Olga Likhacheva

The paper explores the impact of the EU technical assistance on nature resource governance in the Region of Pskov (Pskovskaya Oblast'), a region in NorthWest Russia bordering Estonia, Latvia and Belarus. Based on the inventory of projects funded by EU institutions or organisations in EU member states since 1991, and on interviews with project participants and/or end-users, we made observations about the nature of funded activities and their post-project sustainability. In particular, we have found that the EU enlargement of 2004 had significantly empowered transboundary cooperation of environmental actors in Estonia and Latvia with their Russian counterparts; the most sustainable outputs have been related to the development of physical infrastructure; water management and biodiversity conservation were apparently prioritised over other sectors, while municipal and regional authorities and higher education institutions were the most favoured beneficiaries.

The status of urban forests and other green open spaces has always been ambiguous within the context of rural-urban peripheries. On one hand, most European countries have introduced protected green zones around cities to contain their sprawl and to provide urban dwellers recreational space and sanitation services since the early days of city planning policies. On the other hand, the ecosystems of green open areas remain under high pressure due to high demand for suburban land, causing issues ranging from illegal dumping to ecosystem fragmentation and forest loss. In Eastern Europe, in particular in the former USSR, rural-urban peripheries went through series of socio-economic transitions that resulted in complex interplays of socialist and post-socialist institutions. In this paper we explore these interplays in the context of land-use dynamics of rural-urban peripheries of two middle-sized cities in Belarus (Mahilioŭ) and Russia (Pskov), with particular attention to open green spaces and environmental status of their ecosystems. We describe the properties of the rural-urban peripheries of Mahilioŭ and Pskov, offer an overview of legal frameworks and actor networks involved in the planning policies, and describe land-use pressure on ecosystems. Then, we discuss dilemmas of spatial planning in rural–urban, including spatial investment, regulation, and spatial intervention dilemmas. Planning process in the two cities demonstrates a search for compromise between a compact city cherished by the socialist planning tradition (and supported by planners’ backgrounds and existing regulatory frameworks), and the increasingly noticeable tendency toward urban sprawl.

The textbook explores case study research methodology and its application for environmental and natural resource management studies. It presents and describes the toolkit commonly used in such studies. To demonstrate the scope and applicability of this methodology, we have used it to analyse specific cases from such sectors as energy efficiency, physical planning, biodiversity conservation, landuse etc.

The textbook can be recommended to doctoral, master’s and senior bachelor’s students specialising in environmental protection and natural resource management and governance. The textbook also can be useful for teaching research methodology, in courses involving independent research learning, and in order to develop publishing skills.

В монографии представлен метод кейсов и алгоритмы его использования для исследований в области охраны окружающей среды и рационального ресурсопользования. Рассмотрены и детально охарактеризованы методы, получившие распространение в исследованиях кейсов. Возможности данного алгоритма и методов продемонстрированы на примере реальных кейсов, связанных с проблемами экологического управления на местном уровне, такими как энергоэффективность, городское планирование, охрана биоразнообразия, конфликты землепользования и др.

Материал монографии будет полезен для организации научных исследований магистрантов, аспирантов, а также студентов старших курсов, обучающихся на образовательных программах, связанных с охраной окружающей среды и управлением природными ресурсами. Материал монографии может быть использован в преподавании дисциплин методологического характера, организации учебного процесса с использованием инновационных педагогических технологий, а также для развития навыков подготовки публикаций на основе проведенных исследований.