Territorial Planning of the Coastal Zone Based on Depressed Economic Areas (on the Example of Odessa)

In connection with the industrial development of coastal cities, namely sea trade, merchant and military fleets, the economic use of water resources, significant in area, valuable areas of the coastal territories of the Azov and the Black Sea coast of Ukraine have been developed for industrial facilities. Some of these objects have lost their original function today, and are in a “depressed state”, which is associated with a crisis in production, stagnation in the economy and technological (automation of production); social (the growing role of intellectual labour) factors.

Today, such depressed areas do not meet environmental safety standards, rational use of land resources and, in general, the aesthetics of the urban environment. In the special conditions of coastal cities, there are acute problems of the banks’ liberation from industrial development or its reconstruction, renovation or transformation, as well as ensuring the ecological regime of water protection zones. Depressive areas are a potential reserve for the development of other urban functions (landscape-recreational, tourist, housing and public), and with a significant size – the creation of techno-polices, techno-parks and innovation clusters; in the structure of nature management, they occupy a kind of niche of a degraded industrial landscape, which requires rehabilitation, reclamation and reasonable use for other purposes [1].

Therefore, the study of sea-coastal economic territories of Odessa-city that are in a depressed state was chosen as the object and the subject of the research. With the help of retrospective methods of research, the modern state of economic areas of Odessa city was studied, the objects that are in a depressed state were identified, and their areas were marked on the general plan of the city.

The recreational plan of Odessa city was analysed; its development on account of depressive economic territories was identified. Due to the comparative and planning analyses, the examples of world practice of economic territories’ renovation under new functions were identified. As the result, the given methods allowed to develop the principles, models and methods of functional-planning organization of landscape-recreational formations in depressed economic areas.

The “alternative and adaptive” use of industrial heritage is noted in the important international document “Dublin Principles: Joint ICOMOS-TICCIH Principles for the Conservation of the Heritage of Industrial Sites, Structures, Zones and Landscapes” (Paris, 2011) [2]; recommendations on “adapting new uses and new functions to existing cultural heritage ... and historic buildings” are set out in the European document “The Paris Declaration on Cultural Heritage as a Driving Force for the Development” (Paris, 2011) [3]. Important for the implementation of these provisions are the Law of Ukraine “On the Protection of Cultural Heritage” (2000) [4] and the project of the European Commission “Regional Cooperation for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage”, within the framework of which the draft “Concept of National Policy for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage in Ukraine” was developed (Kiev, 2014) [5].

The presence of multi-functional business areas in the range of existing human settlements leads to an increase of anthropogenic impact on the environment, which is a major cause of environmental problems in the world today. Therefore, the main environmental requirements for the renovation of industrial areas should be:

Consequently, the use of depressed areas of former production facilities for a recreational function is extremely important in connection with the need to increase green areas in the structure of the urban environment and to improve sanitary and hygienic conditions in residential and on coastal areas.

The analysis of world experience (Austria, Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands, Russia, Ukraine etc.), concerning the introduction of new functions on the depressive economic areas and the plots of the industrial heritage, testify that this issue is not paid much attention to. Specialists of different countries have developed and realized the projects of renovation of separate industrial objects and revitalization of the territories of their location: Manfred Wehdorn (Austria) [7] and Jean Nouvel (France) – a multifunctional residential complex of gasholders “Vienna Gasometers” in Wien (Austria) [8], Patrick Berger (France) – “Park Andre Citroen” [9] in Paris etc. The main functions of such repurposing of depressed areas are:

So, for example, the new indoor theme park “Battersea” in London (UK), created on the site of a closed coal power plant is dedicated to the history of English industry from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution to the present day, where “The Museum of industry” is organized, supplemented by some of the largest in the world, roller coaster. This is not only an entertainment, but also an educational and scientific centre, the most impressive object of its kind in the world – as iconic as the London Eye and the cable car across the Thames [12].

