Divine profession - an architect-urban planner. To watch from above. To dispose of spaces. To decide fates...
  With curiosity, peering out of the porthole of an airplane through the smoke of clouds into the snowy expanses, I searched in vain for signs of life of an unfamiliar and longed for land... This was the first flight to USA in 1988... We flew from Moscow to New York... My eyes were already tired of the blinding whiteness when I began to distinguish thin lines, which gradually turned into a square grid as I moved south. And then I saw the first house and only then I was surprised to realize that these lines are roads of wet asphalt... Then the houses became more and more, and when all the squares were filled, the snow began to disappear. Missing and the grid. A few hours later, the plane was already hovering over Manhattan and under us the same squares of glass and concrete rose upward - it was New York. So I remember this first strong and vibrant urban development impression. Oddly enough, but behind this primitive square grid felt the greatness of the country and the power of the state machine... and not only that...
  It is breathtaking that this wise and simple scheme is good for everyone. It seems that in these squares you can beautifully combine all the achievements of civilization, nationalities and cultures, solving all the problems of modern society at once.
   And, indeed, New York is beautiful and magnificent. Not having behind its centuries-old heritage, America itself has created its own culture. But, descending from heaven, you understand that the achievements of all cultures are presented only superficially. Because everything is united and absorbed by one idea - the idea of ​​economic growth and prosperity. American model works well. True, it seemed to me that she could do without an architect. Rather, nothing depends on the architect. Here, urban development becomes the law, rule and policy of state power.
  America's main rival in economic development is China, a closed society with a strong and self-sufficient traditional culture. But otherwise they are surprisingly similar. Traditionally, while maintaining a system of ancient regular cities in urban planning, they have a strong state power structure. But the most important thing that unites these systems is that the preservation of cultural heritage in the originals is not the basis of historical traditions. In China - for religious reasons, and in America - for economic... Therefore, modern Chinese urban development, taking the American idea of ​​economic growth, breaks down historical centers and monuments and builds entire cities with unprecedented speed. And this seemingly ideal growth model remains incomprehensible to me. Why you need to break a well-preserved temple and build exactly the same of glass and concrete. I do not understand this, as a representative of another culture, another religion.

   Real insight came in Venice in 2000. My wife and I lived there for only a month. Sometimes we went to see the cities of Italy, but always returned back, as to our home. In words, the inexplicable feeling of happiness, the divine presence of the creator, and belonging to this culture did not leave for a minute ... Of course, we were brought up in this system of values, Russia always considered itself a part of Europe. Maybe that's why the European model of urban development is closer and dearer to me. But she does not seem at all perfect. And what is an ideal city? The search for an ideal city, a city of happiness is also part of European culture. Yes, but that’s not the point. The basis of the system of European values ​​is the ideals of Christianity. All the achievements of the architecture of art and literature grew around the Christian church. Hence the traditional priority of the script over fake, and a respectful attitude to the relic, to the monument. On the examples of the best cities you can see how they gradually evolved and developed in time with love. How they became masterpieces and filled with works of art that remain unsurpassed to this day. It was the historical strata that gave the magnificent result that we have in the urban planning ensembles of European culture. This is the very ideal urban development that creates a human environment and conditions for the birth of new geniuses and masterpieces of art. And I want to continue this tradition and work further to be in the bosom of this culture.
   It is only sad to realize that your idealistic ideas about the creative role of architecture have nothing to do with global trends. The essence of which is the idea of ​​uniting the world for the common good and building an ideal world society. The idea is not new, but it seems very attractive, like an ideal city when viewed from above. And this is a harmful utopia. In fact, this is a new revolution, a new religion, because the whole system of values ​​is changing. Now, publicly, “at the forefront”, at the level of states, only economic interest is put. Everything is for sale. And historical culture is for sale, like antiques in a store. Religion is gradually becoming a national tourist color. And "...everything is justified by objective reasons for development, economy and progress ..." - say theorists of the new international culture. One can argue with these statements. Not everything is so simple. The very apologists of modernism, having experienced their own globalist ideas, complain. “...Old buildings are being destroyed, standard ones made of glass and concrete. Tokyo is dying like a city, losing its atmosphere and structure. And she will never be sweet and calm again...", says Arata Isozaki. And Massimiliano Fuksas, in contrast to his leftist ideas, chose the most historically stable part of Paris, and lives in an old mansion on Place des Vosges. In Moscow, everyone wants to live in the historical center, and, of course, why, but its restructuring has already led to serious irreversible consequences for the entire city.

