Some Aspects of Urban Development of Batumi

Abstract

The remains of the most ancient settlement on Batumi’s territory have been preserved by the ruins of „Batumi Fortress” located north of the modern city. The origin of Batumi’s new, urban-type development is connected to the process of relocating the seaport northwest – toward the bay – beginning in the 19th century. From this same period, Batumi’s urban development, taking into account its geographical location, proceeded according to the principle of regular planning. Batumi’s development was not based on pre-prepared plans; it was determined not by a unified, comprehensive artistic-architectural development idea, but rather by the regulations and norms characteristic of the empire’s cities in general. Batumi’s old neighborhoods were formed as urban fabric developed on a perimeter zone with an organized block structure. The city’s planned reconstruction and development processes are connected to the Soviet period. The plan projects compiled in 1927, 1933, 1956, and 1986 represented the main guiding documents for the city’s development and improvement.
From 2008, Batumi has been developing rapidly, with architecture becoming part of tourism policy, though the „concept” of cultural heritage rehabilitation and new development came into conflict with Batumi’s traditional principles of regulated planning, order, moderate scale, intimate space, and harmony with the environment.
In recent years, the main directions of Batumi’s economic development have emerged – port-transit function and the tourism sector, in which the city’s historical part maintains the significance of a tourist attraction center and requires special attention in terms of rehabilitation and maintenance. For contemporary modernized development, it is important to introduce regulations limiting local plans, scales, heights, and density. The city still faces the most complex task of proposing a strategic vision for spatial development, preserving the historical core, protecting regular planning, and creating a balanced, artistically expressive contemporary architectural environment.