Does urban planning exist in Tbilisi? What on Earth Georgia ep. 15
Sarah Cowles came to Tbilisi more then ten years ago as a landscape architect with an interest in urban planning.
Walking down the streets of Tbilisi is almost an oxymoron. Often there are no pavements at all, and if there are some, cars are using them as a parking space, so pedestrians are still forced to walk on the road. Finding the crossroads can be difficult and crossing the road somewhere else is deadly dangerous. The underground passages are not always spaced out logically. Solution is better urban planning.
Sarah Cowles is a landscape architect and a founder of a company Ruderal, which specializes in this field. Her main interest is in design of outdoor areas, such as parks and different kind of greenery in the city. But aside of that, she tries to return the land to the people, give them the feeling they can change something about the environment that surrounds them. She is doing that via several projects, one of which, the Arsenal Oasis in Svanetis Ubani and Avlabari neighborhoods, got the Lila 2021 Special Jury Award in September.
Together with Sarah, we talked about the opportunities for landscape architecture in Tbilisi, what can be done about it and how proper urban planning can protect Tbilisi from floods and fires.
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