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The development of “Smart Cities” is associated with a comprehensive study of the General system of settlement. The aim of the study is to use the system of indicators for the objective assessment of territories, as well as determining the effect of each part in the overall assessment of the functioning of the «Smart City». The leading method of research is a comparative analysis of international rankings, surveys of experts and a comprehensive study of indicators. The article analyzes the papers of specialists working in the field of research «Smart Cities» and technologies: Mueller, Battarra, Srivastava, Dolgikh etc. The basis for this work were the studies by authoritative rating organizations such as IESE Business School University of Navarra, Vienna University of Technology and Research Institute of technology and communications (NIITC, Russia) which allowed to generalize the available research from the perspective of sustainable development and use them on a concrete example.The authors have adapted the existing groups of indicators in relation to the SKOLKOVO innovation city, Russia. The applied system is represented by 7 groups and 23 indicators, which allow to present the planning aspect of the current urban planning structure with its impact on human capital, transport infrastructure, social cohesion, the state of the environment, etc. The work lets confirm the influence of the selected indicators on the development of SKOLKOVO (Russia) and use the obtained data for the rating of “Smart Cities” adapted for Russia. The materials of the article can be extremely useful in the designing of concepts for the development of territories focused on the use of smart solutions in order to minimize costs in the implementation of new solutions.

Nowadays we observe a rapid growth of various new and actively developing facilities for winter sports and recreation. This paper is aimed at analyzing the structure of these facilities and establishing the dependence of their public popularity on the design, technology, environmental and economic efficiency. The main research methods are monitoring of the chosen facilities, data collection and summarizing, classifying and description. The key procedures and results include on-site investigations of the facilities, sociological surveys of their popularity, definition of the factors that hamper their development, working out and testing a mathematical model of climatic influence on attendance. It is shown that despite the growing demand for new sports and recreational centers, most Russian cities do not have the necessary natural conditions (elevations, complex relief) to satisfy the requirements of the contemporary winter sports enthusiasts. To meet this demand, artificial constructions for mountain and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, tubing and skating are set in parks, residential areas and on specially designated territories. In building theses facilities, various designs, constructions and technologies are used, which are considered in detail in this paper. We provide examples of successful recreational centers on artificially engineered reliefs well-blended with the Moscow urban area. We make a conclusion about the advantages of constructing new facilities and the necessity to fit them harmoniously into the existing natural and man-made environment. Temporary constructions for sports and recreation have minimal impact on the environment. At the same time, they give room for experimenting with forms, materials, technologies; they are flexible, mobile and relevant for cities. We characterize such facilities as nature-and-technology compatible systems. Our findings can be useful for specialists in urban planning and development, ecology, sociology, economics, sports and recreational management.

Abstract. Development of natural lands for recreational purposes generates an increasing human impact. The monitoring results show development of slope erosion processes on the surface of slopes, which can generate gullies and landslides, impeding a sustainable land development and requiring additional operational costs at recreational and sports facilities. The article contains the basic results of a theoretical and experimental research and the monitoring data, which will allow us to justify the design of anti-erosion protection at recreational and sports facilities. The research has shown the efficiency of the use of geocomposite systems represented by a combination of structural elements and a biotic constituent. The efficiency of such approach is proven by the geotechnical monitoring data on specific facilities situated in Moscow Region.