The city is empty. All regular people are sleeping. It's the moment when public works goes out to sweep and wash the streets.
The city silently awakens. Soon, it'll smell like bread. This will mean that the morning has come.
This nighttime fairy tale, the one that was in the empty city, must end. The new day will start and the city will get busy. People will shoot out of the metro crossings and begin scattering across the city. Cars will fill up the streets. The city will become chock-full. It'll get tight, noisy, and resonant like a drum with that cacophony of sounds. The sounds of a metropolis.
That's the rhythm of Moscow. The people here never stop.
Because if you slow down and hesitate it'll be hard to catch up.
It all seems madness at first after you move here but you get used to this madness and other life begins to seem dull.
Almost 20 million people begin their day in one of the largest metropolises on our planet.
Sergey Sobyanin, mayor of Moscow: Do you mind if we sit next to you?
- No, that's fine.
- Oh, don't get up, we'll just sit here. Hey guys! I'll get to you shortly.
Dmitry Kiselyov, journalist: Mr. Sobyanin you're a leader of the large city whose population is comparable to many European countries.
Sergey Sobyanin: It's incomparable, Dmitry. There's no city in Europe as big as Moscow. Moscow is the biggest European city.
- The biggest European city... There must be some global rating of the world metropolitan development indexes or a rating of the world capitals. Moscow has to be listed somewhere.
- The ranking of Moscow's complex development used to be lower than Beijing's. That was the only city ahead of us. Last year, analysts told me that we outranked Beijing.
- So by the end of 2017 Moscow was the most…
- If we judge by development indexes Moscow is #1.
- In the world?
- In the world.
Valery Cherkashin, marketing expert: "I left the metro and found myself in a construction hell".
Denis Tamchuk, loader operator: "People were unhappy about the dirt when we first started working".
During the last three years, the Moscow summer smelled like granite dust, welding, hot asphalt, and anger.
Yana and Sergey Marakulin, retirees: "We can't breathe here and it keeps getting worse".
Alexander Roshupkin, armature installer: "The machines are very noisy but what can we do?"
Maxim Volkov, chef: "Everything was dug out. No one could pass through"
Tom Blackwell, businessman: “Our important business partner from Britain came to our office on Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street. We wanted to welcome him as well as we could. It was July and I told him that July was the most beautiful time of the year in Moscow. We were sure that he'd really enjoy it all. But unfortunately, the day he came to us was the most intense day of the renovation of Tverskaya-Yamskaya.”
450 vehicles. 500 specialists. 8,000 tons of asphalt. And only two days to complete the overhaul. The goal was to create a smooth and seamless asphalt roadbed. The workers used an innovative method — the know-how of the capital. In the summer heat, the column of asphalt pavers was moving along the main street of the metropolis.
Tom Blackwell, businessman: "I didn't know what to say. That wasn't the Moscow I had described. My Moscow was beautiful, sunny, and joyful".
Three summers without summer. Labyrinths of fences and trenches. 5,000 vehicles. More than 25,000 construction workers. Piles of tiles, pipes, and equipment. 327 central streets of Moscow were being renovated. Never has something like that happened before.
- Mr. Sobyanin, let's get back to the point. Many European capitals accomplish the same thing as Moscow did, I'm talking about the city overhaul over decades. It may last up to 30 years, and we completed it in three. Why are we in a rush?
- We've fallen far behind, Dmitry. During the last decades of the Soviet Union, no one cared about renovation and the social environment. You said that other cities required 30 years to create such an environment. In reality, they required centuries. We never would have caught up otherwise. And I believe if we have an opportunity to do it in 3-4 years then, pardon my French, why the hell should we drag this on? Why drag on those streets dug out with trenches? Why? Why postpone it, if we have an opportunity, money, and resources and understand what needs to be done? We're living today. It's the Soviets who used to say: "Wait! True communism is ahead. Let's build socialism first, and in 100 years we'll reach communism and you'll be happy." But we're living today, not in 100 years. We have the desire, will, understanding of what we're doing, ideology, support and requests of our citizens, and resources. And when you bring all that into one point, you know perfectly that you have to act fast without hesitation, as fast as possible.
Fabio Bressan, entrepreneur: "That was ten years ago. I came here to study language. I arrived at Sheremetyevo Airport. Julia Maestrello and Fabio Bressan, entrepreneurs. I spent two and a half hours getting to the center, so my first impression was a traffic jam".
Grigory Revzin, architecture critic: "The Moscow transportation systems were ready to collapse when Sobyanin was elected. that's not an exaggeration but a fact. If one gets into a jam that doesn't disappear for over five hours they abandon their car on the street and walk away. The abandoned cars remain on the road — a total catastrophe".
