Smart and Sustainable Cities

Conveners: E. Dovletyarova, RUDN University

The sustainable development of urban green infrastructure is a key factor in creating a comfortable and environmentally safe urban environment. Modern approaches to the design and management of green infrastructure are based on assessing and forecasting the ecosystem functions and services of green spaces and integrating them into the design of new landscaping projects.

This session will explore new approaches and advanced technologies for monitoring and assessing the condition and functioning of green spaces from environmental, economic and legal perspectives. A wide range of solutions will be discussed, including instrumental and remote sensing technologies for inventory, IoT-based sensor monitoring, approaches to green-space planning and design, and methods for forecasting and evaluating the environmental, economic and social benefits of greening.

Special attention will be paid to the development of regulations and best practices for functional greening. Researchers experienced in assessing urban green spaces, practitioners in landscape planning, landscaping and urban greening, and experts in legal regulation and management of urban green infrastructure are invited to participate.

Conveners: S. Chalov, Lomonosov Moscow State University; A. Kasimov, Sultan Qaboos University

Urban development has historically been inseparable from water bodies. Rivers, ponds and canals are key components of the urban landscape, providing important logistical, recreational, aesthetic and ecological functions. Urbanization continuously affects the spatial structure and functions of water bodies while increasing the risks associated with climate change.

Pluvial flooding has become a persistent urban problem, and solutions for capturing and retaining surface runoff are becoming increasingly important in urban planning. The session will provide a key platform for discussing the transformation of stormwater management approaches in the context of climate change.

Advanced approaches to multi-scale hydrological monitoring and modeling will be examined. Considerable attention will be paid to modeling water flows in soils and layered soil constructions as a basis for advanced landscape engineering methods and nature-based solutions for capturing, storing and treating surface runoff.

A separate block will address legal and institutional barriers and the development of standards for integrating blue-green solutions into urban design practice. Hydrologists, ecologists, urban planners and landscape engineers interested in redefining water in the city as a resource rather than a threat are invited to join the dialogue.

Conveners: A. Chernokulsky, A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences; E. Mortikov, Lomonosov Moscow State University

Clean air and a comfortable microclimate are defining factors in urban quality of life. Although urbanization is recognized as one of the main sources of anthropogenic impact on the climate, large cities are particularly vulnerable to the consequences of climate change, including heatwaves, pluvial flooding and extreme wind gusts.

Air pollution from industrial facilities and transport has a direct negative impact on residents’ health. Urban green infrastructure has significant potential to reduce health risks through cooling effects and particulate matter deposition. Assessing and forecasting these ecosystem functions is essential for sustainable urban development.

The session will serve as a key platform for discussing advanced approaches to monitoring, modeling and assessing urban climate conditions and air quality, as well as measures for climate adaptation and pollution mitigation.

Special attention will be paid to nature-based technologies and green solutions for improving thermal comfort and air quality through shading, evapotranspiration, albedo enhancement and ventilation, and to their integration into urban design at both city and individual project scales.

A separate block will focus on advanced research tools, including remote sensing, meso- and microclimatic models, machine learning for predictive modeling, IoT sensor-based monitoring, participatory practices and living labs. Climatologists, ecologists, urban planners, landscape architects and green infrastructure specialists are invited to participate.

Conveners: A. Smagin, Lomonosov Moscow State University; S. Gorbov, Sirius University

Soil is a key ecosystem component that provides important ecosystem functions and services: supporting herbaceous and woody vegetation, sustaining soil organisms, absorbing and degrading pollutants to prevent their migration into adjacent environments, and maintaining biodiversity in urban areas.

Modern approaches to urban planning and sustainable urban development rely on the rational use and management of urban soils as a key natural resource and require up-to-date data on their condition, functioning and health.

The high spatial heterogeneity and dynamics of urban soils require advanced research methods, including real-time soil-function monitoring systems, process-based models of carbon, heat, water and solute fluxes, digital soil mapping, and proximal sensing methods for field surveys.

The session will discuss the role of urban soils in the sustainable functioning of urban environments and the ecological safety of city life. Advanced approaches to modeling, monitoring and assessing the ecosystem functions of urban soils will be considered in the context of the soil health concept.

Considerable attention will be paid to soil construction technologies, including smart technologies for creating soils with specific functions such as bioremediation, stormwater retention and carbon sequestration. These approaches are especially relevant for regions with low native soil fertility, including Arctic, arid and saline areas.

Current knowledge of urban soil functions will be discussed in the context of updating regulatory frameworks for soil quality control, soil resource management, and the design, creation and maintenance of urban greening and landscaping facilities. Soil scientists, municipal services, producers of technogenic soils and their components, and experts in environmental regulation and soil resource management are invited to participate.

