Research approaches and paradigms in the study of the cultural environment of the city

Khil'ko Nikolai Fedorovich ORCID: 0000-0003-3204-2216 Doctor of Pedagogy Senior Researcher, Siberian Branch of the D.S. Likhachev Russian Cultural and Natural Heritage Research Institute; Professor of the Department of Directing and Choreography of the Omsk State University named after F.M. Dostoevsky 644077, Russia, Omsk region, Omsk, Andrianova str., 28, office 204A fedorovich59@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Gorelova Yuliya PhD in History Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, Siberian State Automobile and Road University 644077, Russia, Omsk region, Omsk, Anedrianova str., 28, office 204 gorrlovaj@mail.ru

The definition of "cultural environment" is actively used by researchers in works related in one way or another to the field of culture and art. At the same time, there is a variety of interpretations and definitions of this scientific construct. The relevance of the research lies in the need to comprehend the diversity of research approaches to the study of the cultural environment, aimed at developing effective models of its development in line with cultural policy at the regional and municipal levels. The subject of the study is a set of approaches and paradigms chosen by the authors to study the cultural environment of the city. The object of the study is the definitions of "culture" and "cultural environment" as part of the methodology of research on the cultural environment. The purpose of the work is a theoretical analysis of the variety of approaches to the definition of "cultural environment" in relation to the initial category of "culture".

The research methods consist in generalizing the interpretations of "culture" and "cultural environment", in a theoretical conceptual and methodological analysis of this area of cultural science.

The results of the work consist in understanding the existing methodological approaches to the study of the cultural environment of the city, due to its integrative definition. The scope of the results: the sphere of regional and municipal cultural policy. The scientific novelty of the research lies in understanding the essence of methodological paradigms emanating from the integrative definition of the cultural environment of the city.

As a result of the analysis of interpretations of the concept of "culture" and approaches to the study of the cultural environment, it becomes clear that different ideas about the cultural environment are justified by different interpretations of the concept of "culture".

We recognize that the list of studies adhering to one or another is extremely incomplete, but due to the compressed volume of the publication, we were forced to limit ourselves to this list of personalities.

Let's pay attention to the general and distinctive characteristics of approaches to the study of culture and the cultural environment of the city. At the same time, it becomes possible to identify specific grounds for their synthesis and complementarity.

The starting points of the literature analysis are the following. In our opinion, the general characteristics of studying the concepts of "culture" and "cultural environment" in the general context of research are: the value foundations of the cultural environment, its social role and the aesthetic imagery of the environment. Within the framework of these features, the distinctive features of cultural analysis are: preservation of culture, symbolic designation of the cultural environment. Of particular importance is the rapprochement of a person with society and the merging of components of the cultural environment into a complex. As a result of such phenomena, images of the cultural environment are formed and the interaction of a person and texts designating the cultural environment takes place. This gives rise to a number of studies of culture and the cultural environment that meet the following approaches: axiological, informational-semiotic, sociological, system-complex, perceptual-aesthetic and hermeneutic (see Table 1).

Table 1. General and distinctive characteristics of approaches to the study of culture and the cultural environment of the city.

Considering that the integrative approach implies "a holistic representation of a set of objects, phenomena, processes united by a community of at least one of the characteristics, resulting in its new quality" ^[1], we recognize that integration in our case arises as a new quality of combining the three leading characteristics of the cultural environment of the city: its value-semantic foundations, social role and aesthetic imagery, at the junction of which a new supra-natural integration is born. In accordance with the general and distinctive characteristics of the cultural environment of the city, we will consider the variety of approaches to its study.

The axiological approach to culture and the cultural environment is justified by the thesis of understanding culture as a space of values that determine human activity, motives, means and ways of achieving results. Its founder is A.J. Flier, whose understanding of culture is based on the value needs of a person in culture, which "in different combinations form a variety of options for cultural interaction" ^{[2, p. 70]}.

From this, the ideological paradigm of the cultural environment is built, which D.S. Likhachev characterized as a necessary condition for the spiritual existence of a person and his sociality, coupled with the culture of the past, which accumulates into a certain stock of cultural strata of society. In this sense, according to the scientist, "the cultural environment is just as necessary for his spiritual, moral life, for his "spiritual settlement", for his attachment to his native places, for his moral self-discipline and sociality. ... A person is brought up in a certain cultural environment that has developed over many centuries, imperceptibly absorbing not only modernity, but also the past of his ancestors. The "stock" of cultural monuments, the "stock" of the cultural environment is extremely limited in the world, and it is being depleted at an ever-progressive rate" ^{[3, p. 27]}.

