The Water Spaces of St. Petersburg and its World Heritage: Climate Change and Other Threats

Abstract

St. Petersburg and its surrounding areas have been shaped by their relationship with water. Following the example of Amsterdam, city founder Peter the Great sought to supplement the Neva River Delta with numerous canals. He also aimed to make the new Russian capital the country’s primary port and trade center by shifting it toward the open sea, which led to the establishment of the port city of Kronstadt on Kotlin Island. Today, the historic center of St. Petersburg, including the Neva water spaces and the Kronstadt forts and harbors on this islands, is listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, comprising 116 individual cultural heritage sites. However, with the intensifying impacts of climate change, the property is at risk of flooding. Specialists’ calculations have made it possible to make accurate predictions and propose measures to protect the city from such threats. The outcomes were incorporated into St. Petersburg’s Regional Climate Change Adaptation Plan; however, the document pays little attention to safeguarding cultural heritage. At the same time, rapid urbanization poses just as serious a threat as climate change to St. Petersburg and its surrounding areas, and for many years has brought harm to the “Historic Centre of St. Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.”