Railroad Railroad

Roads that act like big gaps, the scarce green spaces, and the railway infrastructure cause the problems around the train stations in Moscow, according to the railway group. The problematic areas around these stations are four times the size of Gorky park. To find answers for these problems the railway group worked on different scales. The congestions around railway stations are partly caused by the way the train system is designed. The centre of Moscow serves as a hub for destinations in the region and sometimes even for the whole country. The group proposes news rail tracks in suburb areas that connect the different lines. To crack the scale in the centre the group proposed a more human scale by making new connections for pedestrians, trams and cyclists. The street are narrowed by adding walkways and bicycle lanes lined with trees, to slow down the car traffic. The bicycle lanes also connect the green areas in the centre with the ones more on the outskirts and that are now difficult to reach. Group Railroad justified their approach by stating that the problems are real and need to be solved now, on some of their proposals work can start straight away. To make their proposal stand as a business model they quote Ronald Wall on the correlation between network investments and the quality of a city.

What can be done with huge bundles of railroad infrastructure? The research location is the Komsomolskaya Square, with three terminus. The group is split in two. Group A starts their analysis with a parable of the turtle and the rabbit. You have the fast living, glamorous Moscow that moves around in cars, and the slower, less wealthy Moscow that use trains. At Komsomolskaya Square the turtle and the rabbit meet. The aim is to create an urban condition where the turtle and the rabbit can move along together in harmony. Group B had a look at the past and discovered that Komsolskaya used to be a centre for the timber industry. They want to stimulate gentrification by re-introducing the timber industry. The industry will be used to renovate the district, that would attract other businesses, that would attract etc. etc. When the renovation is finished and the gentrification is set into motion, the factory is moved to another district with a terminus and history will repeat itself.

The railways group met under the bridge next the Strelka Institute to develop their concept of the classic story of the tortoise and the rabbit. The comparison between the story and the urban issues at Komsomolskaya square are to with the observation of fast and slow movements across the square that is surrounded by three railway terminus. The challenge for the group is to improve how the fast/slow or hare/tortoise in their analogy interact.

The group will address a problem that is local as well as universal. What can be done with huge bundles of railroad infrastructure? The location for their research is the Komsomolskaya Square, with three terminus one of the busiest squares in Moscow. Although affords are already being made to make the place more attractive, think of free Wi-Fi, more security, car free zones, terraces and no untolerated commercial activity the aim of this workshop is to work out radical proposal that is 20,30, 40 years ahead of its time.

> Santiago Beckdorf Solá > Andreas Brinkmann > Newton Costa > Bartłomiej Gowin > Maria Kataryan > Froukje van de Klundert > Hugon Kowalski > Luis Alonso Pérez Monge > Anna Perino > Daniel Reist > Francesca Ronco > Pavel Rueda > Jurie Johannes Swart

What if the Russian railroad would give up all the territory that is not needed (so it can be used for other purposes)? In the late 19th century, railroads were perceived as the liberating, civilizing, progressive force, bringing amazing opportunities to the cities. Neither London nor Paris can be imagined without their “cathedrals of transportation”, while Chicago and LA would remain small agricultural settlements, without the power of steam. Although since its appearance on the European urban scene in the 19th century, the infrastructure of railroads signified sublime power, stirred imagination and inspired emulation; the actual impact of the railroad on the city has always been associated with an inherent paradox. At the same time as the railroad connected vast territories, brought people together, drove forward progress and innovation, it irrevocably divided the cities it served. Lines cut through the urban fabric, disfiguring the territory, leaving insurmountable chasms in the heart of the city. Everywhere, to this day, living next to the rail line is a sign of underprivilege and disenfranchisement. The legacy of this most enlightened form of transportation, is neighborhoods severed in half, disconnected roads, noise, and pollution. There are some brilliant exceptions, both old and new. Park Avenue in New York, where the landscape of industry has been skillfully replaced by the landscape of privilege. Back Bay in Boston, reversing the urban fortune by moving the rail line underground. Or the Rive Gauche in Paris, where new neighborhood sprang up on top of a vast uninhabitable territory of rail infrastructure. But for the few exceptions, there are many more instances where, unless you have bordered the train itself, you would experience the railroad as a major nuisance, a barrier, an obstacle, a necessary evil, a local territory sacrificed for the needs of the global. More then hundred years since the railroads entered our cities, their advantage is unquestionable. Trains remain a sustainable way to travel and transport goods, a desirable alternative to trucks, a progressive mean to maintain compact cities. Still needed, still offering ample room for innovation. Yet a century later, their divisive impact must be rethought! We must find a way to reconcile the need for fast, unimpeded movement along the arteries of the rail tracks and the need to have a continuous urban fabric that facilitates smooth flow of people and traffic on the ground. The objective of this workshop is to find ways of reconciling the two realms – the space of the railroad and the space of the city, and to consider the unique opportunity of this long infrastructure, connecting the city and the region, to carry additional functions, creating new values, instead of being a detriment. The outcome of the workshop will be a manifesto for the future of railroads in Moscow and the region. Manifesto, supported by specific examples of how the new spatial and programmatic condition can be accomplished, adding value instead of being a detriment to the city. Nadya Nilina is a practicing urban planner and a faculty member of MARCH School of Architecture in Moscow, Russia. Her work is focused primarily on large-scale strategic master plans and regenerative interventions at the scale of a city. Her pedagogic intent is to engage students in a meaningful exploration of cities through comparative analysis of their urban structure and history, and to develop a set of practical tools for making this world a better place, one intersection at a time. Natalya Chamayeva is Special Events Director at Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design. She graduated from Lomonosov Moscow State University and holds a Ph.D. degree in Political Science. Occasionally, she writes for Archi.ru architectural news website and other digital media. Her personal interests include Documentary Filmmaking and Interactive City Games.