On foreign tourist trips, there are often situations when one or more people lag behind the group. A competent group leader and accompanying person will never leave a tourist intentionally, but there are all sorts of situations. For example, sometimes something missing in a group is not immediately discovered...
If you realize that the group has left and you remain, then the most important thing is not to panic. The first thing to do is to contact someone from the group by mobile phone or via Wi-Fi on social networks, but best of all with the accompanying representative of the travel agency. But this requires, firstly, the presence of a telephone or other means of mobile communication with open roaming, and secondly, knowledge of the necessary telephone numbers.
You should take care of emergency communications in advance, especially if this is your first trip to foreign countries: open roaming, at least SMS, get phone numbers from fellow travelers and the group leader.
What should a person who is lost in an unfamiliar city not do?
The most sensible thing to do during calls, if you are not sure where exactly the group has gone, is to stay in place. It is quite possible that the people responsible for your safety have realized it and are already running to your aid. If you don’t have a phone or the ability to contact any of your fellow travelers, especially stay in the place where you got lost. If you leave immediately, you will deprive others of the opportunity to find you.
This rule - to stay in place - especially applies to children's trips with accompanying teachers who are responsible for the life and health of children. When a children's group is given half an hour, for example, to walk around the flower market in Amsterdam, it is quite possible that not everyone will fit in this time, and it can be difficult for teachers to keep track of everyone.
When the group goes further along the excursion route and suddenly discovers a straggler who has gone to the store without asking and was gaping there, one of the teachers will definitely come back for him. The main thing is that the “lost”, realizing that he has fallen behind, remains in place.
If you are left completely alone in an unfamiliar city
If there is no way to contact the group, and no one has returned for you within an hour, you need to find the way yourself. The most important thing is not to be left alone in a foreign country. And to do this you need to return to the hotel or to the excursion bus. If you don’t have a map and no idea which way to go, then you need to ask for help. But under no circumstances should you approach suspicious people from whom you can expect deception or trouble. It’s better to let it be a mother with a child or a pretty old lady.
In the historical centers of large cities there are usually many more tourists than locals. But tourists are of little use - they know as much about this city as you do. Therefore, you need to contact the locals. You must speak in English, you can only say one word. For example, if you know the name of the pier in Amsterdam from which your group should go on a boat trip along the canals, just say this name (and, of course, before that, don’t forget to say “Excuse me, please ...”).
The situation in almost every city today is difficult: the roads are bad, construction is chaotic, there is no understanding of what needs to be done and what, on the contrary, should be banned. Even with a documented master plan, the city may not develop as well as it could. We present you ideas for the development of any city.
We decided to make a list of ideas that will be useful to any city– and took into account the best experience from implemented projects – in Russia, Europe and the USA. We divided all the ideas into three difficulty categories: simple, medium and complex. Each of them requires more time/resources/costs to implement.
However, it’s not that difficult: the only thing you need to have in any case is a clear will and desire to work. We are confident that the implementation of at least one idea from this list can change the life of the city.
Fast and inexpensive
Free digital library
When was the last time you were in the library and checked out a paper book? That's it. The Soviet type of library science is becoming a thing of the past, and even schoolchildren and students, categories of the population who would regularly use libraries, have no desire to go there.
In the digital age, when every home has at least one gadget, it would be foolish not to exploit this potential. To begin with, in cooperation with companies, as the experience of MTS in large cities of Ukraine shows. And then it will be possible to think about something more modern.
Bicycle rental service
Returning to the topic of cycling, it is impossible to popularize it without letting people try it. Gradually, but surely, points where you can rent a bicycle for an hour, two or a whole day are appearing in the countries of the former USSR.
Remove outdoor advertising from the historical center of the city
Walk along the central streets and squares of your city, look around and up - how much can you see? Can you actually see the city itself? No, it is not visible, because the beautiful facades are hidden behind poor billboard advertising, which has become so numerous lately that the brain simply does not pay attention to it.
Advocates of billboards (and usually these are city authorities and advertising agencies) will say: “Why, this is impossible, the city will lose revenue!” And in return, we will show them the current experience of Moscow, which proves that removing billboards is not only worth it, but also useful. From now on, the places on the billboards that remain are sold according to the auction principle, and have already brought the city budget 70 billion rubles.
