Mziuri - our favorite place

Dear friends,

As you may know, I am doing the most amazing MA in Transcultural European Outdoor Studies.  In previous semester I took "Know Your Place" as my optional module. This blog post is a part of my assignment and this is why I write it in English. 

The place I am going to write about is very well known to you and maybe does not even need my introduction - it is Mziuri park. It is a place where your parents would hang out after classes to eat ice-cream and take black and white pictures next to the iconic clown statue. It is a place where you too would go after classes (or maybe while missing your classes :) ), have a beer or two, where you would take your girl when you didn't have money to invite her anywhere else. You could also sit and study there - I have done this many times. Or you could just chill. 

Why am I speaking about Mziuri in past? It is still there, but the infamous flood of June 13th has changed everything. The big part of has been flooded and it is impossible to continue walking beyond some point, even though the debris has been removed. 

Do you know the history of  the Vere Ravine and Mziuri? It has evolved a lot during years and it is a product of various political, ecological, economical and social factors. Every new political power creates its own urban landscapes and their aim is to gain more power and morph the landscapes towards the aesthetics that would serve as a representation of their ideology. The layers of history that contradicts new ideology must be erased the new ideas should be imposed through newly constructed landscapes. Considering diversity of natural, political, economical or other factors that form the landscape, it is almost impossible to reach its homogeneity. As a result, a contrast between the past and the future becomes obvious. Vere Ravine is a good example of the landscape of such contrasts: Soviet heritage and neoliberal politics; nature and urban development. If you ever had a look at the ravine from the viewing platform in Mziuri, you would have noticed this. 

Historically, Vere Ravine was integrated in the city as a recreational area. The first construction interventions started during the Soviet Union, when in 1928 the zoo was built on the left side of the river. First slum type of houses was constructed in the 1950’s. Later, in the 70’s and 80’s an intense multistory housing construction process took place in the ravine but the danger of damaging natural environment became so vivid that the approach had to be changed. As a result, Mziuri Park was built to enrich the possibilities of Vere Ravine as a recreational area. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, neoliberalisation process impacted urban planning and pushed it towards market-orientated direction. Meanwhile, when unemployment and poverty were booming in the 90’s, many unplanned and illegal constructions took place around the city including Vere Ravine. Some houses were built right in green spaces. The habitat lost its recreational function. River Vere became a garbage dump.

Rose revolution took place in Georgia in 2003 and together with new government, new construction processes appeared in the city. Constructions became much more intense due to supporting privatization process and deregulation of construction and planning institutions. Future policy changes and developments only lead to worse – by 2009 there was more room for questionable construction projects.  In 2010 a three kilometer highway was constructed through the Vere Ravine, which intruded Mziuri Park and changed it drastically. Unfortunately, no necessary studies were carried out. The movement “Save Mziuri” was concerned with saving (though the problem was much broader), but it was weak. The landscape started to change again. More sterile aesthetics appeared this time. Even though Mziuri was not a park with perfect aesthetics and was not what ideally a park should be, it still attracted us thanks to its past image and probably some kind of attachment we all developed when we first visited it with our classmates. 

What happened after the flood?

Thousands of volunteers, mostly students and young people, including my friends and I, came together in Mziuri We worked for days cleaning our beloved park from debris. Thousands of us stood there sunken in mud, shoveling it, forming a chain and removing tree branches, rubbish and all kind of remains that the water had brought and it was all self-organized. Volunteers put themselves under danger – it was announced that there was a risk of getting infected by tetanus but this did not stop anyone; many got tetanus vaccine instead. 

Georgia has seen mass mobilizations in the past but unlike previous large demonstrations, it was not a political gathering. People mobilized not to make political statements but to work together to solve a problem. It was an unprecedented example of civil solidarity. 

 I believe that our attachment to the place, the sense of place brought us all together without any instruction from government. There may be many other motivations behind our action: for example, it can be explained by a very human desire to help out in a time of crisis. I do have more explanations but I don't want to impose them upon you. I would love to hear in comments, what do you think about this? 

There are several questions I want you to answer:

-What kind of place is Mziuri to you?

-Why did the tragedy unite us in Mziuri?

-What's the reason that it was mostly the youth who appeared there after the flood?

-What was your personal motivation behind volunteering (if you were one)?

-How do you see the future of this place?

You don't have to answer one buy one, you can put it in one narrative if you feel like it!

Thank you very much for your attention.