The information-semiotic approach proceeds from Yu.M. Lotman's definition of culture as a complex sign system that immanently has its own memory, has special ways of studying and self-regulation, "is delimited from non-culture (nature) precisely by signedness; a system that draws natural non-signedness into itself and transforms it semiotically." This definition is based on the methods of semiotics, cybernetics and structuralism ^{[4, p. 14]}. In the definition of Yu.M. Lotman's culture there are: signedness, limitation, independence of development, social significance. This allows us to understand culture as a system of signs and symbols, an over-natural space in which the mental content of socially significant information transmitted through symbols and signs, including in art, is concentrated.

In the same vein, the metaphysical paradigm of the cultural environment is developing (Christopher A. Bail, D.L. Spivak), which allows us to understand the cultural environment as an immersive mentality for displaying the contours of culture. In this context, Christopher A. Bail suggests subjecting large volumes of cultural texts to integrative analysis using an integrative way of displaying cultural contours ^[5]. In this context, modern theories are developing that consider the metaphysics and semiotics of the city, aimed at generalizing and conceptualizing issues of social and cultural development of the city (metaphysics and semiotics of the city, as well as an attempt to generalize and conceptualize issues of social and cultural development of the city ^[6].

At the same time, when analyzing the cultural environment according to D.L. Spivak, as a phenomenon originating "from the internal logic of its own development", its entire metaphysical essence is revealed, subordinated to the mentality of the cultural environment of the city ^[7].

A completely new ontological turn in the study of the otherness of the culture of the Other is proposed by A.V. Maslova, who asserts in culture the concept of the semiosphere, expanding beyond not only civilization, but also humanity as a whole ^[8].

In general, recognizing the iconic and symbolic nature of culture, reflected in the definitions of culture by Y.M. Lotman, Christopher A. Bail, D.L. Spivak, A.V. Maslova, extrapolating them to the concept of "cultural environment", we consider it necessary to remove the distinction between natural and above natural, since within the cultural environment of the city these spheres always coexist in an indissoluble unity.

One of the founders of the sociological approach to the essence of culture, E. Taylor, understands it as a mental form of the development of a civilization with cultural layers and stages of formation. In this way, culture appears precisely as a spiritual culture that develops "from simpler, primitive forms to more mature, developed forms. Each subsequent cultural layer is superimposed on the previous one, becoming the basis for the formation of a future culture" ^{[9, p. 125]}. In this context, the cultural environment begins to be perceived in the paradigm of social identification as a "sociomental factor in understanding social life" ^[10], due to special socio-cultural conditions. This allows us to understand the cultural environment as a special cross-regional continuum in the environment of local identity.

In this regard, the research of foreign scientists on the artistic activity of residents in the urban cultural environment is of particular interest. ^{[11, 12, 13, 14, 15]}. At the same time, it is of great importance to study the needs of residents in studying people's ideas about the cultural component of urban life (J. Hopkins) in order to better understand the relationship in the "human-cultural environment" system and contribute to the development of new theories about it ^[12]. In the context of this study, the approach of R. Nikolaas is important, linking urban culture with images in art ^[13]. The idea of creativity of the urban cultural environment, presented from the point of view of social innovation, is of interest. Landry ^[14].

In the sociological theory of the cultural environment in modern scientific research, the following become relevant: the idea of the implementation of the cultural environment by M. G. Uspayeva, N. M. Gachaeva ^[15], as well as the experience of cultural reflection by K. L. Filimonov in the context of its modernization ^[16].

Many modern scientists, in particular, E. E. Zakharova, conduct research on the concept of the "cultural environment of the city" in terms of its influence on the organization of public space ^[17]. The consideration of these problems from the standpoint of authenticity and cultural identity is carried out by Karimova I. S. She defines the conditions for the inclusion of artifacts in the cultural environment of the city, the development of urbanization of the urban cultural environment ^[18]. The study of the social consequences of urbanism, reflected in Russian online publications, is carried out by Permian scientists ^[19]. At the same time, special attention is paid to the study of pandemic and post-pandemic conditions for the formation of the cultural environment of the city: theories of extreme use of the virtual environment of the city are being developed by Ipatova S.S.^[20]; the concept of expanded forms of sociality by V.E. Kemerovo ^[21].

