How to have a good rest in the city or what to do when there is nothing to do. What to do with a Russian city that is not needed by the modern economy? Unified online center for citizens' requests
The Soviet urban planning school of the second half of the 20th century took a very simple approach to the needs of people. After all, the Soviet man is the most ideal person in the world. He is practically a robot who needs housing, a place in kindergarten for his child and a tram to go to the factory. Human needs, in most cases, were roughly pretended and transferred to square meters of panels, recreation centers and places in the clinic. It’s convenient when everyone can be translated into numbers and built as needed.
Today we understand that the paradigm of simple values of the Soviet man and the planned economy do not completely correspond to modern standards. A person lives not only rationally, but also emotionally. Therefore, he needs comfort and individuality. That is why in Russian cities the old city center is so valued, and new residential neighborhoods are perceived as the outskirts, unworthy of a decent person. Cities develop and live not because of one enterprise, but due to comprehensive development. Therefore, most single-industry towns today are dying out and being destroyed, while historical cities are developing and attracting people to them.
Naberezhnye Chelny is a good indicator of an ideal city according to the Soviet urban planner. The main part of the city has been built from scratch since around the 1980s. There is no dilapidated housing here, the communications are new and in general everything is built according to the standards - not a city, but a dream! Only I want to escape from this dream even more than I do.
Development
The departure of Soviet urban planning in favor of microdistricts and panel buildings solved many problems from the point of view of the state: it quickly and inexpensively closed the housing shortage, was good at numbers, and corresponded to the policy of avoiding excesses and the transition to a new society. But this approach did not take into account the influence of the environment on a person.
thank you autumn for the colors
Everyone has needs, they vary from person to person, but there are primary (a roof over your head, heat, water, sewerage) and additional. When saturation occurs with primary needs, a person begins to want more. Such a resident is not satisfied with the same type of boxes in the city, because he wants to live in an individual house and area - to have an I-place association. It’s like with cases and screensavers on iPhones - the hardware is common, but you want to stand out.
Next, a person begins to understand that he wants to spend time somewhere. Today people work fewer hours and can do it remotely - there is free time and different needs in public spaces. As a result, the home-factory-house paradigm turns into home-...-work-...-home. City residents have a need for a so-called “third place” where they can relax, meet and communicate with people, or work.
Have you noticed that there are coffee shops and catering establishments not only in tourist places, but also near business centers? This is just evidence of business activity, a differentiated economy and the importance of public spaces. After all, people drink coffee not because of caffeine consumption standards per person per day, but to communicate and make social and business connections.
With a strict division of the city into residential, working and social areas, it will not be possible to obtain mixed spaces - the areas will simply die out. It is pointless to create a business in such conditions - the flow of clients is limited in the morning and evening in residential areas and lunch in business areas. Therefore, except for pharmacies, five-star stores and liqueurs, no one survives in sleeping bags. But factories have canteens to meet calorie standards.
Such cities and districts exist for one purpose - to provide a place for a hard worker to sleep, and for his child a place in school, to create a pipeline of personnel. If suddenly something happens to a workplace, the city may not survive it, because it was built only for this. This can be seen in the apartments - they are all unified. This is a victory for social justice, but a defeat for the area - segregation appears. When the choice is limited by floor and number of rooms, many will prefer to build their own house or move to another area (or even city) for more suitable housing.
In old cities, houses are individual and designed for different use scenarios. The house may have (with access to the roof, two-level, with an interesting layout, etc.) space for work, business, and so on. If necessary, the entire house can be converted into offices or back into apartments, and so on. Therefore, old houses exist for 100-200 years and feel great, and Khrushchev buildings are outdated even before the end of the planned period of major repairs. It’s similar with development areas: historical areas live and are valued, while panel residential areas are devalued and turned into slums.
The layout does not imply division into what is ours and what is not - everything is common. Due to this, there are even more vacant lots with landfills or illegal parking, and a person’s comfort zone ends at the threshold of the apartment. It is difficult to love and maintain your yard when it is not clear that it is yours.