Establish rules for the design of store signs
20 different fonts, 30 different colors - and when a beautiful street turns into an average Shanghai. Permissiveness and chaos in local government, on the one hand, and complete bad taste among store owners, on the other, caused the appearance of facades cluttered with signs.
To prevent this from happening, it is enough to do only 2 things: adopt at the legislative level rules and requirements regarding the appearance of these signs, and gradually dismantle the old and scary ones with new ones. Do you think it's difficult? Again, no. This year in Moscow they adopted a street design code, which was developed by Artemy Lebedev Studio.
Signposts
Public free wi-fi
When a tourist arrives in Tbilisi, he is invited to connect to a free wi-fi network, which is called “ Tbilisi loves you" How high do you think the chances are that a person will like it and want to come back here again? That's right - big. Therefore, free Wi-Fi on the central streets and squares of the city is not such a hopeless idea.
Unified online center for citizens' requests
Interactive sculptures
Looking at monuments is interesting, especially if they are hundreds of years old. But now we can make interactive sculptures - ones that move, transform, and attract the attention of thousands of people. For example, like the sculpture of lovers in Batumi, which “converges” and “diverges” every 15 minutes.
Green spaces and flower beds
Creating a park is not a cheap pleasure, just like ordinary tree planting. A quick and cheap way to landscape the street is with vegetation in special barrels/pots/beds. It looks no less cool, requires little maintenance and is not as expensive as it might seem.
Public toilets
Few people like to talk about it, but when a natural need “calls” you, our cities turn out to be completely unsuited to it. Usually among public toilets in the center there are 1-2 points of the Soviet type and appearance.
Timetable board
Waiting for public transport is tantamount to guessing on tea leaves: you never know when the bus will come, what direction it will be, or whether it will come at all. However, the idea will only work with a comprehensive improvement of all transport in the city.
Social containers
In contrast to garbage cans, it is advisable to install several points around the city for collecting used clothes: after all, often, when doing general cleaning, we decide to get rid of dozens of things that could still be useful to people with poor social status.
Painted walls
A significant part of the housing stock of our cities was built in Soviet times, and now our houses are gray, unsightly and sometimes even creepy. It’s easy to fix the situation: give the walls of the houses to painters, and then the gloomy area will get a new bright life.
Provoke creativity
Art does not arise on its own, like the rest of the cultural life in the city. It needs to be stimulated, given an impetus for development, and most importantly, not disturbed.
“Before I Die” Wall
It all started with a Chinese girl, Candy Chang, who installed a black wall in her city with stenciled words “Before I Die, I want to...”. Passers-by were asked to write down their own dreams and desires that they want to fulfill during their lifetime.
The idea became so popular that it quickly spread throughout the world: now such walls can be found at festivals, on city streets and holidays. Why not find out what the residents of our cities dream about?
Navigation for buses
The transport system must be viable not only for city residents, but also for its guests. When an unknown bus with a stained license plate and a list of little-known streets typed in Capslock turns around the corner, this will not help much in deciding whether to take it or not.
Interactive museums
The time of boring exhibitions and contemplation of jugs is passing: the world is actively using new technologies to attract visitors to museums. Create an interesting video, install a projector, install screens, invite visitors to take part, join the exposition - but do not force them to be passive spectators - no one will want to pay money for this. This also applies to all the “glorious and ancient” castles on the territory of Russia, which more closely resemble a pile of stone.
Exchange of people
If you take a sober look, we know almost nothing at all about those with whom we live in the same country. But we all have common problems. Why not try to dispel stereotypes, exchange experiences and problems and jointly develop ways to solve them? Short-term exchanges of people to improve cities would be an excellent example of cooperation.
Development of vacant lots
Every city has vacant lots that have been attracting stray dogs, people, garbage for years, and are actually of no use. Why not turn them into something more civilized? Vacant spaces, even those already owned, can be used with noble intentions.
Average duration and cost
Creation of bicycle paths and bicycle parking
To begin with, at least in the historical center, and in the long term – in all neighborhoods. Yes, we are aware that we still don’t even have roads for cars everywhere, let alone bicycles. Switching to bicycles is a pan-European trend in recent years: it is environmentally friendly, it is cheap and good for health.
