Spot development of residential purpose objects as a method for solving territorial problems (on the example of the city of Kazan)

Abstract

An increase in the number of inhabitants in cities, urbanization processes and congestion in infrastructure lead to a shortage of territories in urban systems. One of the most common ways to search for internal urban reserves is the implementation of infill (compaction) development. The purpose of this work is to analyze the infill development of residential facilities as a way to solve territorial problems (using the example of the city of Kazan). In the article, infill development is understood as a deviation from the general urban planning plan, when the construction of objects occurs on sites adjacent to the existing development. The authors created a register of residential buildings in Kazan, built over the period 1860–2019, deciphered and compared satellite images of 2004 and 2020, determined the functional use of land plots that preceded modern development. Spot buildings are found throughout the entire city of Kazan. However, the process of compaction of the urban fabric is uneven—it is most intense in the central, historical part of the city, which is valuable from the point of view of investors, in which a significant number of various cultural, educational, scientific institutions and other socially significant objects are concentrated. The largest number of episodes of sealing development was recorded in the Vakhitovsky district. In the period 2001–2019. 33.9 % of the total number of residential buildings in the Vakhitovsky district were built, and a significant part of them is “included” in the existing planning structure and refers to the sealing building. Closer to the periphery and borders of the city, the need for sealing construction decreases—less intensive processes of housing construction are typical for the outskirts of Kazan—Aviastroitelny, Kirovsky, Sovetsky and Privolzhsky.