Urban Ecology

Profession

Urban ecology is a section of ecology about the interconnection and interaction of urban (its social, technical, energy, information, administrative subsystems) and the natural systems.
Urbanization is one of the main sources of environmental problems on a planetary scale. Occupying about 1% of the inhabited land, cities concentrate almost 50% of the world population! The accumulation of people and the concentration of industry within a limited space leads to a sharp increase in the impact on nature. The percent of urbanization is increasing; in 2050, 70% of the world's population will live in cities. In Russia, at the beginning of the 20th century, 13% of the population lived in cities, now the percent of the urban population is about 74%.
The most important problems for the city exist because of excessive loads on the lithosphere of the city and its surface, loads on the landscape; water supply, air pollution, municipal solid waste production; influence of electromagnetic radiation, noise, vibration, light and information pollution; functioning of urban networks (transport, water, heat, gas and energy supply, sewage, etc.). To solve environmental problems, cities should be developed towards an environmentally friendly (sustainable) city in which the natural environment is located in state of ecological equilibrium with an urbanized environment.
The objects of professional activity of graduates of master’s programs are: natural, man-made, natural-economic, environmental-economic, industrial, social and public territorial systems and structures at the global, national, regional and local levels, as well as state planning, control, monitoring and environmental assessment of components of all forms of economic activity; education, enlightenment and public health, demographic processes, sustainable development programs at all these levels.

Educational Process

Training under the program is aimed at the formation of universal, general professional and professional competencies in accordance with the requirements of the RUDN University in the training program 05.04.06 Ecology and environment management.
Disciplines:
— Computer technologies and statistical methods in ecology and nature management;
— Sustainable development and modern environmental problems;
— Philosophical Problems of Natural Science;
— Environmental standardization;
— Professional foreign language;
— Flora and fauna of the city;
— Information technology and remote sensing in the ecology of the city;
— Sustainable urban development;
— Physical factors of the urban environment;
— Ecology and geochemistry of urban landscapes;
— Regional geoenvironment and urban geoenvironment;
— Environmental control and monitoring of the urban environment;
— Resource and energy consumption in cities;
— Urban development and environmental engineering;
— Urban Renewable Energy Management;
— Demography and ecology of the city.

Practice

Students practice at the Institute of Geoenvironment of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS); Institute of Geography (RAS); Institute of Oceanology of the Southern Oral Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences; JSC Institute Hydroproject RusHydro; LLC United Geological Company; LLC R&D Enterprise Singeos; Institute of Water Problems of the North, Karelian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Center for Marine Research, Moscow State University, White Sea Biological Station; State of the environment in Moscow city; Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the City of Moscow, etc.

Career

Activities in the field of ecology and environmental management are widely in demand in all regions of the country, in all sectors of the economy. The development of the labor market is associated with the interest of the manufacturing sector in improving the environmental characteristics of production, popularizing the ideas of a green economy, sustainable development and environmental ethics. The educational program is focused primarily on labor markets in the manufacturing sector, housing and communal services (the position of ecologists, specialists in labor protection, industrial and environmental safety), scientific, consulting and design organizations, and governing bodies.
Environmentalists are required in municipal and state, as well as supervisory authorities that are engaged in environmental activities or environmental management. These are such structures as Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resource Usage, the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Ministry of Agriculture. Work in these bodies can be connected both with bureaucratic procedures and with field trips, carrying out measurements, laboratory research and environmental assessments.
Checking the environmental friendliness of enterprises, conducting independent environmental assessments — representatives of large businesses need this when acquiring production facilities, obtaining loans for the construction of production facilities. Also, such organizations can develop plans for optimizing the use of resources, including secondary ones, increase the efficiency of waste management systems, and perform outsourced control functions.