Conveners: V. Vasenev; Anton Shiryaev, Dr. Biol. Sci., Ph.D., Leading Researcher (Mycology and Ecology), Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (UrB RAS)

Assessing the environmental condition and ensuring the sustainable development of urban and technogenic areas in the Russian Arctic are priority areas for research and for implementing strategic programs and investment projects at different levels.

The region’s high resource potential drives its comprehensive economic development, encompassing not only industrial and mining enterprises but also the creation of a comfortable and safe urban environment. Sustainable urban development is determined by environmental and socio-economic factors, the quality of the urban environment, and public health and safety.

Effective solutions require an integrated interdisciplinary approach, as well as the knowledge and infrastructure needed to implement large-scale projects in monitoring, modeling and designing sustainable ecosystems in the Russian Arctic.

Urban green infrastructure plays a decisive role in shaping a comfortable urban environment by providing important ecosystem functions and services. Their assessment and forecasting form the basis for designing and creating sustainable greening under the extreme conditions of an Arctic city.

The session will address the analysis and environmental assessment of urban and technogenic landscapes in the Russian Arctic. A broad range of urban design issues will be discussed, from pre-design surveys and sociological research to the development of concepts and maintenance regulations.

Special attention will be paid to advanced technologies for environmental monitoring and ecosystem modeling, including IoT sensors, living labs and digital twins, as well as nature-based solutions for remediating disturbed lands, sequestering carbon and restoring biodiversity.

Projects in citizen science, participatory design and environmental education will also be discussed. Urban planners and landscapers, soil scientists and dendrologists, climatologists and hydrologists, government representatives and public organizations, and everyone willing to share unique experience in studying and sustainably developing Arctic cities are invited to participate.

Moderators: Yulia Filatkina, Viktor Matasov

This round table focuses on a paradigm shift in urban environmental monitoring—from conventional pollution control and assessment of environmental damage to quantitative evaluation of the ecosystem benefits of urban greening as a fully fledged nature- and climate-based project, and to managing the positive impacts generated by urban green infrastructure.

At the center of the discussion is how to transform fragmented data on the quantity and condition of green spaces into a comprehensive system for assessing a city’s natural capital. Such a system should make it possible to determine the environmental, climatic and social outcomes generated by parks, public gardens, street trees, green roofs and other nature-based solutions, and to verify the effectiveness of public and private investment in them.

Participants will discuss ways to integrate data from green-space inventories, national and regional environmental monitoring systems, laboratory studies, field observations, satellite imagery, UAVs and automated sensors.

Special attention will be paid to developing common indicators and standards, interoperable data formats and digital mechanisms for their integration.

One of the key topics will be adapting dMRV—digital monitoring, reporting and verification—technologies to urban ecosystems.

The discussion will address how to ensure data reliability and traceability, distinguish measured indicators from modeled estimates, define requirements for methodologies and independent verification, and determine the legal status of the results.

The round table will consider approaches to assessing carbon sequestration, air purification, microclimate and stormwater regulation, biodiversity conservation and other ecosystem functions.

A separate block will focus on the practical use of monitoring results in urban development planning, selection of design solutions, acceptance and maintenance of works, evaluation of budget effectiveness, corporate environmental reporting and investment decision-making.

Participants will include representatives of scientific and soil-environmental laboratories, municipal and regional monitoring operators, public authorities, industry associations, digital-platform developers, experts in urban greening, environmental law and digitalization, as well as businesses investing in environmental and climate projects.

The expected outcome is a set of proposals for a common methodological and digital framework for monitoring the effects of green infrastructure, identification of potential pilot areas, and a roadmap for cooperation among government, science, business and the expert community.

Date: 11.09.11

Time: 15:00

Moderators: Daria Tolovenkova, Anna Poznyak-Ibatulina

A discussion for architects, urban planners, landscape architects, design engineers, developers, public authorities, digital-solution providers and urban researchers.

Participants will discuss how artificial intelligence is already being used in professional design practice, which tasks it can genuinely help solve, where the boundaries of its application lie, and how quality, authorship and professional responsibility can be preserved. Special attention will be paid to the use of AI in developing new professional competencies.

The expected result is an exchange of practical experience, identification of promising applications of AI, and the development of approaches to its responsible use in architectural and urban planning.

Moderators: Agata Kurik

As part of the business program, this round table is dedicated to the Tree Management Plan—an instrument that turns tree care into a systematic management process with measurable goals, clearly defined responsibilities and long-term planning.

Topics for discussion:

The round table will bring together the theoretical and practical dimensions of TMP, from regulatory frameworks to applied tree-assessment methods. Key questions include how to make a TMP an effective working document for a city, district or individual site, how to integrate it into existing management systems, and which tools are already available.