Green infrastructure and smart urbanism: integrating environmentally adaptive technologies in the spatial development of the region’s first smart city of Arkadag
Abstract
The paper provides an overview of Turkmenistan’s environmental policy and the national environmental protection strategy that aim to preserve and augment the rich diversity and beauty of its nature, protect the environment and promote sustainable development. Further discussion covers Turkmenistan’s history of designing its green infrastructure concept and the way it was incorporated in urban development programs illustrated by the case study of the new smart city of Arkadag. The analysis also considers some aspects of the city’s design including advanced information and communication technologies, clean public transport, green spaces and digital services contributing to a sustainable and comfortable urban environment.
Among its priorities, the national policy of the Government of Turkmenistan seeks to preserve and enhance the rich diversity and beauty of nature, substantially increase the quality of the environment and living conditions for people, and shape a balanced environment-oriented model for developing the economy and competitive manufacturing businesses. So, while implementing its national environmental protection strategy, Turkmenistan closely engages with major international organizations, first and foremost, the United Nations.
Turkmenistan views climate action as an essential part of sustainable development. The National Strategy of Turkmenistan on Climate Change adopted in 2012 marked the beginning of Turkmenistan’s journey towards full engagement in the global climate agenda. The next important milestone was the Paris Climate Agreement ratified by Turkmenistan in 2016 and followed up, in keeping with these commitments, by a new version of the National Strategy of Turkmenistan on Climate Change approved in 2019.
One of the key aspects of global climate action is Turkmenistan’s contribution to the international efforts to cut methane emissions. It is known that Turkmenistan announced its support for the new Global Methane Pledge (GMP) at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, and expressed its interest in reviewing the document in detail and taking part in its implementation. At COP28, Turkmenistan announced its accession to the GMP.
Located in the arid zone, Turkmenistan clearly feels the effects of climate change and, therefore, pays special attention to measures of climate change adaptation and mitigation not only in the environmental, but also in economic and social dimensions.
To promote environmental well-being, both nationally and globally, Turkmenistan has been successfully implementing its long-term comprehensive National Forestry Program, which involves annual nationwide tree-planting campaigns where people plant 3 million saplings every year across the country. Over the last 30 years, over 170 million trees (mostly coniferous and deciduous species) have been planted in Turkmenistan.
Vigorous efforts are underway to create green belts and woodlands amid swiftly expanding industrial infrastructure, sprawling transport networks, fast-growing cities and emerging new communities.
Modern cities face the challenges of steeply growing populations, industrialization, environmental problems, and the shortage or depletion of energy sources. To address these issues, urban planners have, in the recent decades, adopted new strategies and concepts based on the increasingly popular green building designs and urban greening to provide a more sustainable environment and higher quality of life.
Green infrastructure (GI) is a network that provides the “ingredients” for solving urban and climatic challenges by building with nature.
The main components of this approach include stormwater management, better air quality, climate adaptation, sustainable energy production, the reduction of heat loss, building energy-saving facilities, increasing biodiversity, clean food production, and sustainable use of water and soils.
According to the definition of the European Commission, healthy ecosystems as elements of green infrastructure provide the so-called “free” benefits to the urban environment and population (ecosystem services): air purification, water filtering, nutrient cycles, disaster control, including floods and storms, and supporting biodiversity and stability of soil biota, etc.
Turkmenistan takes a proactive approach to environmental challenges, promoting the use of advanced and environmentally safe technologies in industrial and civil construction, as demonstrated by the environmental potential of its megaproject, the city of Arkadag. Built in just a few years, the new city conducted its inaugural ceremony on 29 June 2023. Arkadag is a benchmark model of a smart city that integrates digital, advanced information/communication, and green technologies. Its design shows a strong emphasis on green solutions. The siting of the city was based on a thorough analysis of the natural landscape and climate factors. Importantly, Arkadag encapsulates the achievements of the independent and consistently neutral Turkmenistan in its recent history. The new city is designed for a population of 70,000 people distributed across a total area of 950 hectares within the limits mapped on the site plan.