As any medieval city, Moscow has a ring layout. After erupting beyond the Kremlin walls many centuries ago it splashed over the hills growing new rings of walls: Kitai-Gorod, Bely-Gorod, Zemlyanoy-Gorod. Arteries of streets and capillaries of alleys sprouted from the city center.
Alexey Varlamov, President of Gorky Institute: "I remember someone saying that the winding streets of Moscow were designed to make it less cold when the wind blows. Kaganovich once said that Moscow was built by a drunk coachman".
The narrow streets of the historic center got jammed with cars during the early working hours. The jammed center obstructed traffic across the city.
Grigory Revzin: "The primary goal was to prevent car owners from driving their cars".
In order to be able to drive, the city had to start walking. But the sidewalks in the center of the city had been narrowed down to 28 inches.
Valery Cherkashin, marketing expert: "I remember a Moscow where two people couldn't pass each other on a sidewalk. One of them had to crab walk. And there were many streets like that. Add the times when cars used to partially park on sidewalks".
But then, everything changed. Sidewalks became wider, squeezing the roads and dressed in elegant granite instead of depressive asphalt.
Grigory Revzin: "We never had granite sidewalks in Moscow They were in St. Petersburg — the capital of the Russian Empire. Those sidewalks were made primarily for aristocrats and displayed their status. It's quite a luxury, you know".
Yemanzhelinsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast.
The western spurs of the Ural Ridge, Mansur Quarry. This granite is some of the oldest in the world. 350 million years.
Vladislav Valeyev, miner: "It's durable, looks good, and has high quality. It'll never go bad, rust, or turn yellow".
Mikhail Datsun, owner of a granite carving company: "Five years ago, we couldn't imagine that at some point we'll be able to carve stone as if it was putty. We can texture it, make it look older. After they unpack our pallets in Moscow they just have to take the blueprint and look at the numbers showing where to put each tile".
Vitaly Cheban, tile layer: "The white granite is from Mansur. The other type is grayer. The two types of granite make it look beautiful".
The city center used to be engulfed in smog. Asphalt dust was mixing with exhaust fumes. When it was hot in summer, almost a million tons of carcinogenic substances were released into the air. The natural stone is harmless. It doesn't melt in the heat, contaminate the air, crumble, or crack.
Mikhail Datsun: "My grandchildren might walk there and think that it was made by their grandpa. Granite has some sort of fundamentality which is nice".
Grigory Revzin: "A person walking along a sidewalk shouldn't feel like a social loser. The granite sidewalk is placed slightly above the road so the cars drive slightly below it. Besides, the sidewalk is wide and people can walk freely while the roads are narrow, the cars are too close to each other, drive slowly, and have nowhere to park. Everything's clearly made for you and not for them".
The city's not just changing in front of our eyes. It's becoming different. Over almost 900 years of its history, the capital has undergone several global overhauls. Each was a breakthrough for its time. In the 14th century the first Moscow city planner, Ivan Kalita, built a sturdy Oka fortress and the first stone cathedral — the unprecedented luxury for its time. The next overhaul was supervised by Prince Dmitry Donskoi. The city walls were built from white stone. The construction was extremely expensive and emptied the treasury. The 20-year old prince recruited boyar contractors. Each of them had to pay for the construction of a tower or a wall section. The Moscow fortress became the most powerful in Europe. A hundred years after, Grand Prince Ivan III invited architects from Italy the best of the best, to do an impossible thing combine the latest advances in European engineering with the ancient glory of the Byzantine Empire. After the fall of Constantinople, Moscow had to become the center of the whole Christian world.
Pyotr Kolosov, bell ringer: When it was Easter, my parents put me on the window sill and opened the small window so I could hear the bells ringing. Ultimately our God realized, that he should let me ring the bells. I've been a bell ringer for 22 years. Moscow is the mother of all cities, so all languages are present here.
Alexey Varlamov: It's the historic fate of Moscow to be home to different ethnicities because that was the founding principle of the Russian state in medieval times.
Ayrat Bagautdinov, tourist guide: No one can be an alien. Marina Tsvetaeva has a great poem: "Moscow is a giant hospitage, everyone's homeless in Russia, we'll all be there." The poem was written in 1916, it's more than 100 years old. It was like that back then, it's the same now.
Margarita Chizhmak, Tretyakovskaya Gallery employee: The train arrives in Moscow, solemn music begins playing, and you instantly imagine the first day of a person who came here to conquer Moscow.
Valery Babich, artist, producer: When I walk along Nikolskaya Street towards the Kremlin and I see that tower, I always get goosebumps. And I feel like I was destined to come here.
