DOI: 10.7256/2310-8673.2019.2.29006

Abstract: The object of this research is the project competitions held in Saint Petersburg since the foundation of the city until the present day. The creative professional competitions in the sphere of architecture, urban planning, monumental art and landscape-environmental design pursuing the best solution of a specific project task are referred to the area of project competitions. The authors examine the evolution of the practice of implementation of competitive method in Saint Petersburg; and determine the most distinctive types of project tasks solved using the competitive method at various stages of city’s development. The competitions are analyzed in accordance with the following aspects: type of design object, format of its social affiliation (individual, collective, public), location within the city-planning pattern (central, peripheral, suburban zones) and relatively to water objects. The main conclusions consist in the evolution trends of the relevant city-planning objectives, determined on the basis of changes of the prevailing themes ad locations of the objects of competitive designing. The analysis of evolution of competitive practice is conducted in accordance with the five historical stages of spatial development of Saint Petersburg, characterizes by the diverse sociopolitical circumstances, peculiarities of urban development policy, and level if institutialization of the practice of holding the project competitions.

DOI: 10.7256/2310-8673.2018.3.26426

Abstract: The objects of this research is the practice of design contests in the area of architecture and urban planning in modern Russia; while the subject is its legislative regulation. The normative legal base that affects the design contests is viewed in comparison with the systems of legislative regulation in the European Union and the United States. The author conducts an analysis of the three levels of regulation of the contestable practice: international, federal, and regional contained in the Civil Code, law “On the Architectural Activity in the Russian Federation”, and other documents. The article examines the aspects associated with the legislative regulation of the order and conditions of holding the contests, as well as determining the place of contest within the system of urban planning activity. A conclusion is made on the non-consistency of the contestable method of adopting the urban planning decisions in Russia and lack of answers to some practically important questions in the legislative framework. Particularly, the acting laws do not determine the criteria of situations that necessitate resorting to holding a public design contest. The article suggests a model on integration of the contestable practice into the system of urban planning activity for the purpose of increasing the efficiency of contestable method of adopting the important decisions in the area of urban planning and architecture.