed SIBUR’s support. The forum announced the signing of a trilateral agreement for implementing further joint projects between SIBUR, the city’s administration, and the Urban Renovations project.

In a popular vote held five years ago, Nikolsky Public Garden was named as a "Symbol of Yamal". At this juncture, the expectation is that this city’s favorite will undergo a transformation making it more contemporary in terms of its architecture and underlying infrastructure while still remaining popular with the locals and very much in demand, thanks to its revamped aesthetics and as a result of its turning into a focal point for new formats of various activities.

To attain this goal, the project team of Urban Renovations and Gubkinsky’s city administration working together with the project’s architects under the auspices of  the "Formula for Good Deeds", SIBUR's social investment program, organized a forum called "Gubkinsky. City. Environment" that served as a platform where all interested people and various stakeholders could discuss and share how they imagined the future of Nikolsky Public Garden. The forum that was hosted by the "Neftyanik" Cultural Center took place on April 4 and brought together an audience of 110 participants.

The forum’s participants started their discussions at the so-called design session.  Working in breakout groups, they were able to identify problems, functions and various types of uses of Nikolsky Public Garden, as well as to formulate the objectives of the area’s redevelopment. Following that, the attendees worked with the maps and plans of the area under design showing the types of functional zones and activities they would prefer to see implemented as part of the redevelopment effort.

As part of the forum, a discussion was organized focusing on schoolchildren's vision of the future of the square. At the "Gubkinsky Through Children’s Eyes " platform, young people used their drawings to inform the experts and other city residents of their wishes and needs.

At the forum, I acted as a mentor for schoolchildren representing School 4. Our students came up with a lot of interesting and constructive solutions for improving the garden, proceeding primarily from the idea of its functionality, commented Yury Ladinenko, a participant of the "Gubkinsky. City. Environment" forum. As it turned out later, during the defense of the projects organized at the forum, many ideas of our students matched those made by students from other schools. It serves to show that we are on the right path and that such formats for discussing the improvement and beautification of the city are, indeed, quite relevant.

The forum was organized by Gubkinsky’s city administration. The head of the city’s administration, Mr. Andrey Garanin, took part in its proceedings.

In keeping with the format of the "History of Nikolsky Public Garden" narrative, the city's residents were offered to describe any one day they had spent in the garden. As a result, a number of scenarios emerged that were further augmented and commented on by experts. Recommendations for further redevelopment of the park will be passed on to the architects of the project.

The final event of the forum was Urban-Talk, an interactive conversation about urbanism that involved three groups of residents finalizing and refining their wishes for improving the area based on previous discussions as part of the forum’s other activities.

I really enjoyed the forum's format. All discussions were really engaging. I was fortunate enough to be able to listen to the opinions of the city’s residents that at times differed quite dramatically, and that was particularly exciting. The discussions’ moderators didn't get in the way but instead guided the discussion and engaged the participants in the effort trying to get people to open up and tell their story of how they think Nikolsky Public Garden needs to change. I felt that people care about the future of our wonderful town. It is comforting to know that even if you move to another town the residents of Gubkinsky will continue using the redeveloped garden, something I have personally participated in the discussion on. I myself took the floor several times and openly voiced my opinion", shared Alexander Pyrkh, a forum participant.

Additional comments were provided by such experts as Andrey Garanin, the Head of Gubkinsky’s City Administration; Veronika Nikulina, Head of Department of Regional Development at Urban Renovations, the All-Russian Non-profit Organization, Alexandra Sokolova, Chief Architect of the team responsible for developing the bid for the All-Russian Contest of best projects aiming to build a comfortable urban environment in small towns and historical settlements.

For SIBUR, creating and developing a comfortable urban environment is a key area of our social investment strategy. The demand for a quality space with an enabling environment for self-realization and leisure opportunities is quite acute. What is very important to note is that our residents not only drive this demand, but are also eager to participate in community-wide efforts. This means that the quality of our regions’ human capital is improving as the residents’ activism and professionalism are rising helping to address development challenges our cities are grappling with. We hope that by working together we are going to be able to create a really comfortable urban environment for Gubkinsky’s residents, setting an example for other regions", noted Vladimir Alekhin, Director of SIBUR's Gubkinsky GPP.

Additional information about the forum and the project to beautify Nikolsky Public Garden can be accessed on the website of the VKontakte community of Gubkinsky’s chapter of "Urban Renovations" at:  vk.com/projectgorren_gubkinsky. Photos from the forum are available for viewing at: vk.com/album-203560433_281289370