River zones as a tool for increasing the urban sustainability in large cities of Russia

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Geography, 119991 Leninskie gory str. 1, Russia

^* Corresponding author: heatherpaw95@gmail.com

Abstract

This work studies the main parameters of the major river zones in ten large cities in Russia in terms of their potential to form a blue-green corridor and its efficiency and integrity, which are essential for creating a more sustainable urban environment. We used several indicators to evaluate these aspects, like the green infrastructure availability of river zones, vegetation fragmentation, intactness of the unsealed 200-m riverside line and a functional structure of river zones. The integrated assessment revealed that river zones actually form a blue-green corridors only in two cities, Omsk and Krasnoyarsk. These two blue-green corridors, as well as the potential corridors of Nizhny Novgorod, Ufa and Irkutsk, can be considered the most effective ones. On the contrary, in Kazan, Rostov-on- Don and Khabarovsk, river zones least of all resemble corridors. In the remaining cities, river zones have an insignificantly fragmented vegetation, so they can be probably turned into blue-green corridors if numerous former industrial zones along the river will be transformed into new green elements, and if the existing infrastructure will get more vegetation.