The ethnocultural aspects of shaping the cultural environment in modern conditions are also studied by a number of modern scientists. Petrova L. E., Akhyamova I. A., Trofimova E. E., Egorova A. A. explore culture in the context of modern ethnocultural trends. At the same time, the task is fairly set: how to implement a national strategy in the face of global challenges ^[22], in particular, when considering the methodology of cross-cultural research ^[23]. In the same direction, Novikova A. A., Malshina N. A. and Kamenskaya I. V. study cultural industries as part of the public environment of the city in the process of transformation of forms of civic participation ^{[24, 25]}.

M.S. Kagan, one of the prominent representatives of the system-integrated approach to the concept of "culture", bases his ideas about it as a cyclical phenomenon, a self-developing and self-organizing system. Describing this system, the author writes about the "high complexity, which includes the processes of destruction and restoration, which explains the fact that cultural research should turn to synergetic ideas" ^{[26, p. 24]}. Based on synergetic ideas, M.S. Kagan's theory of culture is extrapolated into understanding culture in the context of the cultural environment as a complex natural and social system in which all elements are interconnected and interdependent. This allows us to see the integrative paradigm of the cultural environment, in line with which the integrative-systemic direction of her research is developing by E.I. Strelkova, E.I. Shulepova.

This paradigm also involves considering the cultural environment in the context of globalization. According to E.I. Strelkova, the global cultural environment should include "standards of creativity, universal values, universal norms of morality, achievements of science and art, teachings of world religions, an international language and a universal symbolic system" ^{[27, p. 37]}.

Emphasizing the historical aspect of the cultural environment, E. A. Shulepova notes the presence of many cultural heritage images in it, subordinated to the social strata forming the picture of the environment. At the same time, it is found that "in real localized spaces, based on the material of historical and cultural objects, in fact, the dynamics of the cultural process can be revealed, the transmission of special cultural experience through the institutional level or other channels to everyday consciousness" ^{[28, p. 56]}.

The perceptual-aesthetic approach is based on the understanding of culture from the point of view of visualogy as a set of ways of symbolic and symbolic expression of the change of visual thematism under the influence of cultural factors and changes, which corresponds to V.M. Rozin's concept of the relationship between man, culture and the environment ^[29].

Hence, the understanding of culture as a visual understanding of the cultural environment is justified. This makes it possible to see in this context a visual-figurative paradigm of studying the cultural environment (V.L. Kagansky, A.A. Vysokovsky: ^{[30, 31]}. In the same direction, the development of a group of modern domestic scientists is developing (T.V. Bernyukevich, A.A. Volkov, K.N. Gatsunaev, E.G. Krivykh, S.D. Mezentsev, T.A. Molokova, V.V. Neganov, Yu.V. Dedyatenko, M.A. Khasieva) philosophical and socio-cultural problems of urban development ^[32] concerning the cultural environment. The concepts of poly-artistic and multimedia representation in reflecting images of heritage and historical memory in the urban cultural environment are also of particular importance ^{[33, 34]}.

These issues are actively being addressed abroad Lai S.-K. substantiating evidence of urban spatial self-organization ^[35].

It seems acceptable to us an unusual form of modeling current and promising images of the development of the cultural and leisure environment in the context of trends in the development of the socio-cultural space of the city was presented by modern Chelyabinsk scientists Zubanova L. B., Sinetsky S. B., Syrkina E. G. ^[36].

V.L. Kagansky's views on the cultural environment are based on the landscape approach. In this regard, the conceptual hermeneutics of the landscape is indicated. The scientist focuses on spatial forms and meanings of the environmental organization of the cultural landscape ^[37].

In turn, A.A. Vysokovsky's approach is based on ideas about visual images of the urban cultural environment, which "develops gradually by superimposing multi-format technical and artistic solutions" in the spatial "phenomenon of connecting a person with his environment" ^{[38, p. 45]}.

