Baku, Azerbaijan: A Case for a Master Plan

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Background on Baku

Baku possesses what appear to be opposing concepts simultaneously: it is a city that is geographically within a wholly Asian country and wholly European one (Shotadze et al, 2002, section Introduction), and additionally is often considered part of the Mid-East (Street, Akbarova, & Mammadov, 2005, para. 8). Baku is perhaps the only true Eurasian city on the world map, not only geographically but in its unique ability to synthesize both European and Asian architectural styles which are indicative of the mental synthesis that has taken place in cultural and social realms as well (Khanlou, 1998b, p. 24).

The country has the capacity for tremendous wealth, and tremendous poverty; the population has a high university graduate rate, and yet at least 68% are considered poor (Popov, 2005, p. vii), and by other measures, 80% live below the poverty level (Rasizade, 2002, p. 128). The capital city of Baku is still forming and evolving how municipal affairs are addressed, as well as economic, infrastructural, and social issues.

Streets such as this one are evidence that Baku is both European and Asian — pedestrian friendly city centres as seen in Germany, and late 1800s French architecture mix with a growing population and youthful demographic that is typical of Asian cities.

Even though to the bulk of its population, Baku is poor and developing, relative to other countries it is a middle-income country, containing great income inequality between rich and poor, but unlike other European countries has a promise for future wealth with an increasing growing birth rate (Moreno et al, 2008, p. 13). Baku is also considered an environmental hot spot (Popov, 2005, p. vii; Shotadze et al, 2002, section Introduction), meaning that it is already vulnerable and climate change impacts will contribute further to its precarious ecology. And as part of the Caucasus, it is one of the twenty-five biologically richest and the most endangered terrestrial ecosystem in the world (ADB, 2005, p. xii). Most of the country’s oil extraction and production occurs in or near Baku (Rau, 2003, p. 25). The country as a whole, however, has recently embarked on a path of sustainable development that focuses on environmental/ economic/ social sustainability (Popov, 2005, p. x), showing how progressive ideas and priorities are part of its development agenda.

Baku is an oil-producer and exporter, as well as being oil-dependent (UNECE, 2009, p. 47). It is developing and post-Soviet, and therefore a city in transition. While it is developing and poverty is rampant, the city stands to benefit from the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ), the result of its successful oil and gas industries, which means there are tremendous economic resources invested for future development. Baku is a coastal city, as well as a desert, and suffers from landslides and extreme winds, and is susceptible to other natural disasters that when coupled with climate change can prove to be disastrous (Government of Azerbaijan, 2005, p. 33). Its natural beauty and resources are abundant, Azerbaijan contains over 4,200 plant species and 18,000 animal species spread over eleven climatic zones (State Committee on Ecology and Control of Natural Resources Utilization, 1998, p. 42), and eighteen landscapes types (Shotadze et al, 2002, section 2.1.1), and nine out of eleven climate zones (Street et al, 2005, section climate, para. 4). It has a rich cultural and political history having witnessed several different political regimes within the last century alone.

Presently a democracy and a republic, the country enjoys good relations with two of its neighbours, Turkey and Georgia, shares civil respectfulness with Iran and Russia, as well as maintains a friendship with far-away allies such as the US, UK, and Norway. It is also a country in conflict with major on-going disputes with neighbouring Armenia who has laid claim to a large strip of Azerbaijani territory as recently as 1994 (Lobjakas, 2008), through what Azerbaijan has ascertained is a genocide attack and is still trying to prove this claim to the rest of the world (Darakhshan, 2010).

A City Disconnected

While one could argue that the oil barons were the original master planners of Baku, the city’s first true master plan was the Soviet master plan for Baku, adopted in 1924, which was the first master plan for a city in the former Soviet Union (Rau, 2003, p. 32). The second master plan, which took eight years to complete and although finalized in 1971 was not implemented until 1984, and was the most recent plan to be incorporated.

However the Soviet planning system was ineffective with no co-ordination between industrial and land use planning. Local conditions were generally ignored which made the plans unfeasible, and with master plans based on uniform approaches, they generally under-valued land, especially agricultural lands and green zones, which resulted in lowland development, intensive industrialization, and monotonous housing projects etc (Shotadze et al, 2002, section 2.2.4). The same poor planning instruments that have plagued North America are producing similar negative planning outcomes in Baku.

After independence Azerbaijan began developing national legal-institutional capacities. In the land resources management field, new land codes, providing land classification according to planned uses, and rules and procedures for land ownership, etc. were adopted (ibid). With this new independence, a third and then fourth city plan were initiated in the 1990s and then scheduled for implementation in 2005 (Khanlou, 1998a, p. 44), but it wasn’t until the Mayor’s Decree, signed in 2007, that the process would finally begin, and after preliminary plans were made in 2009, the long-awaited Master Plan was finalized in spring 2010, named Baku “White City” to replace the oil-driven Black-City District (“The Work Over Masterplan for Development of Baku White City is Completed”, 2010; Baku White City, 2010, section Introduction, para. 1). The much-demanded recent Master Plan (Khanlou 1998a and 1998b; Rau, 2003, p. 23; Popov, 2005, p. 50) focuses on progressive issues as is characteristic of White City plans, includes updating transportation and introducing better living conditions and renewable energy sources in the east part of Baku (“The Work Over Masterplan for Development of Baku White City is Completed”, 2010, Baku White City, 2010).  White City also includes a project called “Zero”, located on Zira Island in Baku Bay, a play on words, as the facilities are to produce zero emissions (World Arab, 2010).

In Baku, the Mayor’s office is the primary decision maker with regard to city planning and development, designating land towards projects, with the Baku Urban Planning Department approving the project (Rau, 2003, p. 32). The process has been largely piecemeal, with developers directing the city’s growth (Khanlou, 1998a, p. 45), however, with their powers decentralized, it has resulted in segregated zoning, with business zones, and corporations of territory development (Khanlarov, 2006, p. 2). And although the urban planning process has been changing, and the number and range of participants expanding, there still exists a disconnect between local needs, urban planning, and the city operating as a whole system, and general local issues continue to be primarily addressed by national ministries in Azerbaijan.

Unmanaged Growth

Baku grows and develops at an impressive if not alarming rate and is the only European urban centre with a population of between 1-5 million people that continues to grow: the rest are addressing the planning conundrum of what to do with negative growth rates (Moreno et al, 2008, p. 13). Baku, however, stands alone from Europe as it tries to address its growing population’s infrastructure and living requirements. From January-September 2009, construction totaled US$ 2.758 billion (Baku Build, 2010, para. 20); between 2000-2005 more than 500 new high-rise towers ‘sprung up’ and thousands of new low-rise buildings (Khanlou, 2005, p. 38); and between January 2007-September 2007, over 1,200 new buildings were approved for construction (Ismayilov, 2007, para. 17). Construction is a sign of prosperity (Khanlou, 2005, p. 41), but it is energy intensive, using 5% of all energy generated (CIOB, 2010, p. 4) or 30% of energy in cities (UN-HABITAT, 2010, p. 43). It is also a precursor to chaos if regulations are not properly observed and monitored as was the problem in two cases involving building collapse when safety regulations were not enforced (Khanlou, 2005, p. 40). The first collapse occurred in 2006 when forty people were killed, and another on August 28, 2007 when twenty people were killed, shedding light on the hastiness of the city’s construction industry, and lack of enforced regulations (Ismayilov, 2007, para. 9).

Conclusion

The importance of a master plan is still relevant. While investing in development is integral to building the country and the economy, without a larger master plan to guide it, the city could continue to suffer tremendous setbacks and disasters. The newest master plan for the White City development is ambitious with components being a paragon of sustainable innovation, and while progressiveness is invaluable in urban planning, so are guidance, rules, and enforcement. While only a section of the city has this master plan, Baku should create a cohesive master plan for the larger city itself that examines all the progressive and liberal ideologies of a “White City” plan, while ensuring that Baku maintains its diversity and culture. Lastly, it is wonderful to focus on low or zero emissions developments, however, the construction of such buildings is still conventional, requiring vast amounts of non-renewable fuel and energy consumption, not to mention material extraction and refinement. Planning and master planning has a long way to go until it can be truly safe, progressive, and sustainable.

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