International Park Forum in Volgograd. Day 1. Photo report
On August 9, 2019, Volgograd hosted the 3rd International Park Forum for Industry Professionals: Parks and Public Spaces Management (IPF). This major park industry event in Russia and the CIS took place in the Southern Federal District for the first time. The event was organized by the Association of Parks and supported by the Volgograd City Administration, with ParkSeason as the general media partner. The partners were Stoloto. State Lotteries and Burger King Russia.
The International Park Forum takes place twice a year. Traditionally, it is a venue to gather leading park specialists. The forum is primarily aimed at sharing best practices between leading park experts and city governments, together with promotion of outdoor recreation. Among the professionals who came to Volgograd were leaders of local governments, park managers, landscape designers, urban construction experts, architects and project designers from Moscow, regions of the Russian Federation, the CIS countries and Europe. The event’s program included a business meeting in Volgograd Hotel’s conference hall and a tour of the Mamayev Kurgan on Day 1 of the forum. There was a press tour organized for the reporters of federal, regional and Moscow media.
"This is the first park forum in our city", says Vitaly Likhachev, Volgograd Mayor, IPF Organizing Committee chairman. "We are glad to see Volgograd on a par with cities such as Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Kazan, that have been using cutting-edge technologies to build a comfortable urban environment for several years now". Since 2015, over 30 parks and public spaces (covering over 280 hectares) have been improved in Volgograd, with more than 30,000 trees planted and 10 new fountains built. Pedestrian lanes and areas cover more 150,000 sq m.
The Forum’s included a special module dealing with cases of foreign experts. Among the professionals who came to Russia for the first time with exclusive reports to be delivered during the Forum in Volgograd were Lucia Cuesta, the manager of the famous Spanish park Güell Gabino Carballo, the technical manager of the Coastal Environment Department of Barcelona City Hall, and Simona Messina, a project designer and chief architect of Appia Antica regional park in Rome. In addition, Vladimir Babivsky, Chief Engineer at Minskzelenstroy, Minsk City Executive Committee, came to share the park management experience of the Republic of Belarus.
The forum was opened by Volgograd Region Governor Andrei Bocharov, who thanked the management of the Association of Parks for choosing Volgograd as the venue of the event. The other key speakers were Larisa Kanunnikova, Deputy Head of Saint Petersburg Landscaping Committee, Marat Zakirov, Head of the Administration for Parks of Kazan, Olga Ziklenkova, Deputy Head of Moscow State Budget-Funded Enterprise Mosgorpark United Directorate, Svetlana Akulova, Director of the Moscow Zoo, President of the Union of Zoos and Aquariums of Russia (SOZAR), Andrey Lapshin, Director of Sokolniki Central Park of Culture and Recreation, Elizaveta Fokina, Director of Tsaritsyno Museum Reserve, Denis Tsukanov, Director of Non-Profit Organization the Association of Parks, Director General of ParkSeason Rus, LLC, Vitaly Emmanuilov, Deputy Director General of VDNKh, Irina Kuznetsova, Deputy Director of the Moscow State Integrated Museum-Reserve (estates Komenskoye, Izmailovo, Lyublino), deputy Alexey Reteyum, Director of the Botanical Garden of the Moscow State University "Apothecary Garden", Ksenia Vasilyeva, Deputy Director of ZaryadyePark, Alexey Chibin, Director of the Hermitage Garden, Olga Gai, Deputy Head of the Spatial Development Dimension, Center for Strategic Research, Yekaterina Kolesnikova, Director of Perovsky Park, Edvin Petrov, Head of the Department of Urban Planning and Architecture of the Administration of Volgograd, Alexander Vyazmin, Deputy Director of VGP Design and Construction Company, Merited Architect of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Selivokhin, Director General of NRDN Bureau, Irina Kolesnikova, Deputy Director of the Municipal Autonomous Enterprise "Parks of Samara". For a detailed program with report topics, visit the official website forum.urbanparks.ru.
