Rustam Minnikhanov meets representatives of Gehl Architects

On October 10, at their meeting in Copenhagen, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov and representatives of Gehl Architects discussed issues of further cooperation in the sphere of urban environmental management and development of the concept “Big Kazan”.

Rustam Minnikhanov thanked company representatives for the invitation and said that he met Jan Gehl at St. Petersburg International economic forum in May 2014, and Danish delegation led by Jan Gehl visited Tatarstan in August 2014.

“Our main goal is to use and study your experience in urban environmental management,” Tatarstan President said.

In their presentation, representatives of Gehl Architects told about the company’s history and transformation of Copenhagen urban environment.

Gehl Architects are pioneers in the sphere of urban environment transformation. The first pedestrian street appeared in Copenhagen in 1962, and the network of streets– in 1973. In the course of time there were more recreation zones, parks and squares without cars in the city.

According to representatives of Gehl Architects, they were worried about slowdown in business development in these streets, and less people coming there. However, more people started visiting pedestrian zones. Therefore, they decided to create more pedestrian zones in other parts of the city.

Results of the research show that behavior and attitude of city dwellers changed with the appearance of playgrounds, squares and parks.

Rustam Minnikhanov asked about some downsides, such as car parking and transport flows.

After the meeting, representatives of Gehl Architects showed Rustam Minnikhanov around new pedestrian routes and told about organization of recreation zones for city dwellers and guests.