Rusanivka


Rusanivka is a man-made island and neighbourhood surrounded by a canal, the Rusanivs'kyi Kanal. The canal is an artificial distributary of the Dnieper River. The river and canal make the neighborhood resemble an island. The island is located in the left-bank part of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is surrounded by such neighborhoods like Hidropark, Darnytsia, Berezniaky, and Livoberezhnyi masyv.

Overview

Closer to the river, Rusanivka has a couple small beaches. The neighbourhood has many apartment buildings, most are which are 9 to 16 stories tall. There are many stores and cafés on the Rusanivs'ka Naberezhna, the main street in Rusanivka.
Lacking industry, Rusanivka was conceived from the start as a purely residential neighbourhood according to the Soviet concept of allocating the so-called sleeping districts in large industrial cities. It was envisaged, during creation of this neighbourhood, that the area would be served by two main types of public transportation — buses and river boats on Dnieper and canal – so private cars would not be necessary for the residents. The river boats would have created a Venice-like atmosphere in the area. In reality, mass transit based on river boats proved uneconomical and was discontinued. The legacy of this failed project lingers on, as the district was not built to cope with large numbers of private vehicles. Parking space is scarce, and residents often prefer to walk across bridges over the canal to catch buses, trolleybuses, or reach metro stations, particularly the nearby Livoberezhna'station in the Livoberezhnyi neighborhood.