Maxim Volkov: I come from Ivanovo. I was already a chef at two restaurants when I was 18. But there was no opportunity to grow. So I abandoned everything, quit my job, and went to Moscow. My buddy used to rent an 85-square-foot room with a single bed. And he said: "Close the door, lay down a mattress, and you can sleep here." During the first three months, only three people from the kitchen knew my name the others simply called me "hurry up.
Yana Marakulina, retiree: I feel sorry for my city. It's becoming harsh. It's becoming inhumane. Moscow is the place where people earn money which is the universal desire. People want to get as much as possible from Moscow.
Maxim Volkov: I leave my house at like 7:30 a.m. and come back at 1:30 a.m. I don't remember the last time I saw my friends. But if you don't like that how do you expect to grow? You won't be able to grow because there are millions of people like you out there.
Artyom Stepanov, baker: People with a high level of what Gumilyov called "passionarity" they can't self-actualize in the region they were born and raised. So people from the regions redistribute themselves somewhere where they think they can realize their full potential.
Yana Marakulina, retiree: You'd have to agree that it's not right that 1/10th of the Russian population lives in Moscow.
Maxim Volkov: “I've been dreaming about it since I was six and studying my whole life. Yes, it's my dream-business. See this place? It's one big dream.”
- You know, one gets the impression that Moscow is coated in honey, as they say, it and attracts a lot of people not just tourists, but new citizens as well.
Sergey Sobyanin: Instead of fighting it we must ensure that the city benefits from the influx of people and investment. If we don't create a comfortable environment for our citizens don't develop our transportation and education, the city will begin to die. It will degrade with each passing year. Neither our guests nor Muscovites will need it like that. It's a paradox: we create better conditions for our citizens the city becomes more comfortable thus attracting more people from other regions. The only way to stop migrants is to make the city so nasty that they won't come here. But no Muscovite will welcome that. Today's Moscow is a competitive city. Some people who come here can only sustain the life of the city. Such as janitors and laborers. But others are well-educated, have a penchant for business are highly qualified and creative. They propel the city forward, develop it.
Valery Babich: That inspires me. Absolutely simple inspiration. Let alone all cultural aspects, events, movies, theaters, music, and etc. Moscow is like a toybox — you put your hand in and take anything you want. Simple as that. Want some classical music? Here you go! That's Moscow.
Georgy Kardava, photographer: All those opportunities are fine and dandy but Moscow is also quite exhausting. Moscow is the city that divides. It's a complicated city.
Aset, singer: It's the city of loneliness.
Dmitry Gram, IT-specialist: It happened so that a person who was very dear to me, my younger brother, died And I felt restless. Like my life was forever divided into before and after. And I had to deal with that. But what could I do? One night, I took my motorcycle and drove to the Moscow Ring Road the road that allows you to reach any speed you're capable of reaching. I made three full circles and came home in the morning. And I felt better. Somehow, those circles helped me. But I never escaped Moscow.
Moscow doesn't let you out. Its embrace keeps us above the ground when it hurts and raise us to the sky when we're happy. It's grown into our hearts. Its love flows in our veins, its rhythm beats in our hearts. It's integrated into our metabolism. Forever.
Pyotr Kolosov: I'm a Muscovite, but not a simple one. Several generations of my family lived in Moscow. Just like my father, I was born in Taganka. The names of the streets in the Taganka district are fantastic. The Marxistskaya Street is empty. There wasn't a single shop there, so it was empty. And Tovarishesky Alley, my school was there by the way, was called "Sinister." It was very long. Quite a dangerous place it was. Petty thieves used to live there. And not so petty ones as well. The architecture of the 19th and early 20th century has been preserved almost perfectly in these streets.
After the Revolution of 1917, Moscow became a capital again, the Soviet capital this time. It was the main city of the largest country in the world the symbol of the victory of socialism. Bright future hit Moscow like a tsunami.
"The raging wind of history has hit the face of Moscow. These are the last minutes of the Moscow of narrow streets, shopping rows, and shabby alleys. Moscow has straightened its back and became younger".
A general plan of Moscow renovation was designed in the 1930s. Its goal was to create the best city on Earth. That was the fourth revolution in city planning. Underground metro palaces made of marble. Immense highways designed to fit the flow of cars that haven't been yet produced by the factories. Giant parks. Colossal monumental buildings.
Ilya Mochalov, landscape designer: "Skyline" is the fashionable word for this city image. And then suddenly, the era of industrial five-story buildings began.”
"These districts display the new features of the socialist cities. Living here is easy and comfortable".
Ilya Mochalov: "Those unaccommodating spaces determined the image of the city, as well as the lives and fates of many people for the upcoming decades".
