Moscow appears to be growing exponentially, with more and more new residents arriving from other parts of Russia as well as from abroad ­ and the debate as to what it will take to make the Russian capital a global city, in step with other world capitals, is now at the forefront of public discourse.

The official census suggests that Moscow has 11.5 million residents ­ a conservative estimate, some experts say. Issues such as reducing overcrowding on the metro to making the city more tourist-friendly are growing more acute by the day.

At the recent Global Moscow Roundtable hosted by The Moscow News, urban professionals, financial and cultural experts, as well as City Hall representatives, discussed just some of the major steps that need to be taken in order for the Russian capital to develop into a more livable metropolis.

Sergei Kapkov, head of the culture department at City Hall, said that the focus should first be on locals' needs. "First we should focus on making the city more interesting to its residents ­ and then it will become interesting for the global community as well," he said.

Kapkov pointed out that encouraging civil society and individual initiative is key. "Our goal is to have more trendsetters and more agents of change in the city ­ like we do in Gorky Park," he said.

Kapkov is often credited for turning Gorky Park into one of Moscow's biggest success stories in terms of comfort and atmosphere. Before 2011, the park was largely known for its dilapidated attractions and inflated prices.

Spirit of change

Most of the discussion's experts agreed that following the December 2011 protests, more and more Muscovites decided to be active in their communities. Changes in the city administration were also mentioned as a positive step forward.

Nikolai Pereslegin, the deputy head of Moscow's cultural heritage department, is currently in charge of preserving historical buildings in the city. "I have my own impression of what a global city should be ­ it should have a more humanfriendly environment," he said. "When it takes you four hours to get to the office ­ in these terms, Moscow is a feudal city with its center being the Kremlin."

Pereslegin hailed the idea of crowdsourcing, where problems in an urban center are solved with the direct input from local residents ­ a popular practice in New York City.

Crowdsourcing is already beginning to take root in Moscow. At the Global Moscow Roundtable, Alexei Mityayev, the city bicycle lane network developer, and Dmitry Levenets, creator of the Dom Dvor Dorogi project, were representatives of this new trend.

"We now have a map of Moscow which anyone can mark ­ so if a street light is not functioning, you can point that out," Levenets said. "But the system has yet to work ­ communication with city authorities has yet to happen."

Energy and creativity

The city earned high marks of praise for its energetic and creative residents.

"Moscow has lots of talent and creative energy and we think it's already a global city, that's why we have opened our headquarters here," said Annelies van den Belt, the CEO of SUP Media, which owns the Russian blogging site LiveJournal.

Gor Nakhapetyan, managing director of Troika Dialog, praised Moscow for its vast employment opportunities and suggested that the city should attract more intellectuals to live and work here.

And Alexei Novikov, the head of the Moscow branch of Thomson Reuters, suggested that the city's social environment is a major opportunity for growth.

Moscow brand

The speakers mostly agreed that the city needs a more up-to-date brand, and should not rely so much on its traditional attractions, such as the Bolshoi Theater, but to branch out into new branding opportunities.

Nikolai Palaschenko, a Moscow culturologist, suggested that modern art landmarks should be promoted more. "Moscow as a global city should establish its new brands ­ Garazh or the Moscow Biennale, for example," he said.

Alexei Sitnikov, the head of Skolkovo's international development program, and Yury Gregoryan, architect and head of educational program of Strelka Institute, both suggested that the city should develop new educational brands in particular.

"If we want young people to be coming to Moscow to travel and study something should be changed ­ including educational and cultural standards," Sitnikov said.

Another major topic of discussion was Moscow's expansion. Since July 1, the city has more than doubled in size ­ posing new opportunities and challenges. Yet it seemed too early to tell as to how the so-called "Greater Moscow" project would impact the city down the line.

Meanwhile, new tourist attractions, registration procedure for residents and visitors and dire transport problems, resulted in some heated debate among discussion participants and audience members.

The city government's Kapkov pointed out that some unpopular measures are awaiting Muscovites ­ when it comes to traffic problems in particular. Plans to ban private transport from the city center may, in fact, be carried out in the future. In this regard, business experts suggested introducing a KPI (key performance indicators) index to measure authorities' activities.

"I would start using the KPI index for Moscow ­ everything should be measurable, otherwise we can't say where we are going," said Nakhapetyan, of Troika Dialog.

