The city needs a superhero

(photo from weareheroes.by )

Many employees of EPAM can boast of initiative and enviable efficiency, but among them are those who challenge not only work-related tasks, but also the environment and even the whole city. Marina Razhatatskaya and Aleksey Demukh became participants in the city project “School of Superheroes”, the goal of which is to change Minsk for the better.


')
The Superheroes School is an experimental study program and project organized by the Gefira Center for Cultural Management. In short, the essence is this: in November, more than 40 participants were selected, who subsequently received training from experts in the field of creative industries and sociocultural design. Then the participants had to find the problems of the urban environment and solve it on their own, involving city administration, business and, most importantly, local residents to cooperate. Marina Razhatatskaya and Alexey Demukh spoke in detail about the project.

- What is the global meaning of the "School of superheroes"?

- To show the people around us that they are the masters of their city and can influence its development; set an example of what you can do on your own. By joining together and solving a problem on our own, we hope that other people will appreciate it and follow our example.

- How was the selection of future "superheroes"?

- At the start of the project, anyone could fill out a special form on the site. After analyzing the interests and penetrating into the motivation of those who submitted applications, the organizers chose 42 participants who were to become superheroes. After several months of training, all the superheroes were divided into 7 groups, and each of them was assigned a specific housing estate, which was to be investigated and improved.


Alexey Demukh (photo from Alexey’s personal archive)

- In which areas did you work and what problems should you solve?

Alexey: - My group “won” Osmolovka, and we went there to look for “conflicts” - this is how we call various problems and other negative phenomena in the urban environment, from a broken shop to a house that is about to collapse. How were you looking? They interviewed locals, and they tried to hook all age categories.
We found out that residents value the area for being quiet, in the center and with good infrastructure. Not less minuses: the area is in dire need of major repairs, up to the laying of water routes.

- If it is not demolished, of course.

- Yes, Osmolovka on hearing, in connection with the rumors of demolition. Previously, several thousand petitions were filed in defense of the district. But the question “What is next, what do you want?” People found it difficult to answer ... We could not set a goal to save Osmolovka on our own, but could give impetus, to some extent, awaken people.

- How is this implemented in practice? What will you do?

- We had an idea that got the name “Mayevka in Osmolovka”. What is Mayka? It is, in fact, a clean-up and some kind of festival after a clean-up. The event is scheduled for May 2, and this is only the first stage in a chain of projects that are aimed at preserving Osmolovka’s “soul” and improving the quality of life. Globally, our goal is to give Osmolovka new functions and push people to create “magnets” for new investments. That is, make it so that people do not just collect petitions and convene meetings, but change the area themselves and make it more attractive.
But before May Day, we will hold a clean-up day, it will take place on March 28, during which we will try to make two courtyards exemplary. This will be a training session for us, and something like an advertisement for the main event for the residents of the district.

- The presentation of the project describes the entertainment part of the event. How will you organize it?

- Many different communities cooperate with our school, for example, the Minsk Urban Platform, the Belarusian Union of Architects and so on. A master class from the Guild of Chefs and Chefs, board games and activation, quest tours of special places of Osmolovka will be organized for the residents - and these are all voluntary initiatives of various organizations and associations.

- Marina, please tell us about your project.

- My project is called “The Ladder of Dreams” and will affect the area of ​​Matusevich Street. We found that the area is quite hilly, and there are many stairs, often in poor condition. And bad stairs are injuries and difficulties for elderly people, mothers with wheelchairs.


Marina Razhatatskaya (photo from Marina’s personal archive)

What have we done? They found an architect who drew four architect students from BNTU, and they developed a very steep draft of the stairs - with a ramp, a bench, a children's slide, and a climbing area. Added to this street art, landscaping, as well as innovative street lighting with autonomous renewable energy sources. Conceived a whole public space.
At the initial stage, we also managed to establish contact with the local housing department, which, at our request, took over the implementation of the first part of the project - the repair and reconstruction of the stairs.


(photo from Marina’s personal archive)

- The HES is not so terrible as it is painted?

- Yes, we ourselves were shocked! We thought that reaching an agreement with the local administration and the housing department would be the most difficult task. To our surprise, they took us quite seriously there and even drank tea. It is safe to say that they are ready to make the city better there, they just don’t always know how. Initiatives must be proposed, and in most cases such cooperation is mutually beneficial. You get the city you want, and the administration gets the plans and praise from the authorities.
As a result, the housing and utility system now finishes the reconstruction of the staircase according to our architectural project from its budget. Even the tile got colored, as we requested. And then we will engage in cooperation business and local residents.

- What pushed you to become members of the "School of superheroes"?

Aleksey: “When I entered U Gallery for the first time in my life, I saw an advertisement for this school, and I really liked the curriculum. There were courses in the creative industry, courses in social research, search for sponsors, and marketing. By the time I started to do something on my own, as part of my project, I realized that I had a lot of opportunities.
Marina: - Before, I had long been moaning about the fact that Minsk is a gray city, in which nothing happens and nowhere to go. Then she decided it was time to do something. After returning from Amsterdam, I got into the Minsk Urban Festival on inspiration, where I saw the school promo video. I have always been interested in the theme of smart cities, the theme of using the Internet of Things, objects of art in urban space. But when applied to Minsk, you must first create urban space, infrastructure and public spaces in which you would like to introduce these technologies. And the school of superheroes was just such an incubator from which to start. So everything coincided.
Work on the project takes almost all the free time. But when I saw the built staircase and realized that this is the first result of the work of my team, the motivation just began to go off scale!

- By the way, about the people - how did the local react to your initiatives?
Alexey: - At the polling stage, we just went into the porches and called the apartments. The first man frankly sent us. But then everything went better, not all people are indifferent.

Marina: - I had an interesting experience in communicating with those people who were trying to attract to the project. I noticed that as soon as you start to tell, everyone wants to help at once, everyone offers something. It seems like it is considered that Belarusians are a nation “my hut is on the edge”, but in reality, people want to do something, to participate. Someone is driven by the rational-good-eternal, by someone - the possibility of creative participation, and someone is attracted by the possibility of promoting their business through such projects.