It is easy to understand that the areas are built incorrectly - paths are trodden everywhere. People walk as they feel comfortable, and not according to the builder's intentions. This is the simplest and most obvious example of a lost unit in planning - a person. 
Streets
The microdistrict approach was created as a compromise between universal motorization and a comfortable space for living. Therefore, a safe environment for pedestrians with social facilities was maintained inside the megablock, and expressways ran along the perimeter. It is in the old cities with donkey trails that the streets are a public space with a comfortable environment for life and business, and the modernist approach viewed the street as only a temporary inconvenience on the way from point A to B.
It is almost impossible to transform such streets into a comfortable space: the façade is detached from the sidewalk, high speeds, noise, and so on. Le Corbusier can be pleased - he has truly created something new and different from the old. It is a pity that he did not change people and did not live to see the days when cities everywhere abandoned his ideas.
Unlike the USA and other Western countries, in the USSR the era of universal motorization occurred in another country. Neighborhoods were built based on the automobile scale of the city, but without these very cars. But there was a tram. Too wide streets with a reserve for decades did not provide a reason to destroy this transport in the city. Moreover - . Today this is one of the few cities where this happens - it is both good (good here) and bad (not bad here).
With the tram, however, the story turns out to be the same as with housing - according to the standards, everything is ok, but something is wrong. Urban mobility and the organization of comfortable public transport do not come down to laying rails and purchasing trams. I’ll just say one thing: in London, public transport has been developing for several generations based on the principle of “comfortable, like home.” In Naberezhnye Chelny it is pointless to talk about comfort - an uninitiated person will not even know where he can go from the stop.
If you differ from a young and healthy resident according to GTO standards, then you will suffer. The suffering begins from the moment you leave the house with a labyrinth of parked cars, continues when crossing the street through an underground passage, then you still have to get on the tram and repeat everything in the reverse order. 
Here, even on the new lines, they failed to build platforms. But not a single installed innovative LED display works. 
The development of public transport in Chelny today is still based on the need to transport workers to the plant, and not to develop the city and compete with private cars. There are simple principles for the development of space around transit corridors: at metro/train/tram stops, development is designed for business activity and high density, and as it moves away, the function is redistributed to housing with a decrease in density. This allows you to make the city comfortable, pay for public transport and stimulate the growth of economic activity. In Naberezhnye Chelny, around the tram there may be a field of land or an asphalt field the size of a block. Walking to the tram turns into a journey of a kilometer in the end.
the very center of Chelny
What to do
Is it really possible to make a city like this a comfortable place to live? Yes, nothing is impossible. Even an airplane hangar can be made into good housing - it is only important to decide what is needed more: a hangar or housing. Compromises in this regard nullify the entire effect.
It's a question of difficulty, cost and desire. You can turn abandoned historical neighborhoods with human streets into a good place quickly and without serious expenses - with microdistricts everything is much more complicated. Naberezhnye Chelny needs to turn empty fields and runways into human buildings and streets into comfortable public spaces, get rid of facelessness and uniformity, remember that a person is not a robot.
Chelny can be saved by large-scale renovation. Not painting facades in lurid colors or new caps over underground passages - the city will have to be densified and the function of the districts changed. By completing the construction of small houses, it will be possible to fill the city with details, create neighborhoods, streets, fill the market with spaces for business and atypical housing. Something will probably have to be demolished. The streets will need to be significantly narrowed due to development: not one monstrous street of 100 meters, but two blocks with human streets, shops and offices on the ground floors.
But this is all empty speculation for now. It is clear from the city that development is still proceeding according to some old plan, which does not at all meet the new needs. In the city there is a very strong weight of “city builders” who erected enterprises and square meters of housing - it is almost impossible to explain to these people that the old approach does not work and everything needs to be corrected. Apparently, the next generations will have to deal with this if they do not flee the city.
