Geoecological Assessment of Comfort Potential and Development Prospects of the Cities of Samara and Saratov Using Geoinformation Methods

Abstract

The purpose is to identify the potential for the development and optimization of landscape development in the cities of Samara and Saratov based on the developed geoinformation index of the comfort of the urban environment. Materials and methods. An assessment was made of the potential for developing the comfort of the urban environment, taking into account the existing and future anthropogenic situation. The initial materials for calculating index indicators were: digital terrain models, geomorphometric information, approved master plans for the development of municipalities. Results and discussion. The index values in the studied areas demonstrate an uneven distribution of green areas and areas where environmental protection measures can be carried out. About 40 % of green spaces in the city of Saratov are included in the territory with highly positive index values, while in Samara the share of these territories is less than 2 %. Landscape structures with negative values occupy more than half of the urban area. Conclusions. The geoinformation calculations carried out for the cities of Samara and Saratov made it possible to identify the high compactness of the planning structure, which determines the need for rational use of urban land. According to the ratio of the distribution of areas of landscape structures and green spaces to the value of the index, Samara and Saratov belong to the same group with a predominance of negative values of landscape units, but to diff erent subgroups with the distribution of green spaces, and in Saratov it is more even.