Without the proper infrastructure, no one will take a bicycle out of storage for fear of being run over by a car or getting the wheel stuck in an open sewer.
And, by the way, for those who say that bike paths are an unprofitable and unnecessary activity, there is an ironclad argument: they have been proven to increase the profitability of establishments and the value of houses located nearby.
Create a logo and brand for the city
Of course, given the complete absence of a city development strategy and broken roads, it would be stupid to develop a brand. But sooner or later everyone will understand that it is precisely such visuals that are the language of communication between the urban environment and its guests.
The way a city positions itself determines its future in the geosocial space. In the meantime, we can study negative experience - for example, the corporate identity of Dnepropetrovsk, for which they paid 300 thousand hryvnia, and which, to put it mildly, is not very impressive.
City navigation system
No matter how cool your city is, it is quite difficult for a person who comes to it for the first time to get his bearings the first time. Especially if these are cities of the medieval type (a cramped, confusing center and large surroundings). If you want your city’s guests not to get lost, to see all the sights and be satisfied, create a navigation system. A good experience is in Lviv and Kiev, where numerous boards were installed for tourists identifying key places on the city map and how to get to them.
Restriction on the use of MAFs
Small architectural forms, or, as they are also called, MAFs, are the problem of modern Russia. If in the 90s everyone traded from one-day stalls, now they use plastic or wooden kiosks, the appearance of which does not fit into the architectural ensembles of the surrounding streets. In order to prevent the city from turning into Shanghai again, it is worth limiting the use of MAFs - for a start, at least establish a cool design for them and permitted locations.
Streamline street markets
No matter how much you feel sorry for grandmothers, selling vegetables, fruits and dairy products from the land is wrong. The law must be equal for everyone - spontaneous markets must not be allowed to produce unsanitary conditions and disorder on the sidewalks.
Night public transport services
In large cities this problem is not so pressing, but in cities with a population of up to 500 thousand, late in the evening or even at night, it is quite difficult to find a bus that will take you home.
If this issue is really relevant for your city, then perhaps it is worth launching night flights? Which, for example, will run once an hour along a certain route?
Inventory of all property and land
It seems that in one Russian city they don’t know exactly what, where, and whose property it is. Land plots are alienated several times, state property is quietly written off, and houses of state importance belong to no one knows.
Only the presence of a transparent cadastral system, which is available for anyone to view, and an inventory of everything that is in the city, will allow us to see what resources it has.
Energy saving lighting
Even banal energy-saving light bulbs have not yet become widespread in Russia so that we can talk about their complete victory. In Europe, on the contrary, incandescent lamps, which not only harm the environment, but also waste energy inefficiently, have been legally banned.
Garbage sorting
Currently, 2% to 3% of Russia's territory is landfills. To ensure that garbage does not accumulate, but is recycled, you first need to sort it. And it is desirable that people do this on their own. The first signs of progress can be seen on the streets of some cities: in Lviv, over the past few years, they have been actively introducing a procedure for separate waste collection near houses.
Safe playgrounds
In dozens of Russian cities, old Soviet-style equipment still operates, which are called children's carousels, and children suffer from malfunctions every year. Such emergency sites need to be closed and new ones built. Let this happen in collaboration with well-known brands and companies - such PR is better than human sacrifices.
Free sports grounds
If you don’t want young people to play in the evenings, drinking alcohol and getting together with the “seeds,” organize an additional leisure option. Every residential area should have free public sports grounds that anyone can come to. Not everyone has the money or desire to go to a gym, and such initiatives would be a great way to encourage and develop a healthy lifestyle.
Landfills
The longer it takes a person to find a landfill, the less likely it is that the trash will end up on target rather than past it. In crowded areas, landfills are vital - even the most conscientious citizens will not have the patience not to throw something under the nearest tree. And one more thing: it is advisable to place these landfills not near benches, Artemy Lebedev will explain to you why.
Speed bumps
A simple but extremely effective way to protect pedestrians on busy streets. If there is no need or opportunity to organize traffic lights, then speed bumps are very effective in stopping drivers who like to drive, especially near educational and public institutions.
