Infrastructure for life at the focus of SPIEF 2025
Questions of housing construction discussed by the meeting of the Presidium of the State Council for implementing the national project “Infrastructure for Life” will be included on the discussion programme of the Urban Hub platform as part of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June 2025.
Measures to improve living conditions of the Russian population were discussed at the April meeting of the State Council under the chairmanship of President Vladimir Putin, who called for measures to be taken to achieve the national project indicators of creating, by 2030, 663 million square metres of housing and reaching a per capita provision of housing to an average of 33 square metres.
The president focused on development and renovation of the housing and utilities infrastructure, calling for transparency of standards for maintenance and repair of apartment blocks, formation of tariffs and expenditures on capital repairs.
During the meeting, there was also discussion of support for individual housing construction, maintenance and renewal of the transport infrastructure and comprehensive development of cities and territories. One remaining question of importance is the legal status of city master plans and their correlation to the general and comprehensive plans for territorial development.
The subjects touched on at the State Council are being discussed as part of the Urban Hub programme orientated on systemic work to form and promote effective mechanisms for cooperation between the state, business and the expert community regarding urban and regional development.
“As President Putin noted, the name of the ‘Infrastructure for Life’ national project precisely reflects its essence: it is geared toward people’s demand, interests and creation of a modern, comfortable, safe and convenient environment. The subject matter of the State Council devoted to realization of the national project will be elaborated in detail and will constitute the basis of the Urban Hub platform’s programme during the upcoming SPIEF. I am convinced that the discussions involving experts in the field will allow us to provide a deep analysis of sectoral trends and develop the precise measures needed for supporting and developing the town-planning industry,” stressed Adviser to the Russian President Anton Kobyakov.
At the coming SPIEF, Urban Hub will concentrate on the specific sectoral support
tasks formulated at the meeting of the State Council Presidium and elaboration of practical mechanisms and specific steps for stimulating the spheres discussed.
“The construction industry, like other sectors of the economy, is at a new stage in its development, so each and every proposal voiced at the State Council is of major significance. The priority directions include improving people’s quality of life, expanding support measures, ensuring comprehensive development of crucial population centres and uninterrupted supply of utilities, as well as infrastructure safety,” commented Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation Irek Fayzullin.
The Urban Hub venue will include an exhibition space where leading branch enterprises, small and medium-sized companies will demonstrate the new technologies and know-how in industrial and housing construction, the latest construction and road equipment, and commercial transport models.
The Urban Hub is a Roscongress Foundation project, an international discussion platform devoted to development of research and business cooperation in the urban planning. International partnership is based on the principles of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the UN New Urban Development Programme, called on to be an intellectual hub for advanced ideas in the urban economy. The platform was launched during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2023.
The platform enables discussion every year of urgent problems and tasks involved in town planning and territorial development. Discussions on the platform have touched on such topics as application in development technologies of quantum computing and communications, futuristic development concepts for cities and application of the latest technologies in town planning, problems of city and territorial development in the Far East and the Arctic.
The Urban Hub is held by the Roscongress Foundation with the support of the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation on the sidelines of the key events – the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) and the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF). The general partners of the Urban Hub are the biggest national development companies.
