Moscow's parks could soon be equipped with brightly lit safety cabins made of reinforced glass in an effort to protect late-night strollers who get lost or find themselves in danger, the head of Moscow's culture department said.
City culture chief Sergei Kapkov told Izvestia in an interview published Monday that authorities were planning to install 50 such cabins in the Sokolniki park as a pilot project to test people's reaction to the scheme.
Kapkov said the cabins would be equipped with panic buttons and communication devices allowing trouble-stricken park-goers to call the police or ask for directions, adding that similar cabins have been built in ski resorts in the Alps.
A significant portion of Sokolniki — which covers an area of more than 500 hectares — is "wild," the city official said, and the cabins are part of his department's drive to make Moscow a safer place.
Authorities are also considering installing similar cabins in Izmailovsky Park and the Bitsevsky Forest, Kapkov said. The cabins are being designed by Wowhaus, an architectural bureau in the capital, the Izvestia report said.
An expert with Moscow's Scientific Research and Design Institute estimated that the pilot project to install 50 cabins in Sokolniki could cost 7.5 million rubles ($250,000).
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