The Tbilisi Urban Forest by Ruderal was selected as a Finalist for the European Prize for Urban Public Space. This biennial award recognizes the best interventions in creation and transformation of public spaces in European cities. This recognition follows the project’s nomination for the European Union Prize in 2024.
Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Awards (EUmies Awards). Sarah Cowles, director of Ruderal, said that this nomination marks the European Prize for Urban Public Space’s first recognition of a landscape architectural work in Georgia. The Tbilisi Urban Forest Project will improve biodiversity and habitat, increase resilience to climate changes, and provide new recreation opportunities for Tbilisi residents.
In 2020, Tbilisi city leaders, Georgia, initiated a project for replanting the Tbilisi Urban Forest, replacing aging pine forests with a biodiverse selection of endemic species and climate-adapted plants. Ruderal, an Tbilisi based landscape architecture, was selected to design the Tbilisi Urban Forest project. They proposed a novel approach that integrates ecology, technological advancements, and aesthetics.
Two pilot areas are located within the 700-hectare Mtatsminda area: Narikala Ridge – a cliffside that faces north and connects the historic city centre to the National Botanical Garden of Georgia – and Okrokana – a slope facing south in a periurban settlement on the hills above Tbilisi.
Ruderal adapted work by environmental scientists to create detailed plans for “patches” (or groups) of plant communities that are suited to different soil conditions and slopes. The vertical heterogeneity and species diversity of the plantings provides cover for wildlife. Ruderal, a leader in advanced computation methods for landscape design and a pioneer of parametric planting design tools, developed a tool to reconcile typical plant conditions with site-specific spatial information. The tool allows designers the ability to quickly visualize the patches in different scales. It also allows them to adapt and optimize species mixtures based on nursery inventory and simulate the interaction between diverse species over time. The project uses trees that are grown in Georgian nurseries, and seeds collected from local seed banks. This allows the project to be linked to the surrounding ecology and support a growing network native plant nurseries.
The Tbilisi Urban Forest Project can be replicated by cities around the world as a model of sustainable and resilient urban afforestation. The project integrates technology, ecology, and aesthetics in order to create a resilient and biodiverse urban forest that will benefit future generations.
The European Prize for Urban Public Space (EPUPS) is a biennial contest that aims to recognize and make known all types of works created, recovered and improved public spaces in European Cities. A jury of international experts has selected the Tbilisi Urban Forest as one of five finalists out of 253 submissions. The winner will be announced on October 20, 2024.
Ruderal, a landscape architecture firm based in Tbilisi (Georgia), designs and develops sustainable projects that integrate ecology, culture and history into the surrounding context. Ruderal collaborates with partners from municipalities, institutions, groups of community members, and private developers in order to guide the design process.
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