1st smart district in Astana: what innovations will people enjoy?

Leading architects, urbanists and researchers from over 20 countries of the world gathered in Astana to participate in the International Congress of Architects. Within the framework of the Congress young architects and university students had an opportunity to participate in the competition “Urban Environment: Smart Area”, the purpose of which was to find out the most effective solutions for an urban area, urbanism and development of public places, introduction of “green technologies”. Read more in the review material of the “Strategy2050.kz” Information Agency.

The event of the international level was dedicated to the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of Astana and is aimed at the development of modern domestic architecture through the exchange of experience and search for answers to questions of local identity in the global world.

At the opening of the Congress, Vice Minister of Culture and Sport Aktoty Raimkulova addressed the participants.

“Having a great respect for the art of architects of the world, we always expect new projects with joy, always ready to work for our country to become one of the most beautiful. We hope that the Congress will become a platform where the architects of the world will be able to gather and discuss topical issues”, Mrs. Raimkulova said.

Deputy Mayor of Astana Malika Bekturova explained how the smart system in the city should create comfortable conditions for citizens.

“For the first time we have integrated the Congress of architects and the part on “smart city” to show that in the development of Astana, we reached a new level. This is not just housing construction, today we want to develop energy efficient buildings, materials, advanced technologies to make the house smart. Obviously, the city is growing, but it also needs to be effective. There is a number of questions regarding housing and communal services. Inevitably, the first issue is deterioration. Until everything is renovated, smart solutions will remain ineffective”, the Deputy Mayor of Astana city noted.

The participants of the “Urban Environment: Smart Area” contest, held within the Congress for three days, had been looking for solutions in three directions — innovations for an urban area, urbanism and development of public places, introduction of green technologies. As a space for placing the smart area, Zhastar microdistrict in Astana was chosen.

So, the grand prize went to the “Sredalab” team who proposed to create winter greenhouse complexes for citizens. The originality of the development is that the greenhouses will be built as glass additions on roofs and facades of buildings, they can be heated by means of water mains, solar batteries, wind energy.

The “Nurcelona” team won the first place. They proposed to create the analogy of AirBnB for parking lots in the city.

The “RainTech” team, who proposed stable rain removal systems, took the second place.

The third place was taken by the “School of IT technologies” team. Their solution is to create an IT school for people with reduced capabilities.

Special prize of the Mayor of Astana was awarded to the “King Wins” team.

In turn, Chairman of the Board of “Astana Innovations” Olzhas Sartayev noted that the winners will be given an opportunity to implement their ideas as part of the “Smart Area Project”.

“This is in Zhastar microdistrict. Some technologies in this direction have already been applied in this area. The work continues. Regarding the greenhouse complexes. Three or four months are needed for the implementation. We assessed it and will try to build at least one greenhouse in the microdistrict this year. Concerning the parking lots project. The priority will be to implement it in Zhastar microdistrict. But we will move beyond this district”, Sartayev noted.

For reference: In April 2018, the project of smart district was presented, which will be located in Zhastar (Molodezhny) microdistrict. The project attracted 60 million tenge of private investments. The investments went to the installation of smart meters, pedestrian crossing, stopping, as well as automatic heat regulation from the Finnish company.

At the same time, on the first day of the International Congress of Architects, four cooperation memorandums were signed between the Ministry of Healthcare, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population and “Astana Innovations”, as well as between “Astana Innovations” and “National Agency on Technological Development” JSC.

It should be noted that the International Congress of Architects was organized in Astana from July 16 – 18, 2018 by the Ministry of Culture and Sport in cooperation with the Mayor’s Office of Astana and the Union of Architects of Kazakhstan.

It is the purpose of the Congress to develop modern domestic architecture through the professional exchange of experience; to familiarize with the modern conceptual and theoretical directions of world architecture development and its basic tendencies; to establish creative contacts between Kazakhstan and leading foreign architects; to form transparency of consciousness in the society - the ability to adopt progressive world experience and knowledge while preserving the best traditions of the national culture in architecture.

The program of the Congress included lectures delivered by renowned worldwide speakers, original study presentations, debates, round tables, panel sessions, masterclasses and a competition for young architects which was held in a format of a start-up weekend.

Saltanat Suraganova

Photo: the press service of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan