LETI: LETI Hosts an International Discussion on the Development of Campuses in Urban Environment

On October 13 at 16:00, LETI will hold a discussion “Big City University” in the videoconference hall of Building 5. During the event, representatives of businesses, authorities, and international universities will share institutional and business solutions for the university’s integration into city life to meet challenges and drive social and economic changes in the university and the city.

The currently-practiced solution for an ambitious technical university is to move to a new vacant place outside the city to satisfy its growing demand on modern infrastructure, space, life, and learning styles. LETI looks for other productive ways and practices for intensive development.

A university surrounded by a densely built commercial and residential property must be in dialogue with its urban environment. A campus should not be active only during work hours but offer reasons and facilities for students, educators, and researchers to stay for other pastimes. It should encourage citizens to pass security gates to visit its historical campus and enjoy its atmosphere. Participants of the discussion, moderated by Anastasia Minina, Vice-Rector for International Affairs of LETI, will discuss development strategies and solutions to meet these challenges.

Carl Peersman, Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in St. Petersburg, will open the discussion with a greeting speech. Dmitry Panov, a member of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg of the new convocation and a chair of the St. Petersburg regional branch of “Business Russia,” will share his vision of the role of universities in the development of the city and society.

Dmitry Sanatov, the deputy director of the “Center for Strategic Research” Foundation, the leading Russian expert in campus development, will define the goals and ways of university campuses’ integration into the urban environment. Felix Blinov, a director of Investment Group PBM Capital, chair of the Committee for Investment in the Russian Guild of Property Managers and Developers, will speak about the possibilities of public-private partnership when investing in the university campus.

Cees Donkers (Netherlands), urban designer and leader of projects on the transformation, will share the experience of a 20-year renovation of campus buildings and infrastructure at the Eindhoven University of Technology. Ali Mangera, partner at the Mangera Yvars Architects (MYAA) (UK-Spain), will present his designs for a mixed-use Education City in Doha (UAE) and educational projects in the UK.

Andrey Petrov, a director for the Semrén & Månsson business development in Russia and “LETI – Future Academic Spaces” contest jury member, will present the KTH Live-in-Lab, integrated into the campus of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

Pascal Leistra (Netherlands), an architect of the knowledge transfer projects and “LETI – Future Academic Spaces” contest jury member, will talk about her projects and open the awards ceremony for the transformation of the four iconic spaces of LETI’s campus.

The event will be held both offline and online in Russian and English with simultaneous translation.