By the way, Minskgrado UE assumes that the maintenance of a household plot is "very luxurious" and uneffective. But experts in adaptation to the climate change think that this may be a good ecological practice of creating green areas (example form Čavusy town)

The assessment method of environmental services that appeared in Belarus in 2015 says that one can put a price on the greenery that grows on plots. But noone has done it yet.

Two cases when the assessment method was used were reported in the mass media. One of them was employed in quarters of Asmolaŭka districtresidents of which have been fighting against demolition for years. Scientists estimate that the environmental services of the district with total area of 12,54 ha (31 acres) generate some $190,000 of profit and are equivalent to a 4,26 ha (10,5 acres) park.

Mariya Falaleyeva thinks that inner suburbs are lucrative but they shouldn't turn into automobile repair shops or delapidated houses.

Anyway, low-rise housing isn't too profitable for the city and that is why it will desappear. But if the aim is to make Minsk comfortable for its citizens, the height of houses should not exceed 6 floors, thinks Yuri Taubkin, architect, designer, co-organizer of Minsk Design Week and ECLAB educator.

It turns out that the overwhelming majority of practising project designers are the people who should shape the future but in fact, they've fully formed their opinions in the prime of industrial house construction and still serve it, in the grip of antiquated myths about an ideal urban housing.

The world has already understood that in order to call any city a real "city", as opposed to a village a person should have an opportunity to choose a dwelling depending on his or her income level and according to his or her lifestyle.

It means there should be plenty of (enough) housing and also, it should be various. This variety of types is the major feature of quality of the urban area, its maturity. Our typological range of housing is a lot shorter than those in other successful cities.

One the one hand, the choice of an adequate housing is purely subjective, it directly concerns people's wishes and possibilities. But there are also objective factors dictating requirements for housing imposed by the city.

Thus, official statistics reveals an important fact. The Belarusians have crossed the Rubicon – the number of dwelling units (flats) and households (families) is equal – and the housing policy will change.

Nobody made right conclusions after the boom of cottage construction in the 90s that transformed Minsk suburbs into a graveyard of expensive building materials and made some volunteers travel back and forth without any hope that he or she can receive decent medical services and give children decent education at the place of permanent residence (overnight). Not to mention entertainment and vacations.

I would like to discuss one more side of the issue. Indeed, not only people have unlimited opportunities but also the city itself. We persist in moving towards the dead end, because we:

- overfill the outskirts of Minsk with multistorey houses that are badly interconnected, far distant from the centre, workplaces, and educational institutions (1);

- leave the "rust belt" of industrial and municipal territories around the city-centre unaffected (2);

- often fall short of the density of residential streets (3), etc.

These actions of urbanists gave the urban infrastructure a gruelling pressure test.

One can see that the green infrastructure accepts the major stroke.

But the transport carcass started to falter. Flows of trolleybuses, regular jams in the rush hour on approach roads to the centre, problems with car parks near offices. But the most important and the most terrible is victims of car accidents.

The fact that glitches in these systems will happen more and more often is not surprising! Because the safety margin of radial and circular structure is limited, especially under the conditions when a deep crater appeared at the very centre.

No city in the world may loosen a narrowing knot of growing demand for the traffic capacity of urban highways (and corresponding demand for car parks in the yard) without reasonable redistribution of population density.

Minsk will not become an exception to the general rules.

Video: Anna Shchuko

From this point of view, a low-rise housing is a vital element of urban development. In fact, urbanists are not faced with a choice between fictitious one-storey "shacks" and mythical "social" high-rise housing packed in microdistricts.

Impoverishing ourselves with this imaginary choice, we ignore real processes in inner suburbs. As a rule, the population size increases and it has already reached the level when two or even three families share one house.

It means that senior citizens are looked after by their children and grandchildren, two cars minimum will not claim urban territory, streets and road for trips to country houses will be supplied rarer.

Yes, there are plenty of automobile repair shops. Is it bad? What about employment? In German cities, there are small shops, hairdresser's and cafes in quarters with detached houses. This is a dream of national economists cherishing hopes for the development of small businesses in the service sector.

Low-rise semi-detached houses are the best solution for the families where grandchildren look after the older generation. Also, this format is beneficial for those who don't resort to construction loans.

I build one flat. After I move in and live there, I build a second, more spacious apartment. Then I settle in the bigger flat and I let the smaller one. Or, I save for the home repairs. And your older child has grown up, married, and will move into the smaller apartment.

According to the above-mentioned criteria, inner suburbs deserve to become the key component for qualified urban decisions of housing problems in Minsk.