Adoption of the city master plan
No reforms are possible without something basic - a road map, instructions, rules that will regulate everything. A general plan should become such instructions for each city.
Not a falsified sheet with edits for the temporary benefit of local oligarchs, but a real action plan for the coming years. It is from this that all further reforms will need to be based.
CCTV Cameras
How to prevent crimes? At the very least, a warning. CCTV cameras will help not only to record possible crimes, but also to protect problem areas: few people will want to do bad things in front of cameras. Or even their dummies: it would be interesting to conduct an experiment with such dummies, assuring everyone that these are real cameras and real video surveillance. People will believe it and the result will be the same :)
City greening program
Planting 100,500 ambrosia bushes does not green the city, but harms it. A program for proper landscaping, creating parks, and maintaining existing plantings should be an integral part of the master plan. If you don't want to turn into a soulless and stale city, take care of the greenery.
New public spaces
A city is, first of all, a public space, a place where events, destinies and lives intersect. First of all, you will go to a square, square or other secluded corner, and not another shopping center. Therefore, we must ensure that such places exist and develop. This is not so difficult - you can create a small corner of public space with your own efforts. [Lviv experience]
Long and expensive
Transfer old factories and premises to coworking spaces and creative centers
In every city, no matter where it is located, there are several Soviet buildings with broken windows that have been standing idle for years.
Usually these are the remains of old enterprises or institutions that did not survive the collapse of the once great country. So why not use these buildings for a good cause?
Many young people have plenty of ideas about what to do with their lives. But they simply do not have enough space to implement these ideas: startups, artists, designers and other creative and young people simply do not have the money to pay expensive rent and hire offices.
For the success of this project, two components are needed: the will of the city authorities, who do not mind giving something away, and an investor who will bring the building to normal condition.
A year or two, and when the terrible and abandoned territory will become a new city magnet, where young people and the creative intelligentsia will be drawn.
Separate lanes for public transport
You need to understand the key idea: a city for people, not cars. That is why dozens of passengers on buses and other ground public transport do not have to wait in traffic jams as long as jeep owners.
The experience of Enrique Peñalosa, the mayor of Bogotá, who in just three years transformed the city from wilds to civilization, proves that this is the right path.
Tourist information centers
For those for whom a map of the city with attractions is not enough, it is worth looking into special tourist information centers, which can be found with a capital letter “i” in a green circle. The initiative to create such centers, which, by the way, are already operating in many Russian cities, should come from local authorities.
In such a center, a tourist can receive a free map of the city, find out about accommodation options, purchase tickets for public transport, book excursions, and the like.
Live communication with trained specialists (preferably also those who speak English) is much more pleasant than chaotically asking passers-by how to find the station.
Solar panels on the roofs of bus stops
To create energy-independent public transport stops that would not frighten people with darkness at night, but, on the contrary, would be illuminated - solar panels that can be placed on the roof of the stop can cope with this task.
Demolition of overpasses in favor of urban transport
The problem of traffic jams cannot be solved by building new highways and overpasses: it’s like fuel for cars, more roads means more traffic jams. In Paris, fortunately, they realized this and decided to demolish the overpasses in favor of the tram.
Street reconstruction to improve safety
What does an ideal street look like? This is not only a piece of asphalt on which a car can drive, it is also a bicycle path, sidewalk, departments, sewerage systems, markings, traffic islands for pedestrians, and accessibility for people with disabilities.
Ideality is made up of little things: the experience of Orlando and the experience of Paris.
Elimination of heat loss
One day, someone thought of putting on thermal imagers in winter and looking at our streets. The result was incredible: a significant amount of heat, which is intended to warm houses, is simply lost along the road, warming up the asphalt and air. One of the tasks of modernizing public utilities is to eliminate such losses.
Underground parking
Instead of allocating such necessary and expensive land plots for parking, it is better to use underground space.
All you need to do on the surface is to arrange entry and exit for cars, while the space above the parking lot can be used much more efficiently. If you don’t want the sides of your streets to be jammed with cars, build parking lots. And hide them underground.
Relocation of business centers to separate blocks
The pan-European trend is the removal of large business centers outside the historical center. This allows you to relieve transport hubs and concentrate the city’s business activities in a specific location. One of the most striking examples of this process is the De Fance district in Paris.