    It seems strange to me to say that historical cities must change all the time and are in progress of growth. After all, there is a limit to any improvement. But they do not die, but become genuine and living cultural monuments for future generations. I recall the project of Aldo Rossi with a floating tower - a theater. Then the house, as if not finding its place, sailed along the Venetian lagoon, disturbing the existing urban balance. This action caused a storm of emotions from indignation to admiration. I do not think that Venice needs a new architect, I did not think so, probably the respected Aldo Rossi. But who knew that this cute harmless action would be the harbinger of a new terror of modernist architects to historic cities. The most sensational of them are modern buildings in London and Bilbao - Norman Foster and Frank Gehry. And Jean Nouvel does the same in Barcelona. These punctuations of global architecture pave the way for a total change in the landscape of historical cities. Thus, urban ensembles are destroyed and architectural monuments are devalued.
  It is too early to talk about surrender, but the magic square grid of the American model is already appearing in Europe.
  In Russia, as always, everything is more complicated. The state, presented as an Orthodox Christian, it had in its vast expanse many religions and nationalities. This explains the many wars, unrest, persecution ... when not up to urban development. Urban development began when a strong state power was established in the country, monasteries, cities and roads were built. And, undoubtedly, mainly, it developed according to the European model, taking on its own special distinctive forms. And we can say with confidence that many Russian urban ensembles are not inferior to European, and now they are included in the list of world cultural heritage. I am talking about those architectural monuments that still remained in the country. Because the whole history of urban development according to the European model ends with the 17th year.
Another era of urban planning begins, called the Soviet period. It was then that the utopian ideas of “ideal cities” surfaced again and a new urban planning model was created to make the Soviet people happy. Many were broken and many were built, but the ideal city did not work out. Either there wasn’t enough strength to destroy everything. Or the value system of the new state machine turned out to be too dubious. One way or another, but now a new path has been chosen for the revival of Russia.
   Despite all the difficulties of the next transition period, money appeared in the country and Russia began to build. In Moscow, all records of the pace of construction have already been broken, but according to what plan this construction is underway, it is not clear, because it does not fit into any well-known urban planning system.

   Modern Moscow annoys me. This irritability is probably a disease, a property of the profession. I’m always looking for and can’t find positive visual emotions. The prevailing urban ensembles disappear before our eyes. Station squares, houses, trees and in their place without any human logic grow up, shapeless masses irritating with their ugliness. Due to the unresolved transport problem, it is already impossible to walk or ride around the city. There are almost no indigenous people left, and I feel like a stranger in this noisy and aggressive crowd.
  But, reasoning impartially according to the chosen analytical scheme, we have a new urban development model, free and mobile, in which you can find the features of the previously mentioned models - American, Chinese, European and Soviet.
   Realtors and investors working in the city prefer the American scheme, where there is a struggle for every meter that generates income. Money breaks all the barriers of the old rules. In this market of architecture, everything that customers want is done - from antiquity to hi-tech. The mayor of the city, Y. M. Luzhkov, has long chosen the Chinese version for himself, which is to "recreate" Moscow when the originals of architecture are destroyed and their "improved" copies are built. Soviet house-building plants, according to some sort of Soviet plan, as established ones, continue to produce concrete barracks around Moscow. Eccentrics, not even thinking about any logic, build entire cities of French castles, English and Italian, German and Hawaiian near Moscow. Restaurants and casinos spontaneously turned historic streets into Georgian, Armenian and Chinatowns. Tverskaya has become similar to Las Vegas... You can endlessly continue this list that characterizes this unsystematic system, which can be called "global urban planning."
   A distinctive feature of this urban development model is the lack of state priority in the controlling mechanism of this system. In theory, the ideas of globalism are based on the abolition of all borders, the confusion of all nationalities, cultures, religions and state systems. They logically lead to the abolition of functions, and the state. Taking the latter as a basis, we can confidently say that Russia is again ahead, building in its own way the Global City of the future.
  What will it be, this Global City? Its ugly features are looming today, but it is impossible to predict and even more so control, imagine its development. Therefore, all the talk about urban development is useless here. Do not need here and the architect, town planner.
   But not everyone is rushing into this future. The stumbling block remains cultural heritage. There are still living heirs who preserve the traditions of their ancestors, while there are still believers, and people who are not indifferent to their history and culture. This is perfectly understood by the ideologists of the new culture. Replacing the originals of architectural monuments with imitations, arranging an attraction from traditions. They thereby devalue them, eliminating, as material evidence, this barrier in their path.
  It is surprising that in America, at the testing ground of globalist ideas, as an opposition, an environmental movement is growing in defense of historical and cultural monuments. Even in China, for the first time after the cultural revolution, a question was raised at the state level about the system of conservation of architectural monuments. In Europe, the strongest structure for the protection of cultural monuments has long been working and resisting.
  Only Russia, breaking all its traditions of preserving its cultural heritage, once again overtaking all, rushes into a utopian future... And there is no hope of stopping this train. Because the next stop is already Global - City.

 

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Ilya Utkin

November 2005

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