Transport and Cities: HSE’s Faculty of Urban and Regional Development Co-Organises First International Transport and Logistics Forum
The HSE Faculty of Urban and Regional Development acted as a partner in organising the first International Transport and Logistics Forum, held in St Petersburg in early April and bringing together more than 6,000 participants from 82 countries. With the faculty’s support, a key session was held entitled ‘A Driverless Future: How Driverless Transport is Changing the Concept of Spatial Organisation from the City to the State’ and moderated by Russian Minister of Transport Andrei Nikitin.
The event was organised in line with instructions issued by the Russian president to ensure the global competitiveness of Russia’s transport corridors. Participants included government representatives, regional leaders, executives of leading companies, and international delegations.
The forum highlighted a new reality: transport today is no longer merely a supporting function but a system that shapes economic growth, security, and international cooperation. The transport sector currently accounts for more than 6% of Russia’s GDP. The country is capable of offering advanced solutions for the global community and playing a significant role in shaping a new architecture for global logistics and international trade.
The participants identified key priorities for the development of Russia’s transport system, including infrastructure synchronisation, the expansion of the Baikal–Amur Mainline (BAM) and the Trans-Siberian Railway, digitalisation, and the introduction of autonomous technologies. In the coming years, freight and rail transport volumes between Russia and China are also expected to increase.
HSE plays an important role in the digital transformation of the road sector, particularly through the Institute for Transport Economics and Transport Policy Studies, which is part of the Faculty of Urban and Regional Development. Mikhail Blinkin, academic supervisor of both the faculty and the institute, moderated one of the forum’s five plenary sessions, ‘Automation and Digital Technologies in Road Sector.’ Institute experts Alexander Chebotaryov and Andrew Borisov also took part in the forum, engaging with business partners.
Opening the session, Mikhail Blinkin noted that the road sector has served as an effective testing ground for digital technologies for more than half a century. For instance, the first commercially successful IT product developed by Bill Gates in 1972 was a programme designed to process signals from pneumatic sensors used for traffic counting.
‘In the field of digital development, the institute works closely with Rosavtodor as well as leading developers of intelligent transport systems, which are widely used across the country’s road network. The institute is among the founding members of the all-Russia Digital Age of Transport Association. A number of conceptual approaches proposed by the institute—such as the concept of a backbone road network—have been recognised by the industry and incorporated into federal legislation,’ Mikhail Blinkin noted.
It is also worth emphasising that HSE’s Faculty of Urban and Regional Development has established a sustained professional dialogue with international partners in the field of urban development. Today, the faculty serves as an expert centre facilitating the exchange of best practices among cities in BRICS countries and integrating international experience into Russia’s policy agenda. Transport remains one of the faculty’s key focus areas, as it underpins the connectivity of urban structures.
One of the key outcomes of the faculty’s participation was the advancement of an international expert dialogue within the framework of Russian–Chinese cooperation. At the invitation of Victoria Khomich, First Deputy Dean of the HSE Faculty of Urban and Regional Development, leading international experts took part in the forum. Among them were Nicholas You, Executive Director of the Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation and Founder and former Chair of the UN-Habitat World Urban Campaign Steering Committee, and Yang Shuai, Chief Executive Officer of the Shenzhen Urban Transport Planning and Design Institute.
The invited experts participated in the forum’s key session, ‘A Driverless Future: How Driverless Transport is Changing the Concept of Spatial Organisation from the City to the State,’ moderated by Russian Minister of Transport Andrei Nikitin. The session concluded that transport solutions have a decisive impact on urban development and demographic processes.
‘How we live, how our cities are organised, and how our demographic patterns evolve largely depend on the transport solutions we adopt,’ the minister noted.
According to Nicholas You, the introduction of driverless transport could radically transform the use of urban space. With high vehicle utilisation rates (up to 95% of the time), land use could become far more efficient, particularly in cities where roads currently occupy as much as 65–75% of the urban environment.
Yang Shuai presented China’s practical experience: in Shenzhen, around 1,000 autonomous vehicles are already in operation, with a cumulative mileage of 118 million kilometres, demonstrating a transition from the experimental stage to a fully operational model.
The participation of international experts invited by HSE’s Faculty of Urban and Regional Development contributed to discussions on key areas of transport system development. Nicholas You and Yang Shuai were awarded by the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation for their contribution to strengthening international partnerships—an important step in the development of Russian–Chinese relations.
‘Over several years of cooperation, we have built a relationship of trust with our Chinese partners. We work together in the field of urban development, where HSE’s Faculty of Urban and Regional Development serves as a key hub for urban studies, and we continuously exchange experience with our international colleagues. Transport is the thread that ensures the connectivity of the urban system and effectively turns a city into an integrated whole. It is particularly noteworthy that the colleagues from China whom I invited took part in the key session on driverless transport alongside the Minister of Transport and were recognised by the ministry for their contribution to strengthening partnership. We will always be pleased to support cooperation between our countries in urban development and to assist relevant agencies and government bodies,’ concluded Viktoria Khomich, first deputy dean of the faculty.
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