Reconstruction of water supply systems
It seems that we do not live in a desert, but water is extremely difficult for us. Not all cities are able to boast 24-hour water supply, and this mainly depends on the persistence of local administrations and utility services. Providing a round-the-clock water supply and establishing wastewater filtration is a trivial task, but it is still relevant for Ukrainian cities.
Restoration of facades
If you don’t want houses in the city center to fall on passers-by’s heads, and tourists still have something to photograph, you need to start preserving historical facades. It’s a sad situation: the cafe on the ground floor has found the finances and the desire to restore its part of the facade, and the rest of the building will soon collapse.
It is necessary to delineate the boundaries of the historical center, certify each façade, and restore them on the basis of separate funding (50% by the authorities, 50% by the owner).
Completely pedestrian streets
What kind of impudence is it to ban cars from entering and turn the street completely pedestrian? It turns out that this has its own benefits - it is not only another public space, but also a specific benefit for everything located on this street. Pedestrian streets make the city more attractive.
Do you have your own ideas that could complement this material? Do you want to object/add/criticize something? We will be glad to hear your opinions in the comments. And even better - a link to a practical - real, not virtual - way of solving problems. You can consider this post a theoretical beginning, from which we will begin to talk more about useful things that can change the life of our cities.
If you look at the previous post about, it turns out that I belong to the type of “resident tourists”. These are tourists who are not chasing after sights, but rather “trying on” local life in different countries :) Of course, this is a little reminiscent of the first stage of preparation, but this is not entirely true. I travel to simply enjoy life.
So, what do I like to do in an unfamiliar city when traveling on my own? Off the top of my head I came up with a list of 15 items. I think each of you has your own list :)
Go to the city at random, return to the hotel using the map or navigator. On the picture:
2. Sit in a bar or coffee shop by the window, watching the bustle of the street. It’s especially chic when it’s hot outside and cool and empty inside and good music is playing.
Coffee shops are the best places for all travelers. On the picture: 3. Take a boat ride along the river. It’s especially great when you can ride both during the day and in the evening.
4. Find non-tourist high-altitude observation platforms in or near the city. For example, a platform.
Finding a non-tourist observation deck is always an interesting quest. In the photo: Barcelona, Spain 5. Stop at the windows of real estate offices and look at local offers and prices, imagining that I’m ready to buy a home here.
6. Go for a run in the park with local residents. It’s especially good in Retiro Park.
7. I like to go to local markets, whether food or flea markets. In such places there is always something to see, try and photograph.
Morning walk through the local market. In the photo: market in 8. Taking a ride on local transport, especially in the city, is a very educational and exciting experience. You can immediately form your first opinion about the city. In Europe you can do this everywhere :)
In a European city, it is nice to ride the local tram. Pictured: tram in Porto, Portugal 9. In the middle of the day, sit in the park, reading a good and real (paper) book :) This requires a shady park, good benches and non-tourist silence.
10. I like to discover new cafes or restaurants. While wandering around the city, it is very pleasant to get tired and then relax in one of the unfamiliar cafes. It's like a game - you need to guess, based on several signs, which cafe or bar has the tastiest food.
Finding new cafes is a real sport and pleasure. In the photo: a cafe with a view 11. Learn one or two new words in the local language every day. It’s best to train with salespeople or waiters - they are always ready to explain something to a funny foreigner :) That’s exactly what I remember.
12. Forget about hotels for a while and rent a local apartment. Several times I was able to find very unusual accommodation - once it was a loft in Valencia, another time a small house with stone walls in Denia.
In the photo: it’s always interesting to try unusual housing 13. Walk along the long seaside embankments. Sometimes I even choose a city for my next trip based on whether it has a good embankment.
Today, more than 25 million people live in cities with a narrow economic specialization. This is a quarter of all city residents and more than one sixth of the entire population of Russia. What to do with the thousands of people who have worked their whole lives at the city-forming enterprise, and which is now closed?
1. There are more than 70 mining towns in Russia. Some of them are located in Siberia. These cities were once the pride of our great country, but over the past decades, 50 of them have had their mines closed and flooded, leaving tens of thousands of miners unemployed. Half of my relatives live in one of the largest mining towns in Kuzbass, so this topic is especially important to me. Last week I spent several days photographing industrial and social objects in the famous mining town of Siberia - Anzhero-Sudzhensk.
