The report “A Glance at Moscow” contains the record of views and impressions on the city of Moscow in Russia. These impressions were constructed from a field study conducted between the 23th and 27th March 2015 by students of MSc in Regional & Urban Planning Studies. Below is a reflection on the trip from RUPS student Elena Kuskova:

“The MSc Regional and Urban Planning Studies at LSE was founded in 1966. In Moscow, and in Russia in general, urban planning evolved as a separate discipline towards the end of the first decade of the new millennium. At this time, a shift in mayoral leadership led to significant changes in the city’s environment. Sergey Sobyanin has introduced paid parking in the city centre, the pedestrianisation of several streets, new cycling lanes and bike sharing stations. With the Soviet legacy, much room for improvement and sufficient resources to bring about change, Moscow provides a laboratory for urban planning and has attracted planning experts from all over the world. I believe that Moscow provides a perfect learning opportunity for urban planners and I was happy to see how enthusiastic my classmates were about the trip to Moscow. Even bureaucratic visa challenges and snow at the end of March could not prevent them from completing the intensive 4-day programme that consisted of meetings with academics and planning professionals, as well as walks and site visits. Being the only Russian in the group, I was in charge of organising the programme for our trip. However, the organisational challenges were significantly eased by the help of my classmates, and for that I am extremely grateful. I would like to thank Flavien Menu for his invaluable help with coordination of the trip’s programme, for his ideas and numerous emails, and for the entertaining part of the trip. I would like to thank the Planning Society Executive Committee for taking care of all the administrative issues that they handled so professionally – smoothly and fast! Our trip would not be successful without the eagerness to help and hospitality from the Moscow side. I thank the team of the Higher School of Economics, Yuriy Milevskiy for the organisation of our visit, Oleg Baevskiy, Petr Ivanov, Maria Sapharova, Michael Blinkin for their presentations and special thanks to Alexei Novikov for the time he dedicated to our learning and for his great introduction to the Moscow planning system. I also thank the Strelka Institute: Kuba Snopeck and Mila Ilyushina for the fascinating lecture and organisation of memorable visit to Belyaevo microrayon. Thanks also goes to Moscow Chief Architect Sergei Kuznetsov and his colleagues for their insight into the city’s architecture projects and Irina Kuznetsova for coordinating the meeting. Finally, I thank all RUPS students and Alan and Nancy for their interest in the city; for participating in discussions; for their patience and readiness to explore the city; for coping with Moscow’s wayfinding system; for their sense of humour and hidden talents that altogether made this trip a wonderful and unforgettable experience!”