"Soon, every family will have a separate apartment like this".
"We put a piece of our heart in these buildings".
Ilya Mochalov: "At that precise moment, many of the problems that we're dealing with now were initially laid".
The fifth revolution in city planning is happening today, right before our eyes. Moscow was turning inside-out in the summer of 2017, showing the seams of its worn-out padding, as if it was shedding its skin — slowly but inevitably. Underground communications were renovated.
Alexander Konkov, foreman: "We moved all of the street light cables that were hanging over the streets to under the ground".
Artyom Naydysh, contracting organization: "People don't want to see cables when they look at the sky, it ruins the image of the city".
That's why the project was called "Clear Sky". Moscow without the net of tangled up cords. 1,200 miles of electric, internet, and phone cables were hidden deep underground. Neither wind, nor rain, nor frost can reach them now. 300 miles of new sewers. 1,600 miles of pipes. According to the new technology, all pipes are pushed into the trench by the so-called "Stocking Method".
Artyom Naydysh: "We lay plastic pipes between two inspection pits a large structure we place underground where it'll stay for 200-300 years. In addition, if someone decides to install new communications specialists can lay the cables through the pipes we left. They won't have to dig the place up, removing the asphalt and stone tiles. They can simply run their cable through the pits and plug it in".
Valery Babich: "I drew it looking from my balcony two days ago. They started digging, fixing something, flashing their lights. One can watch it indefinitely. They come and go, carry something, pulling it, putting it in, pulling something else out close the lid, smoke, shout wrap up their work and disappear. And Prechistenka is silent again. And then, the new group shows up. This one will be marking something. That's the life of the city".
365 days a year, 24 hours a day, at any time of the year, the life of the metropolis is sustained by 600,000 public works employees. It's comparable to the population of Helsinki or Frankfurt. Every day, thousands of people work in greenhouses to grow flowers that will bloom on our streets.
"We're approaching the Krymsky Bridge. Moscow 222M".
Thousands of people watch regular tap water that flows from every faucet go through ozone and ultraviolet treatment and pass multiple filtration facilities. Thousands of people ensure that we have cooking gas, electricity, heat, clean streets and courtyards, and many other things that we never even think about.
Sergey Nagaitsev, senior grade technician: "We move the fire to a temporary burner. The Eternal Flame must never fade. We conduct regular maintenance once per month. We also do a checkup before state holidays. We remove the igniters that have been here since the last maintenance cycle. After that, we insert new ones. When I was young, I used to come here and wonder how the Eternal Flame keeps burning. Now, I've seen everything with my own eyes. Every time is heart-pounding. It's a great responsibility and of course, a great honor".
Ilya Mochalov; “For us, this city is like cinematography — a bunch of alternating images. Alternating angles and perspectives alternating impressions.
Sergey Sobyanin: The beauty of city planning used to imply enormous, beautiful buildings. “Mintyazhmash or Sovnarkom, something like that. Or some tower like the Eiffel Tower. Today, beauty standards have changed. Here's today's beauty.
- A cozy city.
- A cozy and homelike city.
- And clean.
- They must feel at home. That's what makes it beautiful and comfortable, not the huge buildings. The beauty is in the social environment that surrounds us.
As twilight sets in patios start glowing like night lamps and all 566,000 street lights of Moscow switch on simultaneously.
"Look at the screens, right now it's time to switch the lights on. Moscow's been lit. It might take up to 10 seconds for all lights to switch on in different districts of the city".
Grigory Revzin: "Light is a professional matter. If you have a large area like a wide street you need a lot of cold light. It highlights the architecture. The large avenues should be illuminated by engulfing cold light. Clear volumes and well-defined lines in nice blue-gray tones. That's the way".
Alexey Suglob, owner of a street light company: “Moscow streets are mostly colored in neutral gray. We mostly use black to color antique lights. This summer we installed antique lights at Petrovka, Sretenka, Solyanka Prechistenka, and Varvarka. Trubnaya Square. I get really excited when I walk with my friends or family and see our street lights. I'm all like: "This one's mine, and that one's mine!”
Grigory Revzin: "On the other hand, a person needs a small local light. Warm light. Cafes, shop-windows, and small lights should radiate warm light more like a candle than the moon".
Valery Cherkashin: "My friends once asked me: "Have you noticed that you can't see stars in Moscow?" I said no, and they told me to look at the sky. Moscow is very bright. So bright that you can't see the stars at night".
Anna Vorobyova, microbiologist: "I've always thought that I know this city quite well. But sometimes, I turn round the corner somewhere in the center and a familiar street has become totally different".
