The ENVIBASE-Project

Documentation / Online Handbook

Land use and Biotopes

Description of Problems

In accordance with the new legislation of Moscow, the Master Plan is considered to be the basic document of Moscow planning and regulation of urban planning. It consists of the following documents:

• basic direction of Moscow development for the period till 2020;
• Moscow land use planning for the period till 2020;
• programmes of the priority measures of urban development for the period till 2005.

The zoning of Moscow development determines the objects of its territory use and consists of three maps:

• functional zoning: determines fixed functional roles of the urban territories with long-term purposes;
• zoning for construction purposes is based on requirements for build-up density and number of storeys;
• zoning of urban landscapes with requirements for the landscape organisation of the urban territories.

The urban-development zoning maps are made in the 1:25000 or 1:50000 on the basis of an enlarged net of the estimated districts (the total number of such cadaster units within the city borders constitutes about 1600, with an urban territory of about 1000 km²). Upon approval by the Moscow government, the enlarged maps of zoning should be elaborated with an accuracy to the cadaster quarter (usually it corresponds to the inter-main-road territories) on the maps 1:10000. These maps are designed to be the main instrument for regulation of town development within the limits of the administrative boroughs. The most detailed information made in the form of the project proposals will be included in the plans of the urban development zoning in scale 1:2000 with accuracy to the lot of land ownership. The urban territory fragments not provided by the project proposals should be supplied with data from the maps of the previous level of detail.

Data Sources

The existing land use of the territory is determined on the basis of materials of the land inventory, officially received by the Institute of Master Plan of Moscow from the Moscow land committee with accuracy to the lot of ownership in accordance with the approved Classificator of Moscow Lands in Accordance with their Use, which occupies about 400 types of objects. Graphical accuracy of electronic information corresponds to the selected scale of 1:2000.

The functional perspective role of the territory defines the character of its feasible, effective, and agreed land use determined on the basis of the approved pre-project, project, and current regulations and legal documents. Information regarding the projects is to be collected and processed by the Informational and Analytical Centre of the Institute of Master Plan of Moscow. The strategic pre-project materials concerning the basic urban subsystems were developed by the Institute with the scientific and design department of the perspective urban development.

The zoning for construction in Moscow is developed on the basis of the necessity to allocate the specified volumes of new construction and repair works in the city by optimisation of visual recognition of the municipal development, the need to conserve the cultural legacy, and ecological limitations. The initial information is presented by the development plan. The model operation can be limited by materials regarding the acting town development protection zones in Moscow. The Institute possesses these materials.

Input data for landscape zoning is based on the topographical maps, data of functional zoning, and zoning for construction use.

Methods

The development of the different typologies of the functional use of the territories involves step-by-step aggregation of information going from a land plot to the cadaster quarter and then to the cadaster district at the municipal level. For the purposes of urban development zoning, the initial data received from land inventory is grouped into nineteen categories. Four groups which are related to the infrastructure (sections of streets and roads, external transport, water bodies) are to be excluded from further consideration within the typology of functional zoning because they are viewed as part of the territorial framework. The other fifteen groups can be further aggregated into four basic types according to their functional purpose: public, residential, industrial, and natural.

The widest set of the territory types includes both fifty special types which correspond to the groups of lots of land use and fourteen types of their combinations within the quarter on 1:10000 scale.

For the city purposes, only fourteen combined functional types of territories are shown: public, residential, industrial, natural, and ten of their double and triple combinations. In such cases, one of four basic enlarged functions of the cadaster district, limited by "more than 25 %," should be available in the balance of the territory of the district under consideration. The map of enlarged functional zoning of the Moscow territories is accompanied by the "Conditions of allocation of the projects within the functional zones," in which every type is connected with some group of lots recommended for allocation and some not.

The method of development of the construction zoning of the Moscow territory allows one to formulate requirements for the re-organisation of the developed territories using the visual and spatial predictions (estimation of conditions of visibility and estimation of conditions preventing visibility) and the urban development limitation through mathematical modelling on the basis of the original models. Following the results of modelling for the estimated districts coinciding with the cadaster districts of the functional zoning map, recommendations should be given on density and the number of storeys. Typology of the construction zoning is based on various combinations of these two parameters.

Typological characteristics of the landscape zoning is based on the territory balance through four elements of the landscape organisation: buildings and constructions, artificial coverings, natural surfaces, and populated spaces. It is proposed to normalise the balance of these components depending on various functions of use and space organisation of the urban territories on the basis of the net of the cadaster districts.

