New strategy envisages Tbilisi as a European City

Georgia’s capital Tbilisi is about to undergo a rapid transformation to upgrade the old, dated city into a modern, European city boasting more pedestrian-friendly places, recreation zones, gardens and parks.

Tbilisi City Hall is working on ways to develop an urban environment plan for the capital city so it’s 1.5 million residents and visitors can enjoy the cultural and diverse landscape of Tbilisi.

An Action Plan was included in the five-year Environmental Strategy that was created by Tbilisi City Hall earlier this month.

The Strategy outlined the establishment of a ‘green building standard’ in the capital city. It also envisaged developing Tbilisi into a "walkable city” where cars did not park on pavements and people could use safe cycling tracks around the city.

One of the main parts of the Strategy was to develop the city’s infrastructure in a way that maintains the old cityscape. To do this as the city developed, new territories will be better integrated to the city.

Every infrastructural project that is implemented in the future will have to include and create as much green area as possible.

Importantly, this Strategy also paid attention to the city’s potential disaster zones. The document noted the loss of different disasters within the last 40 years exceeded $14 billion USD. The country’s economy spent about 200-250 million GEL per year to recover from the disaster damage.

One of the most frequent disasters in Tbilisi is fire. Statistic showed about 3,500-4,000 fires happen in Tbilisi each year, killing about 15 people and damaging 50 homes.

To mitigate this and other disasters, Tbilisi City Hall will work to reduce the risks and prevent future disasters in the capital.

Georgia became obligated to meet European standards in all fields, including environment, after it signed the Association Agreement (AA) with the European Union (EU) last June.

The AA obliged Georgia to study the area before giving permission to build large buildings, highways or railways in the capital. New fire hydrants must be installed in Tbilisi and old ones must be fixed.

These were part of many regulations that the country must implement according to the AA.

In 2010 Tbilisi joined the Covenant of Mayors; a European cooperation movement involving local and regional authorities. Signatories of the Covenant of Mayors voluntarily commit to increasing energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources on their territories. With their commitment, parties support the EU’s 20 percent carbon dioxide (CO2)reduction objective to be reached by 2020.

In 2011 Tbilisi introduced a Sustainable Energy Action Plan to the Covenant of Mayors, meaning the city should reduce its CO2 emissions by 24 percent by 2020.

The new strategy once again highlighted the importance of meeting this deadline.