Their work formally started on 2 February.

KFU is one of the institutions partaking in 'Greenery-water urban belts as bases for sustainable and smart cities.' The project is helmed by French Federation of Landscape Architects (Fédération Française du Paysage). It's supported by the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities of Russia and the Ministry for the Ecological Transition of France. KFU is one of the institutions partaking in h colleagues in urban environment project

Among Russian cities, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, Zverevo, and Chernyakhovsk have joined, along with Nice and Bordeaux in France. 2021 is the Year of Interregional Cooperation between Russia and France.

KFU employees, Professor Tatiana Rogova (Department of General Ecology) and Deputy Director of the Institute of Environmental Sciences Mariya Kozhevnikova, were invited as experts in environmental issues.

“Environmentalization of cities is a global trend,” says Kozhevnikova. “Seminars within the project will be held approximately once a month. They will be in a closed format so far because some sensitive questions are up for discussion. We will share with the public a bit later. Tatiana Rogova and I, together with experts from other cities, will listen to pitches and evaluate their environmental impacts, as well as help merge the positions of environmentalists and architects.”

The first stage will be dedicated to discussing legal frameworks for the creation of greenery-water belts and the best practices of French cities in this regard. Kazan, Yekaterinburg, and Krasnodar were chosen as pilot cities in Russia for the implementation of the project because they have had commendable progress in environmental development, beautification, and related aspects of urban policies.

Source text: Alina Minnevalieva

Photo: Alexander Kuznetsov

Translation: Yury Nurmeev