Tula summed up the results of the "Laboratory of the city 2026"

The results were summed up at Octave today “Laboratories of the city 2026”.

The project, which started in April, brought together more than 60 young architects and caring residents of the city. They received lectures from leading Russian experts in the field of urban planning and architecture, after which, under the supervision of architects from Tula bureaus, they conducted a complete analysis of the territories of the central part of the city, identified problems and proposed their own solutions.

"Laboratory of the City 2026" is a pilot educational project aimed at the development of facilities and territories of the region, involving active residents in the creation of modern public spaces. The project was implemented by the regional foundation Agency for Tourism Development of the Tula Region in partnership with ANO Higher Technical School, AB Wowhaus, Tula City Administration, with the participation of the creative industrial cluster Octava, KB Strelka, StroyProektConsulting LLC, AM Good City and AKBVersta”, specializing in improving the level of knowledge, designing modern facilities and territories in our city and throughout Russia.

The City Laboratory 2026 has become a platform not only for learning and sharing experiences, but also a springboard for translating ideas into concrete projects. For example, based on the concept of the participants, the development of project documentation is already underway and in 2022 it is planned to improve the Mint Square, located in the Central Alley of Tula. It is especially pleasant that a creative architectural community is being created right now, which has the desire and knowledge for the development of our city in the near future," said Dmitry Milyaev, head of the Tula administration.

The project started at the end of April 2021. At that time, 5 teams of participants between the ages of 18 and 35 were formed and 5 promising areas for work were identified:

• Zones 1-3: Lenin Avenue with urban spaces along it, divided into three sections,
• Zone 4: Pirogova St. with its historic stone and wooden buildings and market square,
• Zone 5: Moskovsky train station with station square and tram ring.

The project consisted of three stages: an "Open lecture hall", accessible to all comers, an "Urban Project Designer" and a "Design Workshop", in which 61 people participated, including 5 curators, 25 students, 12 active architects, 6 experts and interested residents.

Within the framework of the project, more than 30 events were held, a three-day workshop was held with the involvement of employees of the Moscow bureau of Wowhaus, during which meetings were held with residents, administration, business and experts, as well as a TulSU campus Development Strategy developed by interns of the bureau of Wowhaus, among whom were two tulyachek: (Bogomolova Anastasia, AB “Versta”, and Yulia Abysova, Stroyproektconsulting). After the completion of the project, 9 people got a new job and the opportunity to put their knowledge into practice.