Another example is the Nagatino i-Land techno-park in Moscow (Russia), founded on the site of the former AMC automobile plant (1916). The main advantages: are the location in the city centre (8 km from the Kremlin), on the river bank, surrounded by the forest zone of the Nagatinskaya Poima park, next to the Kolomenskoye museum-reserve; the largest metropolitan business complex (6 high-rise office buildings, ground parking, service and financial institutions, recreation areas, etc.); this is the so-called “city within a city”. The renovation of economic areas for technological parks (techno-parks) and theme parks is also promising for the reorganization of industrial facilities and the revitalization of depressed economic areas in the conditions of the coastal strip of the sea [13].

As for the directions of adaptation of industrial facilities for a recreational function, they can be extremely diverse: these are “centres of contemporary art and media technologies” and “design plants”, “museums of transport and engineering”, and “theatre complexes”. All of these reorganized production facilities are examples of the modernization of individual industrial buildings, their complexes, and their territories [14, 15].

The unique object of renovation of economic territories for recreational functions deserves attention – the amusement park “Kernie’s Wunderland” in Kalkar (Germany) on the territory of the former nuclear power plant, which was not put into operation for environmental reasons. As a result of the transformation of an industrial facility with an ideal state of buildings and structures into an entertainment facility, a landscape park was created, about 40 attractions (roller coasters, a Ferris wheel, etc.), tennis courts, a water park, a restaurant chain, and a hotel were built. Today this unusual amusement complex known as “Wunderland Kalkar” is one of the most visited places in the world, receiving 650,000 tourists annually [16].

The operational field for scientific research, field surveys, the experimental design of this type of objects and territories, the development of conceptual provisions in Ukraine, the seaside city of Odessa was chosen as a unique, multifunctional centre of industrial-port, resort and tourist-recreational development.

The analysis of foreign experience shows that each country has its own specifics for the renovation of industrial facilities and territories in accordance with national traditions, the structure of the post-industrial economy, and natural and climatic features. Restoration and repurposing of industrial facilities, rehabilitation and beautification of abandoned territories is an important architectural and town-planning direction of the revival of the urban environment in many European countries, such as Great Britain, France, Germany and others.

In accordance with the defined functions, a nomenclature of objects with different functional purposes is proposed: residential (multifunctional complexes, multi-apartment and individual residential buildings, hotels), public and business (multifunctional and business centres, technology parks, trade and exhibition centres), cultural (multifunctional cultural centres, thematic museums, art centres, educational and sports centres, theatre complexes), landscape and recreation (resort and recreation complexes, multifunctional parks, city gardens (squares, boulevards), theme parks, amusement parks, cultural and leisure complexes). It was established that the preservation of industrial heritage should be carried out by the following methods: a) renovation and revitalization of individual production facilities; b) urban planning adaptation of the territories of their location; c) radical changes of destroyed objects and abandoned territories [1].

The city of Odessa, in accordance with its territorial planning development and economic structure, belongs to the type of “industrial port” cities with a developed resort and recreational function. For a century, the development of industrial zones took place on the periphery of the city, as well as in the northern part of the Odessa coast; resort and recreational zones were formed mainly in the south, using beach resources from Chernomork to Sanzheyka, as well as the balneological resources of Arcadia. The industrial zones of the city, located along the coast, occupy about 10 km or 33% of the total length of the Odessa coastline today, blocking free access to the population of residential areas to the coast of the Black Sea Bay (Fig. 1).

Figure 1.

The main urban planning characteristics of functional zones, presented in Figure 1, indicate that industrial, warehousing and agricultural territories make up more than 40% of the city’s territory, which, on one hand, upsets the balance of correlation with other types of land use, and on the other hand, the significant areas of misuse are hidden, including depressive areas [17].

The analysis of the project documentation (“State building codes of Ukraine”, “New General Plan of Odessa”, 2015), and field surveys made it possible to establish that within the territory of Odessa, its industrial and other functional areas (warehousing, agricultural, etc.), a network of depressed economic territories have been formed lately. It arose not only on the coastal territory of the city (Peresyp district) but also spread to the coastal zone of the Khadzhibey and Kuyalnitsky estuaries (northwestern part of Odessa, Suvorovsky district) [18, 19, 20, 21].

