On July 3, Kazan hosted the session “Marketing and capitalization of the iconic resources of the territory” within the scope of the international Forum “REBUS: Economics of construction in the historical center” held at the site of the IT-Park named after Bashir Rameev. The participants discussed a number of issues related to the value of the historical urban environment in its connection with cultural, social and economic practices.

The event was moderated by Dmitry Zabirov, Head of project work at the Moscow School SKOLKOVO, managing partner of Kazan Play and Practice Center, ANO and Marya Leontieva, sociologist, specialist in socio-cultural development of historical territories, founder of the Tamga Institute of Urban Studies, Expert of the Kazan City Development Institute. They took the welcoming floor.

Among the speakers, the session was opened by Artem Silkin, Director of the Sviyazhsk Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve, member of the ICOMOS National Committee, Russia and founder of the Living City Foundation for the Support of Contemporary Art. He outlined the risks of losing the “spirit of the place”, in particular, the reproduction of sustainable practices of local communities and the historical landscape with excessive tourist exploitation of the territory. The latter intensively changes the nature of the residents employment of (indigenous people are replaced by summer residents, crafts disappear), changes the scenarios for the use of spaces and territories, which is especially noticeable in the example of one of the main tourist sites of the Volga region, the village of Sviyazhsk. As a solution, Artem Silkin proposes a transition from a consumer to a sustainable development model and an integrated approach to reviewing the situation. The Director of the Museum-Reserve in the UNESCO buffer zone called for studying the methods of work proposed by ICOMOS previously.

Evgenia Repina, Ph.D. in architecture, professor at Samara State Technical University, associate professor at NRU MGSU and the RANEPA School of Design, focused on problems with intangible heritage.
- Heritage is “everything that already exists”, and not just officially recognized monuments. The entire environment in which certain intangible values ​​are entrenched is “historical”. And all together, these are resources. Any projects (reconstruction, improvement) should begin with an inventory of values.

For each of the problems, Evgenia Repina proposed a number of solutions, such as: developing inner standards for reconstruction conditions, implementing land surveying projects based on the actual land use and the wishes of residents, basing gentrification methods on dialogue and compromise.

Anna Davydova, PhD in History, First Deputy Director of the Agency for the Preservation and Development of the Historical Environment Objects of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, ANO spoke about the disappearance of the historical environment and historical memory.
- Our mission is to be a unified center for bringing together the efforts of society, business and authorities in order to comprehensively develop the historical environment based on identity, - the speaker noted.

Isa Magomedov, Head of the Architecture and Urban Planning Administration, Chief Architect of the city of Derbent in the Republic of Dagestan, using the example of Derbent, showed the importance of using a strategy in preserving historical value, and also told how to build a city brand based on the morphology and features of the territory.

The session ended with a speech by Rinat Aisov, a representative of ASG INVEST, an expert in the field of development and investment consulting, Director of Territorial Development and sales of Capital-Trust-Invest Management Company. In his report, he singled out three strategies for the development of the Zabulachye territory: the preservation of cultural heritage sites, the development of commercial property and the preparation of territories for housing construction.