Akademgorodok is a township built from scratch in a birch forest above the Ob Sea reservoir, about 30 km south of central Novosibirsk. It was founded in 1957 as the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, designed to concentrate research institutes, a university, and supporting infrastructure in a single planned community far from the centralised bureaucracy of Moscow.
The place has a distinct atmosphere — part university campus, part forest village, with birches growing between the research institutes and cafes and bookshops that serve a dense population of scientists and students. The Central Siberian Botanical Garden is nearby; the House of Scientists hosts concerts and lectures. Take the train from central Novosibirsk (about 40 minutes) and walk from the station through the forest roads. The best reason to visit is the general sense of purpose and intelligence that the place somehow still radiates, even after the funding chaos of the 1990s.