Changing the Qualities of Urban Space by Means of Landscape Architecture

Abstract

The relevance of the subject is dictated by the growing need to satisfy the physical and mental demands of city residents and create locations with high aesthetic and functional qualities. The purpose of the study is to examine the main modern trends in the design of urban landscape objects, formed since the 1990s in terms of their compliance with modern concepts of sustainable development, landscape urbanism, and urban ecology. The study analyses a number of experimental, explorative, and implemented projects of landscape objects, created to determine, emphasise, or create a new identity of local places in the historically formed structure of cities (on the example of the cities of Lviv, Lutsk, Kamianets-Podilskyi). The monographic and analytical methods were used in the study. A graphic method was used to determine the attractiveness of objects. The study establishes the following characteristic feature of historical cities: in old parts of cities, the effective concepts of landscape proposals are based on the expression of local identity. For example, it was found that the square near St. Andrew's Church in Lviv features garden and park art of the Baroque epoch, the public space project at the intersection of St. Prince Roman and I. Franka streets in Lviv conveys a compilation of historical features of different epochs. The second characteristic feature established in this study: in the degraded environment of peripheral neighbourhoods (investigated examples in Lviv and Lutsk), the proposed modern forms and geoplastics work well. It was also confirmed in various examples, such as the reconstruction of Mytna Square in Lviv, and the volunteer movement in Kamianets-Podilskyi, that successful intervention in the transformation of urban public spaces contributes to the growth of the quality of these spaces and the improvement of the city's image. The design concepts of the urban environment with a multi-layered complex structure of both natural and cultural elements are valuable and recommended for implementation. The history of city development during the Soviet period eliminated their specific features. Today, the restoration and creation of landscape objects allows for preserving and emphasising the uniqueness of cities