{"id":33275,"date":"2019-11-29T11:51:52","date_gmt":"2019-11-29T16:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/?p=33275"},"modified":"2019-12-02T06:29:28","modified_gmt":"2019-12-02T11:29:28","slug":"inspiring-district-residents-specialists-and-government-officials-to-work-together-to-create-a-park-that-would-sustain-biodiversity-and-meet-peoples-desires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/2019\/11\/29\/inspiring-district-residents-specialists-and-government-officials-to-work-together-to-create-a-park-that-would-sustain-biodiversity-and-meet-peoples-desires\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspiring District Residents, Specialists, and Government Officials to Work Together to Create a Park That Would Sustain Biodiversity and Meet People\u2019s Desires"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We asked local people what they wanted. And we tried to think about everyone who lives in this area or in the vicinity\u2014people, birds, other animals, and plants\u2014to strike a balance between urbanism and nature\u2019s interests.<\/blockquote><\/figure>For the last two years our interdisciplinary team has been working on the Cherished Meadow (Zapovedniy lug,<\/em> in Russian) project. This is an unprecedented happening, as it is the first project of its kind in decades that involves building a city park in Moscow for the sole purpose of sustaining the ecosystem rather than for entertainment. The project was born as a civil society initiative, without any financing. The joint efforts of biologists, landscape architects, architects, local officials, and district residents brought about a project equally beneficial to both nature and people.<\/p>\n

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the last seven years, the development strategy of Moscow\u2019s park grounds has undergone many changes. Large-scale landscaping efforts have been underway in city parks: over 500 natural areas in the city have been fully or partially redeveloped and turned into more \u201curbanized\u201d areas, featuring more space in manicured settings for entertainment and sports. Wild grasses are replaced with artificial turf grass and mowed lawns, fallen leaves are removed, gravel paths cede place to paving tiles, and the greenery mostly includes aggressive invasive species, albeit with beautiful blooms. The selection of plant varieties does not in any way take into account their impact, including the negative ones, on local ecosystems. More than 50 billion rubles (around $US780 million) have been allocated so far from the Moscow city budget for these purposes.<\/p>\n

The aim of the public program is to make natural areas look more manicured, thus ensuring, according to the authorities, a more comfortable pastime for Moscow residents. At the same time, according to the Birds of Moscow City and the Moscow Region program, the Zoological Museum, and the Biology Department of Moscow State University (MSU), the landscaping of citie\u2019s parks brought about a drastic drop in nightingale, citrine wagtail, western yellow wagtail, whinchat, and corncrake populations\u2014species that need wild grasses and meadows to thrive. The population of sparrows, which have been so common in Moscow, has also seen a dramatic decline due to the lack of food in the freshly mown grass during the nesting period.<\/p>\n

At the same time, 2017 polls conducted by the Biology Department of MSU, together with the Online Market Intelligence research organization, showed that 46% of Moscow residents preferred natural landscapes as opposed to 16% who reported to prefer decorative landscapes. But it is no easy job to channel the actions planned by the city into preserving biodiversity. Taking this project as a reference, we have approached the authorities and tried suggesting another approach to landscaping that was hailed as important by the local community and a wide community of professionals.<\/p>\n

From \u201cbarren Land\u201d to people\u2019s favorite meadow<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before getting a locally known nickname\u2014the Cherished Meadow\u2014this place had been dubbed \u201cbarren land\u201d. Once this three-hectare plot housed car sheds that were later pulled down, followed by repairs of underground pipes. And when in the summer of 2016 the repairs were finally complete, the natural growth and wildlife began to slowly take over again. Nature was quickly entering the vacant niche, making use of seedbank left along the sidewalks and across barren land and of soil brought here for earthworks. Natural migrants also came: insects and spiders with aerial settlement routes, wind-borne seeds, also from nearest block’s yards, birds attracted by the food base. But nobody knew or studied the value of the place: a meadow strip lost among the houses did not draw people\u2019s attention and turned into a shelter for birds and insects.<\/p>\n

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The Meadow, August, 2018. Photo: Timofey Levchenko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The Meadow, June, 2019. Photo: Alexey Denisov<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The Meadow, June, 2019. Photo: Alexey Denisov<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This state of things endured until 2017 when the local administration came up with an idea to build a park there. The project featured sports-grounds and children\u2019s playgrounds. Everything would have been neat but for the fact that, a year before exactly, an identical park had been opened across the street. Furthermore, a project with such a high recreational burden implied asphalting off over 40% of the natural territory. In line with the latest trends in Moscow greening efforts, wild grasses were to be replaced with lawns and flower pots were to be planted with species considered invasive for the city, such as cogon grass (which behaves aggressively in moderate climate, overtaking natural communities and spreading easily) and silvergrass (which does not live long in such weather conditions).<\/p>\n