“The Zhevakhov Mountain”, located in the northern part of Odessa Bay, between the mouths of two estuaries – Khadzhibey and Kuyalnytsky, is an archaeological site, known since the end of the 18th century; in the past “The Zhevakhova Mountain” was an ancient settlement, now it is an archaeological site, a residential area, an industrial zone. It was established that the areas that can be classified as “depressed” are the territory of the partially abandoned car market “Kuyalnik” and the destroyed brick factory “Bolshevik”, where there is a prospect of creating a modern “resort and recreation complex” [27, 28] (Fig. 2).

Figure 2.

The territorial planning of the coastal zone is consistent with the main directions of urban planning policy, which is reflected in the basic laws of Ukraine “On the natural reserve fund of Ukraine” (1992) [29], “On tourism” (1995) [30], “On resorts” (2000) [31], in the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “on the approval of the Procedure for determining the size and boundaries of water protection zones and the regime for conducting economic activities in them” (1996) [32]. And also connected with the implementation of the “Comprehensive Planning Scheme for the Territory of Resort, Health and Recreational Importance of the Odessa Region” (State Enterprise Ukrainian State Research Institute of Urban Design “Giprograd” named after Yu. N. Belokon, 2006), etc.

To identify the recreational potential of Odessa in general and determine locations of prospective placement, recreational entities have analysed the existing landscape and recreational areas of the city with the use of DBN B.2.2-12: 2019 “Planning and construction of the territories” and “Methods of determining the recreational capacity (capacity) resorts and areas rest” [18].

Considering that landscape and recreational areas are a network of green areas and other open spaces for various purposes, namely: landscape complexes, recreational areas, resorts and health-improving areas, cultural heritage and tourist areas, territories of nature reserves and water resources, and other areas of green construction, it was found that in the conditions of Odessa, almost all types of such territories are scarce and disordered, especially in the coastal zone. The results of the assessment of the recreational potential of Odessa make up 20% of the total city area, which makes the most depressed areas promising for this functional use.

The formation of a network of landscape and recreational areas in Odessa is based on the normative recommendations of the above-mentioned DBN and includes: recreational areas of general use (areas of landscape gardening, forest parks, etc.); green areas of limited use (residential areas, cultural heritage, etc.); green areas for special purposes (landscaping along pedestrian and transport networks, sanitary protection and security zones). Since the city of Odessa is located in the south-eastern steppe part of the territory of Ukraine with a population of over 500 thousand people, its prospective needs in landscape and recreational territories are determined by the indicators of regulatory support at the rate of 200 m²/person. Taking it into account, the corresponding calculations were carried out and the main structural elements of green areas for various purposes and the normative share of green spaces within the area of their territory were determined, which are shown in Figure 1 and Table 1 [34, 35, 36].

The indicators of the data in Figure 1 and Table 1 indicate that there are many parks, squares and gardens in Odessa, but they are not evenly located within the city, two of which are in a depressed state (Dyukovsky Park, Savitsky Park). Basically, all parks, squares and gardens, including the Botanical Garden of ONU named after II Mechnikov are located in the centre of the city and its historical area. The peculiarities of uneven distribution of public recreational areas in different districts of Odessa is a prerequisite and justification for the expediency of using other territories, including abandoned economic areas for new recreational zones.

It has been established that zones of short-term and long-term rest of the population are created mainly on recreational lands within cities (inner city), suburban zones (suburban), in settlement systems (suburban or inter-settlement), while zones of short-term rest, as a rule, are located, taking into account their availability by public transport at a distance of no more than 30 km. This condition is absolutely acceptable for Odessa, given its successful location on the shores of the Odessa Gulf of the Black Sea with the availability of public city beaches; for example, a remote point of a residential area (Lenposelok) is at a distance of 11.5 km from the coastline, creates a comfortable environment for short-term rest, taking into account its convenient accessibility for the population. At the same time, it should be noted that free access for the population to the Odessa coast is not possible everywhere; 33% of the total coastline is covered by the industrial zones of the city, most of which are in a depressed state (Fig. 3).