The first danger awaits us in the evening of a regular working day, when we no longer want anything. To avoid spending the entire evening on social networks, cut off your escape routes in advance. Buy a ticket to a concert, promise your spouse a trip to a restaurant, bet with a friend that you won’t miss a workout. And in order not to think on your tired head, right now do a simple exercise “Evening Rest Scenarios”.
Divide the sheet into two columns. On the left, write options for a typical dull evening: “scrolling through Instagram,” “sitting in front of the TV.” And on the right - remember the good options: “walk in your favorite park”, “go to a new exhibition”, “dive into the pool after working out in the gym”.
An excellent option for those who meet Friday in a state of squeezed lemon. All you need to do is finish your work 1-2 hours early once a week, leave the office and carry out one of the evening relaxation scenarios. Do something that you don’t have enough time and energy to do on an ordinary evening: go to the cinema, to a water park or to a concert. Having a quality rest in the middle of the week, you will get much more done in the remaining working days. Wednesday evening is ideal for a half-day off.
Planning a weekend getaway is a pleasant experience and rarely causes problems. But a mountain of household chores is a real danger of ruining everything. After all, it is on the weekend that most of us are used to shopping for groceries, cleaning, washing and cooking.
Here are a few ways to clear your weekend from household chores or significantly reduce the time spent on these activities:
a) Make to-do lists, assign responsibilities and deadlines. Everything is like at work. This will save several hours.
b) Don’t save things up for the weekend. For example, you can start the washing machine on Tuesday evening.
c) Delegate. The rest of the family, including children. Or to professionals, but for money (the windows can be washed by guys from a special office, for example).
d) Buy groceries on weekdays. Remember the terrible queues and traffic jams on Sundays.
e) Use delivery services (food, household chemicals, pet products).
Rituals are needed not only for work, but also for relaxation. It's the details that differentiate an ordinary action from a ritual. Compare: fry a “ready kebab” from something unknown or choose good meat yourself, marinate it with interesting spices, fry it on the right grill, serve it in beautiful dishes.
Here are some ideas:
a) Entertainment: cinema, theater, football
b) Pleasures for the body: bath, massage, spa
c) Communication with nature: forest, river, sea
d) Sports: bicycle, badminton, skiing
e) Games: board games, cards, chess
e) Food: kebabs, cake
Dr. Elaine Eaker warns that you should not rest less than twice a year, otherwise the risk of heart attack and depression increases significantly. At the same time, it is better to rest little by little, but more often.
Options:
a) 2 weeks in summer + New Year holidays + November and May holidays
b) 2 weeks + spread one day over Fridays to make a long weekend
c) change the climate: leave winter for summer
Taking a month off at once is a bad idea.
On vacation, alternate between resting and switching. Relaxation is a passive scenario, such as lying on the beach and reading a book. Switching is an active option that gives vivid impressions: exploring architectural monuments, playing volleyball.
The most important switch must happen at the beginning of your vacation - you need to switch from work. Therefore, first we “pump up” ourselves with switches in order to get work problems out of our heads, then we rest passively, and so we alternate until the end of the vacation.
Before going to work, passive rest is required, one or two days. Otherwise, you will go to work exhausted and unrested.
If you look at the previous post about, it turns out that I belong to the type of “resident tourists”. These are tourists who are not chasing after sights, but rather “trying on” local life in different countries :) Of course, this is a little reminiscent of the first stage of preparation, but this is not entirely true. I travel to simply enjoy life.
So, what do I like to do in an unfamiliar city when traveling on my own? Off the top of my head I came up with a list of 15 items. I think each of you has your own list :)
Go to the city at random, return to the hotel using the map or navigator. On the picture:
2. Sit in a bar or coffee shop by the window, watching the bustle of the street. It’s especially chic when it’s hot outside and cool and empty inside and good music is playing.
Coffee shops are the best places for all travelers. On the picture: 3. Take a boat ride along the river. It’s especially great when you can ride both during the day and in the evening.