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Municipal administration project, summer 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was by mere coincidence that I learnt about the project as it was being prepared and I made a case before the head of the administration: residents should be given a chance to suggest a project of their own. And if many people and local authorities appreciate the project, then the funds initially allocated for the municipal administration project would be used to finance the residents\u2019 project. My idea was supported by the newly elected district municipal officials, and one of them, Irina Dontsova, became the project\u2019s co-coordinator. From then on, we only had to find and engage design specialists. It seemed impossible in the beginning: without financing, with only an idea and mere enthusiasm in hand.<\/p>\n

But looking back, we understand that the Cherished Meadow project brought together a unique team: never before has our country (or many other countries either) seen projects developed in an interdisciplinary cooperation on an equal basis with the help of biologists, architects, landscape architects, and the involvement of residents and local authorities.<\/p>\n

Ways of finding professionals who think alike to develop a project<\/strong><\/p>\n

I believe in being direct. Just imagine: I contacted and asked for help not just someone who is a biologist, but I did so with brilliant scientists who developed the Red List of Moscow: Liudmila Volkova and Nikolay Sobolev. It was they who suggested inviting the entomologist and the specialist on wild bees Timofey Levchenko, who was appointed the chief researcher for the meadow. A meticulous study of the area by biologists showed that it was inhabited by more than 500 species of animals, plants, and mushrooms. There were found 19 species included in the Moscow Red List (adopted in VII.2019). Out of them meadow grassy plants accounted for over 100 species. Forest grasses \u2013 for 30 species. Fauna was represented by over 300 species out of which birds accounted for 21 species. All of this, had it not been for the job biologists did, could be simply destroyed by the design that did not take into account the specific biological features of the territory. This 3 ha wild natural meadow is unique for the 844 ha Academichesky district of Moscow\u2014this territory remains the only one here that has not been landscaped.<\/p>\n

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Some species listed in the Moscow Red List (2019) in the Cherished Meadow (left-to-right then top-to-bottom):\u00a0unspotted lungwort (Pulmonaria obscura), spreading bellflower (Campanula patula), broad-leaved helleborine (Epipactis helleborine),\u00a0large marsh grasshopper (Stethophyma grossum),\u00a0garden bumblebee (Bombus hortorum), rose chafer (Cetonia aurata).\u00a0Photos: Timofey Levchenko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Some butterflies in the Cherished Meadow (left-to-right then top-to-bottom):\u00a0common blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus) male, short-tailed blue(Cupido argiades), peacock butterfly (Aglais io), common blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus) female, high brown fritillary(Argynnis adippe), small tortoiseshell(Aglais urticae). Short-tailed blue and high brown fritillary are in the Moscow Red List (2019).\u00a0Photos: Timofey Levchenko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the same time, Irina Dontsova contacted the department of landscape architecture in Moscow Institute of Architecture where she had once studied. Ekaterina Prokofieva, head of the department, not only suggested for the project Anna Antokhina and Nadezhda Astanina, great architects and \u201cGardens and People\u201d Award Laureates, but also proposed to personally lead this ambitious project. All of us, without making any preliminary arrangement, as if decided to some extent to prove that another approach to designing public spaces was possible, that is, environment-oriented.<\/p>\n

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Communicating with residents<\/strong><\/p>\n

We decided to talk to residents first. We were lucky: the Akademichesky district has quite a big community Facebook group, with about 4-5 thousand participants, so it is rather easy to urge the most active residents to discuss the situation.<\/p>\n

In addition to that, I launched a poll in Google forms and sent it to everybody willing to take part in order to gather a more objective feedback on what district residents wanted this territory to look like. Almost 70% responded they wanted a natural area, the one where no lawns were mowed, and where meadows and forest grasses grew.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
What residents of the Akademichesky district of Moscow want their park to look like. N=60.\u00a0Source: online survey via Google Forms<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/a>The three main reasons cited in response to the question \u201cWhy do you go to parks?\u201d were: walking with children; meeting other people; and having the possibility to admire and watch nature. 40% of respondents come specifically to listen to the birds sing.<\/p>\n

The three most popular ideas (that got over 50% of votes) for our project were:<\/p>\n