Success of the science of genetics gives us hope that its methods and approaches can and should be used in urban studies. Going deeper into discussions upon the city, the authors of this issue introduce new terms into the scientific discourse and formulate new approaches.
The news section announces the new hybrid format of the UIA 20201RIO World Congress of Architects and conveys the UIA’s concerns about two iconic sports constructions in Brazil and Italy threatened with demolition. The news also includes the announcement of the Lunawood Urban Challenge Competition 2021 and the winners of its first edition, as well as the announcement of the Kaira Looro Competition 2021.
Based on the analogy of a city with a living being, the concept of a city genome is considered. The author proposes a model, according to which the genome of a city is formed when the town emerges at the intersection of the landscape features and the socio-historical context. The characteristics of the locality in which the city emerges are combined in the image of the “Genius Loci”. The socio-historical context is concentrated in the image of a passionary impulse for the birth of the city. Ignoring the urban genome in city development management leads to the emergence of unnatural and...
Andrey Bokov explores the dual nature of the man-made environment as a unity of built matter and infrastructure; he introduces the concept of “noncity” as an entity representing both sustainability and evolution of the social sphere. The author analyses hierarchical levels of substantive and infrastructural layers and their specific historical characteristics. He identifies the innate functions of a city and its social morphology relative to programmatic activity and analyses the typology of cities and their principal characteristics. Bokov addresses the dialectic of production and...
The problems of heritage were considered in the context of preservation of the historical look of the city. The participants of the discussion highlighted the significance of the restoration of cultural heritage and compared the restoration principles in different countries. They discussed the issues related to restoration education, methods of involving students and active youth in the promotion of the image of the city and the region.
The article studies the factors (demographic dynamics and economic development, conglomerate-agglomerate spatial effects, functional structures and specific characteristics of cities) and possible models of spatial development of small, medium-sized and large settlements. The author proposes her own algorithm to work out the most suitable spatial and functional strategy for the development of cities. A new term of urban conglomeration is introduced.
A special genetic code of the city and culture becomes an important discourse of the modern city’s existence and an object of research and design. Inheritance is a constituent element of development processes. Interaction of the old and the new is one of the key features of interpretation of succession. A transmutation contact of “the new with the existing” and “the new in the existing” is a part of the processes of succession and the general development of culture, being one of the mechanisms that produce cultural patterns and genetic codes.
The crisis of metropolitan cities is evident in the present-day world. The author attempts to articulate the issues necessary to comprehend the depth of this crisis in the conditions of the unprecedented development of mass media, possibilities of teleworking, military and epidemiologic perils etc. The author raises doubts about the necessity of traditional centers in Big cities. He comes to the conclusion that Architecture of contemporary centers becomes publicity for Utopia.
Art restorers believe that, in the course of time, pieces of art, paintings and sculptures acquire characteristics of an organism. And what about a city? We often use a metaphor “city as an organism” in our professional discussions, and rightly so. Judging by their complex and diverse character and the wholeness of their system, delicate urban interrelations can be compared to a living organism. Transport and utilities look like lymph and blood vessels. Recreation areas are the lungs of the city. The historical center is its heart. The operation on this heart was pointed out by Mark...
Having revealed the authentic features of Russian cities in the past, the author studies their existence in the present time: in metropolitan, big and small cities. Absolute indifference towards the surviving architectural heritage is described as an example of a new Russian “identity”. The author analyses the selling-out of historic property in Western Europe and Russia. The author makes a conclusion about a deep understanding of the identity of Russian town-planning culture needed to ensure its further development.
The city as a visual discourse always actualizes the key archetypical images in culture. The article tells us how a European city developed under the influence of such an important archetype as the Heavenly City. This archetype is featured in the opposite mythologies of the Heavenly Jerusalem and the Tower of Babel, around the semantic opposition of which the reflection on the concepts of the city’s visibility and invisibility is built.
The recently published Living Planet Report from the WWF shows clearly that biodiversity – the rich diversity of life on Earth – is being lost at an alarming rate. The population sizes of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles have seen an alarming average drop of 68% since 1970. Humans are not above, or besides nature, but simply part of nature. The global destruction of nature and its disappearance in the cities has a negative impact on our well being, physically and mentally. Flora and fauna must be offered their own space in the cities. New forms and types of urban...
All types of environmental management and economic activities, both those that produce material goods and resources, as well as intellectual, creative types and knowledge, from prehistoric times to our time, require spatial design of the conditions for implementation. On this basis, a simple solution can be found to create conditions for economic and spatial stability, as well as for the stable development of any administrative-territorial entities.
The current stage of the world technological development is characterized by rapid innovation. The spatial organization of the territory demands new approaches. The notion of “cluster” is now frequently used to denote a special territorial entity, but the urban studies lack comprehension of this concept. The authors propose its definition and the necessary elements of the cluster: production, science, education, infrastructure and general principles of their interrelation. The authors formulate four planning types of clusters that define specific features of urban planning.
The article analyses the main trends in the modern studies of the impact of the colour arrangement of the urban environment on the socio-psychological processes of city residents. The article focuses on three research issues: (1) which topics are mostly discussed within the context of the study of urban environment; (2) how the modern paradigm of reflections on the colour changes; and (3) what impact it has on the educational practice and colour didactics.
