Green infrastructure dynamics in the urban areas of subarctic Western Siberia

Urban Ecosystems. 2025. No. 28. Article 155.

Moskovchenko D., Roman Fedorov, Fakhretdinov A.

The northern part of western Siberia, which comprises the Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Districts of Tyumen Oblast, Russia, is one of the most urbanized areas exposed to the subarctic climate. Here, we study the specifc socio-natural interactions afected by the development of urban green infrastructure in such climatic zones as middle and northern taiga, as well as forest-tundra. Analysis of vegetation indices allowed the tracing of general trends in the dynamics of green space transformations. Most cities located in the forest tundra and northern taiga zone show a trend towards greening. In the cities located in the middle taiga zone, which has a warmer climate and large areas of primary woody vegetation, the warming efect and artifcial landscaping do not have the same noticeable infuence on the overall growth trends of phytomass. At the same time, a tendency towards the leveling of Normalized Diference Vegetation Index (NDVI) can be seen in the oldest, well-landscaped cities and younger cities with developing green infrastructure.

Keywords: dynamics, Remote Sensing, green infrastructure, Western Siberia, Subarctic climate, Socio-environmental interactions

Publication based on the results of: War and Post-War Peace in the Russian Empire and the USSR (2025)