In June of 2019, the 36th session of the economic-geographical section of the International Academy of regional development and cooperation was held on the basis of the Institute of Economics under the Urals branch of RAS (Yekaterinburg). Experts from the Institute of geography under RAS, Moscow State University and other scientific centers of the Russian Federation discussed the existing and innovative solutions in the field of the country’s territorial development.
The speakers of the event included Vladimir Litovsky, Doctor of geographical Sciences, Head of the Department on siting of labor forces at the Institute of Economics at the Urals branch of RAS, who delivered one of the key reports entitled “Spatial solutions in the historical center of the city (to the discussion on the 300th anniversary of Yekaterinburg)”. In his report, V. Litovsky raises the issue of developing alternative modes of transport in the city and new approaches to the arrangement of urban infrastructure in the context of the upcoming anniversary of the Urals capital. One of such innovative approaches, according to the scientist, can be the creation of new transport lines in Yekaterinburg on the basis of string transport:
“This would possibly allow to realize the old dream of professors and students from the Ural State University of Railway Transport: to bridge their “peninsula” with the “mainland”, and to make the bottom land of Iset river as a demo proving ground for the innovative string-rail infrastructure (economical and environmentally friendly elevated transport on supports) that was offered by Anatoly Yunitsky and his associates in Yekaterinburg to develop the embankment of the City pond and improve transport and logistics situation in the city. On the eve of the 300th anniversary of the city it would allow to declare again that the Urals is not only the birthplace of the first domestic steam locomotive, but also the supporting region of the country, and Yekaterinburg is a city open to advanced vehicle innovations”, said V. Litovsky in his report.
The use of Yunitsky’s string technologies in the context of developing the Urals and the Northern territories of the Russian Federation is proposed by V. Litovsky not for the first time: in 2016, this scientist has come up with a unique concept to develop the far North based on SkyWay transport and infrastructure complexes called “Arctic lace”. You can learn more about it from V. Litovsky’s monograph “Theoretical and geographical fundamentals of forming dominant Ural-Arctic geo-economic space and its infrastructure”. In addition, the prospects for the development of the Arctic territories on the basis of Yunitsky’s string technologies, outlined by V. Litovsky, are included in the Annual report of the Arctic and Antarctic Council under the Russian Federation Council (Chapter 10).
General designer Anatoly Yunitsky expressed to the scientist his gratitude for the long-term support of SkyWay project in his letter. The reply was not long in coming:
“Dear Anatoly,
Thank You for your kind words and in turn allow me to express my highest gratitude for Your deeds that give hope to us all!”