ИСТИНА

At present, the urban environment is under growing tensions between various stakeholders due to multidimensional urbanization issues. Widely known classifications of ecosystem services encompass cultural services as one of the compounds of total value. The core ecosystem and social services of 6 urban protected areas (UPAs) in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg have been assessed separately due to significant contradictions between these compounds. A comparison blueprint comprises three main blocks: institutional value I (evaluated according to zoning and respective prohibitions established by legislation), ecosystem value E (evaluated according to ability to provide ecosystem services and deterioration level of landscapes), cultural value C (evaluated according zoning, prohibitions on human activities and the results of conducted opinion poll). Moreover, general evaluation of vulnerability dynamics of UPAs' network in Moscow has revealed the significant drop in ability to provide ecosystem services (indexes of optimum habitat shape and fragmentation have increased by 3.2-5.1 times). After NDVI analysis of Landsat imageries and Global Forest Change data, it has been identified that green infrastructure (GI) and tree cover in PAs of both cities are rather stable, while GI reducing is widespread in the central urban cores (by 1.6-1.8 times since 1990) and former Moscow green belt (by 1.1 times). Cultural value prevails over ecosystem value in 2 UPAs. Only one exceptional PA (Pike Lake reserve in Saint-Petersburg) has the significant dominance of ecosystem value (E-C = +8.4; possible values vary from -20 to 20). A significant gap between urban planning and actual ecosystem value has been revealed. Prohibitions that are insufficient for ecosystem protection are widespread in the riparian forests and meadows of Setun and Ochakovka river valleys, as well as in watershed forests occupied mostly by lindens and oaks. Excessive prohibitions discounting intensive land-use and high recreation value are much less common. Despite increasing ecosystem vulnerability, the social demands should not be neglected, as total prohibitions on human activities are impossible in the contemporary megapolises. The devised set of methods to assess the dualistic nature of UPAs may be implemented in various cities and countries, especially operated by state-led systems of spatial planning.