2. The life of this city is directly related to the development of coal deposits discovered at the end of the 19th century. Settlements on the site of modern Anzhero-Sudzhensk arose in 1896-1897 in connection with the construction of the Transib and the start of coal mining. In 1915, the Anzher and Sudzhensky mines produced 92% of the total production of coal enterprises in the region. The city arose and developed as a settlement consisting of separate settlements near coal mines. Later, the two overgrown villages of Anzherka and Sudzhenka merged into one - Anzhero-Sudzhensky, and in 1931 they were given city status.
3. In the summer of 1941, evacuated enterprises from the western borders of the USSR began to arrive in the city. During the Great Patriotic War, machine-building, car-repair and chemical-pharmaceutical plants were evacuated to Anzhero-Sudzhensk. During the war, the city received trains of soldiers wounded in battle. All the most suitable school and administrative buildings were converted into hospitals, and the office of the mayor was converted into an operating room.
4. The peak of the city’s development occurred in the second half of the 20th century. Every year, six mines produced over 6 million tons of fuel, mostly expensive coking grades. Coal and coal concentrate were sent to more than one hundred allied and foreign addresses. The city itself lived, built, and developed in the same rhythm as the miners’ collectives. The population at the end of the 80s exceeded 110 thousand people.
5. In the early 90s, it became obvious that the situation at the city’s industrial enterprises was rapidly changing for the worse. The accelerated rate of production growth was interrupted. Quite quickly, coal mining in many Siberian cities became unprofitable. For 15 years, all operating mines in Anzhero-Sudzhensk were closed, in which more than ten thousand miners worked in total. At the same time, the process of restructuring unprofitable mines launched by the government hit hard not only the miners. Carriers, concentrators, mine builders, and representatives of other related industries who worked in conjunction with coal miners, in particular manufacturers of mining equipment, found themselves in a hopeless situation.
6. In 1998, Anzhero-Sudzhensk received the title “Homeland of the Rail War.” The famous Trans-Siberian Railway, the longest railway in the world, passes through the city. Every day 160 pairs of trains pass through the city. On average this is one train every ten minutes. Due to rising unemployment and the deteriorating economic situation in the city, an action of civil disobedience was organized on May 23, 1998. The miners decided to shut down Transsib. Gradually, doctors and teachers joined the striking miners. As a result, the Trans-Siberian Railway was closed for ten days.
7. By the beginning of the 2000s, a total of 15 thousand city residents were left without work, that is, every seventh resident. This fact set the city far back in economic development. The most active part of the population was forced to change their place of residence or look for work outside the city. Over the past 35 years, more than 30 thousand people have left the city. And this is an indicator for only one mining town in Siberia.
By order of the Government of the Russian Federation in 2014, Anzhero-Sudzhensk was included in the list of single-industry towns with the most difficult socio-economic situation. “Monogorod” is a fashionable word in Russia now. Although this is not to say that this is the case when “fashionable” is synonymous with the words “good” or “positive”.
8. Our country has a very special economic geography. Nowhere in the world are there so many cities built in uninhabitable places to serve factories, mines and fields. These industrial centers - single-industry towns, created under a planned economy, turned out to be a serious problem for a market economy. What to do with a city whose only factory is not needed by the modern economy? What to do with people who have worked all their lives at such an enterprise?
9. A single-industry town is not an organism that has developed over centuries and changed along with history, technology and human preferences. This is a settlement created (or radically expanded) so that the workers of one enterprise provided for by an arbitrary plan have a place to sleep. In good times, the city-forming enterprise provided the majority of residents of such a city not only with work, but also with housing, kindergartens, schools, water, heat, electricity and transport. In our country there are more than 300 cities with a narrow economic specialization. Single-industry towns with populations ranging from several thousand to 700,000 residents (Tolyatti) now house more than 25 million people.
10. But not everything is as sad as it could be. Today, in order to overcome the negative consequences of restructuring the coal industry of single-industry towns, the economy is being diversified through the organization of new industries. In the case of Anzhero-Sudzhensk, this is the development of the production of petroleum products and advanced wood processing. I have long wanted to photograph a modern oil refinery, and now this day has come.