- Is that a part of the Bely-Gorod wall, Mr. Sobyanin?
Sergey Sobyanin: Yes, it's a part of Bely-Gorod. There'd been a pit here for many years. The contractor vanished and we had no idea of what to do with it. We decided not to make any investment contracts or build shops here. We decided to make a monument to the history of our architecture an open-air museum. It's one of the best sections of the Bely-Gorod wall. See?
- So you basically invested in spirit and mood? In the sense of country's history and power. Perhaps it's your main investment.
- An investment in restoration, architecture, memory, and history is one of the best investments one could make.
Margarita Chizhmak: Until the end of 19th century, Moscow was a patriarchal city with a backwater rhythm because Moscow was located far away from the emperor's court and was living its lazy toffee-nosed life, let's put it like that. It was a life that many people enjoyed. Take Polenov, for instance. He saw this picture from the window of the room he rented. It's the life of a city mansion. Here's the manor and here are the household buildings. It's hard to imagine that 150 years ago that was the place which is now called Arbat Avenue and is buzzing with life. The street we see from our angle is New Arbat Avenue, a rather noisy one.
Alexander Yevsin, head of a situation center: "We have more than 60,000 devices that convey information. In addition, we receive information from trackers installed on private vehicles. A continuous stream of information is constantly being analyzed".
The Center of Situation Analysis CODD is the main control facility of Moscow's roads. This facility is responsible for changing the patterns of traffic lights. designing the complicated multi-level junctions and turnoffs and organizing traffic.
Sergey Stoyanov, CODD: "Six-point traffic jams are fine. Rush hours haven't started yet but we're actively preparing for it".
- At these hours, the congestion…
- The central avenues…
Sergey Sobyanin:
- This city's biggest problem is obvious. Ask any Muscovite. They'll tell you. The roads, transportation, the traffic. The whole world deals with those issues the same way, by developing public transportation, building paid parking lots and as a tiny addition building new roads. Many cities refuse to build new roads at all.
- But how does Moscow deal with it? Perhaps…
- In Moscow, we haven't refused to build new roads even though we sometimes get accused of trying to get rid of drivers. We've doubled the number of roads, junctions, tunnels, and bridges being built. 60 miles of them per year. And not just 60 miles of straight roads, but 60 miles of intricate structures. What else is required in road-building? We must build new roads both in and around Moscow. I'm talking about the main highways, and the ongoing construction of the Central Ring Road. It's important to renovate the main highways which are already working but also to build a new transportation framework. We plan to build the North-West and North-East Chord, South Belt Road, and South-East Chord that will become the new transportation framework. You will be able to pass the city without going through the center. The Center and Ring Roads will become less congested.
- Bypass the Third Ring?
- Drivers will be able to bypass the Third Ring, Garden Rings, and even Moscow Ring Road. But there's one rule: The more roads you build the more cars enter those roads. There are already 8,000,000 cars in Moscow and Moscow Oblast. In the 90's, there were less than a million cars in Moscow.
There are many more cars now, yet the roads became 23% less congested and the speed of traffic increased by 12%.
- As Muscovites, do you remember the real Moscow traffic jams?
Valery Babich:
- It was when the traffic froze. It was when you call your friends several hours in a row and tell them that you're stuck. It used to be natural. Comparing the jams of the past with the current one, it would be unfair to say there is no difference.
It's not just thanks to the new roads. A new phenomenon, unusual for the Moscow mentality, has appeared. The citizens are changing their cars for public transport.
Sergey Sobyanin: The quality and dynamics of our public transportation make it one of the top three public transportation systems in the world. We win competitions organized not by us but the institutes of New York, London, and Brussels. It shows international recognition. To be honest, I don't care about their assessments. I only care about the assessments of our citizens.
Ilya Mochalov: It's been a year since I've driven a car. The city invites you to use public transportation. You take your gadgets and plan your public transportation trip down to the minute.
Alexey Varlamov: I'd say that my favourite type of city transport is the tram.
Pyotr Kolosov: The tram has something... I can't explain it, it has something human in it. It rings and crackles as it goes.
The modern Moscow tram doesn't crackle anymore. The jointless rails are laid upon a special foundation that absorbs vibration and eliminates noise. The cars have air conditioning, TV screens, and cell phone chargers.
Fabio Bressan: People who live in Europe and have never been in Russia think that it's still kinda like the Soviet Union and Moscow is definitely not a European city. But it is.
Julia Maestrello, entrepreneur: I guess Moscow has changed very quickly. Because when I came here five years ago, it was quite different.
Fabio Bressan: Now, Italy is more like the Soviet Union or the Stone Age compared to Moscow. Technology is developing rather rapidly in Moscow.
