Ilsur Raisovich Metshin, Mayor of the city of Kazan
(In response to the moderator's question about the best way to manage agglomeration: distributed or centralized)
As the mayor of the city, I would say, of course, it is better to put everything under the mayor's control. It is the most direct and shortest way. This is both a part of a joke and a part of the truth.
I will literally add two words to what the previous speakers have said. What is being discussed today about creating a legal framework and regulatory documentation for agglomerations is a great boon. Thank you, Nikita Evgenyevich (Stasishin, Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation), and I want to thank our colleagues from the federal project, in your person, that we have not only started talking about this, but have also begun to act. But if you compare us with our Chinese colleagues, we are, in general, going so quietly. We are almost standing compared to how we have to move quickly. We are not crows and we are not going to live 350 years. We need decisions to be made here and now for us to grow fast.
(In response to the moderator's question about the best way to manage agglomeration: distributed or centralized)
As the mayor of the city, I would say, of course, it is better to put everything under the mayor's control. It is the most direct and shortest way. This is both a part of a joke and a part of the truth.
I will literally add two words to what the previous speakers have said. What is being discussed today about creating a legal framework and regulatory documentation for agglomerations is a great boon. Thank you, Nikita Evgenyevich (Stasishin, Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation), and I want to thank our colleagues from the federal project, in your person, that we have not only started talking about this, but have also begun to act. But if you compare us with our Chinese colleagues, we are, in general, going so quietly. We are almost standing compared to how we have to move quickly. We are not crows and we are not going to live 350 years. We need decisions to be made here and now for us to grow fast.
By simple examples. In the 80s of the 20th century, there were 135 thousand cars in Kazan. Today there are more than half a million in 20 years. This is the pace at which we are growing, and the urban planning decisions that we make, we make on the basis of the day before yesterday, let's say, at least. Therefore, when we talk about the Kazan agglomeration, everyone has a head of his or her district. I treat everyone with respect, but they cannot have the competencies that we have created here together with our colleagues from the Institute of Spatial Development of the Republic. There are no such forces, no such competencies.
That is why Kazan should probably continue to expand its territory. If we are talking about an agglomeration of 500 kilometers, as Nikita Evgenyevich said, that is one thing. But if I'm talking about an agglomeration of, say, 20-30 kilometers, the migration pendulum that we have today, we need to deal with it on a daily basis. So, if we talk about governance, the institute that has been created is very necessary and very important, but it is like an X-ray, it shows diseases and what you can't do. You can't eat fatty foods, you have to exercise, that's what it prescribes. But a permanent body in the form of the city administration should treat this situation on a daily basis.
That is why Kazan should probably continue to expand its territory. If we are talking about an agglomeration of 500 kilometers, as Nikita Evgenyevich said, that is one thing. But if I'm talking about an agglomeration of, say, 20-30 kilometers, the migration pendulum that we have today, we need to deal with it on a daily basis. So, if we talk about governance, the institute that has been created is very necessary and very important, but it is like an X-ray, it shows diseases and what you can't do. You can't eat fatty foods, you have to exercise, that's what it prescribes. But a permanent body in the form of the city administration should treat this situation on a daily basis.
By simple examples. In the 80s of the 20th century, there were 135 thousand cars in Kazan. Today there are more than half a million in 20 years. This is the pace at which we are growing, and the urban planning decisions that we make, we make on the basis of the day before yesterday, let's say, at least. Therefore, when we talk about the Kazan agglomeration, everyone has a head of his or her district. I treat everyone with respect, but they cannot have the competencies that we have created here together with our colleagues from the Institute of Spatial Development of the Republic. There are no such forces, no such competencies.
That is why Kazan should probably continue to expand its territory. If we are talking about an agglomeration of 500 kilometers, as Nikita Evgenyevich said, that is one thing. But if I'm talking about an agglomeration of, say, 20-30 kilometers, the migration pendulum that we have today, we need to deal with it on a daily basis. So, if we talk about governance, the institute that has been created is very necessary and very important, but it is like an X-ray, it shows diseases and what you can't do. You can't eat fatty foods, you have to exercise, that's what it prescribes. But a permanent body in the form of the city administration should treat this situation on a daily basis.
That is why Kazan should probably continue to expand its territory. If we are talking about an agglomeration of 500 kilometers, as Nikita Evgenyevich said, that is one thing. But if I'm talking about an agglomeration of, say, 20-30 kilometers, the migration pendulum that we have today, we need to deal with it on a daily basis. So, if we talk about governance, the institute that has been created is very necessary and very important, but it is like an X-ray, it shows diseases and what you can't do. You can't eat fatty foods, you have to exercise, that's what it prescribes. But a permanent body in the form of the city administration should treat this situation on a daily basis.