The Vorkuta Town Master Plan is a complex design covering urban planning, socio-cultural, environmental, transport, engineering and economic aspects. Vorkuta is known for its special, convoluted history and rough climatic conditions of the Far North. These are the main factors, and they were considered first. For us that work has become a great professional challenge – the extreme climate, the need to improve social conditions, support education and bring it to the new level which will undoubtedly give an impetus to additional economic development in the future – all this required a non-standard unique approach to design process.

The main goal of the master plan was to create a program to reorganize Vorkuta into a compact, comfortable town-to-live with its own attractive appearance and character saving social and urban culture identity.

It is worth noting our one-of-a-kind environmental initiatives implemented in the master plan. The work began with the study of climate characteristics and gradual changes towards warming. During this process we were in constant contact with our environmental expert team. Together we analyzed the monitoring data, made a list of risks and solutions to avoid any, if possible. So, all proposals presented in the master plan respect wind loads which has a great effect on life in the northern city. There was meticulous work to select and increase the diversity of plants that can adapt to the challenging Vorkuta climate and, at the same time, not destroy the existing flora and already formed ecosystem. Identifying of new connections made it possible to create a single urban green framework which is so important for keeping high spirits of town folk in a short but always long-awaited warm season.

A great emphasis was placed on the collaborative work and co-design process with locals: their requests for missing urban functions, main issues, favorite places, identity, desire to maintain or change certain urban planning aspects, their interest in improving the quality of urban environment. As a result, we managed to find a common language with Vorkuta residents and, as part of the sociological study, collect a large data set – from surveys, interviews and face-to-face meetings on participatory design. This made it possible to identify areas of residents’ interest that are recommended for development on a first-priority basis.

The master plan has a strong focus on educational and cultural facilities in terms of spatial location, the program and areas to be developed. We managed to create a multi-stage strategy for possible activities planned to be implemented and a priority schedule including the factors in variability.