Ecology

Akademgorodok - the World Heritage Site

The theses below present the selection criteria adopted by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. UNESCO Expert Board can consider every nature site or an object of culture and history which satisfies even one criterion in this list as a nominator for the "World Heritage Site" status. The world famous Novosibirsk Akademgorodok fully responds to the statement of paragraph ii, i.e. it "exhibits important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design" and thereby it could undoubtedly pretend to assume the "World Heritage Site" status.

Selection criteria:

1. to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius;
2. to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;
3. to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;
4. to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;
5. to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;
6. to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);
7. to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;
8. to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;
9. to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;
10. to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

The protection, management, authenticity and integrity of properties are also important considerations.

The construction design of Akademgorodok took a National Prize of USSR and was presented at the World Exibition in Montreal as an outstanding achievement of national town-planning.

The edition "Monuments of Novosibirsk and Novosibirsk region" names Akademgorodok the main sight of Novosibirsk. In "The General History of Architecture" edition Akademgorodok is defined as the most significant fact in the whole history of town-planning in Sibiria.

However, Akademgorodok which deserve to obtain the "World Heritage Site" status as a unique town-forest is not carefully conserved but furthermore it is under the treat of destruction. This fact can only stir up public resentmen and indignation. The practice of unregular, so called "dotty" or "piece" building-up which has being gradually realized since 2000 threatens to defeature the origin of Akademgorodok town-planning.

The denial to take forest-preservation actions, that seems to be rather incomprehensible for a reasonable viewpoint, - including quite available and non-expensive practice, such as "a resting forest" - has resulted in damage of some wood lots. The wood restoration or artificial revegetation practice is not even discussed by the City Administration and Heads of SB RAS inspite of the fact that the estimated cost of wood restoration projects is lower than monetary compensation for wood damage through a building-up activity. Therewith the fact of departing of the forest area by "piece" building-up will cause an inevitable degradation of still existing and preserved wood lots is also ignored.

Local mass media and speeches of the City Administration and Heads of SB RAS propagandize the building-up projects in Akademgorodok forest area as the only proper ones and using sweeping statements qualify these wood lots unhealthy, "punk" ones. To provide public with objective information, presenting the current situation of Akademgorodok with concern about nature and culture protection, through mass media is rather difficult and in most cases even impossible. It also stirs up the fair tide of public discontent and leads to uprising of well-grounded vote of censure to the City authorities and increasing of social tension.

We take the responsibility to declare that the destruction of the forest area, the deformation of academic science centre means the distruction of Russian and world cultural ownership; practice of that kind can be defined as a fact of outrage vandalisme. This process implies only evil results for Novosibirsk scientific centre, for cultural and ecological situatuion of Novosibirsk. We demand to cease every building-up activity in the forest area of Akademgorodok, to stop the prictice of tracking and cutting healthy strong trees which is realized under the pretence of sanitary lumbering.

Akademgorodok must obtain the "World Cultural Site" status inasmuch as it practically has been representing this status since the day of it's foundation to present time.

Akademgorodok (also known as Academy Town) of Novosibirsk (Russia) was established in the 60s of the XX century as a scientific and university center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian(formerly USSR) Academy of Sciences. Akademgorodok is a district of the City of Novosibirsk and is located 25 km to the south from the downtown on the right bank of the Ob River. The area occupied by Akademgorodok is 1370 ha, of which 350 ha are covered with pine forest and pine-birch mixed wood. The today population of Akademgorodok tops 100,000. While developing Akademgorodok, a unique experiment of nature conservation architecture was realized, which was quite novel for Russia, namely the use of the natural forest as a town planning component. The history of domestic architecture never encountered with examples of preservation of natural forests in cities as a greenery. Usually, the forest beds and trees in a urbanized ambient quickly lost their resistance and died. Not only architects and city planners worked to solve this problem, but also foresters and botanists.

