describing urban changes

I attended a very interesting lecture at CRRC (Caucasus Research Recource Centre) Baku on Monday by a young Urban Developer, Dr. Anar Valiyev.
Based on his research in USA and Eastern Europe he explained the differences of urban development in both continents. Then, from the prospective of U.S. and European experiences, he discussed urban development of Baku city and various strategies to make Baku a competitive city.

This was especially interestig because of the creative and open input the few but engaged visitors gave on the topic. It was a surprisingly small group that day in the Caspian Plaza but with all the more will to educate and enhance things.

In the following text I will write about what I extracted from the lecture and what my own ideas on the topic are.

Bakus fast growth:

In Baku the city grows by sprawl AND by densification. How can the city handle it?
Is there really a need for all the appartments in the city centre? Why are so many of them unoccupied then?
Will we have a shift of population, an upper-class downtown in a couple of years already? Will social polarisation evolve?

smart growth = sustainable growth

For a sustainable growth one must consider three equally important and interdependent factors:

economic, ecologic, and social development

For an economic development Baku needs change of mentality. It needs tolerance towards otherness, tolerance for a creative and diverse “class” and open minds for unusual approaches.

Like in many American cities, the urban governance in Baku is clientelistic this means that government relations are particularistic and work through personalised exchange.
The governing logic is is reciprocity - meaning ‘the amount I give you, you will have to give to me’.
In this system politicians and businesses are the key decision makers whereas municipalities only have a consulting role in the best case.

Administration in Azerbaijan is much more powerful than legislation.
This is also the reason why heritage protection on a large scale can hardly be implemented. Even though we got the heritage-protection-list by now!! Meaning: it exists…
It includes about 5000 Baku buildings… But the same responsibles who finally have to agree to the protected status can also take them fom the list again, the secretary of Baku’s Union of Architects confirmed.

In other cities historical structures (not the social structures!) can sometimes be saved by gentrification or neighbourhood programms.
The Azeri-gentrification seems to be “beautification” only, a superficial way of polishing the neighbourhood.

e.g. The whole Heydar Aliyev Prospect is about to be superficially cladded with decorated stone panels, as it is the most important route for visitors coming and going to the airport.

Azerbaijan has potential to also develop other economic sectors. It should do that in order the prevent a fall after the oil boom will weaken.
Baku has potential to be an appealing city for tourists but only if the demolition of historic downtown is stopped and the city’s identity is recognised and appreciated by Bakuvians.
The flavour of Baku - this might even be the wanted niche to make the capital competetive on a global level in future also.

Rizvan Bayramov, our Interviewpartner from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and responsible for historical Monuments in the regions of Azerbaijan, talked about their plans to convince locals of the future benefit of monument protection.
Therefore they are planning to publish citizen guidelines for Xanlar (former “Helenendorf”)- Something like: “How to renovate my house, who to ask what to do” etc…
Could this be an appropriate approach for Baku aswell?

One will need to create a civil society, neighbourhoods that care about where they live, about their environment, we need civil engagement, social movement if the key decisionmakers (admisnistration + business) do not manage to take their social and ecological responsabilities.
A change of mentality often starts with local iniciatives and can even be implemented like this (anecdote by Anar Valiyev) :
His friends just got back from America and they decided to pick up the garbage in their park every weekend in order to make people aware of their self-inflicted litter-pollution. Soon the police stopped them though and asked: Who allowed you to pick up the rubbish? Do you have a permission?

The process of raising awareness and preserving identity is not necessarily lost.
It can be reached by continuous local proactivity, campaigns and good marketing strategies.