Today, Arkadag is known around the world as the center of green innovation. For example, for better water management, Arkadag has a rainwater and stormwater harvesting system that allows water to be reused for irrigating the green spaces. The city is surrounded by an expanding green belt covering 2,370 hectares. A mudflow protection system is under construction to mitigate the hazards of the city’s foothill location.
Arkadag provides a safe and comfortable urban environment with its advanced ICT solutions, green public transport, multiple green spaces, and digital services. Sustainability of a smart city largely relies on digital technology to maintain a healthy environment, including, for example, replacement of conventional transport systems with more progressive electric vehicles and buses that, in the near future, will form the basis of a clean and sustainable urban environment. By the time of its opening, Arkadag had joined the project “Development of sustainable, green, climate-friendly cities with innovative solutions in OSCE region” and received 21 international awards.
As noted above, the city joint the climate-friendly cities project because its design includes the following key GI elements:
• Green buildings designed for low emissions (5-10% below standard levels) and energy use (20-25% lower), and fitted with resource-saving equipment (thermostats, LED lighting, smart lighting controls, rainwater harvesting, and reuse systems). The overall design approach is based on the 3R concept (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle).
• Green transport: electric buses, electric and hybrid vehicles that have been introduced and are successfully operating in the new city. Their primary advantage is near-zero CO2 and other emissions. An extensive network of bike paths indicates massive transition to bicycle mobility. In this context, it would be relevant to mention a UN resolution adopted on Turkmenistan’s initiative to declare June 3 as World Bicycle Day.
• Green transport routes and green corridors where planted vegetation creates a special microclimate that enhances residents’ health and wellbeing, as well as their emotional bonds with the city (sense of place, local identity, etc.). These elements are represented by the green belt. Hundreds of thousands of new coniferous saplings, oaks and other trees were planted in the city, which boasts several parks complete with smart fountain systems, producing beneficial effects on people, as well as the urban flora and fauna. For 33 years since becoming independent, Turkmenistan has conducted nationwide tree-planting campaigns and community-wide Cleanup Saturdays that take place twice a year. Phase 1 of the Arkadag project included construction of 336 facilities of community infrastructure and other types of sites. Currently, Phase 2 is underway to complete the city, combining the best traditions of the national architecture with contemporary urban planning trends. Residential housing, community facilities and administrative buildings incorporate state-of-the-art innovative solutions. Smart houses are the key hallmark of Arkadag designed as a smart city.
Along with diverse comforts providing better quality of life for the residents, smart houses also have a smart home control system that operates via the Internet and supports automatic and uninterrupted functioning of all the utility services and safety functions. Such houses and their systems can be controlled remotely from a smartphone. Arkadag’s communications infrastructure includes fiber-optic cables that support broadband Internet connectivity.
In 2024, Arkadag won the most coveted Smart City Excellence Award at the World Smart City Expo 2024 in South Korea, Foreign City Award and WSCE 2024 Contribution Award, and was also awarded the Quality Choice Prize 2024 (Diamond Category) by Vienna-based European Society for Quality Research (ESQR). This demonstrates the growing recognition of Arkadag’s prominent standing as a smart city on both the regional and global levels.
The idea itself of building a city in Turkmenistan that would be architecturally and technologically unique has come through as yet another powerful proof of Turkmenistan’s strategic vision as a highly developed country.
As a result of the noble undertakings by the National Leader of the Turkmen People, Chairman of the People’s Council of Turkmenistan, continued by his worthy successor, President Serdar Berdimukhamedov, Arkadag has evolved into one of the best planned and most comfortable cities for life, work and recreation in line with the highest modern standards.
Built in one the most scenic parts of Kopet Dagh, Arkadag is a showcase of environmental well-being not only for the cities and villages of our country, but also for the neighboring regions.
