The Tbilisi Urban Forest project by Ruderal has been selected as a finalist for the European Prize for Urban Public Space, a biennial award that recognizes the best interventions of creation and transformation in the public spaces of European cities. This recognition follows from the project’s 2024 nomination for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Awards (EUmies Awards).
“This nomination marks the first time that the European Prize for Urban Public Space has recognized a landscape architecture work in Georgia,” says Ruderal’s director, Sarah Cowles. “The Tbilisi Urban Forest project will improve biodiversity, habitat, build resilience to climate change, and provide new recreational opportunities for Tbilisi’s residents.”
In 2020, city leaders in Tbilisi, Georgia initiated a project to replant the Tbilisi Urban Forest with a biodiverse palette of endemic and climate-adapted species to replace aging pine forests. Ruderal, a Tbilisi-based landscape architecture firm was selected to design the project by proposing a novel approach to urban forestry that integrates ecology, technology, and aesthetics.
There are two pilot areas within the 700-hectare Mtatsminda territory: Narikala Ridge, a north-facing cliffside bridging the historic city center to the National Botanical Garden of Georgia, and Okrokana, a south-facing slope in a peri-urban settlement in the hills above Tbilisi.
Ruderal adapted the work of environmental scientists to create detailed spatial plans for coherent “patches” of plant communities keyed to different soil and slope conditions. The species diversity and vertical heterogeneity of the plantings provide cover for wildlife. A leader in advanced computational methods for landscape design, Ruderal developed a parametric planting design tool to reconcile typical planting conditions with precise site-specific spatial data. The tool allows designers to rapidly visualize the patches at different scales, adapt and optimize species mixes relative to nursery inventory, and simulate the interaction of diverse species over time. Trees for the project are propagated in Georgian nurseries and collected from local seed stocks, linking to the surrounding ecological context and supporting a growing network of native plant nurseries.
The Tbilisi Urban Forest Project is a model for sustainable and resilient urban afforestation that can be replicated in cities worldwide. The project integrates ecology, technology, and aesthetics to create a biodiverse and resilient urban forest that will benefit people and wildlife for future generations.
The European Prize for Urban Public Space is a biennial competition organized with the aim of recognizing and making known all kinds of works to create, recover and improve public spaces in European cities. The Tbilisi Urban Forest has been selected by an international jury as one of 5 finalists from a pool of 253 submissions. The winner will be announced in October 2024.
Ruderal is a landscape architecture studio based in Tbilisi, Georgia that designs and develops sustainable site projects where ecology, culture, and history harmonize with the surrounding context. Ruderal works with partners with municipalities, institutions, community groups, and private developers to guide the design and planning process, from research and concept development to construction supervision.
