Environmentally friendly cities in Russia - what are they like? Who is involved in the ranking, what criteria are taken into account? To answer these questions, we will have to consider several lists compiled by some organizations in different years.
Urbanika and the Union of Architects: “We know environmentally friendly cities in Russia”
What were these two organizations doing? In 2011, they determined the most environmentally friendly cities in Russia. Only large settlements were taken into account, those where at least 170.5 thousand people live. What was taken into account when compiling the rating?
- Quality of the urban environment. This includes indicators such as housing, road conditions, illumination of residential areas and industrial zones, transport accessibility, and the level of crime. Do these indicators relate to the concept of "ecology"? Representatives of these institutions are sure that they are.
- How natural conditions are favorable for living.
- The level and amount of pollution.
- The level of spending on housing and communal services.
Not to mention the fact that not all indicators are related to the environment, the methods of collecting information also turned out to be dubious. It was provided by re altors, climate research institutes, consulting companies. According to the results of the study, the cleanest city for 2011 was named. It turned out to be … Surgut. The second place in the list is occupied by Tyumen. Surprisingly, according to Urbanika, the ecologically clean cities of Russia are Cherepovets, Nizhnevartovsk, and Chelyabinsk. All of them occupy different positions in the ranking, however, they fall into the first hundred of a dubious list, which lists the environmentally friendly cities of Russia according to the Union of Architects and Urbanica. In subsequent years, the institute continued to compile ratings, but they are based on other indicators.
The Ministry of Nature is also involved in urban ecology research. Their ratings are based on completely different indicators. Here they take into account:
- air quality;
- water quality;
- waste disposal;
- management of environmental impacts.
According to the Ministry in 2011, completely different cities were named. The first, most worthy, place was proudly taken by Volgograd, followed by St. Petersburg, Saransk, Vologda … In 2012, Kursk was named the most environmentally friendly city in Russia. The last places among 70 cities were shared by Krasnodar and Irkutsk. In 2013, the picture changed markedly. Deputy Minister of Natural Resourcesreported that Kursk takes the same position. Other environmentally friendly cities in Russia in 2013: Moscow, Kaluga, Saransk, Izhevsk. In addition to summing up the general results, the winners of individual nominations were also announced. The purest water, assures the Ministry of Natural Resources, is in Anadyr. Waste is best disposed of in Yaroslavl. Saransk interacts most correctly with the environment. The cleanest, most transparent air today is in Makhachkala, Volgograd and St. Petersburg. Krasnodar and Irkutsk ended up in last place in all ratings, but not because of bad ecology, but because officials did not submit the necessary information to the Ministry in time. Delivered very late, they clearly proved that Krasnodar could easily get into the top five cities in which it is pleasant to live.