11. The anchor investment project of the city is the creation of an oil refining complex, which today is represented by three refineries at once. The main objectives of the project are aimed at increasing the depth of oil refining and producing motor fuel that meets the Euro-5 class.
12. As part of this project, it is planned to create 1,600 jobs.
13. To commission such enterprises, work was carried out to create the necessary infrastructure capable of serving production facilities with energy and water resources. A project for a gas pipeline to Anzhero-Sudzhensk is currently being developed. Yes, many cities in our country still do not have gas.
14. Anzhero-Sudzhensk officially received the status of a territory of rapid socio-economic development (TOR). This is a special economic zone with preferential tax conditions, simplified administrative procedures and other privileges created to attract investment, accelerate economic development and improve the lives of the population.
I was filming for the local administration on the eve of the visit to the Kemerovo region of First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, who is involved in the development of single-industry towns. Despite the tight schedule and total lack of sleep, it turned out to be an interesting working and filming experience. Over the course of several days, I visited a dozen different enterprises in the city, met interesting people, saw how protocol filming was carried out without FSO officers, and generally learned a lot of new things.
15. Last year in Anzhero-Sudzhensk, under an agreement with the Single-Industry Towns Development Fund, two water pipelines with a diameter of 400 and 500 mm, an overhead power line, and the Mazutnaya substation (pictured) were built and put into operation. New engineering communications made it possible to remove infrastructure restrictions not only for the oil refining complex, but also for other planned and ongoing investment projects.
16. In total, by 2021, the project for the territory of rapid socio-economic development involves the creation of 3,500 new jobs. In February, the first resident of the ASEZ, the Anzhero-Sudzhensky Flour Mill, was officially registered. Thanks to a private investor, the city's once abandoned plant will resume production of baked goods.
17. This trip was so eventful that I managed to photograph the leading production sites of the city. I dreamed of visiting at least one coal mine, but they all turned out to be flooded and without power. But another dream came true - I visited a meat processing plant for the first time. And not at just any place, but at the oldest meat processing plant in the Kemerovo region.
18. This is a unique plant for the full cycle of processing livestock and meat, located on one area, which also has its own pig farm. Watch a separate report next week.
19. At the end of the last century, the products of the Angers Engineering Plant were widely known not only in our country, but also abroad. During the war, the plant produced special-purpose products. Sea and land mines, incendiary bombs, and parts for ammunition were manufactured. In the post-war years, conveyors and boring machines were produced from the plant's workshops, which were sent to all coal regions of the country: Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Urals, Sakhalin, Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and Primorsky Territory.
20. Despite the closure of all mines in the city, the Anzher Machine-Building Plant is still one of the largest manufacturers of mining equipment in Russia. In its workshops I met the same modern equipment that is used at the Moscow Salyut - the largest enterprise in Russia for the production of aircraft engines (photo from another workshop).
21. In the most remote area of Anzhero-Sudzhensk, eight kilometers from the “city limits,” there is the Rudnichny district. It got its name thanks to Kuznetsk Ferroalloys, a mining enterprise for the extraction of quartzite for the metallurgy of Kuzbass and surrounding regions.
22. In my life I have seen different cuts. Large and very large, which is perhaps why “Rudnichny” did not impress me at all.
23. “Anzhero-Sudzhensk has a great future. We hope that it will come out of the list of mono-formations. This does not mean that we will stop working with him, but among 319 single-industry towns he will be a leader - he will show how to develop well when you are a single-industry town, and how to then get away from this mono-dependence,” said the First Deputy Prime Minister.
24. Despite statements by officials, the situation in mining towns is still difficult. The average salary of an ordinary resident is 20-25 thousand rubles. There are also lower salaries. One can understand young people who want to go to study and work in Kemerovo, Tomsk, Novokuznetsk and Novosibirsk.
25. In addition to supporting and developing industrial enterprises, the city is actively constructing new housing. Over the past 7 years, more than 100 thousand m 2 of social housing have been built, 20 multi-storey buildings and 2,500 apartments have been erected.
