Temernik River Park

Challenge

The Temernik is a small river that crosses Rostov-on-Don. For decades it worked, in practice, as a drain.

To change this, a non-profit was created: ANO Park Temernik. It is a coalition of business, experts and the public. Its aim is to rehabilitate the river and turn its banks into a city-wide ecological park, working alongside the regional programme for the ecological recovery of the Temernik basin.

What was done

Mihail Veklenko was a co-founder of the non-profit and a member of its core team.

• Strategy and economics. He was responsible for how real estate and the economy around the river would work, and what the riverside spaces would hold: parks, new buildings, cycling and walking routes, places to rest. He also worked on how to involve business and the city, so that the river is cleaned and opened to people.
• Events and partners. Urban Factory was one of the organisers of the first forum “Small Rivers in Big Cities” on 5–6 October 2018 at Don State Technical University. It included sessions on river rehabilitation and on bringing riverside areas back into the city, and a festival, “Rostov-on-Temernik”. Mihail then prepared the concept of a second conference with participants from the BRICS countries for 2019.

International part: Recife ↔ Rostov-on-Don

The collaboration with INCITI / UFPE began in 2016, when Mihail lived in Brazil and introduced Urban Factory to INCITI.

Recife in Brazil faced a similar problem with the Capibaribe river. There, in Recife, INCITI — a research institute of the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) — worked with the city on the Capibaribe Park, a 15 km linear park along that river. The aim was for the Temernik initiative to learn directly from INCITI’s experience.

• Moscow Urban Forum, 2017. Urban Factory was a co-organiser of the session “Aqua est vita: the role of the river in the modern megalopolis” (the forum itself is organised by the Moscow Urban Forum directorate). The session was moderated by Yuri Grigoryan (Project Meganom). Speakers: Alexei Shaposhnikov, Chairman of the Moscow City Duma; Konstantin Golubev, “Island of Dreams” project; Swami Jyothirmayah, The Art of Living Foundation; Prof. Circe Monteiro, INCITI / UFPE, who presented the Capibaribe Park project; Qiyu Tu and Ning Su, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. Mihail invited Prof. Monteiro and Swami Jyothirmayah.
• Prof. Monteiro’s visit to Moscow, Rostov-on-Don and Zverevo, October 2018. Urban Factory organised the whole programme:
  • 3 October, Moscow — a public lecture with the support of RANEPA: “A linear park along the Capibaribe River: management, architecture, society and ecology”;
  • 5–6 October, Rostov-on-Don — the forum “Small Rivers in Big Cities”; a walk and the planting of two pine trees by the Temernik; a trip to the Azov museum-reserve;
  • a working meeting with ANO Park Temernik, where a memorandum of cooperation between the ANO and INCITI was signed by Yuri Pogrebshchikov and Circe Monteiro;
  • 9 October, Zverevo — a round table at the Sholokhov Central Library with the head of the town administration, Mikhail Solonitsyn, who proposed continuing the cooperation, including on the development of single-industry towns;
  • 10 October, Don State Technical University — a meeting with the rector, Besarion Meskhi: the sides agreed to sign a letter of intent on student exchange, joint research and programmes, and the rector proposed a conference in October 2019 with the BRICS countries and the Black Sea and Caspian regions;
  • Southern Federal University — a meeting with the botanical garden team and Prof. Boyarinov;
  • Rostov State University of Economics (RINH) — a round table on sustainable development of large cities and agglomerations, with the support of GAU RO “RIATs”;
  • a meeting with the South Russian University and the Research Institute of Land Reclamation Problems, with the support of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Rostov Region.
• Forum “Small Rivers in Big Cities”, 5–6 October 2018. Prof. Monteiro shared how Recife built its park step by step — small public spaces, each finished on its own, joined into one green corridor.
• Memorandum, October 2018. ANO Park Temernik and INCITI/UFPE signed a memorandum of cooperation.

Result

Mihail stood at the start of the non-profit and of its First Mile direction. In 2019 he organised the work to launch the first section of a linear park along the Temernik. It runs for about 1–1.5 km, from the bridge at Vavilova and Sheboldaeva streets to the city zoo. The non-profit became the main public driver of this section.

The First Mile opened in spring 2023.

Numbers

• About 1–1.5 km — the First Mile of the linear park
• 15 km — the Capibaribe park in Recife, the reference for the partnership
• 2 days — the first “Small Rivers in Big Cities” forum, October 2018