The All-Russian contest for the title "The Most Comfortable Urban (Rural) Settlement of Russia" is held annually among the cities and towns of the Russian Federation in order to identify the settlements in which the most large-scale positive transformations have occurred in the last reporting period. The rating largely reflects the activity and results of the municipal authorities, and also aims to disseminate positive experience in improving the comfort of life in cities and towns.
History of the contest and organizers
The competition "The most comfortable urban (rural) settlement of Russia" is held under the leadership of the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Public Utilities, the government, the All-Russian Union of Life Support Workers and a dozen other partners, including the publishing house "Search", the institute of urban planning, the production company "Steel" and others.
The competition is held every year from 1997 to the present. Over the entire period, more than 4 thousand cities and towns took part in the ranking of “The Most Comfortable Urban (Rural) Settlement of Russia”. In addition, subjects of the Russian Federation, press centers and mayors are evaluated. As a result, state and public awards and valuable prizes are awarded. Multiple winners of the competition for the most comfortable urban (rural) settlement in Russia - Khabarovsk, Angarsk, Tyumen, Krasnoyarsk and Novorossiysk.
Categories of participants and contest rules
The selection is carried out in two rounds, the criteria for selecting participants and identifying winners are changed annually. To participate in the competition "The most comfortable urban (rural) settlement of Russia" are allowed municipalities of six categories:
- The capital of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and large administrative centers.
- Cities with a population of over one hundred thousand (in addition, intracity areas of large administrative centers).
- Urban settlements with a population of less than one hundred thousand people (as well as areas of cities of federal significance).
- Villages with a population of 5 thousand or more.
- Villages with a population of less than five, but more than three thousand people.
- Rural settlements with a small population - up to 3,000 people.
The commission evaluating the participants includes 15 people who are specialists in the field of housing and communal services, ecology, transport, urban planning, labor protection, epidemiology, architecture, road safety, as well as representatives of local self-government.
The main criteria according to which the rating "The most comfortable urban (rural) settlement of Russia" is determined are as follows:
- implementation of development programs;
- the quality of landscaping in cities and towns;
- infrastructure and condition of transport services;
- implementation of planned volumes of construction;
- maintenance in the order of engineering structures;
- road repair and construction;
- ensuring the ecological state at the proper level;
- reduction in the volume of unfinished projects, etc.
Cities and towns are judged by many factors, among which are not only the achievements of housing and communal services, urban planning and architecture, but also environmental safety, providing city residents with infrastructure, the availability of socially significant innovative developments, sanitary conditions and, in general, life comfort.
Rating of cities and towns in 2016
The results of the All-Russian competition for "The most comfortable urban (rural) settlement of Russia" are summed up. The list of winners is published on the official website, whose address is the abbreviation of the event - sbgsp.rf. In 2016, the prizes in the ranking of amenities for all cities were divided as follows:
The leading position was taken by Stavropol. This is the center of the Stavropol Territory with a population of almost half a million people. The city has repeatedly taken first place in the contest. The locality is a business, industrial and cultural center of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation and a large transport hub. The distance to the capital of the Russian Federation is almost one and a half thousand km, to St. Petersburg - more than two thousand.
The second place went to Khabarovsk and Ufa. The capital and administrative center of Bashkortostan - Ufa - is one of the scientific, economic and cultural centers of Russia. The population of the city is more than a million people. Khabarovsk is located at the intersection of the main transport routes, has significant political and cultural significance for the Russian Far East. The population of Khabarovsk totals 600 thousand people.
The honorary “bronze” was given to the city on the Yenisei - Krasnoyarsk - a large political, industrial, transport and logistics and cultural center of Eastern and Central Siberia, the center of the Krasnoyarsk agglomeration, with a population of just over one million inhabitants. The city is the easternmost millionaire in Russia.
In the second category, Oktyabrsky was the winner in the Republic of Bashkortostan, in the third - Chistopol (Tatarstan), in the fourth - Brinkovsky (located in the Krasnodar Territory), the fifth - Krasnogorsk (Tatarstan), the leader of the sixth category was the Preobrazhenovsky Village Council in the Lipetsk Region.
Earlier, the leading positions were occupied by Krasnodar, Kaluga, Khabarovsk, Saransk, Veliky Novgorod, silver was awarded to Barnaul and Ulyanovsk, Cheboksary and Tambov, Saransk and Blagoveshchensk, Ulyanovsk and Tomsk, Novosibirsk and Ufa. The third position was occupied by Tula, Kemerovo and Vladimir, Tyumen, Tomsk and Ulyanovsk, Belgorod, Barnaul and Makhachkala, Izhevsk, Saransk and Khabarovsk.
Rating of improvement of subjects of the Russian Federation 2012-2015
As for the most comfortable constituent entities of the Russian Federation in recent years, they turned out to be the republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, the Saratov and Voronezh regions, and the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. The top ten leaders are closed by the Vologda Oblast. The well-being of the subjects was also determined by the number of participating cities and the winners of the overall rating.
When allocating seats, the general amenities of the autonomous okrugs, regions and republics, the technical condition of the main infrastructure and livelihoods of the city, the sanitary and epidemiological situation, labor protection and protection of certain layers of the population, ensuring comfort for disabled citizens, and the preservation by the population and municipal authorities of architecture and others were taken into account cultural or historical sites. Special attention was paid to the completeness of development, the dynamics of the implementation of plans and innovative solutions, as well as the development of partnerships.
Innovative solutions
The rating "The most comfortable urban (rural) settlements of Russia" has become a storehouse of innovative solutions, the most worthy of which are presented in the official encyclopedia following the results of the competition. Among these innovations:
- open cinemas in Moscow and Moscow region;
- automation of conventional swing doors;
- creating an urban environment for disabled citizens;
- a new approach to urban landscaping;
- modern solutions in the purification of drinking water;
- environmentally friendly ways to deal with garbage.
Any practices for the arrangement of cities and towns, landscaping, implementation and development of plans, as well as other solutions are actively being introduced into the work, which allows us to maintain all municipalities at the level of rating leaders. The most successful decisions are introduced into general practice by local self-government bodies, reflected in the encyclopedia of the competition and receive additional capital investments from large investors in Russia and neighboring countries.