The particular principles utilized when the town-forest was created included:

• Preservation of the shelterbelt of forests around the construction area;
• Preservation of large forest massifs within Akademgorodok, directly on its territory, as more extended forest massifs are more tolerant to urban influences;
• Functional zoning of the territory of future Akademgorodok with indispensable inclusion of forest sites into the construction area taking into account their ecological importance;
• During construction, the maximal preservation of forest sites, forest beds, group of trees and individual trees;
• Use roads, cuttings in a forest, and openings for constructing services;
• Exclusion of any transit transportation from the residential area.

The zonal principle of town planning, which was applied, appeared very constructive. The area of research institutions, university and campus, social area, and residential area are separated by extended forest areas. The value of this structure is confirmed by that Akademgorodok repeatedly was a prototype for organizing academic centers in many countries of the world. The project of Novosibirsk Scientific Center was awarded a State Prize and was exhibited at the World's Fair in Montreal as an achievement in landscape town planning.

Organizers and planners of Akademgorodok succeeded in creating a unique architectural complex, a town-forest, where the fragments of wild forest are alternating with university and institutional buildings and apartment houses. The forest approaches virtually right up against their walls, bringing an impression of an eventually embodied utopia - a harmonic alliance between nature and man. The landscape projects and solutions were performed at a high professional level; each site and each street have their individual apparel, their individual faces, beautiful and unique.

During the 50 years of the life of Akademgorodok, it has become evident that this experiment of nature-protecting town planning is successful. The results of this experiment are even more important, as Akademgorodokis located in Siberia, where the resistance of natural biocenoses to the man-made impacts is considerably reduces due to a severe climate. This is an inspiring example of the possible harmonic coexistence of humans with a natural ecosystem.

According to the estimates of the experts with the chair of General Biology, Novosibirsk State University, and Institute of Animal systematics and Ecology, Siberian Branch of theRussian Academy of Sciences, the species composition of animals and plants corresponds (except for large vertebrates) to the compositions found in wild forests of Novosibirsk oblast.

Akademgorodok was constructed in a massif of birch-pine forests, which is a part of the system of Ob River belt pine forests. The main synfolium (forest layer) is represented either by pine tree (Pinus silvestris L.) or by pine with admixtures of white birch (Betula pendulaRoth.) and aspen (Populus tremula L.). The natural restocking in this group of forests is now satisfactory. The shrub layer consists of Caragana arborescence Lam. (elm), Salix caprea L. (willow), Rosaacicularis Lindl. (dog-rose), Sorbus sibirica Hedl. (field-ash), Lonicera tatarica L. (honeysuckle). Predominant in the herb and bush layer are Vaccinium vitisidaea L. (red whortleberries); in a lower topography elements, Vaccinium myrtillus L. (whortleberry). Other common species are Maianthemum bifolium L., Polygonatum odoratum Mill. (Solomon's Seal), Antennaria dioica L. (cat's foot), Iris ruthenica Ker-Gawl. (blue flag, or iris), Rubus saxatilisL. (stone berry), Pyrola rotundifolia L., the mosses Pleurozium schreberi (Brid.) Mitt., Ptilium crista-castrensis(Hewd.) de Not, etc. On the whole, characteristic of the forests of Akademgorodok are rich grass canopy, including over 30 species of higher plants. The most important of them are listed in the below table.

