urban planning

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The Council of Ministers building. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Abkhazia

Abkhazia could turn Council of Ministers building into ‘luxury hotel’

by OC Media

•3 min read

Abkhazia’s President, Aslan Bzhaniya, has said that the iconic Council of Ministers building in the centre of Sukhumi (Sukhum), which has lain abandoned since the 1990s, could be turned into a luxury hotel. Speaking to students from Abkhazia in Moscow on 10 October, Bzhaniya stated that an investor had plans to reconstruct the building. His statement was aired on Abkhaz state television, following which an excerpt was widely shared on Abkhaz opposition Telegram channels. ‘Some investors ar

The high-rise under construction on Kogonia Street. Photo: OC Media

Abkhazia

Activists rally against ‘monster’ building on Sukhumi seafront

by OC Media

•5 min read

The construction of a multi-storey building in a historic quarter of Abkhazia’s capital has prompted pushback from activists and architects. They claim it breaches building regulations, and poses a threat to the city’s form and function. Sukhumi’s (Sukhum’s) Kogonia street is a broad and busy street in the city centre, a stone’s throw from the city’s historic waterfront. Since mid-2022, it has also played host to the construction of a block of flats that has attracted significant negative

Armenia

Protests as Yerevan authorities demolish cafés around Opera Square

by Armine Avetisyan

•4 min read

Authorities in Yerevan have begun to demolish cafés in the park around the National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, leading to protests from staff and owners. The Mayor’s Office informed the owners of the cafés on 13 December that their leases would be terminated in 30 days, however, the demolition did not begin until 13 March. The authorities said they were fulfilling a campaign promise to restore green areas that had been turned into cafés. Owners and staff of the cafés proteste

Georgia

In pictures | Ghost apartments and hyperbuilding in Batumi

by Ian McNaught Davis

•7 min read

Since 2008, the port city of Batumi on Georgia’s Black Sea coast has attracted visitors with the bright lights of tourism, trade, and gambling. Soaring tourism statistics in the popular casino town has brought with it a construction boom — one that seemingly has no end in sight. Rampant construction on vacant patches of land punctuates the city of 160,000. The echoes of jackhammering and grinding ricochet off the multi-story high-rise buildings that continue to sprout into Batumi’s skyline.

Atoneli Street in Tbilisi (Luka Pertaia/OC Media)

Feature Stories

Families and businesses in limbo over restoration of historic Tbilisi district

by Volodymyr Soboliev

•7 min read

Families and businesses are facing imminent eviction to make way for renovations. Despite plans to begin the work in March, residents and business owners are yet to receive details from the city, throwing their futures into uncertainty and chaos. Several families in one of Tbilisi’s oldest districts will be relocated by Tbilisi City Hall for almost a year until restoration works are finished. As the City has not provided them with details about the process, residents in the area surround

cycling

Tbilisi to open its first bike path

by OC Media

•2 min read

An 8 km bike path is to run along both sides of the River Mtkvari (Sanapiro) in Tbilisi, Tbilisi City Hall spokesperson Mirian Lebanidze has told OC Media. According to Lebanidze, there are practically no means currently for bicycles to move around in the city. For this reason, the city will work step-by-step to develop adequate infrastructure. The first bike path will be circular, connecting Deda Ena Park with Vakhushti Bagrationi Bridge. Lebanidze said that several departments in t