Valery Babich: We take our cell phone and if the person we call doesn't answer immediately we get confused. We ask them: "What does it mean you don't have Wi-Fi?" That's what we're like. Now, if a driver texts me that he'll pick me up in more than five minutes, I cancel the ride. That's how we like our city. We're getting arrogant. We're getting arrogant, yet Moscow still manages to handle us. And it does a good job. I don't know half the cell phone tricks that Moscow can provide me with. Sometimes, it lives faster than we do.
Maxim Volkov: It's not like that in Ivanovo. All the people there are slow like snails. They walk and live slowly. And here, I left my apartment building and asked somebody where the metro was. And they told me to look at the people. The metro is where the crowd is headed to.
Tom Blackwell: In Moscow, waiting longer than 30 seconds for your train is already considered too much. In London, you can wait 5, 6, 7, 9, 12, or 15 minutes. The London metro is the embodiment of unreliability and unpredictability. In Moscow, you can calculate the exact time of your ride down to a second and that's the thing that matters.
Georgy Kardava: It's cool that you can see some remarkable faces there. Those people have some depth in their sight. And it's great that Moscow preserves this depth.
Dmitry Gram: The penguin-people waddling around. They waddle trying to get into a train, to squeeze in but you understand that there are too many of them. Twice the number that can fit in. But somehow, they manage to fit.
The Moscow metro transports 9 million passengers each day. 54,000 specialists of 200 different vocations ensure that this underground city works without disruption.
Pavel Kochetkov, lineman: Tonight, I was making a line inspection. All linemen begin their inspection at 2:30 and end it at 5:00. I started at Zyablikovo station and will walk to Shipilovskaya. It's about 1,200 yards. I ensure that the bolts are tight. The metro is a giant mechanism that a person can study all his life.
Sergey Sobyanin: The Moscow metro was 200 miles long in 2010. Our goal is to add another 200 miles of railway.
- And when will you do that?
- The majority of work will be done by 2025. I'm talking about the Large Underground Ring that's going to be the largest subway ring. It'll make the central area less crowded because people will be able to take ring train to travel between districts etc. We also have the Moscow Central Circle. We must connect the radial lines to the MCC to form the central diametric lines that will cost as much as metro, follow the same schedule and will be integrated into the subway. Thus, we'll end up with three layers: the new road framework, the new underground metro, in addition to the existing one, and the new system of aboveground metro. These three layers will change our lives fundamentally. It'll be one of the best transportation systems among the world metropolises. This project is extremely complex and ambitious. But, I tell you what, it's absolutely possible to implement.
Pyotr Kolosov: It may sound weird, but I'm grateful to Sobyanin. Yes, him for building the MCC. I like it so much. First of all, I enjoy riding it. But I also enjoy watching the trains come and go from my belfry, it's a marvelous view. Unimaginably beautiful. It can be seen from a faraway distance. A train goes over the bridge and goes farther and farther away. You can't see the whole ring, of course, the belfry is too small for that. But when I hear rattle from my belfry I know that a train is departing. I'm always happy to see such a marvelous view.
Fabio Bressan: When Russians decide to do something they always succeed. — And do it quickly. — And perfectly. There are some advantages that people don't notice. Or they are so used to them that they stop noticing them.
Aleksandr Konkov, foreman: A parking lot used to be here. Now it's a pedestrian area. The historic paving stones provide small elevation to make the sewage flow downwards.
Artyom Naydysh: We removed about 3000 historic pavement stones. All of them were produced by hand. The stones from this square aren't going anywhere. They'll stay here. All stones are different. They don't have smooth edges. In order to preserve its beauty and aesthetics, the specialists who work with them must have a picture in their heads that no one can draw on paper. Our primary goal is to make the city look good.
Valery Babich: When I read online annoyed articles by my friends and colleagues: "Goddammit, they dug the whole place up! And have you seen the result? It's horrible!" And I think to myself, God, those people are weird. You're getting a renewed city, you don't even know how it'll turn out. You can't even imagine its final form yet you're already crying and sighing. I love the result. I love order. I love when it's clean.
The facades and first floors of the central buildings used to be covered in ancient layers of city dust. They haven't been restored or cleaned for half a century. Over the last five years, more than 12,000 buildings in the historic center and along the main avenues had their facades fixed and cleaned. More than 1,000 cultural heritage sites have been renovated. No other city in the world has ever carried out such a large-scale renovation.
Ayrat Bagautdino: Now, you feel that you can talk to the architecture, understand what it says, and through this architecture converse with the authors who died 100-200 years ago. It helps to understand the city.