The diversity of plants met in Novosibirsk Akademgorodok reflects well the biological range characteristic of mixed woods of the regions with continental climate. The most important of them are species from such families as Gramineae, Leguminae, Umbelliferae, Compositae, Lamiaceae. Representatives of these taxa are frequently the knots of the local ecosystems that determine the living conditions and resistance of biological communities. Many of them are medicinal herbs: Pulmonaria officinalis (lungwort), Glechoma hederacea (gill), Geum urbanum (avens), Hypericum perforatum (touch-and-heal), Inula helenium (scabwort), Valeriana officinalis (all-heal) and many others). Many are ornamental plants: Lilium tigrinum, Iris spp., Paris quadrifolia (one-berry), Orchidacea spp. (orchis), Trollius asiaticus (Siberian globe-flower). Many are plants used in foods: Padus racemosa (bird cherry tree), Rosa acicularis dog-rose, Aegopodium podagraria (bishop's-weed), Heracleum sphondylium (cow-parsnip), Fragaria vesca ((wild) strawberry), Vaccinium vitisidaea (lingberry), etc. Akademgorodok forest flora includes an impressive number of exiting and important species of such ancient plants as ferns and horse-tails. The ferns include Botrichium multifidum (grape-fern), Matteuccia struthiopteris L., Pteridium aquilinum L. (bracken), Athyriacea filix-femina (female fern). As far as Equisetum (horse-tail) species, which used to be the basis to woods and forests and which have now shrunk worldwide to a couple of dozens of herbaceous species, are concerned, Akademgorodok surroundings and the inlays of forests in the town blocks boast numbering 7!

The forests of Akademgorodok contain species included into The Red Book, for example, lady's slipper (Cypripedium macranthon Sw.), dead man's finger (Orchis militaris L.), great-St.-John's-wort (Hypericum ascyron L.), grape-fern (Botrichium multifidum).

A rich lichen flora also confirms the ecologically safe ecology of Akademgorodok: 165 lichen species from 61 genera and 28 families are met here.

The fungal flora (macromycetes) of Akademgorodok forests is represented by a reach species composition, including over 200 species of pileate fungi.

The occurrence of rate or rare species is an indicator of the relatively safe ecology of the forests of Akademgorodok. The rare species include Phallus impudicus Pers. (stink morchel), of medicinal value; Amanita alba Pers.; Bolbitius aleuriatus (Fr.) Singer; Volvariella bombycina (Schaeff.) Singer (straw mushroom); V. pusilla (Pers.: Fr.) Singer.

The following species attract attention: Boletus edulis Bull. (cep), edible; Boletus luridus Schaeff.: Fr. (lurid boletus), nemoral relict, edible; Cantharellus cibarius Fr., C. ferruginascens P. D. Orton (chanterelles), edible, of medicinal value; Tubaria agrocybeoides Singer, nemoral relict, edible; Ganoderma carnosum Pat. (reishi mushroom), of medicinal value; Inonotus obliquus Pers.: Fr. (shelf fungus), of medicinal value.

Many fungi are sources of biologically active substances, such as Ðiptoporus betulinus, Fomes fomentarius (Tinder fungus), Fomes officinalis (quinine fungus), Boletus edulis (ñep), Phallus impudicus (stink morchel), Paxillus involutus (paxil), Boletus luridus (lurid boletus), Clitocybe sp., Marasmius oreades (fairy-ring mushroom), chanterelles, Tricholoma flavovirens (starry agaric), milk mushroom, Pholiota mutabilis (prickly cup), Coprinus comatus (shaggy cap), Pleurotus ostreatus, etc.

The "Red Book" species of pileate fungi (macromycetes) are also met in Akademgorodok: Sparassis crispa (Wulfen) Fr.; Dictyophora duplicata (Bosc) E. Fisch.; Mutinus caninus (Huds.) Fr.; Hericium coralloides (Scop.: Fr.) Pers.

The fauna of Akademgorodok forests are also rich and numerous similarly to the natural forests of this zone of Western Siberia.

Over 100 avian species inhabit the forests and water bodies of Akademgorodok, including the following:

Mammals that inhabit the neighborhood of Akademgorodok include the following:

Reptiles. Lacerta agilis (sand lizard), Lacerta vivipara (common lizard), Natrix natrix (grass snake or water snake);

Amphibians. Bufo bufo (common toad), Rana arvalis (moor frog), Rana temporaria (grass frog);