Figure 3.

It is known that on the territories, adjacent to the beach zones and water areas, as a rule, beachside and aquatic zones are created (Table 2).

The capacity of the seaside rest zones on the sea coast is estimated, according to the beaches’ square (W1) and the length of a coastline (W2) according to the formula [6, 7]:

where F – the total square of natural and artificial beaches, m²;

L – the total length of a coastline of natural and artificial beaches, which is used for the entrance into water, m;

N1 – the norm for the beach square per one visitor (5-8 m²);

N2 – the norm for the length of a beach’s coastline per one visitor (0.2-0.25 m);

k – the coefficient of a beach’s simultaneous load (0.5-1.0).

The calculations result for the capacity of seaside rest zones on the sea coast of Odessa city in presented in Table 3.

According to the results of calculations of the capacity of coastal recreation areas on the seaside coast of Odessa, it can be seen that at the same time, more than 53 thousand vacationers can be on the beach, which is not enough for the development of tourism in the city. Analysing the indicators of the tourist high season in Odessa in recent years, it can be seen that every year the flow of tourists is increasing, for example, over the past 3 years it has increased by 20%, and as a result of the current global pandemic of coronavirus infection COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the borders of many states are closed, which led to the prosperity of local (domestic tourism), in 2020 it was likely to receive about 5 million guests. The number of tourists grows in the summer months (May-September), which is approximately 80% of the total flow of all tourists, where the peak, depending on weather conditions, is in July-August. As a result, it can be calculated that on a summer day, there were more than 17 thousand hours of tourists, wishing to visit the beach area of the Black Sea coast of Odessa in 2019, and 26 thousand hours in 2020 (Table 4). More than 1 million inhabitants live in the city of Odessa, of which 125 thousand are schoolchildren and children of kindergarten age (according to the Department of Education and Science of the Odessa City Council, August 28, 2017), most of whom spend all their free time in the summer holidays on coastal recreational areas. Using the data only for schoolchildren and children of kindergarten age (50%), it can be assumed that more than 60 thousand city residents and 17 thousand tourists visit the beach recreation area, which is more than 75 thousand hours per day, with permissible calculations of the capacity of coastal recreation areas in Odessa – 53 thousand hours. This indicates a huge shortage of coastal recreation areas on the seaside coast of Odessa [37, 38, 39, 40].

Thus, as a result of assessing the recreational potential of coastal common areas, using the example of the city of Odessa, it was revealed:

Based on the generalization of world experience, the study of the depressed areas of the city of Odessa, as well as its recreational potential, the following principles have been formulated, and the corresponding models of the functional and planning organization of landscape and recreational complexes in coastal depressed areas of economic territories have been developed:

The principle of alternative recreational use of industrial territories is based on the choice of one of several possible options for using depressed economic territories for different functions.

In the conditions of Odessa, for example, the largest depressed economic territories in terms of area are located in the localities: “The Zhevakhov Mountain” (area of 200 hectares) and “The Fields of irrigation and filtration” (area of 950 hectares). These territories are distinguished by the generally neglected state of industrial facilities and parts of their territory (wetlands), as well as the neighbourhood with harmful industrial facilities that have a large sanitary protection zone. At the same time, these places have an interesting “industrial landscape”, and a large number of artefacts, therefore, based on world experience, there is a proposal to turn the territory of “The Zhevakhov Mountain” and “Irrigation and Filtration Fields” into a “historical and archaeological park-museum” with a multifunctional trade and an entertainment function and “The Museum – a park of landscape and architectural art under the open sky” with a tourist sports and health centre of water tourism.

