Moscow mayor on “the art of managing a city”

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin opened the Moscow Urban Forum this morning with a keynote speech about the importance of putting Muscovites first in city development. Speaking at the first plenary session of the forum, whose theme this year is “Drivers of city development”, Sobyanin touched on the need to approach urban development holistically, keeping the needs of city inhabitants at the heart of development plans.

“We need to think first about people’s needs — this is the art of managing a city,” Sobyanin said. He added that “there need not be contradictions between large investors, developers and citizens”.

“The main driver of this city’s development is the energy of the millions of people living here … We can compete with London, Paris and Beijing — we are fighting for brains. Intellect is just as important as investment,” Sobyanin said.

Since his appointment as Moscow Mayor in 2010, Sobyanin has overseen a major push to develop the city’s public spaces, including the makeover of Gorky Park and Soviet-era exhibition centre VDNKh.

The fourth Moscow Urban Forum will run until Sunday at the Manezh conference centre.