SPbGASU representatives took part in the international conference on landscape design

The 14th International Conference 'Urban Landscape Design' organised by the St. Petersburg Committee for Urban Development and Architecture took place on 17–18 November at the conference hall of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg. “Public Spaces in the Development of Megacities and the New Information Reality” was the main theme of the event which brought together professionals from Russia and abroad.

Specialists of the SPbGASU Department of Architectural Environment and Landscape Design took an active part in the discussions dedicated to current issues of the urban environment and landscape architecture, modern trends in public spaces design and enhancing their environmental performance, creating conditions for residents’ psychophysical comfort and public health, reconstruction of historical buildings with regard to growing demands of users, the trends, principles and modern techniques for the development of spatial solutions and small architectural forms, integration of monumental painting into the urban environment, the development of tourism infrastructure, as well as the introduction of smart city technologies and digitalisation of public spaces.

Associate professor Aleksandra Eremeeva addressed the organisation of eco-tourism in her presentation. As urbanisation expands, urban dwellers are increasingly attracted to outdoor recreation. The western part of Kotlin Island, adjacent to Kronstadt, where the natural landscape is combined with historical and cultural sites, has unique opportunities for this. Aleksandra presented the proposals for creating eco-tourism infrastructure on the territory covering the Western Kotlin state nature reserve, Reef and Shanets forts, which she developed together with Master's degree students. It would be possible to organise both recreation and informative excursions in this area.

Associate professor Nadezhda Kerimova, who supervises the field of training ‘Landscape Architecture’, spoke about cognitive urbanism, a new interdisciplinary field, focusing on the scientific research conducted in this area, how research data are applied in the design of urban environment and how urban landscapes influence changes in the key structures of the human brain. She also introduced final qualifying projects of the first graduates majoring in Landscape Architecture.

Associate Professor Yan Korzhempo made a report on the problems in renovating the historical environment using the example of the Rotermann Quarter in Tallinn. He spoke about typical challenges of renovating old industrial areas referring to the example of the project implemented in the Estonian capital where modern architecture was successfully integrated into the historical surroundings without damaging the identity of the old town, thus creating a favourable urban environment.

The Department’s assistant lecturer Ksenia Yakovleva analysed the use of small architectural forms combining functional elements and design objects. She had explored this current trend with the example of pedestrian bridges, including those introduced into the existing urban environment to enrich and harmonise it. 

Research initiated by the Landscape Architecture Council of the St. Petersburg Union of Architects has become a new format of inter-university cooperation, an experience of bringing together the expert community of St. Petersburg and Moscow within the framework of participative co-design. The first findings of the study, launched this autumn, were highlighted in the report addressing the issues of preserving the genius loci in public spaces by Svetlana Danilova, associate professor of the SPbGASU Department of Architectural Environment and Landscape Design, and Evgenia Petrashen, senior lecturer of the Department of Design at Saint Petersburg State University and Deputy Chair of the Landscape Architecture Council of the St. Petersburg Union of Architects.

Svetlana Danilova shared her experience in creating new public spaces in Vyborg – Cape Smolyanoy and Sadovy public garden, which were designed by SPbGASU professors, students and graduates.

She told that the practical experience has prompted the idea of a study to better understand the residents' demands regarding the renovation of historic sites and the creation of new public spaces. An important part of this research is a public opinion survey, which was developed by representatives of SPbGASU and SPbU with the participation of landscape architects from Moscow. The survey is being conducted in more than 30 cities and rural settlements to identify the citizens’ demand for designing the so-called 'third places', including those based in historic sites that have lost their functionality, in order to revitalize them. Residents are also asked which functions and qualities of public spaces are most important to them. ('Third place' is a part of the urban space that is not people's home ('first place') or work ('second place'): a café, a club, a park, a library, etc.)

Follow the link to watch the conference broadcast recording

Text: Svetlana Danilova, Aleksandra Eremeeva, Nadezhda Kerimova, Yan Korzhempo, Ksenia Yakovleva
Photo: Yana Elizarova
 
 ✔ Learn more about the Department of Architectural Environment and Landscape Design