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1. Green spaces as an indicator of urban sustainability in the Arctic cities: Case of Nadym

   https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polar.2021.100672  

   Kuklina, Vera ; Sizov, Oleg ; Fedorov, Roman ( March 2021 , Polar science)

   null (Ed.)

   Green spaces have recently received wide acknowledgement for urban sustainability benefits and are mentioned in the Sustainable Development Goals SDGs Target 11.7. The article aims to address the knowledge gap on indicators used for assessment of green spaces for urban sustainability in the Arctic using an example of Nadym, Russia which is illustrative of compact cities built during the Soviet time using a system of microrayons. Different indicators implemented by international organizations for assessment of green spaces are compared with indicators used in Russia. Utilizing very high-resolution WorldView-3 satellite image and open source data, the quantity and quality of green spaces are estimated with high accuracy. In addition to traditionally used indicators of share of green space per capita, share of public spaces for common use within walking distance to assess availability and accessibility of green spaces, the paper suggests importance of taking into account governance, distribution, and composition using analysis of historic legacies, municipal budget allocation for green space maintenance, and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index values. Such detailed view can enrich discussions about green spaces as sources for resilience both at the local and global levels, in comparison with other cities and across countries. 

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2. Possibilities of applying the concept of “winter city” in the Russian Arctic (on the example of the city of Nadym).

   https://doi.org/10.25283/2223-4594-2021-2-291-303  

   Fedorov, Roman Y ; Sizov, Oleg S ; Kuklina, Vera V ; Lobanov, Andrei A ; Soromotin, Andrei V ; Pechkin, Alexander S ; Pechkina, Yulia A ; Esau, Igor N ( April 2021 , Arctica)

   null (Ed.)

   On example of the city of Nadym, located in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area, the authors consider the socio-ecological problems of the development of green, blue and white open urban spaces. The research approach presented in the article is based on the study of a multifaceted complex of urban social and natural systems in their integrated unity, not just as public places, but as biomes — highly integrated urban ecosystems. A posteriori the researchers based on the materials of interviews conducted in 2020 with experts who in different years took part in the study or planned the development of the open urban spaces in Nadym, as well as on the analysis of available publications on this topic and publicly available data. The study found that factors such as the short summer, during which many residents leave the city, as well as the prevalence of freezing temperatures for almost eight months, in fact, transform the green and blue spaces of Nadym into white. This situation indicates the advisability of a more active appeal to the concept of a “winter city” in the development of the city urban environment. The application of the concept principles can be in demand in the process of creating more comfortable living conditions and spatial mobility of the Nadym residents, as well as for developing the recreational opportunities of the city open spaces and integrating them into the natural environment surrounding the city, which in general can be considered as one of the factors for the sustainable development of the city and the formation of post-industrial features in its socio-economic life. 

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3. Zooming in on Arctic urban nature: green and blue space in Nadym, Siberia

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac0fa3  

   Fedorov, R ; Kuklina, V ; Sizov, O ; Soromotin, A ; Prihodko, N ; Pechkin, A ; Krasnenko, A ; Lobanov, A ; Esau, I ( July 2021 , Environmental Research Letters)

   Abstract Urban landscape combines built-up areas with strongly altered natural (green and blue) and other open spaces. Voluminous literature examines urban socio-environmental interactions in tropical and temperate cities, whereas high-latitude cities are rarely considered. Here, we create a historical perspective on urban green (vegetation) and blue (water) spaces in a sub-Arctic city of Nadym in Russia. Our study explores a novel way to combine quantitative information from satellite imagery and biometric studies with qualitative information from interviews with stakeholders and residents. Such a joint analysis helps to understand dynamics of the urban green and blue space as well as its value for society. Furthermore, we propose objective indicators reflecting societal values of spaces in connection with recreational and ecological services. By contrast to temperate city studies, we found that green space is less used in summer, but still highly valued, deep lakes are used and valued more than warmer shallow lakes, and winter white space do not shrink but enhance the urban public space. Satellite images reveal inevitable loss of green space to urban construction and its remediation by artificial plantings (almost by 30% at present), whereas less valued blue space decreased almost three-fold. Interviews reveal that shallow lakes have reduced recreational values due to ice bottom and algae bloom. High values are attributed to deep artificial lakes, which are more than ten times deeper than natural lakes and do not freeze throughout in winter. Our biometric studies show that trees in urban environment are significantly taller than in the corresponding undisturbed areas. Since majority of the Arctic cities are built using very similar planning ideas and technologies, our findings shall help objective appreciation of green and blue spaces in other settlements. 

