Land-Use Change in New Moscow: First Outcomes after Five Years of Urbanization

Urbanization coincides with remarkable environmental changes, including conversion of natural landscapes into urban. Moscow megapolis is among the largest urbanized areas in Europe. An ambitious New Moscow project expanded the megapolis on extra 1500 km2 of former fallow lands, croplands and forests. The research aimed to monitor land use changes in New Moscow between 1989 and 2016 years. Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 images (30 m spectral resolution) and Sentinel – 2 images (10 m spectral resolution) were analyzed. All the images were collected for the similar summer period (from June to August). The images were preprocessed and classified by Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin in open source QGIS software to derive land cover maps. The following land cover classes were identified: water, built-up areas, bare soils, croplands and forested areas, and the total area covered by each class was estimated. The following land-use change pathways were reported: 1) reduction of the forested areas by 2.5% (almost 2000 ha) between 1989 and 1998; 2) partial reforestation (more than 1000 ha) and abandonment of croplands (more than 3000 ha) between 1998 and 2010 and 3) intensive urbanization (more than 11000 ha) between 2010 and 2016. New build-up areas and infrastructures were constructed on former forested areas and croplands. Although, some uncertainties in the absolute estimates are expected due to the classification errors, the general urbanization trend can be clearly distinguished as a principal outcome after the five years of New Moscow project

Комплексный анализ почв и зеленых насаждений в парках Новой Москвы, образованных на месте бывших сельскохозяйственных территорий и леса

Recreational areas contribute considerably to the establishment of sustainable and comfortable urban environment. Green stands and soils of recreational areas provide important environmental functions and ecosystem services, their utilization depends on natural and anthropogenic factors distinguished by land-use history. For the case of the recreational areas of New Moscow, a comparative analysis of trees (n=1909) and soils (n=39, 0—10 cm layer) of the parks, established on former forested and fallow lands, was performed. It was shown that the species diversity was higher although the tree condition score was lower in the forest-parks, compared to the parks established on former fallow lands, which were generally characterized by a higher level of maintenance. Soils of these parks had a neutral pHH20 (7.2±0.8) and high content of organic matter (8.5±2.5 %), whereas the forest-parks soils were similar to the natural Retisols of the forest area with pHH20 6.4±0.2 and 5.1±0.2, organic matter content 5.9±0.2 и 3.5±0.2 %, respectively. Soils of the parks, established on the former fallow lands, had also a higher pollution level by particular heavy metals as well as considering the integral pollution index. Thus, a higher level of maintenance of the parks established on former fallow lands coincided with a higher anthropogenic pressure and ecosystem alteration. However, reorganization of forests into forest-parks allowed partial preservation of the natural ecosystems. That is necessary to consider for planning the new urbanized areas in Moscow.Рекреационные зоны выполняют значимую роль в формировании устойчивой и ком -фортной городской среды. Зеленые насаждения и почвы рекреационных зон обеспечивают важные эко-логические функции и экосистемные сервисы, реализация которых зависит от сочетания естественных и антропогенных факторов, определяемых во многом историей землепользования. В рекреационных зонах Новой Москвы проведен сравнительный анализ древесных насаждений (n= 1909) и почв (n= 39, слой 0—10 см) парков, созданных на месте лесных и залежных территорий. Показано, что для лесо-парков видовое разнообразие было выше, а балл состояния ниже, чем для парков, созданных на месте залежей, для которых в целом отмечен более высокий уровень благоустройства. Для почв таких парков характерна нейтральная реакция (pHH20 7,2±0,8) и высокое содержание органическое вещества (8,5±2,5 %), в то время как почвы лесопарков были ближе к фоновой дерново-подзолистой почве лесного участка — pHH20 6,4±0,2 и 5,1±0,2; органическое вещество 5,9±0,2 и 3,5±0 % соответственно. Для почв парков, созданных на месте залежей, выявлен более высокий уровень загрязнения как по отдельным тяжелым металлам, так и по интегральному индексу загрязнения. Таким образом, более высокий уровень благо-устройства парков на месте залежных земель сопряжен с более значительной антропогенной нагрузкой и изменением экосистемы, в то время как реорганизация лесов в лесопарки позволяет частично сохранить естественные экосистемы, что необходимо принимать во внимание при планировании развитии новых урбанизированных территорий Москв