From school students to managers: how the master plan of Minusinsk is developed
As part of working on the master plan of Minusinsk, the Agency for Strategic Development CENTER held a three-day strategic session in the city – a set of events aimed at collecting as much information as possible about the project area. During the visit, the experts held a field inspection, as well as three meetings – with representatives of the authorities, the expert community and with young people.
Dmitry Merkulov, Head of the urban district of Minusinsk, at a meeting with the Agency's team emphasized that a long-term development strategy should take into account the importance of the city as a core city for the Southern macrodistrict of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
Dmitry MerkulovHead of the urban district of Minusinsk
Since Minusinsk has become one of the core cities of the region, its development should be accompanied by positive changes in our southern territories. We make a friendly team with them and want the development of each territory to be complementary, rather than competitive. We hope that all this will be taken into account in the master plan.
The meeting was attended by the heads of seven districts of the Southern macrodistrict of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, who presented the potential of their territories and planned investment projects to the developers of the master plan. The managers discussed how, through joint positioning and building chains of economic development, it is possible to create synergy with the core center, contributing to comprehensive improvement in the quality of life.
Sergey Glukhov, Head of the Minusinsk district, drew attention, in particular, to its prospects in the tourism sector.
Sergey GlukhovHead of the Minusinsk district
Potential growth points are our famous lake Tagarskoye, and the village of Tes. Today, the lake is a hot spot for most of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Knowing the healing properties of its water and mud, tourists come from other regions. There is a spa retreat there, and it is developing, which opens up new opportunities for attracting tourists. But you need to meet these guests somewhere. And here we see a link with Minusinsk in terms of building a visitor center, and developing the hotel and restaurant business, transport infrastructure and healthcare. In the village of Tes, we have a famous health camp – also a holiday destination for children, adolescents and adults from all over Russia. In general, there are 13 children's health camps in our territory – more than anywhere else in the region. Naturally, it is impossible to develop all this without Minusinsk, so changes should occur in a single rhythm.
And the Head of the Idrinsky district, Galina Bezyazikova, noted that she expects the production capacity of the territory to be also taken into account in the master plan.
Galina BezyazykovaHead of the Idrinsky district
The main industry of the district is agriculture, the district produces milk, cattle meat, potatoes, grains, and rapeseed, all in reasonable amounts. Naturally, we would like to consider the district as a supplier of raw materials for processing plants, including those producing rapeseed oil, flour, meat products, etc. We also have mineral resources. In the short term, we see the possibility of building a brick factory – there is a fairly large deposit of high quality clay, from which tiles can also be made. Since we plan to grow our entire southern zone, we can act as a supplier of building materials.
The work on the master plan was initiated by the Andrey Melnichenko Foundation in August 2024. The developers have already conducted a sociological study and visited the city, where they held an kick-off seminar and a workshop on engaging residents in the work on the vision of the future of Minusinsk.
During the strategic session, the head of the analytical group for development of the master plan, Maria Sedletskaya, spoke about the preliminary mission formulated for the city.
Maria SedletskayaHead of the analytical group for development of the master plan
This is the growth point of the regional and Russian economies in the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The goals are to raise the living standards of residents above the Russian average and to create a balanced economic system with a developed industry and an innovative sector, including in the areas creative economy and in tourism through transport and logistics chains. These goals will contain certain metrics.
Among the sources of growth there are redevelopment of the territory of the former Minal distillery and creation of a multifunctional site in a new part of the city using the mechanism of integrated spatial development. To work on these sites during the strategic session, an event was organized for young residents of Minusinsk in the form of a workshop. About two dozen students of local schools and the College of Culture and Art visited the design areas and then presented their ideas to the developers. Initiatives related to Minal include workshops and exhibition spaces for artists, a food court, souvenir shops, co-living for students, and an eco-hotel. And to revitalize the new part of the city, it was proposed, for example, to organize a coworking, create infrastructure for athletics and open a karaoke place (now there is no such format of entertainment in Minusinsk).
The recommendations taken from the meetings of the specialists of the Agency CENTER with the expert community include developing a single design code for the historical center and development areas, ensuring the inclusiveness of the urban environment, creating a pedestrian zone and a “proper embankment" in the historical center, clearing of the arm of the Yenisei River, and in the long term – development of water transport and restoration of the air terminal.
After the strategic session, the developers of the master plan will form a refined vision of the future development, and prepare proposals for achieving its goals, as well as a preliminary list of activities and investment projects. The Minusinsk urban district is to receive its final master plan in April 2025.