Invertebrates. The population of invertebrates in Akademgorodok forests is estimated as fairly rich. The structure of their community complies with the structures of unaffected natural ecosystems. The main ecological groups of the land invertebrates are present here that are biocenotically connected with the forest litter, soil, herb layer, and forest layer. Common are nearly all the groups of land invertebrates: worms, mollusks, Arachnids, insects. The insects represent all the main orders: Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae (gold-beetles), Cerambycidae, Cantharididae (leather-winged beetles), Elateridae (click beetles), Curculio (nut weevils), Coccinellidae (ladybirds); Carabidae (carabid beetles), Tenebrionidae (darkling beetles), Melolonthinae (may beetles); Lepidoptera: Epinephele tithonus (hedge brown), Noctuidae (cloud), Geometridae, Notodontidae (marbled brown); Hymenoptera: Formicidae (ants), Bombus (bumble bees), other Apidae (true bees), Ichneumonidae; Zygoptera: damselfly, Cicadellidae (sharpshooters), Aphididae (plantlices); Orthoptera: Decticinae (grasshoppers); Acridoidea (acridoid grasshoppers); Hemiptera (bugs), dragonflies, etc. It is also impossible to list the entire biodiversity of invertebrates, because the roster of these animals in the forest part of Novosibirsk Akademgorodok is yet completed.

Several insect species met on this territory are included into The Red Book of Russia: Bombus muscorum, the butterflies Catocala fraxini, Papilio machaon, Coenonympha hero.

The above data on the species diversity of the flora and fauna of the forests of Novosibirsk Akademgorodok demonstrate that it can serve as a model for creation of ecologically harmonic towns in present and in future. The equilibrium between the forest ecosystems and town blocks has been maintained for as long as 50 years.

It seems needless to justify the esthetic importance of the town-forest. It is the main remarkable site of Novosibirsk and cultural property of Russia. Akademgorodok has likely no analogues in the world.

However, now the unique town complex encounters the menace of complete eradication. The ecologic and esthetic merits of the town-forest attract attention of the profiteers in the field of deluxe accommodations who plan construction on the areas covered by forest. All the forest preserving activities are halted, which has already resulted in the degradation of several forest areas.

Since 2006, a total construction of all the forests area of Akademgorodok with office buildings and deluxe apartment houses is planned.

The recent events convince us that the unique town-forest will be inevitably destroyed without the status of the protected memorial of the landscape architecture and object of the cultural heritage of the XX century.

Literature Used

• Koropachinsky I.Yu. 1983. Drevesnye rasteniya Sibiri (Woody Plants of Siberia). Novosibirsk, Nauka. (In Russ.)
• Krasnaya Kniga Novosibirskoy oblasti (The Red Book of Novosibirsk Region). 1998. Novosibirsk, Nauka. (In Russ.)
• Krasnaya Kniga SSSR (The Red Book of the USSR). 1984. Moscow, Lesnaya promyshlennost. (In Russ.)
• Taran, I.V., Spiridonov, V.N., and Belikova, N.D. 2004. Lesa goroda (City's Forests). Novosibirsk, SO RAN. (In Russ.)
• Sedelnikova, N.V., and Svirko, E.V. 2003. Species diversity of lichens of the Novosibirsk scientific center. Siberian Journal of Ecology 4: 479-486.
• Pamiatniki Novosibirskoy oblasti (Novosibirsk Region Heritage). 1989. Compilation by L.M. Goryushkin and B.I. Semko. Novosibirsk, Novosibirskoye knizhnoe izdatelstvo. (In Russ.)
• Krasnaya Kniga RSFSR (rasteniya) (The Red Book of the RSFSR (Plants)). Moscow: Rosagropromizdat, 1988. pp. 539-558. (In Russ.)
• Krasnaya Kniga Novosibirskoy oblasti: rasteniya (The Red Book of Novosibirsk Region: Plants): I.M. Krasnoborov, D.N., Shaulo, M.N. Lomonosova et al. Novosibirsk: Nauka. Sib. predpriyatiye RAN, 1998. pp. 130-135. (In Russ.)
• Perova, N.V., and Gorbunova, I.A. Makromitsety yuga Zapadnoi Sibiri (Macromycetes of the Southern Part of West Siberia). Novosibirsk: SO RAN, 2001. 158 pp. (In Russ.)

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