Comments on: Towards Building a Sustainable City-Shymkent, Kazakhstan

By: reszhb

reszhb — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 04:55:38 +0000

you said it right, daniel — civil participation. so hard to find, and most what we need from everyone. and by the way, arthur, those cops replacing traffic lights in Almaty are a GOOD thing; they reduce grid lock!

By: Leila

Leila — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 08:17:16 +0000

It was a funny mistype, but I actually meant “should now be discouraged”.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:04:06 +0000

Fascinating post and interesting to see Chimkent, Kazakstan is taking the lead in contemporary and thoughtful urban planning. Much more progressive than even my own city, New Haven, CT, which is home to many many progressive voices and thinkers. Let’s hope the project doesn’t get mired down in corruption and bureaucratic road blocks.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 07:13:33 +0000

Well, Arthur, what sort of “expertise” does one need to have for common knowledge issues about urban planning and sustainable cities? This is merely a result of civic participation. Knowing your city and how you fit into it is a useful way of being an active participant in the development of the places you live. One doesn’t need a Masters degree in City Planning to participate in community initiated projects. All it takes is concern and desire to contribute.

I’m an artist from Oakland, California involved with the contemporary art movement in Almaty. I was invited by Mrs. Yelyubaeva because my art work is about cities and the rise of class.

By: Arthur

Arthur — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 06:23:58 +0000

Daniel,

I’m curious– what position and expertise do you have that allowed you to make these reccomendations, and have them listentto you? In other words, why were you invited to the roundtable?

As for Leila’s comment, I agree that car ownership should not be discouraged nationwide, but there definitely need to be some changes in Almaty. I drove from one side of the city to the other yesterday, and it was miserable: too many cars, street lights replaced by police officers, and terrible black smoke spewing from the Marshrutkas. It took about an hour, and that was with a local who knew short cuts. Also, the city is desperately in need of overpasses or tunnels for pedestrians. I swear I saw three people, on three separate occasions, nearly die trying to cross the roads.

By: Global Voices Online » Kazakhstan: Sustainable Shymkent

Global Voices Online » Kazakhstan: Sustainable Shymkent — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 22:17:29 +0000

[…] neweurasia, Daniel writes about plans for sustainable growth planning in Shymkent, Kazakhstan. Share […]

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 21:32:26 +0000

Hello Leila,

Thank you for your comments.

There have been a number of articles written on this event. Here are a few of them. I just wrote about my experience and my input.

http://www.zonaz.kz/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9916&Itemid=46
http://www.kazpravda.kz/index.php?uin=1152073573&act=archive_date&day=24&month=5&year=2007
http://www.izvestia.kz/news.php?date=15-05-07&number=3
http://www.kazakh.ru/news/articles/?a=972
http://www.jer.kz/?pid=company&cid=32
http://www.shymkent.ru/news/detail/243

Daniel

By: Leila

Leila — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 16:52:23 +0000

Daniel, thanks for sharing this. It is a very interesting initiative. It is definitely true that the cars do not seem to be an issue, I think we are not at the point when the ownership of cars shall be directly discouraged through various measures.

I am sure your experience was very useful for the participants as you lived in some other countries. I am curious what did the other people say, what did they suggest to have in Shymkent?