26. Based on the methodological recommendations of the Strelka KB (yes, Strelka has reached Anzherka), the city has formed an action plan to improve the quality of the city’s environment. In accordance with the results of a sociological survey of the population, it provides for the implementation of five steps to radically transform especially crowded and socially significant places.
Including the improvement of the Central City Park, the construction of a children's Art School, the reconstruction of the main city attraction - Lenin Street, the construction of a kindergarten and the arrangement of empty spaces in the Eastern District under construction.
27. All this is a thousand times wonderful, but I am especially pleased with the initiatives of local entrepreneurs. Take for example an investor who bought an old, abandoned boiler house from the city, put the building in order (even if the appearance is creepy), and created an entertainment center for children and adults inside.
28. On the site of the skeleton of an abandoned building there is now a complex that has a large children's play area, a furniture store, a fitness center...
29. On the ground floor there is a wonderful “craft” wood-fired bakery. This is a real bakery where bread is baked not in electric ovens, but in the old fashioned way, on wood.
31. The products are very tasty, I personally tested them. It’s not for nothing that people come for her from all over the city.
32. Of course, I will not be able to show and tell in one report everything that I saw during this trip. Overall, I had pleasant impressions of the city and what is happening to it. Today Anzhero-Sudzhensk is on the path of transformation from a mining single-industry town into a city with a diversified economy, socially successful and favorable for life. And all these activities are aimed at improving the quality of the urban environment, at creating in the population a sense of social optimism, a desire to live, work, and raise families in their native land, in their hometown.
33. But in our country there are a lot of similar Anzhero-Sudzhensks, from which residents tend to leave for cities that are more favorable for life. It will take years to completely overcome the legacy of the old economy. The main thing is that single-industry towns have become actively involved at the federal level, they are trying to develop them, work is underway to attract investors, industrial sites are being developed, new housing and social facilities are being built, and urban areas are being improved.
34. Prokopyevsk, where my relatives live, is of particular interest to me. The same mining town of Kuzbass, even bigger. The third largest number of inhabitants in the Kemerovo region, despite the fact that over the past 30 years the city's population has decreased from 278 to 198 thousand people. Unlike Anzhero-Sudzhensk, things there are not so fun. In the fall, the mayor, who led the city for 17 years, resigned and then disappeared somewhere. Finding a normal job in the city is extremely difficult. Many residents express distrust in all administration services. I would like to believe that over time it will be possible to make the same positive report about this city.
The Netherlands is famous for its beauty and friendly people, who are happy to help tourists in any case. That is why there is nothing strange in the fact that people from all over the world periodically come here, be they ordinary tourists or individuals who dream of trying something new for themselves.
But it is worth noting that not everything is allowed in Amsterdam, even despite the cinema, there are indeed certain prohibitions that for some reason are not considered as such by tourists, and these are what we will talk about.
Legal smoking of marijuana
Most likely, you have heard more than once that it is in Amsterdam that you can legally smoke marijuana, but the problem is that this is not entirely true. To be more precise, it is still possible to smoke without the intervention of law enforcement agencies, but only for residents of the Netherlands.
The fact is that there are special closed clubs where this type of pastime is allowed, but to get into it, you must be a resident of this country. It is worth noting that such a ban was introduced in 2013; previously, such clubs could be visited by anyone, including tourists.
Photos with workers of the red light district
The red light district is already a familiar place for residents of the Netherlands and many tourists; this is where you can enjoy the beauty of the local inhabitants, but at the same time, this does not mean at all that you have any rights, for example, to photograph them. If something happens, if you try to photograph such a girl, then most likely this will cause additional problems for you, since the police arrive here quite quickly, and law enforcement officers, in turn, explain to you that it is impossible to do as you want.
If a verbal warning is not enough, and you still continue to ignore the law and rules, then everything may end in a fine. It should be noted that even if you somehow managed to secretly take a photo, there is always a possibility that the dispatcher in charge of video control will pay attention to you and you will still have to justify yourself to the police.
Rent a car
Often, renting a car is a quite useful and convenient service, since it allows you to save a lot of your time due to the fact that thanks to vehicles you can move around the city faster. But, in practice, everything is noticeably different, largely due to the fact that Amsterdam itself was originally planned as a city designed for cyclists, so it’s better for you to rent a bike rather than a car.