On February 8, 2022, the Museum of Contemporary Arts named after S.P. Diaghilev presented an exhibition accompanied by an interview film about the interdisciplinary science-art project “To be the wind for the tree” by Natalya Fedorova, a media artist and lecturer at the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The project is inspired by the Herbarium of the Botanical Garden of St. Petersburg State University and was created in external partnership with the Smart Urban Nature laboratory of RUDN University, the laboratories of the Art & Science program of ITMO University and the Forestry Engineering Academy.
SUN Lab presented the results of the third year of the SUN project
SUN Lab presented the results of the third year of the project “Smart technologies to monitor, model and evaluate ecosystem services provided by urban green infrastructure and soils to support decision making in sustainable city development under global changes”, supported by a Russian Science Foundation (RSF).
Research in the third year of the project was focused on 3 main objectives:
- monitoring of ecosystem services of urban green infrastructure based on the Smart Urban Nature network;
- interpretation of monitoring data for ecosystem services for various target groups and practical tasks;
- application of the results of monitoring and modeling ecosystem services to support decision-making in the field of sustainable development of the urban environment.
SUN Lab celebrates the International Day of Forests by setting up TreeTalkers in Rostov-on-Don
When we drink a glass of water, write in a notebook, take medicine for a fever or build a house, we do not always make the connection with forests. And yet, these and many other aspects of our lives are linked to forests in one way or another.
Forest sustainable management and their use of resources are key to combating climate change, and to contributing to the prosperity and well-being of current and future generations. Forests also play a crucial role in poverty alleviation and in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Yet despite all of these priceless ecological, economic, social and health benefits, global deforestation continues at an alarming rate.
Riccardo Valentini gave a lecture to managers from 100 Russian cities
Prof. Riccardo Valentini, the head of Smart Urban Nature Lab opened the Module 6: Urban ecology of an educational program Master of Public Administration by giving a lecture “Urban Health and Green Infrastructures”.
Participants of this program, organized by SKOLKOVO Moscow School of Management, are 500 managers from 100 largest cities in Russia: mayors, deputy mayors, deputy heads of the region, chief architects. The main objective of the program is to to form leaders who will act as drivers of the development of Russian cities.
Tree Talkers network expanded with a new location in Moscow
The SUN Lab’s team in collaboration with experts from Wood expertise center “Zdorovy Les” set up new devices in Gorky Park, one of the biggest and most attended parks in Moscow city center.
Before installation, experts from Zdorovy Les conducted a local research in the park. They found out 16 poplars of the same age and size but quite different in trunk condition – most of them were strongly decayed. Visually the state of the trees was rather different from their potential sustainability and trunk health. So these trees came up as the spots for 16 Tree Talkers set up.
Smart Urban Nature Lab took part in the NAUKA0+ Science Festival
XV Russian Science Festival NAUKA0+ took place from October, 9-21 in Moscow and many other regions of Russia. The largest Russian popular science project designed to establish a dialogue between science and society, educating schoolchildren, students and adults about the latest achievements of science in the field of physics, biology and medicine, ecology, humanities, etc. SUN Lab is an active participant in this event. Every year our scientists take part in lectures and workshops, both at the RUDN University and in the external events of the festival.
Scientists discussed the use of smart technologies in monitoring green spaces
On September 30, 2020, an international scientific seminar “Monitoring urban green infrastructures” was organized under the umbrella of the Department of Landscape Design and Sustainable Ecosystems of ATI RUDN University. The event was held in an online format and was devoted to a number of issues in the field of monitoring green infrastructure in cities using IoT technologies.
Experts and participants discussed topics such as express methods for assessing the physiological state of green spaces, the influence of environmental factors on the state of plants, timely diagnosis of plant diseases and the development of methods for plant protection. Among the participants of the seminar are experts from the Smart Urban Nature laboratory Vyacheslav Vasenev, Alexey Yaroslavtsev, Vasily Brykov, Yuri Dvornikov and Viktor Matasov as well as partners from the Russian Research Institute of Phytopathology, N.V. Tsitsin Main Botanical Garden of RAS and other organizations.
International Scientific Seminar “Monitoring of Urban Green Infrastructure”
SUN Lab of RUDN University invites to the international scientific seminar “Monitoring of urban green infrastructure”, which will be held online on the Microsoft Teams platform on September 30. The meeting starts at 15:30 Moscow time. The working language is English.
The seminar will focus on several issues in the field of monitoring of urban green infrastructure using IoT technologies. Experts and participants will discuss such topics as express methods for assessing the physiological state of green infrastructure, the influence of environmental factors on the state of plants, timely diagnosis of plant diseases and the development of methods for plant protection.
SUN Lab scientists have published the first results of the Tree assessment on Bolotnaya Square (Moscow)
Paper “IoT Monitoring of Urban Tree Ecosystem Services: Possibilities and Challenges” was published in the Special Issue Assessing, Valuing and Mapping Ecosystem Services of Forests journal and describes an opportunity of applying IoT technology not only to measure tree functionality through fluxes of water and carbon, but also to establish a smart urban green infrastructure operational system for management.
The paper presents results of a research project developed by SUN Lab scientists (RUDN University), in cooperation with researchers from University of Palermo, University of Tuscia, Campania University “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Research and Innovation Centre, Timiryazev Russian State Agrarian University with the support of the Russian Science Foundation (RSF).
Theory and practice cooperate for sustainable urban development
On April 29, 2020 a round-table “Urban Ecology. Theory for practice” was held in an online format. The main topic was focused on the interaction of theorists in urban ecology and practitioners in urban development and landscape architecture. The participants of the round table – researchers, architects and designers of urban environment – presented their projects and discussed the features and prospects of communication between researchers of urban ecosystems and specialists of Russian urban planning and improvement. The discussion focused on the impact of environmental data of modern cities on the work of urban decision makers. The event was organized by Smart Urban Nature Laboratory of RUDN University and the Guild of Landscape Engineers (Moscow).