What happened – you've seen.
And what will happen?
N.I.Zharkikh
Sidewalks in the city center – free parking for expensive cars. Photo N.I.Zharkikh, March 19, 2012
Development of Kiev in the last 20 years was spontaneous and unplanned. With respect to the center of it boils down to the desire of developers to put by any price on every piece of land a massive office building at 10 – 14 floors.
Meanwhile, the center of Kiev overloaded with offices beyond measure. All the sidewalks are lined with cars, the streets of the center suffer from the constant traffic jams; existing subway network can not handle the flow of passengers who want to get into the center.
It has long been overdue in Kiev on the formation of new business centers, in which developers could build the necessary buildings without fear of building scandals and for the benefit of urban communities.
Such a change in the general line of Kiev will improve city planning situation in the city center and implement a regeneration of environment of St. Sophia Cathedral.
The purpose of regeneration – the dismantling of disgarmonic high-rise buildings around the cathedral and their replacement with low-rise (1-2 floors) buildings, stylized in the spirit of Ukrainian Baroque or other historical styles inherent in the architecture of Ukraine.
The result will be formed area roughly the size of 400:400 meters around the cathedral, which will be dominated by the cathedral. Newly formed area, of course, increase the architectural and tourist attractiveness of center of Kiev.
This plan foresee phased implementation, and perhaps for many decades. Older disgarmonic buildings as they wear and tear (and reduce the cost to almost zero) are not subject to reconstruction, but demolition and subsequent construction of new low-rise buildings. Thus it is possible to avoid the exorbitant costs of reconstruction.
Plan for the regeneration of the architectural environment of St. Sophia Cathedral has become a national priority, which is enforced regardless of the fluctuations of political expediency. This plan will help unite the entire society for the sake of national goals.
This is a summary of the article's section. Full text available on the ukrainian language.