Keywords: Russia, Economy, Moscow - Life in Russia, Culture, Arts - Russian News - Russia

Moscow appears to be growing exponentially, with more and more new residents arriving from other parts of Russia as well as from abroad ­ and the debate as to what it will take to make the Russian capital a global city, in step with other world capitals, is now at the forefront of public discourse.

The official census suggests that Moscow has 11.5 million residents ­ a conservative estimate, some experts say. Issues such as reducing overcrowding on the metro to making the city more tourist-friendly are growing more acute by the day.

At the recent Global Moscow Roundtable hosted by The Moscow News, urban professionals, financial and cultural experts, as well as City Hall representatives, discussed just some of the major steps that need to be taken in order for the Russian capital to develop into a more livable metropolis.

Sergei Kapkov, head of the culture department at City Hall, said that the focus should first be on locals' needs. "First we should focus on making the city more interesting to its residents ­ and then it will become interesting for the global community as well," he said.

Kapkov pointed out that encouraging civil society and individual initiative is key. "Our goal is to have more trendsetters and more agents of change in the city ­ like we do in Gorky Park," he said.

Kapkov is often credited for turning Gorky Park into one of Moscow's biggest success stories in terms of comfort and atmosphere. Before 2011, the park was largely known for its dilapidated attractions and inflated prices.

Spirit of change

Most of the discussion's experts agreed that following the December 2011 protests, more and more Muscovites decided to be active in their communities. Changes in the city administration were also mentioned as a positive step forward.

Nikolai Pereslegin, the deputy head of Moscow's cultural heritage department, is currently in charge of preserving historical buildings in the city. "I have my own impression of what a global city should be ­ it should have a more humanfriendly environment," he said. "When it takes you four hours to get to the office ­ in these terms, Moscow is a feudal city with its center being the Kremlin."

Pereslegin hailed the idea of crowdsourcing, where problems in an urban center are solved with the direct input from local residents ­ a popular practice in New York City.

Crowdsourcing is already beginning to take root in Moscow. At the Global Moscow Roundtable, Alexei Mityayev, the city bicycle lane network developer, and Dmitry Levenets, creator of the Dom Dvor Dorogi project, were representatives of this new trend.

"We now have a map of Moscow which anyone can mark ­ so if a street light is not functioning, you can point that out," Levenets said. "But the system has yet to work ­ communication with city authorities has yet to happen."

Energy and creativity

The city earned high marks of praise for its energetic and creative residents.

"Moscow has lots of talent and creative energy and we think it's already a global city, that's why we have opened our headquarters here," said Annelies van den Belt, the CEO of SUP Media, which owns the Russian blogging site LiveJournal.

Gor Nakhapetyan, managing director of Troika Dialog, praised Moscow for its vast employment opportunities and suggested that the city should attract more intellectuals to live and work here.

And Alexei Novikov, the head of the Moscow branch of Thomson Reuters, suggested that the city's social environment is a major opportunity for growth.

Moscow brand

The speakers mostly agreed that the city needs a more up-to-date brand, and should not rely so much on its traditional attractions, such as the Bolshoi Theater, but to branch out into new branding opportunities.

Nikolai Palaschenko, a Moscow culturologist, suggested that modern art landmarks should be promoted more. "Moscow as a global city should establish its new brands ­ Garazh or the Moscow Biennale, for example," he said.

Alexei Sitnikov, the head of Skolkovo's international development program, and Yury Gregoryan, architect and head of educational program of Strelka Institute, both suggested that the city should develop new educational brands in particular.

"If we want young people to be coming to Moscow to travel and study something should be changed ­ including educational and cultural standards," Sitnikov said.

Another major topic of discussion was Moscow's expansion. Since July 1, the city has more than doubled in size ­ posing new opportunities and challenges. Yet it seemed too early to tell as to how the so-called "Greater Moscow" project would impact the city down the line.

Meanwhile, new tourist attractions, registration procedure for residents and visitors and dire transport problems, resulted in some heated debate among discussion participants and audience members.

The city government's Kapkov pointed out that some unpopular measures are awaiting Muscovites ­ when it comes to traffic problems in particular. Plans to ban private transport from the city center may, in fact, be carried out in the future. In this regard, business experts suggested introducing a KPI (key performance indicators) index to measure authorities' activities.

"I would start using the KPI index for Moscow ­ everything should be measurable, otherwise we can't say where we are going," said Nakhapetyan, of Troika Dialog.