The article dwells upon making winter cities livable not by means of “survival” programs but by unlocking the positive living experience, identifying the unique winter potential of a location, and its suitability for living a fulfilling life. The relevance of this research stems from the industrial development of winter/northern cities being prioritized over the establishment of living culture, which has degraded the urban and cultural environment. Viewing a winter city as a self-sustaining territory, capitalizing on the unique features of the region in winter helps unleash the productive potential of “winter life.” The article dwells upon the relevant features of winter cities, tourism industry, and festive culture as the enablers of city development and prosperity. An important aspect of the paper lies in addressing the uniqueness of a location and the winter potential of the Siberian identity. The author’s research and project designs seek to give Irkutsk a positive winter city image; they cover winter festivals and the Baikal identity. This research shows the value of having a unique location and creating a positive winter city image, etc. in the context of making Irkutsk a comfortable and investment-attractive winter city. In general, the ideology of developing a winter city as a place that will attract investment and generate technological initiative in a blend with traditional values is what makes the winter environment livable not just as a survival system, but as a self-sustainable and unique city that has its positive vibes.

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The article considers the spaces of city festivals, their research as a special form of the “site” identity manifestation, a way to make the urban realm more comfortable and a component of territorial branding and development driver. Today a festival involvement into the system of territorial development and using it as the means of building a positive reputation for the site and increasing its investment attractiveness is relevant and explained, among other things, by common interest in the formation of the quality environment in Russian cities and the competition in the promotion of territorial vital priorities. The paper includes the analysis of traditional festivals as the basis of a modern urban life and culture, on the one hand; the actual trends of existing of the city festive culture as a component of urban daily living activities, development and branding space, on the other hand. It also stipulates for the identification of the image function of modern festivals for territories. It is important to address the festival as a form of the interpretation of traditions and immersion into the “site” culture, a means for improving the quality of life in the environment. The paper puts a special emphasis on the importance of the festive living space in a city as a space integrating traditions, popular trends and commercial interests (including touristic business interests).

When it comes to advancing the higher education system, the Government’s priority is to create a state-of-the-art university environment with a one-of-a-kind innovation space. This paper analyzes the core factors behind this process: the specifics of the University’s life in the era of new technology; interpretation of the learning environment and its spatial organization as part of the University’s image; presenting the Campus as a progressive approach to embedding the University in the real world of today and its problems, as part of the University’s identity. The University herein means Irkutsk National Research Technical University, or INRTU. An important feature of this paper is that it addresses INRTU’s existence in the modern learning space as the learning environment is increasingly digitalized and the University needs to reorganize its environment to improve its quality, architectural and artistic value and significance. The author’s R&D efforts breathe new life into INRTU’s facilities to make them good for studies and research and suitable for commercial and cultural initiatives taken in the university environment; these efforts include creating a special entrance design for better image, designing innovative technology parks and communication spaces (coworking and creativity areas).

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