High-rise buildings and complexes, especially multifunctional ones, have been included in the urban environment for a long time. More and more urban functions (residential, public and even production) are provided by them. As the proportion of their areas in the urban development grows, the issue of their accessibility for people with limited mobility (PLM) becomes more urgent. It depends on the specific characteristics of the architectural and planning concepts and utility systems. It is necessary to investigate the problem of the restrictions concerning the usage of high-rise...
Most big cities in Russia are going through the epoch of instability. While their “fabric” is rapidly transforming, the changes in the “framework” lag behind. If the changes in the “framework” and the “fabric” happen simultaneously, the city loses its historical memory. It is supposed that a genetic town-planning chain was firmer until the 21st century, while the city remained “stone”. The cities that maintain the buildings from the past centuries in the historical part and develop in vacant areas have a greater cultural potential.
The idea of a punctual, low-budget and nondestructive intervention into the “urban organism” looks attractive. But a real positive effect is possible only given a deep understanding of the city’s specific features, genetics and current state. It is necessary to identify the fragment of the urban fabric that has the greatest potential.
The article substantiates the thesis about the applied, practical nature of city genetics (as well as genetics in general). Several examples from the practice of urban development management in various regions are considered. It is concluded that the method of urban acupuncture can be effective only if the project is based on the images of the city genetically embedded in its history and structure.
The article reviews the concept of urban acupuncture through the example of the winning project of the All-Russian Competition of the best projects for a comfortable urban environment in small towns and historic settlements. Finding a fragment of the urban fabric which has the greatest potential is considered to be a decisive stage of the elaboration of the project of revitalization of urban living. Whereas, architectural and planning concepts based on common vectors of urban development and adaptable scenarios imply activation of other areas, systems and activities.
Based on historical and archival materials and on-site studies of the author, the article discusses the architecture of Borzya, one of the small towns of Transbaikalia, which has a rich history and monuments of culture and nature, which are of great interest not only to researchers, but also residents of Transbaikalia, as well as guests of this unique territory. Among such unique monuments are the Konduiskoye settlement, the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Salt Lake and other no less interesting objects.
“Energy of the Sun” is a concept for the development and improvement of the area in the center of the town of Borzya with respect to natural and climate characteristics of the territory and the identity that they shape. The article features the objects and areas which become the focus of the project and the “growing point”. The level of readiness of the working documentation makes it possible to start the realization of the project in spring 2021.
After the flood in Tulun in 2019, more than 15 thousand people lost their dwelling. Tulun is a small depressive town possessing natural resources. The new master plan takes into account the peculiarities of the landscape, but still has drawbacks of planning. The author proposes principles for its reconstruction. A landscape-oriented principle establishes a procedure of urban development zoning and engineering protection from floods. The second principle is focused on the use of the economic and geographical position to revive the town. The third principle implies a targeted approach to...
The urgent problem of urbanization of coastal settlements of the Baikal region within the Central Ecological Zone demands a special approach to preserve the historico-cultural and natural heritage and to create the places for seasonal tourist flows. The graduation project “Cultural Mile” in the settlement of Khuzhir, Olkhon Island, demonstrates a qualitative approach to the territory transformation based on the present-day challenges.
The means of psycho-emotional impact of art have practical application in the field of spacial design. The use of methods and means of dramatic arts for the purposes of project development of renovation of urban industrial territories is promising. The introduction of the principle of "emotional theatricalization" of the urban environment expands the designer's capabilities in creating an emotionally favorable living environment.
The article presents the results of the study of the geocultural potential of the Ural town of Vereshchagino, which celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2023. The historically formed combination of the Old-Rite style and the unity of the local corporation of railwaymen promoted sustainable development of the urban environment in the 20th century. Today, the town named after the great Russian battle painter V. V. Vereshchagin needs a geocultural development strategy. The concept of geocultural branding of cities is used for the analyses.
Based on a comparison of the materials of the ethnographic Kazakstan expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1927 and the expeditionary materials of the architect-art critic E.A. Ashchepkov in 1943, the article describes the features of the establishment of manor complexes of peasant farms of the commercial type, old-resident and resettlement population groups in the XIX-early XX century in the southeastern Altai region in the basin of the rivers Bukhtarma and Narym.
The article raises questions of further development of architectural education in the Republic of Kazakhstan, based on the realities of modern times, the need to respond to global challenges of our time, in the search for national identity in the art of architecture. The article examines the didactic prerequisites for improving the quality of training of specialists who could be competitive among the world's architectural elite. Current educational standards and curricula are critically analyzed. The article highlights the results of a questionnaire survey of students and teachers of...
The establishment an interuniversity campus in Irkutsk offers an opportunity to attract intellectual assets and to influence the regional economy in general. Basing on the analysis of the urban area, the Irkutsk State Transport University and the project for prospective development of the Irkutsk National Research Technical University worked out by the Siberian Laboratory of Urbanistics, the authors propose to create an interuniversity campus on the adjacent site. They describe the conditions of its placement together with comfortable pedestrian and transport links, including those with...
The authors study town-planning and design motivations that generate the necessity for the synthesis of contemporary and old architecture in the process of design in the historical center of Irkutsk. The design solutions for the Fashion Center are focused on the most careful attitude towards monuments, as well as on the integration of contemporary architecture into the historical heritage.