The hermeneutical approach is based on the works of F. Schleimacher, by which he understands "a certain spiritual integrity that has its obligatory material embodiment", "a text that can be comprehended by getting used to it ... by the method of "feeling" based on his own techniques, personal art and subjective methods of understanding it" ^{[39, p. 98]}. Developed by F. Schleimacher's contextual hermeneutical approach to the "text- monument – culture" system makes it possible to approach the communicative paradigm when studying the cultural environment.

In this aspect of the study of cultural and creative landscape forms of the cultural environment, V.L. Kagansky substantiates the first, perceptual form of communication - the theoretical and geographical vision of the cultural environment and landscape, that is, a kind of conceptual hermeneutics, their spatial forms and meaning ^[40].

At the same time, V.V. Abashev, when studying the mountain cultural environment in its development, discovers another, productive form of communication – cultural identity, which appears to be a multi-layered and multidimensional expression of urban identity, irreducible to one denominator. At the same time, the author points out the possible "construction of images of the territory, which ... sometimes takes the form of searches for the metaphysical essence of the city, like Genius Loci (Geniuses of the Place)" ^{[41, p. 18]}.

So, these approaches have identified the distinctive features of various interpretations of the concepts of "culture" and "cultural environment of the city" and the corresponding research paradigms: ecological, metaphysical, social identification, integrative, visual-figurative, communicative, among which the most important is integrative with the addition of new meanings. At the same time, it becomes clear that different ideas about the cultural environment are justified by different interpretations of the concept of "culture".

In addition, the connection between the main approaches to the study of culture and the cultural environment of the city and the paradigms of the urban cultural environment is obvious. The axiological approach reveals the special importance of the ecological paradigm. The information-semiotic approach leads to the dominance of the metaphysical paradigm of the cultural environment of the city. Within the framework of the sociological approach, a paradigm of social identification of citizens emerges. In turn, the system-integrated approach is indicated in the form of an integrative paradigm. The perceptual-aesthetic approach gives rise to a visual-figurative paradigm, and the hermeneutic approach gives rise to a communicative one (Table 2).

Table 2. The relationship between the main approaches to the study of culture and the cultural environment of the city and the paradigms of the urban cultural environment.

Based on the fact that culture is a special sphere of human activity, within which the creation, storage, transmission and consumption of cultural values (material and spiritual) take place, and cultural norms and values, in turn, determine the very activity of a person and society, namely its goals, methods, methods and desired results In this activity, it is possible to outline the basic methodological principles of understanding and researching the cultural environment, taking into account the main provisions of various methodological approaches and paradigms.

In this multi-paradigm plane of studying the cultural environment, in our opinion, attention should be focused on the following fundamental points.

Firstly, the cultural environment, on the one hand, acts as a really perceived physical space, the natural characteristics of which have been changed to one degree or another by anthropogenic impact. Each cultural community creates its own specific visually perceived images, implemented in the architectural environment, art, etc.

Secondly, the environment is a space (place) within which cultural activities of both socio-cultural communities and individuals are realized. At the same time, the specificity of the anthropocultural component determines the specifics of the formed environment, as a space above nature, due to the presence of a whole range of supra-biological needs, abilities, attitudes and qualities in a person. In this sense, such environmental parameters as space, people, and activity will become key.

In this regard, it is necessary to create a third plan of research on the cultural environment, as a quality that must ensure the very possibility of cultural interactions and relationships. In this sense, the environment is a system of cultural communications between various subjects. At the same time, cultural communications are understood as a system of integrative interactions between various subjects.

It should be noted that the cultural environment immanently determines the laws and parameters of cultural communications. Accordingly, the focus shifts to the communicative and normative parameters of the environment. It appears as a tool and system for encoding and decoding cultural information, texts and meanings.

Another important aspect is that culture in general, and the cultural environment in particular, defines axiological parameters, sets a system of value coordinates, motivations and meanings for man and humanity.

Taking into account the above mentioned parameters allows us to form a new integrative paradigm based on a combination of axiological, informational-semiotic and perceptual-aesthetic approaches to the study of the cultural environment. So, the cultural environment is a physical human—created space of cultural communications that defines axiological parameters, a system of value coordinates, motivations and meanings of human activity. This definition is distinguished from the existing ones by its capacity, realism, integrative fullness, and focus on the value-oriented space of a person and society. It is fully confirmed by the analysis of the points of view presented in the article on the culture and cultural environment of the city. At the same time, the practical applicability of this innovation is obvious and consists in using it to develop models of regional and municipal cultural policy.