Students will have a great opportunity to get involved in the development of the Mūkusala Territory Development Concept - Public Outdoor Design. The objective of the innovative method of the project is to create interdisciplinary Latvian student working groups, which, under the supervision of the head manager, will develop a pilot development concept, in close cooperation with the pilot area's inhabitants and entrepreneurs. Students will submit the developed solutions to a professional jury that will decide on the winner.
Within the pilot building concept, it is planned to create three student teams. The teams will be students of Riga Technical University, University of Latvia, Riga International School of Economics and Business Administration, who have completed at least 1 year studies. Each student's team will be composed of students from the following fields: architecture, landscape architecture, spatial planning, involving, as much as possible, transport engineering, economics (real estate), sociology or social anthropology, marketing students. Students will present their concepts and the jury will be informed about the best vision of the Mūkusalas Development Concept and will present promotional awards at the final event to be held in February 2018.
As a result of the project, three conceptual Mūkusalas pilot area spatial development visions will be developed reflecting the use and functionality of the site, the type of building, traffic flow, green and blue structures, principal architectural and public outdoor design solutions, conceptual sketches, pilot visualization and stylized layouts.
Dzintars Balodis, director of the City Council Department of the Riga City Council, emphasizes: "Using a new method involving the involvement of interdisciplinary students, the project will enable the Riga municipality to acquire three team visions for the Mūkusalas pilot development concept and the results of some kind of experiment that will allow the further use of this type of cooperation model developing development proposals. At the same time, the Riga City Municipality will promote the acquisition of practical experience by young specialists, ensuring the involvement of wider community groups in the process of urban planning. Students will be able to get real practice in the professional field, developing communication skills in an interdisciplinary team, presenting their concept not only to university staff, but also to residents of Mūkusala, entrepreneurs and industry professionals. "
Dace Kalvāne, Architect and Head of Concept Development, states: "One of the most attractive challenges for a degraded area development process is its complexity and a wide range of stakeholders. Development of the concept of brownfield development in Mūkusala is a great opportunity for students not only to formally get acquainted with real urban planning problems, but themselves to be participants in the process of research, analysis, conceptual proposals. As socioeconomic conditions change, there is a need not only to organize degraded territories, but also to discuss public outdoor space, urban environment and architecture, which has become topical in conditions of social transformation and growth. Within the framework of the pilot project, students will be provided with cooperation not only with the city's representatives, but also with residents and entrepreneurs of the Mūkusalas area, listening and evaluating the opinions, ideas and proposals of the parties involved, creatively integrating them into their conceptual development of the territory. "
The territory of Mūkusala, which is limited by the Mūkusala, Bieķensala and Jelgavas streets and the railway, is part of the project territory, which is part of Torņakalns and is located in the protection zone of the UNESCO World Heritage Center "Riga Historical Center".
