Sociocultural problems of polycentric urban development in the context of urbanization

Khasieva Mariya Alanovna ORCID: 0000-0002-0179-1874 PhD in Philosophy Senior Lecturer of Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University)" 125993, Russia, Moscow, Volokolamsk highway, 4 m9288@inbox.ru Other publications by this author

            One of the most important tasks of modern urban planning is the formation of an environmentally safe, energy- and resource-efficient, comfortable, functionally and aesthetically balanced urban space. At the same time, it is necessary to understand that the social, cultural and psycho-emotional aspects of the life of citizens directly depend on the architectural appearance and layout of urban space, since the spiritual life of a person is largely determined by signs and symbols transmitted in material culture. ^[1]

         The problem of preserving the historical and cultural heritage of the urban environment is very relevant in our time. The need to take into account the historical context of the city in the process of urban restructuring and expansion, while anticipating the needs of the future development of the city, makes the study of the historical development of cities useful in the context of modern strategies and methods of urban planning, providing an aesthetically and functionally balanced urban environment. ^[15]

         The first attempts at conscious and planned development of European cities began mainly in the XIX century . It was at this time that the authorities in European capitals took control of all aspects of urban development. In previous eras, the main reasons for reconstruction, renovation of the planning scheme and architectural appearance were reduced to strengthening and legitimizing power, forming the image of a strong power. Thus, Inigo Jones, one of the most famous British architects of the XVII century, actively used elements of the Vitruvian architectural canon and architectural techniques of Palladio to create his own special architectural style corresponding to the historical, political and cultural background of British society.  The banquet house, designed by I. Jones in 1619-1622 as part of the Whitehall palace complex, is characterized by a mixture of constructive and decorative elements of Baroque and classicism, which can be interpreted as a visual symbolization of the unity of the Catholic heritage of Britain with the spiritual values of Protestantism. Jones' architectural style was also dedicated to glorifying the power of King James I. ^{[19, pp. 97-99]}

         In the paradigm of absolute monarchy, the court architect was a key figure in urban planning and the design of urban space. However, urban development has always been strongly influenced by the processes and phenomena occurring in the spheres of economic, social, scientific and technological development.

         In the XIX century, technological progress, industrial development, rapid urbanization led to an increase in the need for labor in the factories of industrial cities. At the same time, the mechanization of agriculture has led to a reduction in the number of agricultural workers. Rapid labor migration caused a sharp increase in the urban population. This growth significantly exceeded the pace of housing construction and led to the disorderly densification of urban development, the appearance of spontaneously located slums in industrial areas. ^{[20, p. 16]} At the same time, purposeful policies and strategies of urban development were formed, which were reflected in the reconstruction projects of large European cities. One of the key goals of many such projects was the decentralization of urban space, which was supposed to lead to social gentrification, improvement of sanitary and environmental conditions, optimization of traffic flows and logistical advantages. Decentralization was achieved by creating a polycentric urban planning structure in some projects. L. Mumford notes that it was in the XIX century that rectangular segments began to prevail in the layout of European cities, connected with each other, but equal in their symmetrical unity, to replace the traditional model, which assumed a gradual and natural expansion of the city, from the central part to the periphery. ^[5] The active development of railways in the XIX century led to the emergence of suburban infrastructure. Since urban space planning contributed to the monetization of the city's territory and its resources, it became primarily a matter of business and economic development. ^{[13, 14]}

         Among the European capitals, Paris should be singled out as the most transformed during this period. The architectural and town-planning transformations of Paris continued from 1853 until the end of the century. Prefect J.E. Haussmann initiated the reconstruction of Paris, called "Ottomanization". It has largely shaped the modern look of the French capital. The communication system, combined into a single geometric picture of open urban spaces, squares, and intersections of streets, was the main feature of the new city.

         The redevelopment of the city initiated by Osman pursued several goals at once. First of all, it was necessary from the point of view of ensuring normal conditions for urban traffic, since the narrow streets of the old city could not withstand the increasing traffic intensity. An equally important task was the improvement of the central part of the city, as well as economic development by attracting investment and creating additional jobs. Although Haussmann's Paris project was not based on an orthogonal planning grid, the geometric clarity and coordinated unity of its layout for a long time became the criterion for evaluating the perfection of the city project. 

        The spread of the ideas of socialism, and then Marxism, had a great influence on the development of polycentric structures in urban planning of the XIX and XX centuries. Already in the XX century, the French architect Le Corbusier develops his plan for a "Radiant City", which embodies the intentions of polycentric development. ^[7] Le Corbusier's commitment to the strict geometricism of straight lines fully corresponded to the ideas of socialism that were actively spreading at that time. The idea of social equality was embodied in the uniformity of the typical development of the city. ^[9] The rectangular polycentric structure of the Radiant City was based on the repetition of monotonous elements, or "residential units". A residential unit is a basic residential element of a standardized and unified urban complex, in the architect's work the image of a residential unit appears quite early. Although the project of the Radiant Gotorad was never fully implemented in practice, Le Corbusier used individual details and constructive elements of this project in his other works.

         Another example of a fundamental reconstruction of the city, which had a similar meaning and purpose, was presented in Barcelona in 1859. In the middle of the XIX century . Barcelona, the political and historical center of Catalonia, was surrounded by old medieval walls. The city has not been rebuilt since the Middle Ages and has completely preserved its appearance: narrow and dirty streets randomly diverged to the sides, the buildings were unsightly and disorderly, congestion on the streets caused traffic jams.