4. Find non-tourist high-altitude observation platforms in or near the city. For example, a platform.
Finding a non-tourist observation deck is always an interesting quest. In the photo: Barcelona, Spain 5. Stop at the windows of real estate offices and look at local offers and prices, imagining that I’m ready to buy a home here.
6. Go for a run in the park with local residents. It’s especially good in Retiro Park.
7. I like to go to local markets, whether food or flea markets. In such places there is always something to see, try and photograph.
Morning walk through the local market. In the photo: market in 8. Taking a ride on local transport, especially in the city, is a very educational and exciting experience. You can immediately form your first opinion about the city. In Europe you can do this everywhere :)
In a European city it is nice to ride the local tram. Pictured: tram in Porto, Portugal 9. In the middle of the day, sit in the park, reading a good and real (paper) book :) This requires a shady park, good benches and non-tourist silence.
10. I like to discover new cafes or restaurants. While wandering around the city, it is very pleasant to get tired and then relax in one of the unfamiliar cafes. It's like a game - you need to guess, based on several signs, which cafe or bar has the tastiest food.
Finding new cafes is a real sport and pleasure. In the photo: a cafe with a view 11. Learn one or two new words in the local language every day. It’s best to train with salespeople or waiters - they are always ready to explain something to a funny foreigner :) That’s exactly what I remember.
12. Forget about hotels for a while and rent a local apartment. Several times I was able to find very unusual accommodation - once it was a loft in Valencia, another time a small house with stone walls in Denia.
In the photo: it’s always interesting to try unusual housing 13. Walk along the long seaside embankments. Sometimes I even choose a city for my next trip based on whether it has a good embankment.
Summer has finally arrived for all of us. I think we all start looking forward to it again as soon as it comes to an end, and summer unfortunately only lasts 3 months. And that’s why it’s so important to “squeeze” all the pleasures out of it to the maximum.
But circumstances are different, and I hope my article will help those who happen to have to spend part of the summer alone with themselves not to become depressed.
As a rule, many people move away in the summer, it often happens that your friends and relatives go on vacation, to the country, and you have to stay in the city and spend the summer alone, with rare meetings with friends.
I think this is not a reason for sadness, because summer is the best time to spend it alone with yourself, to take a break from people, this will be especially useful for those whose everyday life is closely connected with communicating with a large number of people.
Being alone with yourself, taking a break from people is sometimes useful. Not many people manage to feel completely harmonious alone with themselves; many things that you do alone will seem strange. For example, walking; many people feel good walking only with friends.
But if you are used to this, then you need to try to do it only in company with yourself. I definitely won’t argue if you tell me that any time spent with friends is more fun, but you need to learn to be independent.
I can say about myself that I am a houseplant and it is always quite difficult for me to do anything outside the house alone, and I am only now learning to be more independent and responsible. You need to comprehend what is new to you, causes difficulties and inconveniences, because any exit from your comfort zone will lead you to amazing adventures.
Here are my ideas for things to do with yourself this summer:
1) Stay home and spend the whole day in bed, having previously purchased all the most delicious and favorite foods. Or you can order your favorite food at home. Watch your favorite series or start watching some new television series, give preference to those that have already released the entire season, you can watch it without interruption.
2) Make time for the culinary arts, start trying to cook new dishes. Maybe it will be confectionery, they always take a lot of time and effort, so vacation is a great time to try to cook something new that you didn’t have enough time for before.
3)Plan your route around the city which you will then go for a walk. Include in it places that you have long dreamed of illuminating with your presence. Maybe you have an observation deck in your city, watch the sunset. Don't forget to take a camera, or take a photo with your phone, let the walk remain in your memory.
4) Go to exhibitions and museums that you have been putting off for a long time. Look for exhibitions that will be interesting and useful to you. When you are alone, everything is perceived differently, it is easier to contemplate alone, this will help you be inspired by new interesting, and maybe crazy, ideas and plans.
5)Go to a nearby cafe or in a cafe that is close to you for its atmosphere and cuisine, bring with you a new or favorite book, or even better, don’t hide behind anything (phone, book, laptop), just order your favorite dish and, savoring the taste, watch people.