Results

The map of enlarged functional zoning of the territory of Moscow has been completed and approved by the Moscow government. The map of zoning for construction purposes and the map of landscape zoning are under development.

Uses

Demonstration materials of the map of enlarged functional zoning, made in the electronic form, are prepared by the Institute for Provision of Information and available to all interested organisations and citizens.

The town development zoning materials are under development in the Scientific and Design division of the prospective town development with the Institute of General Plan of Moscow.

For more detailed information:
Please contact the Head of Department
Oleg Bayevsky
tel: (+ 007 095) 250-89-99

Description of the Problem

Moscow is located at the juncture of three physical and geographical provinces: Smolensko-Moskovskaya moraine height, Moskvoretsko-Okskaya moraine-erosion plain, and Mesherskaya outwash plain recession. This location determines the presence of various plant communities in various parts of Moscow. The main wood stock is represented by birch, pine-tree, lime-tree, and oak; moreover, there are numerous plantations of aspens, larches, fir-trees, black alder trees, etc.

The green space system comprises the forest parks, municipal and district parks, gardens, public gardens, and boulevards. The above-described plantations are irregularly distributed between the administrative boroughs. The forest-park protective belt of Moscow is included in the system of plantation as well. Today it can be described as the chain of the forests separated by large built-up zones and highways.

Certain natural territories located within the territory of Moscow can be related to the specially conserved territories, namely: the national natural park "Losiny ostrov," the natural park "Bittzevsky park," the historical reservation "Kolomenskoye," pilot forestries, forests of scientific and historical significance, botanical gardens, and 125 monuments of nature. Most of the preserved natural complexes located in the territory of Moscow (meadows, regional fauna and flora (biota), valleys of small rivers) have a natural monument status.

The plantation system of Moscow is exposed to natural and anthropogenic factors. The basic natural factors which threaten the town forests, the forest-park belt, and other plantations’ stability are the following:

• periodically unfavourable weather conditions and calamities (strong winds, heavy snow-fall, annual or seasonal shortage of rain, extremely high or low temperatures, etc.);
• overmaturation of certain plantations which results in reduction of their resistance to the complex of rotting diseases;
• periodical injury by insects;
• acts of animals.

As for the anthropogenic factors of the unfavourable effect on the urban biotopes we can speak about:

• atmospheric contamination, surface and ground water as well as soil pollution;
• influence of recreation accompanied by soil consolidation and breach of plantation, as well as mechanical breach of plants;
• imperfect regime of economical activity within the system of planting, maintenance and protection of the urban plantations.

The diversity of biotopes in Moscow can be conserved only through the creation of a protective mechanism in relation to the natural conditions of rare and vulnerable types of plants present in the territory. This can be realised by creating an ecological frame and through conservation of green corridors going from the city to the country landscapes.

The preservation of natural areas is carried out in accordance with the law concerning protected territories. The biotope conservation is based on the basic directions of conservation and development of the natural complex of Moscow which, in turn, is based on the proposals of the Moscow and Moscow Region Development for the Period until 2010.

Data Sources

The state inspection of the Moscow Committee for Environment and Natural Resources Protection is carried out by state supervision of forest conditions. The Institute of Moscow City Master Plan and "Moslespark" ( MLTPO) have gathered information about plantations’ quality, spaces occupied, and territories under special protection in Moscow. But we can say that today no one has reliable and true quantitative information about plantations, and age and type characteristics are also not available. Significant differences in the presented information do not allow any final conclusions to be drawn about arrangement of the Moscow planted areas.

Today the system of municipal monitoring of the plantations is under development by the "Prima" Enterprise acting in co-operation with some specialised enterprises (forestries, academic and design institutes).

About seventy sites of protective green areas have been under observation since 1997.

Methods

Remote sensing by satellite and aerial mapping allow one to estimate the planting’s quality, its stock composition, and the configuration of plant groups, as well as to follow dynamics in the planting areas.

Space images show the woody plantings affected by clorosis and necrosis, specifying the level of damage (high, medium, low).

Geochemical research determines the relationship between the planting’s damage and the accumulation of harmful chemical elements. Research on the distribution of various types of lichens in the territory of Moscow is in progress today. This research forms the basis of environmental contamination research through bio-indicators in Moscow.

Results

The Moscow Territories Under Particular Protection Map was made. This map shows all the territories under particular protection and includes information about functional zoning and permissible methods of utilisation; there are five types of protection. The map also contains information about other green territories, in particular, green corridors forming the foundation of the cities ecological frame.

Uses

The city administration, scientific and planning institutes.