Margarita Chizhmak: When you know the history of the place it's quite curious to see something complete opposite happen there now. They used to bury beggars around Patriarch Ponds. It was a poor district where a lot of students lived.
Aset, singer: Now, the Patrics are a small Nice, a smug place. A lot of young people gather there. Hipsters come there to sit in a cafe or a restaurant hang out, make a selfie: "Look at me, I'm at the Patrics!"
Tom Blackwell: I find it unique that each one can find their own personal city within Moscow.
Valery Babich: My body's full of life again. Forgive me that prosaic expression.” It's an extract from Pushkin's poem "Fall". He didn't love fall for nothing. The summer holidays are over, our friends, colleagues, and partners are coming back. You have to put pants on instead of your shorts, shoes, a coat, and rush to another meeting. Nobody's flexing their biceps or showing off their skinny knees anymore. You're busy, sober, rational, and calm. And the love you encounter in this state of calmness can be trusted.
Moscow is full of lovers during fall. They've just come back from their vacation on sea. Those girls and boys with sun damaged hair and unzipped jackets. The season of love in Moscow is not February with its Valentine's Day, but September.
Julia Maestrello: I came here in February. He invited me to dinner when we were in Verona and I instantly refused because I knew he was living in Moscow. I tried to find an excuse. But then we became closer and I told him I'd come to Moscow to have dinner with him. I remember I was aboard the airplane as it was landing. I looked out of the window and saw nothing but snow. And gray buildings everywhere. And I thought to myself: "God, why did I agree to come to Moscow? Couldn't we have dinner in Verona?" And I couldn't wait.
It started snowing on Wednesday. It was snowing on Thursday. And on Friday as well. The snow kept falling from the sky. It was snowing on Saturday and Friday. And for two weeks more. 20,000 heavy vehicles and tens of thousands of brigades that remove snow and ice manually. Black asphalt is their ultimate goal. Meanwhile, the Weather Service promises that snowfall will last for another week.
Fabio Bressan: When it's so cold in Italy, nobody leaves their house. Everybody hides at home. In Moscow, everybody's so energetic. Even when it's -25° (-25°F), everybody goes to work, hangs out outside rides the metro, or walks by foot.
Tom Blackwell: It was late Saturday night when I decided that I wanted to buy a Christmas tree. So I decided to look it up online for the fun of it. I typed in "Christmas tree" and get a website with a field: "When shall we deliver your tree?" So I jokingly typed: "Can I have it tomorrow morning?" "Sure." Six hours later, I had my tree. It's unprecedented. I imagine Britain: "We can deliver it in four days." The possibility of submitting my order on Saturday night and getting it on Sunday is simply incredible.
1,200 miles of fairy lights and 20 million LEDs across the city. One can't miss a holiday like this and can't be late for it. It's Moscow.
- Mr. Sobyanin, still the center has definitely become gorgeous. But what about the Moscow suburbs?
Sergey Sobyanin:
- The Moscow suburbs are different from the suburbs in New York, Paris, or London. Some of those suburbs are horrifying. We have a different concept. We started the city overhaul from the suburbs. From courtyards, garden squares, parks, and outbound routes. Then we came to the center, and carried out a complete overhaul. Now, the citizens want to have their own nice and comfortable center in every district. Their own central streets and squares where they'll hold their festivals. And every district is like a medium-sized Russian city — 100,000 citizens. They must have their own center, routes, good lighting. And we definitely won't stop at that.
Alexey Varlamov: I remember well how I disliked Moscow in the 90's. The city felt alien. I felt like a stranger here, lonely and useless. It felt like the city was possessed by some strange hostile power.
Dmitry Gram: Everything, from movie theaters to showrooms at VDNKh every spot was occupied by some shop selling virtually everything. Also, an outrageous amount of advertisements hung everywhere. It doesn't matter is the banner covered half of the windows Everything was advertised, from flatware to underwear. I think it was horrible.
Ilya Mochalov: Moscow was gray, grumpy, and sad. Tverskaya. Those horrible lime trees that were left there... And I know why they looked horrible — they were planted right after the war. Those trees looked pathetic in the context of a modern city.
Dieter Lappen, head of tree nursery: We worked for the London Olympics. We planted trees at Champs-Élysées in Paris. We also shaped the private gardens of the Spanish King. We supplied trees for the gardens of the Swedish royal residence.
Peter the Great used to order trees from here. Today, Lappen's nursery supplies Moscow with trees.
Dieter Lappen, head of tree nursery: “We've been growing this tree for 35 years from a small sapling. We've transplanted it four times to different spots in our nursery. Every tree is like a child to me. Plants communicate with us. When I pass by, I can tell which plant is thirsty and which has its feet wet. Thanks to multiple transplantations, the root system is very compact.”
