The roundtable “Green and Blue Urban Infrastructure Innovation for Northern Eurasia” took place April 19-20 in Saint Petersburg. During the event there were presented projects related to green and blue infrastructure (GBI) in Russian cities. Speakers representing academic and non-academic institutions, shared their relevant GBI experience and reflections to share. Also the factors of success and failures of such innovation projects given a variety of biophysical and socioeconomic contexts across the country were disscussed.
In the session “Green and blue infrastructure for the delivery of ecosystem services and comfortable living” two experts of SUN Lab presented their reports. The first one, presented by Anastasia Konstantinova, junior researcher of SUN Lab, was dedicated to modelling and evaluation of ecosystem services provided by urban soils and green infrastructures. It contained the review of the technologies, the research projects and educational programs of the laboratory.
The presentation of SUN Lab postdoc Victor Matasov described the practical case of Metropolia Residential Complex and assessment of ecosystem services for such landscaping projects.
The second part of the event was organized in workshop format to understand what other innovation projects successfully implemented in the EU have their chance in Russia, what kind of projects would be useful and relevant in terms of sustainability transition in Russia, and what barriers need to be considered to ensure their success. Specific GBI innovations recently implemented in the EU were presented to the audience by EU partners involved in these innovative projects. The participants of the round table gave a short structured feedback reflecting on their academic, professional or regional experience.
The roundtable were organized by a number of universities and organisations with support of funding programs ERASMUS+ JEAN MONNET PROJECT TERRA and CBHE ERASMUS+ SUNRA.