Urban Environment Transformation, Taking into Account Image Perception and Participation of Residents (Basmanny District in Central Moscow)

Introduction. Successive development of historically established urban structures, formation activity areas of citizens with special attention to the image perception and quality of urban environment are becoming a steady trend. The research purpose is to propose a concept for the urban environment transformation, development of public spaces and cultural contexts based on study and systematization of works on citizens’ perception and city image formation.

Materials and methods. The research is based on the examination and systematization of works in culture, literature, psychology, sociology, architecture studies devoted to the perception of citizens, identifying city image and its elements, and mental maps making. The parallel formation the district volumetric-planning structure and urban environment image perceived by local residents is also traced. Interviewing was conducted and image elements appearance, stages of their development and gradual incorporation into the urban tissue were identified. Scientific novelty is that in addition to the territory historical and genetic analysis, the computer and Data-Base resources were involved to reach the objectives. Basing on archival maps, historical photographic material (postvu.com) and descriptions examination, popular and visited places are identified; heat maps of the frequency of recognizable places occurrence are drawn up and the areas of visual activity are defined.

Results. A way of monitoring the existence of urban environment and perception is proposed, and trends of ongoing transformations are identified. It is defined that the areas of visual activity are mainly grouped along historically formed pedestrian routes (streets, squares with well-formed image); within the group, stable connections are established between the areas; between groups of areas separated by large distances, there are image gaps, but correspondences related to their semantic content are also established.

Conclusions. A concept developed in the work is implementing the principles and techniques of structuring gaps and “visual voids” not perceived by people in order to saturate them with imaginative elements. The elements composing the image need to be completed and fragmentarily restore. Public spaces should be united, behavioral scenarios should be arranged and pedestrian routes should be organized, promoting the city image creation and the self-identification of citizens.

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