It's especially important for large cities where communication lines are located close to the surface. After these trees get planted in Moscow the German specialists will take care of them for three more years checking their condition and growth, trimming the branches, controlling thousands of small details from irrigation intensity to the condition of soil.
Zhyrgal Taalaibekov, worker: We put a net down there, now we make it lay still. We fill it up and cover it with bark.
A pit for every tree is no more than 5 feet deep. At the bottom, every lime tree is connected to small water and oxygen pipes.
Zhyrgal Taalaibekov: We wrap them in bamboo sleeves so they don't freeze.
Bamboo sleeves protect the trees from the sun. If the trunk overheats during a spring thaw the tree might suffer something like a heart attack.
Alexander Polyakov, hoist man: People gather around and look at us working. They'll all bloom in spring.
Sergey Sobyanin:
- Many Muscovites have approached me asking to return lime trees to Tverskaya. I told them I couldn't.
- Oh, here they are. There are so many communications lines…
A stranger:
- Mr. Sobyanin, may I shake your hand for the World Cup?
- Thank you.
- Thank you. I told them I couldn't. We did a lot, take those flower beds, for instance. That made the city more beautiful. But as a result of us moving and fixing all underground communication lines we got an opportunity to plant lime trees. Tverskaya restored its historic face. People say we do many new things. Actually, we restore a lot of old ones that Muscovites were used to. We restore them the city they grew up in.
Alexey Varlamov: “The overhaul was a nightmare. But still, through my gritted teeth I reluctantly admit that Moscow is becoming a gorgeous city. That's happening no matter what.
Lyudmila Butskova, retiree: It has become spacious and clean. It's easier to breath here now. I like it. Moscow has become more comfortable to live in, to walk around, and to behold.
Anna Vorobyova: Have you noticed that people finally started going out? We practically live there. Sometimes we drive somewhere, then park our car, take out our bicycles and ride around the city for hours along the wonderful bicycle tracks that weren't there before. We don't only witness but take an active part in the historic changes. The landmark changes that'll go in history books. Right now, Moscow is hosting the World Cup. Hundreds of thousands of people have come here from all across the planet and many Russian cities.
Sergey Sobyanin:
- Right now, our city looks like an ant hill. Nikolskaya is so crowded you can't move a limb there. It's like there are rallies all across the city. I imagine how it all would have looked in 2010's Moscow.
- It looks like your broad sidewalks are so crowded…
- That they seem narrow again?
- That's right.
- They attract masses of people. People walk around the city admiring it, hanging out. The city atmosphere has become different.
Maxim Volkov: Everything I currently have in my life is happening in Moscow. Moscow is a dream city. It means everything to me.
Valery Babich: Moscow is a city where you must fall in love where you want to fall in love. I hope I'd fall in love in Moscow because it's the city of love, especially now, when it's becoming younger. It's making steps towards fresh ideas, fresh impulses. The streets, the cafes, the eyes of the people, the Moscow mobility... Everything encourages you to love, fall in love marry, have kids, and be happy in Moscow.
- Mr. Sobyanin, you're the manager, the elder, the city governor, the mayor and etc. But during this conversation, you acted like a warm person who feels the pain of the Muscovites and the beat of the city. It's great emotional strain. How can you handle the stress?
Sergey Sobyanin:
- You can't perceive the pain and problems of the people if you don't love your job and your people. You won't be able to work as a city mayor you won't physically endure it if you don't love the city and its dwellers. It's impossible. You'll burn from the inside. The only thing that will support you, propel you forward and encourage you is your love for your citizens and their feedback on your work. You're surrounded by a huge number of people with their interests and problems. But when at least some of them approach you and say "thank you" they charge you with unimaginable energy and desire to keep on working.
How are you doing, folks?
- Can we take a photo with you?
- Sure.
- Thank you, Mr. Sobyanin. I'll leave you in the embrace of your fans.
- Thank you.
- Thanks, guys.
- Can I take a photo?
- Sure, go on.
- Thank you so much for Moscow.
- Thank you, girls.
- Can we take a photo with you as well?
- Go on.
- Thanks
- Thank you very much.
- Where do you come from?
- Thank you.
- Welcome to Moscow.
- Thank you.
- Thank you for our beautiful city.
- Thank you, guys. Thank you for your kind words. Hey there! How are you doing? What's your name, kid?
- Grigory.
- How are you doing, Grisha?
- I'm fine. Thank you for our beautiful Moscow.
- Thank you for Moscow.
- Thank you. Bye, Grisha. Goodbye.