         By 1860, with the permission of the Spanish authorities, the medieval walls of the old city were destroyed. There was a need to update the city according to a single urban development project. In 1859, the city council held a municipal competition, and among all the projects, the project of the Catalan architect and urban planner Antonio Rovira y Trias was chosen. His plan assumed the radial structure of the city and the egalitarian principle of the distribution of urban infrastructure. However, the Spanish government in Madrid supported the project of civil engineer and urban planner Ildefonso Cerda.^[8]

  The Serda project implied a special orthogonal grid consisting of streets of the same type with a width of 20 meters. Identical rectangular blocks the blocks were crossed by two avenues 50 meters wide, uniting the city and the suburbs: Gran Via Diagonal and Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes. Serda was an engineer, not an architect, and therefore he was free from the prejudices and stereotypes of the academic architectural community. At the same time, he was involved in a circle of politicians and social philosophers with socialist views and shared the new theories of the hygienists.

         In his work "The General Theory of urbanization" he wrote that "urbanization is based on the development of the network." ^[6] The main concept of the new project was the uniform distribution of public facilities and communications: every 25 blocks formed a district with its own school and engineering infrastructure, a park and a hospital were provided in every four districts.

         It is noteworthy that the working quarters were located not on the outskirts of the city, but in the center, on the territory of the Old City. This was largely due to the fact that the business center in the cities of the XIX century was combined with the factory production area, so that the docks and factories were located closer to the central part of the city, while the suburbs were built up with respectable housing for wealthy citizens.

   The orthogonal and polycentric urban structure created favorable conditions for further transport and engineering development of the city. The plan also took into account the natural and landscape conditions in which the city was located: beyond the walls of the Old Medieval City stretched a flat landscape, ideal for expanding urban development. In addition, Barcelona, being a coastal city, had a strong orientation along the coastline, and this direction remained in the planning decision. Initially, the low density of development assumed in the project provided for further expansion and sprawl of the city.

         An important feature of the project, which connects the Cerda project with the Haussmann Paris plan, is the principle of unity of urban space. Both Serda and Osmann conducted a planimetric and topographic survey of the entire city in order to create unified transport and infrastructure systems.  The general principles of Cerda's work can be considered relevant from the point of view of modern urban planning, because Cerda anticipated network urbanism and system integration, key issues of progress and sustainability of modern urban planning. The Cerd Plan, developed in the era of technological revolutions in transport, it turned out to be ideally adapted for new modes of transport, such as the car, tram, bicycles and metro. The orthogonal grid made it possible to build a new urban infrastructure.  The polycentric urban structure as a whole creates more favorable conditions for the further growth of the city than the traditional concentric model. Although currently there are other urban planning structures that are more effective in terms of orientation to growth. For example, a directional grid combines elements of a linear structure and an orthogonal grid. ^[4]

         As an independent theory, the polycentric concept in urbanism and urban planning emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1939, the American economist Hoyt presented his sectoral model of urban land use, modified the model of concentric zones of urban development and assumed an external progression of growth.^[2]

         In 1945, Harris and Ullman formulated their model of multiple nuclei in the article "The Nature of Cities". The model of multiple cores arose as a result of the analysis of the development of American cities in the first half of the twentieth century and accumulated trends outlined in urban planning in the United States.  In the article, Ulman identifies three types of cities: the first is a center formed historically among other agglomerations, assuming an even distribution of the population, providing comprehensive services to adjacent territories. Political centers located in the heart of the region. The second type represents cities with mainly logistical significance: transport hubs located on coastal territories (port cities) or along the railway. Finally, the formation of cities of the third type, as a rule, is associated with the production or extraction of natural resources (mining or industrial cities). At the same time, he notes that most cities represent a combination of these three factors ^{[3, p. 9]}

         The urban environment is formed as the sum of several interrelated key factors: economic, social, environmental, infrastructural. ^[17] At the same time, the process of urbanization itself creates new problems and challenges for the urban environment. Polycentric urban planning is able to cope with many problems of urbanization: an increase in the density of the urban population and the pendulum migration of the population within the city, congestion on the roads. This can create favorable conditions for further development of transport infrastructure and expansion of cities.

         According to some researchers, polycentric urban planning contributes to reducing the density of cities and the pendulum migration of the population within urban agglomerations, creating favorable conditions for further development of transport infrastructure and urban expansion. In certain aspects, polycentric urban structures are more promising from the point of view of long-term further development of cities: polycentric urban environment corresponds to the network structure of modern social and information space.  ^[18]

         Also, the concept of polycentric development is considered from the point of view of the cluster approach in urban planning: polycentricity implies the separation of numerous territorial units in the structure of the city. These territorial units have their own borders and infrastructure connections. They also have a certain autonomy and differ from each other in a number of characteristics and functions. This requires an individual approach in determining the directions of further development in each of them.     

         Among the most important characteristic features of the spiritual (psycho-emotional and intellectual) life of citizens formed by the processes of urbanization, researchers call rationalization of behavior motives and strengthening of the rational approach to life, as well as a blunted emotional reaction to communication with other people (Simmel uses the concept of "motivation"). ^[12] Baudrillard also notes that an increase in population density should inevitably lead to an increase in the level of violence among the residents of the city, an increase in hostility to each other. ^[11]  The polycentric model of urban development may also be relevant in this aspect: the uniformity of development and the uniform distribution of urban infrastructure facilities should reduce social and psycho-emotional stress among urban residents. The autonomy and self-sufficiency of each quarter are combined with equal accessibility of public facilities and communications, which contributes to social gentrification and harmonization. ^[10]

Polycentric urban development involves solving several main tasks: decentralization as an equal distribution of public facilities and communications, optimization of transport flows and logistical advantages, gentrification and social homogenization of urban space, improvement of environmental and sanitary conditions, great opportunities. extensive urban development. All these factors are able to form a comfortable, economical and rapidly developing urban environment. ^[16]