6) If you have a car and are lucky enough to live outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg, go on a trip around the city, just ride. Better yet, go to a neighboring town, stop at roadside cafes and enjoy these moments of peace. The wind is in my hair and I'm in love...
7) Go shopping. I once read that you should go shopping alone, because “evil” girlfriends may recommend something that doesn’t suit you. But, in fact, this way you can more accurately express your taste, and not the taste of your advisors.
8) Go to the cinema, best for the morning shows, they usually have the cheapest tickets and there is no one there, as if the cinema is working exclusively for you. I haven’t been to the cinema alone, but it seems to me that it’s such a sacrament to go alone, when you don’t have to immediately share your impressions and popcorn;)
9) Create a playlist with your favorite music and go for a walk in the nearest park, turn on the music in your headphones and listen to it, and don’t just use it as a background. And if you have a forest nearby, go breathe in its freshness and communicate with nature. ;)
10) If you have a tripod or shelf in your house that is conveniently located for photography. Organize a photo shoot for yourself, come up with an image, put on makeup, get dressed, set the camera on the timer, and go take pictures and make faces. As a teenager, I did this very often, I had a shelf conveniently located, I sometimes miss it)
Still from the film "I Seduced Andy Warhol"
11)Dance. Turn on your favorite composition, which all your loved ones may hate, and just dance, jump, sing, scream, and if you also have a recording or timer on your camera, it will be fun to watch it again later. You will come out very alive and happy on film - that’s 100%.
12) Go on a picnic prepare some food, buy yourself a lovely basket and a blanket and go to the park on the lawn. You can take a magazine, a book, or a sketchbook, brushes and watercolors with you, and draw what surrounds you, funny little things.
Just don't take everything literally.
13) Do something crazy something we haven’t decided to do for a long time. For example, stand on a skateboard, jump with a parachute, or get a tattoo that you have long dreamed of. Do things that make you happy.
14) I’ve already suggested you go for a ride in a car, and I’ll also suggest going for a bike ride. Take a bike ride to all your favorite places. Buy a basket and flowers for your bike from your favorite flower shop, put them in the basket and ride around radiating happiness and spreading the fragrance of flowers.
15) And it’s even better in the summer start learning some new hobby: English, or try yourself in drawing, photography, or maybe get carried away by architecture, then you can return to the third point.) Our hobbies make us individual and unique. Do not forget!)
We all go outside and visit public places every day. For children, such walks can be seriously dangerous. To avoid getting into trouble and causing inconvenience to people around you, you should follow the rules of behavior on the street. This applies to adults, teenagers, and elementary school students.
Public place concept
Public places include common areas. This includes transport, shops, canteens, museums, libraries, as well as the street itself. When you leave your home, you enter a public place. Besides you, there are many people here who are walking, rushing to work and going about their business. Rules of behavior on the street allow everyone to be polite and not disturb others.
Adults should explain to children what they can and cannot do in public places. Along with the rules of etiquette, there are also norms of safe behavior, knowledge of which helps children avoid difficult and sometimes tragic situations. The road is a high-risk area, so children need to know when and where to cross it. The school curriculum includes the subject of life safety, in which students learn the rules of behavior on the street.
How to behave on the street
Before leaving the house, you should carefully examine yourself in the mirror. Shoes and clothes must be clean, hair neat.
When you meet someone you know on the street, you need to be the first to say hello. However, you should not shout greetings or wave your arms if there is a long distance between you.
It is worth remembering that in our country, traffic is on the right. This applies not only to transport, but also to pedestrians. Rules of behavior in public places mean that when walking along the sidewalk you need to stay on the right side so as not to disturb other pedestrians.
When trying to overtake someone, you should not push with your elbows. You should apologize and ask the person in front to give way to you. If you are asked to do so, step aside and let the pedestrian pass.
Elders need to give way and also hold doors, letting them pass first, when entering or exiting buildings.