An example of such a proposal is the scientific project work “The Renovation of the territory of the filtration fields in the floodplains of the Khadzhibey estuary in the city of Odesa” (author M. Vedernikova, leaders O. Savytska, S. Storozhuk, 2019), which was carried out by the representatives of the department urban planning of the architectural school of the Odessa State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture (Fig.4).

Figure 4.

The main problem of the given object of the research: transport availability of the area is limited by railway tracks; the significant part territory falls within the sphere of influence of the sanitary protection zones of the station biological wastewater treatment, the oil refinery plant and the oil pipeline, serving it; the discharge of water from urban sewers in the Khadzhibey estuary brought it to a state of ecological disasters. Besides, the level of water in the estuary is significantly higher than the mark of the territory of fields’ filtration and the Black Sea.

The project proposal is the design of landscape parks for various functional purposes, which does not contradict the New General Plan of the city of Odessa (2015). To improve the ecological situation of the Khadzhibey estuary, and eliminate the threat of flooding of the Peresyp and Filtration Fields, this design solution provides water channels, connecting the estuary with the sea. Direct water communication with the sea will make it possible to create a public water transport system, serving the villages on the shores of the Khadzhibey estuary, and coastal areas of Odessa, Nikolaev and Kherson regions. To include the territory in the urban fabric, two additional roads of regional significance are proposed parallel to the Bypass Road and the highway. To create a safe and uninterrupted connection with the Peresyp zone, it is proposed to design two-level interchanges for the intersection of highways and railway tracks. It is proposed to make the residential zone low-rise, with a low population density due to the instability of the soil, the high level of groundwater and the possibility of creating a recreational zone with a large percentage of rented resort housing.

The design solution of the “Multifunctional park in the north-eastern part of the Filtration Fields” includes the following main areas: a beach, a promenade, a coastal park with a skate park and tennis courts, a festival site, a botanical research complex, camping. Roadways, parking lots, and utility sites have been developed on the territory; pedestrian routes and bicycle paths do not intersect in the same plane with car passages; bridges are designed for safe movement.

The principle of renovation of objects of industrial decline with the inclusion of new recreational functions, the transfer of buildings of hotels, residential and recreational complexes, theme parks, and museums of just the sky on depressive state territories with the savings of self-reconstruction. On the basis of the study and the analysis of the world experience of renovation, revitalization and saving of industrial decline, functional directions of their choice (residential, civil, cultural and landscape and recreational) were determined. All these functions for the purpose of attaching objects of industrial decline and winning of their land plots can be looked at as well as when combined, for example, with the inclusion of a new recreational function on all typologically-designated depressive plots.

The principle of creation of innovative tourist complexes of foundations on the basis of material and technical infrastructure of non-functioning enterprises (airways, hangars, warehouses) or problematic objects in the cultural landscape. Some economic plots have depressed former rails, bridges and tunnels under former rails that should be used for the creation of innovative landscapes and recreational and tourist complexes.

The principle of optimizing the parameters of landscape territories in the land balance of the city centre foresees the transformation of depressive economic areas into the landscape and recreational establishments (complexes of recreational mortgages, parks, and gardens). It is proved by the presence of sanitary and protection zones between industrial objects and residential and community zones, the absence of sufficient green areas in various areas of populated areas, the availability of urban quarters and micro-districts in the conditions of megacities.

On the basis of the formulated principles of reorganization of depressive coastal areas for new functions, planning models for the formation of the landscape and recreational complexes have been developed, which provide for:

Each economic site that is being reorganized must have its own individual composition of functional zones, for example, objects that are located in the coastal part of a seaside city must have the following functional zones:

Figure 5.

Particular attention should be paid to the road network, providing:

Figure 6.