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4. Urban Trees in the Arctic City: Case of Nadym

   https://doi.org/10.3390/land11040531  

   Sizov, Oleg ; Fedorov, Roman ; Pechkina, Yulia ; Kuklina, Vera ; Michugin, Maxim ; Soromotin, Andrey ( April 2022 , Land)

   Trees in Arctic cities perform not only important provisional and regulating ecosystem services, but also bring predominantly settler population closer to the visual images and household standards of their home southern regions. However, maintenance of green infrastructure in the Arctic has specific difficulties associated with the harsh climatic and environmental conditions. This paper focuses on state and dynamics of vegetation in the city of Nadym, Russia, with a particular focus on native and introduced trees as the main ecosystem service providers and an articulation of local values towards green spaces. The research is based on interdisciplinary approach which includes interviews with local residents, geobotanical survey and analysis of remote sensing data. The results of the study show that maintaining of natural vegetation requires specific measures due to environmental the critical impact of anthropogenic activity. The active introduction of plants from more southern regions is manifested both in the deliberate practice of landscaping the city’s streets and courtyards, and in spontaneous attempts to introduce plants from more southern (not Subarctic) agricultural regions of Russia, which are privately brought by city residents from other regions. 

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5. Conservation in post‐industrial cities: How does vacant land management and landscape configuration influence urban bees?

   https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13773  

   Turo, Katherine J. ; Spring, MaLisa R. ; Sivakoff, Frances S. ; Delgado de la flor, Yvan A. ; Gardiner, Mary M. ; Garibaldi, ed., Lucas ( October 2020 , Journal of Applied Ecology)

   Rich pollinator assemblages are documented in some cities despite habitat fragmentation and degradation, suggesting that urban areas have potential as pollinator refuges. To inform urban bee conservation, we assessed local‐ and landscape‐scale drivers of bee community composition and foraging within vacant lots of Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Cleveland is a shrinking city, a type of urban area that has an over‐abundance of vacated greenspaces as a result of population loss and subsequent demolition of abandoned infrastructure. As such, Cleveland represents over 350 post‐industrial cities worldwide that are all promising locations for bee conservation.

   Across a network of 56 residential vacant lots (each ~30 m × 12 m), we established seven unique habitats, including seeded native prairies, to investigate how vegetation management and landscape context at a 1,500 m radius influenced urban bee communities. We assessed the distribution of several bee functional traits, diversity and abundance with pan and malaise traps. Foraging frequency was determined with plant–pollinator interaction networks derived from vacuum collections of bees at flowers.

   We observed higher bee richness and increased abundance of smaller sized bees as the size of surrounding greenspace patches increased within a 1,500 m radius landscape buffer. Within habitats, seeded treatments had no effect on bees but greater plant biomass and shorter vegetation were correlated with increased bee richness and abundance. Plant–pollinator interaction networks were dominated by spontaneous non‐native vegetation, illustrating that this forage supports urban bees.

   Synthesis and applications. Our study indicates that proximity to larger greenspaces within an urban landscape promotes overall bee richness and increased occurrence of smaller bee species within residential vacant lots. While we did not observe our seeded native plants enhancing the bee community, native wildflowers were still establishing during the study and may have a greater influence when blooming at higher densities. Importantly, spontaneous non‐native vegetation provided the majority of urban bee's forage. Thus, vacant land that is minimally managed and vegetated with what many consider undesirable ‘weeds’ provides valuable habitat for bee conservation in cities.

    

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