A Russian Parks Program Creates Over 350 Public Spaces and Nurtures Local Design Talent
The newly landscape White Flowers Boulevard park in Kazan. Image Courtesy of Foundation Institute for Urban Development of the Republic of Tatarstan
Costing less than glitzier parks in Moscow, the Tatarstan initiative is revivifying the local design and manufacturing bases with a "teach a man to fish" approach.
In places without an established design force, there have historically been two opposing approaches at play: hire experts from abroad or nurture a local design community, a la “give a man a fish or teach him how to fish.” In the Russian republic of Tatarstan, located at the intersection between Europe and Asia, a recent Public Spaces Development Program has created over 350 parks in five years—by choosing the latter approach.