The formation of their “sea façade” on the basis of aesthetic architectural and compositional solutions is of great importance for coastal cities; this applies to recreational facilities that can be created in areas of depressed industrial areas in the course of their planning reorganization. Based on the example of the objects under study and world experience, the following architectural and compositional techniques were identified for creating recreational complexes in depressed economic areas:

Consequently, when determining architectural and compositional solutions in the conditions of the seaside, both urban and recreational development, which is associated with the creation of new and reconstruction of existing buildings and structures in depressed economic areas, the following features must be taken into consideration:

The project proposal for the creation of “landscape and recreational functions” of short-term rest on the territories of the “Meat processing plant” and “ZOR – Odesselmash” factories can be the research and design work “Renovation of the industrial territory within the boundaries of the streets of the Black Sea Cossacks, Otaman Golovaty and Nikolai Geft in Odessa” (author D. Spirova, leaders O. Savytska, S. Storozhuk, I. Drozhenets, 2021) (Fig. 7).

Figure 7.

The main features of this object of study: within the boundaries of the study area there are 2 historical monuments of local importance and one architectural monument of local importance, which can become a promising tourist site and a point of attraction (today all 3 buildings need reconstruction); this territory has good transport accessibility, proximity to the city centre, the possibility of creating a landscaped area that meets all standards; The negative factor of the territory is a lot of abandoned sites with emergency buildings, which affects safety, as well as insufficient landscaping and lighting.

When developing a conceptual solution for the development of the territory, the main attention was directed to the modernization of the existing environment with its prospective development as entertainment, resort and tourist areas, saturated with public and recreational facilities that meet modern urban planning requirements and technologies. Simultaneously with the multifunctional park and stadium, recreational housing (hotels), entertainment centres, and embankments with moorings were designed. Green recreational areas with places for recreation are being created, pedestrian bridges are the connecting elements for the safe movement of people, and the existing transport system is also being reconstructed: the Peresyp railway station; multilevel interchanges; instead of the existing tram traffic a monorail tram was designed. For a comfortable stay and living on the territory, landscaping has been designed, which makes up more than 50% of the entire territory and is divided into landscaping for general use of the park and squares, landscaping for limited use on the territory of educational and administrative institutions, as well as landscaping for special purposes along the railway and on the border with the territory of the Oil Harbour. In addition, green roofs are provided on some of the buildings.

It has been established that the occurrence of depressed economic areas in the urban environment is a long-term process of the influence of various factors (economic, technological, etc.), the result of which is the presence of “degraded areas”. In the example of the seaside city of Odessa, the presence of coastal depressed economic territories suitable for new recreational development was discovered, which is important in connection with the need to increase green areas, areas in the structure of the urban environment, and the improvement of sanitary and hygienic conditions in residential and coastal areas.

The basic principles of the functional planning organization of landscape and recreational complexes in the areas of depressed economic territories have been formulated: the principle of “alternative recreational use of industrial territories”; the principle of “renovation of industrial heritage sites” with the inclusion of a new recreational function; the principle of “creation of innovative tourist complexes”; the principle of “optimization of parameters of landscape areas” in the land balance of the urban environment.

Planning models of landscape and recreational formations have been developed with proposals for the functional zoning of their territory, taking into account urban conditions and coastal location. Compositional techniques for creating recreational complexes in the specific conditions of depressed economic areas of the city of Odessa were further developed: using the existing features of the terrain (coastal areas, gorges, hills); emphasis – creating dominants with the help of high-rise objects (office centres, yacht clubs, Ferris wheel, etc.); preservation of style of architectural and town planning features of industrial objects of historical and cultural significance; using the individual characteristics of industrial facilities; formation of a new image of the object, using modern innovative technologies; creation of transport links between renovation objects, landscape and recreational complexes and the urban environment.

Consequently, when designing landscape and recreational formations in depressed economic areas, suitable for new recreational development, it is necessary to take into account the following proposals for the functional zoning of their territories with the allocation of zones of basic, specialized and additional functions, which provides for: effective use of degraded urban areas to create ecologically clean, a comfortable environment for recreation of the population; preservation and rational use of monuments of industrial heritage, their land plots, zones of protection of monuments and the historical environment in general through planning transformation of depressed economic territories; ensuring investment attractive conditions for the construction of new recreational facilities; the development of domestic tourism.