50 cities took part in the International Park Forum
On December 7-8, 2018, “The International park forum of industry experts: management of parks and public spaces” was held in Moscow. The event was attended by park directors, heads of city administrations and industry experts from 50 cities and 6 countries, which was an absolute record of Park Forums in Moscow and Russia.
The main topics of the conference were the issues of extra-budgetary revenues of parks and activities in winter season. The program was designed to improve skills of park industry specialists from Moscow region and other Russian regions, as well as to exchange experience in the management of public spaces. The event was organized by the NPCO Association of Parks and the Botanical Garden of Moscow State University “Apothecary Garden” with the support of the national portal ParkSeason.ru, the VDNH and Chistaya Liniya company. The Forum moderator was a popular host of Moscow 24 and Domashny TV channels, the official voice of MTV Russia Evgeny Rybov.
The business part of the event was held on the first day of the forum on the territory of the "Apothecary Garden“ in an unusual for the winter period atmosphere of the “Subtropical greenhouse” pavilion. The opening ceremony was attended by a member of the Council for Culture under the President of the Russian Federation, the Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Arts, honored art worker of Russia, professor, academician Dmitry Shvidkovsky, the Chairman of the sector of landscape design and gardening of the Association of Parks, the Director of the Botanical Garden of Moscow State University “Apothecary Garden”, the Deputy of the Meshchansky district of Moscow Alexey Reteyum, the Chairman of the Council of the Association of Parks, the Director of Sokolniki Park Andrey Lapshin, and the Director of the NPCO Association of Parks, the head of the national portal ParkSeason.ru Denis Tsukanov, who handed the certificates to the new members of the Association.
The conference was opened by the report of the Deputy Director of The Planning Office for the Housing and Utilities Infrastructure and Urban Environment of the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation Anna Badanova on “Priority project — the development of comfortable urban environmen”. Gerd Koch, the Director of the Department of the Federal Administration of Austrian Gardens was a special guest of the International Park Forum. The expert from Vienna told us how to make a park a popular cultural, tourist and public space. Christina Bräm, the Executive Director of the Parks and Open Spaces Office of Zurich, arrived from Switzerland to participate in the forum with practical cases on the development of attraction centers. Lutz Grotehöfer and Ute Hafermalz, project managers of Christmas Garden from Berlin, shared their secrets of spectacular decoration of city streets and squares by Christmas decorations and illuminations.
Also, the Director of the Capital Park (Astana, Kazakhstan) Gayni Khasenov, the Director of Municipal Budgetary Institution Directorate of Parks and Squares of Kazan City Marat Zakirov, the Deputy Director for external relations and development of Central Park n. a. Kirov (Saint Petersburg) Marina Berezhnaya, the architect of park facilities and urban spaces Kirill Gubernatorov, the Chairman of the Committee for the construction of sports facilities of Sports Industry Association Evgeniy Lamansky and other speakers made their reports and presentations within the framework of forum business program. Moscow region was represented by the largest number of cities, namely, 21 cities at once — Vidnoye, Domodedovo, Balashikha, Lyubertsy, Yakhroma, Korolev, Serpukhov, Odintsovo, Shakhovskaya, Elektrostal, Sergeev Posad, Zvenigorod, Noginsk, Taldom, Naro-Fominsk, Volokolamsk, Lotoshino, Monino, Podolsk, Drezna, Krasnogorsk. Among the other participating cities of Russia apart from Moscow there were Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Volgograd, Volzhskiy, Sochi, Sevastopol, Lipetsk, Bryansk, Ryazan, Ivanovo, Guryevsk, Izhevsk, Kirov, Kursk, Mikhaylovka, Zheleznogorsk, Togliatti, Obninsk, Tver, Uzlovaya, Vladimir and Pereslavl-Zalessky. The most remote participating city and the only representative from the Far East of Russia was the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. In total, the forum was attended by more than a hundred delegates from Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
Also, within the first day of the International Park Forum, agreements on cooperation between the Association of Parks and the Association of Sports Industry Enterprises were signed. At the end of the official part the participants took a tour of the Botanical Garden. On the second day of the forum, practical tours of the winter infrastructure of Sokolniki Park and the VDNH were arranged for delegates.
