International contest for the urban development of the territories adjacent to the Moscow River

International competition for the urban development concept of the Moscow River’s adjacent territory. Competition is organized by Project Institute of Master Plan of Moscow at the commission of Committee for Architecture of Moscow.

The influence of the river within city boundaries is about 20% percent of the area. The Moscow River is an important urban element surrounded by residential areas, public spaces and recreational areas that require further development and improvement to meet new requirements of comfort, transport accessibility and creation of living environment.

Project Institute of Master Plan of Moscow has investigated the adjacent territories of the Moscow River and performed to collect baseline data for the formation of technical assignment of the competition. According to the results, the length of the shoreline (in summary of the both banks) of the Moscow River within city boundaries is 201 km, and the total area of potential development zone reaches 10,400 hectares. Territorial and infrastructural resources of the river are up to 10% of the area of the city within the old borders and still are largely unused. Currently out of 201 km of embankments for pedestrians and cyclists to settle 33.4 km, and the length of transport embankments of 47.5 km. The remaining embankments have no access or are not formed.

One of the tasks assigned to the contestants is forming along the Moscow River system of recreational and coastal areas, landscaped spaces available and effectively used in accordance with modern environmental methods. Designers should make recommendations in their project proposals for environmental enhancement and improvement of comfort of the public areas near the river, as well as to improve the connectivity of the city with the shorelines and communication between river banks. Convenient transport and pedestrian bridges, crossings, as well as cultural and recreational services near the river are planned to be organized for residents and visitors to Moscow.

An important point in the concept of urban development of the Moscow River’s territories will be a rethink of its transport function, reforming the system of passenger transportation in accordance with the general policy direction of the Government of Moscow on the development of public transport. Today Moscow River and the riverbanks are an integral part of the transport framework of the city.

In competing offers designers will have to submit recommendations on the modernization of physical infrastructure and the organization of convenient mooring facilities and parking courts for the subsequent development of public transport and water run river taxi.

Architectural competition problematic is related to the necessity of creating water facade of the Moscow River which should consist of an attractive panorama from the windows of buildings and from the sailing ship at the same time. The role of accents and architectural landmarks is important for the formation of urban panoramas, both historical and new.

Unified space-planning concept for the river and the surrounding areas will give an opportunity to put in whole system all the developed and adopted for the implementation of large-scale urban projects, including Moscow-City, Gorky Park and Sparrow Hills, Zaryadye Park, ZIL, and Nagatinskaya bottom-land. Data of these areas will be transferred to the contestants for inclusion in the work. These solutions should be integrated into the overall design of embankments and interact in a single unseparated system of spaces. The contestants are expected to offer projects for the organization of space for undeveloped embankments and riverine areas.

The result of the contest will become a concept of the urban development of the coastal areas of the Moscow River including:
- The general concept in the zone of influence of the river until 2035 with the definition of priority areas to be developed and restructured;
- Detail of the concept development of priority areas including urban development, planning, transport, economic, landscape and other solutions, suggestions for improving the efficiency of the use of the territory, the definition of phases of the concept development and approximate economic model.

Proposals for the first stage of project will provide the basis for of urban planning documentation developed in the future including territorial schemes and projects planning areas.

The applications for participation on in the competition will be held from August 1 to September 12, through the official website of the competition. The contestants will define shared vision and principles of working with the territory for all areas adjacent to the Moscow River. Project Institute of Master Plan of Moscow will provide competitors an information about restrictions for reorganization, as well as materials already approved planning decisions. For certain areas will need to provide more elaborate proposals, including modernization of industrial zones, the development of multi-functional areas, as well as program development landscaped recreational area. Specific sites will be announced to the completion of the first stage of the competition on February 19, 2014, when the 6 finalists will be announced, which will determine the competent international jury.

An orientation workshop with the finalists, dive into the details of the technical assignment, familiarity with the territory planning work on the design decisions will be held in the second stage of competition. The winner will be announced after the technical expertise and the jury session on December 16, 2014.

The competition is open to all professionals in in the field of urban planning , architecture which can bring specialists in the field of transport infrastructure, cultural programming, economics, sociology and ecology in the team.


Type of the contest – international, two-stage.

Stage 1 – qualifying.

Result: selecting 6 teams who will take part in the stage 2.

Stage 2 – concept contest.

Result: determination of the winner and ranking.

Each of the 6 teams paid a reward of $111 000 with VAT as a compensation for the development of a concept. The winner will gain $167 000 more as a fee of the contract.

Official website is http://themoscowriver.com/eng/