Ecological Urbanism in a Single Place: Forest Management in Novosibirsk Akademgorodok in the 1960’s–1980’s

Abstract

The article examines the history of green space management in the Novosibirsk Scientific Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Akademgorodok). In order to identify methods for managing green spaces in Akademgorodok, the author analyzes the work of botanists from the Central Botanical Garden of the Branch, first of all, the work of the long-term director of the Forest Protection Experimental Station Ivan V. Taran. During the research, the author used the concept of “environing nature” developed by S. Sörlin and N. Wormbs, which makes it possible to see the steps towards the actual transformation of the preserved nature into something new essentially approaching the environment in the works of Novosibirsk botanists. The case of Akademgorodok is interesting because scientists tried to solve the problems of forest conservation and integration of forests into the fabric of an urban settlement. The botanists of Akademgorodok with their images of the forest are placed in the context of broad historiographical discussions about the peculiarities of Soviet environmental policy, especially in the late Soviet era. On the basis of careful study of the scientists’ arguments, it is possible to assert that in their ideas there was a system for delimiting the forests Akademgorodok and a certain idea that the task of forest management was to maintain their “natural” state. This shows the ambivalence of the forest for the botanists of Akademgorodok: it must be returned (or preserved) to its natural state, the maintenance of which is impossible without the active intervention of scientists. Such a comprehensive environmental program could only be implemented with significant funding. The post-Soviet state of the forests of the academic center indicates that under the current economic conditions they are under pressure from the logic of further urbanization of Akademgorodok and various development project as well as projects of extension of the University’s territory (building a new campus). The future of the forests of the Novosibirsk Akademgorodok in such circumstances with the absence of a large-scale program comparable to the program proposed by I. Taran looks rather pessimistic.

Keywords

• ecology
• ussr history
• late soviet era
• environment
• akademgorodok
• novosibirsk
• history of science
• forest
• environmental humanities