If a person falls nearby, you need to help him get to his feet and lift his bags.
Pointing a finger at someone or something is considered indecent.
Wrappers, bottles and other garbage should be thrown into special bins.
Rules of etiquette
Rules of behavior in public places teach politeness. You should not shout, much less swear. You need to talk in such a way that only the interlocutor can hear.
Men should be attentive to women and girls. They must help their companions, carry heavy bags, and support them on difficult sections of the road.
According to the rules of etiquette, a man walks on the left side of a woman, supporting her with his right hand. In case of any threat, he covers his companion.
If a father and mother are walking with a child, he walks between them.
Younger people should give way to older ones, men should give way to women. If you meet people of the same age and gender along the way, the more polite one will let you go ahead.
When coughing or sneezing in a public place, you must cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or palm.
Traffic Laws
Rules of safe behavior on the street teach how to behave on the roads. They need to start learning from an early age. To do this, children's books with traffic rules are published to help parents.
Before crossing the road, you need to look both ways and make sure there is no moving traffic nearby.
You can only start driving when the traffic light is green.
In busy places it is better to use underground passages. If they are not there, then you should look for a pedestrian crossing.
Crossing the road in the wrong place, even in the absence of moving cars, is strictly prohibited.
If there is no sidewalk next to the road, you need to move along the side of the road towards the flow of traffic. Your clothing should have reflective elements so that drivers can see you in the evening.
Behavior in public transport
Public transport includes buses, trams, trolleybuses, minibuses and the metro. The rules of behavior for children on the street explain how to bypass vehicles standing at a stop. You should only go around a car, bus and trolleybus from the rear, and a tram - from the front. In this case, you must definitely look on both sides of the road.
When entering transport, you must let elders and women go ahead. The man should go out first to offer his hand and help his companion down.
Women and older people should give up their seats.
Upon entering public transport, you need to pay for the fare and take an empty seat.
While driving, be sure to hold on to the handrails so that when braking you do not push the passenger standing next to you.
You need to talk to your companion quietly. You are not allowed to shout or run around the bus. Pushing passengers with your elbows while squeezing your way to the exit is considered bad manners. It's better to ask to be let through.
Rules of conduct on the subway
The metro is underground public transport, which poses an increased danger.
The basic rules of behavior in the metro can be found on information boards in the metro lobby, as well as in train cars.
When standing on an escalator, you need to hold on to the handrails. It is prohibited to sit or run on it. When entering the escalator, you should hold children's hands.
In a train carriage, you must give up your seats to older people and pregnant women. You should not push passengers with your elbows.
It is better to prepare in advance to exit the carriage, so as not to have to fight your way through the crowd later. If you didn’t get off in time, you need to drive to the next station, get off, and then come back.
Smoking ban
Rules of conduct on the street and in public places prohibit smoking and drinking alcohol. Recently, a law has been in force in our country, thanks to which smoking areas have been removed from all cafes and restaurants. It’s worth remembering this when going out with friends to have a bite to eat or spend time at a bar.
Smoking and drinking alcohol in city squares and parks is also prohibited. Citizens who violate the law face a fine.
You cannot smoke near the metro, on stairwells, in public institutions, near schools and kindergartens, at airports, as well as at train stations and on trains.
Rules for student behavior on the street
Schoolchildren, just like adults, must adhere to standards of behavior and be polite. Parents and teachers need to monitor this. Children learn things like this best by example. From an early age they observe the behavior of others and try to repeat it.
Of course, it is difficult to calm the loud crowd of schoolchildren rushing home after classes. However, explaining to them that there is no need to make noise on the street is the task of adults.
Our moms and dads are great examples. Watching them, children learn etiquette, begin to treat older people with respect, say hello, and give up their seat. It is from such noble deeds that norms of behavior are formed.
Politeness and good manners are the main signs of a person who knows and follows the rules of behavior on the street and in public places. It is pleasant to communicate with such people, and they are respected in society.