XII Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2020

Modern buildings fit in well with the buildings of the last century, although these are controversial issues. Nevertheless, there are objective reasons why there is both the other architectural period and modern houses where we can see pretty good innovations that the Soviet style was short of. And so renovated houses that perfectly added fresh colors to the city were sometimes completely tasteless. And then even the Khrushchev-era apartments could compete with them. But the main thing is why they began to build new houses and how they influenced human psychology.

In the 20th century, when the Soviet buildings were created, architects planned to erect new and majestic cities with prefab flat blocks in the middle of the huge public parks and wide highways. And these dreams began to be put into life. But after the Great Patriotic War and the bombing of the Soviet Union, all the dreams of the architects began to crumble and then the post-Soviet architects and developers, who began to design concrete anthills, appeared. But at the moment the situation began to improve and an adoptable alternative that is able to replace Soviet buildings began to appear in the country.

It is very interesting but the microdistricts do not pay attention to individuals but only to the whole society and divide the city into different zones, having a distinction in their functionality and purpose for the same people. So there are dormitory districts, labour districts, both office and industrial districts where a person can relax etc. It is worth saying that at the beginning of the 20th century, such city projects became very popular but then unforeseen problems began to appear and bebother people since the opportunities in these microdistricts were very scarce and the city was functionally diverse but not the districts themselves, it was much worse there. Some of them expectedly turned into gigantic parking lots, others into vast industrial zones and dormitory districts became even deserted as soon as dusk fell. And people just walked around the city trying to at least keep themselves busy because they could not fulfil their potential in their own homes. Life in the city is not only work and sleep but also education, medicine, entertainment, gastronomy. And if all this doesn’t take place in the neighborhood then the city dweller begins to experience serious discomfort.

Soviet buildings offered people a greater diversity in their life and public space: cozy streets, alleys, squares; on the ground floors of buildings there were grocery stores, cafes, bookstores. The yards were cozy and compact, children could walk there safely. The development is proportionate to the urban residents which means that it is perceived more humanly and the city becomes more recognizable.

But at the moment, the Soviet districts are inferior to the modern ones because their narrow streets cannot cope with such a traffic flow since in those years people could not assume that so many cars would appear. And of course this affects the modern construction. And then city planners map out to build objects in such a way that they are located along the “big” roads and apply the principle of squares that helps to separate public areas from residential areas so this affects the people’s psychological factor, then they try to keep it clean and cozy. When the microdistricts are located randomly and the concepts of a personal space are vague there since in the Soviet Union there was a principle that everything that people have is public and because of this many citizens neglected public objects and territories and only when a person crossed the threshold of his own apartment then he set a value upon "his own". That's when the surrounding landscapes of the microdistricts plunged the townsman into utter melancholy. Estate property is cheap here because panel houses themselves are not very expensive in terms of manufacturing and the environment does not allow you to set the price higher and there are basement floors in such houses in which no one will house selling spots since even the buyer will not feel comfortable there. In a similar fashion these large high-rise buildings crushed the psyche of the people and the public parks or squares seemed something that didn't belong to them, the people could not get used to them because they had no souls and for the most part they remained wastelands.

Also, there was another problem about these houses: they were placed 15-20 meters from the sidewalks and this territory belonged to the authorities not to the residents of these houses and accordingly people could not equip the territories and this spoiled the picture of the city because all kinds of engineering networks were located there. It is not surprising that the population of the microdistricts lived dreary, they did not feel at home. And then a contingent of people appeared in such a society -those who began to harm and damage in such neighborhoods and then such areas began to turn into a real ghetto. And accordingly crime in the cities rose sharply.

So one crucial moment happened that the residents of these microdistricts began to construct every house, parking, playground only for themselves. They also provided security for themselves. Some psychologists argue that such a life of people in an overpopulated society and constantly changing people could not do well because a constant change of faces led to the "impersonality of communication." And besides in order not to see all the dullness of these places, residents want to get to the center of the city but in order to get there they’ll have to drive or walk an awfully long and unpleasant road. And even the fact that people overcome such great distances they still suffer from lack of movement and lack of exercise. And also have an ordinary depression:

“Straight lines, well-defined angles and any uniformity is an aggressive video environment. Such structures are also called "vampire houses." And even studies were conducted among 80 percent of the residents of the micro-districts. Psychiatrists say that such people have the so-called big city syndrome. Perhaps partly because of this in the sleeping areas, where the most dull buildings of the same type are most common, crime is increasing year by year.

And also psychologists say that “buildings with bare gray walls, large glass surfaces, smooth lines of roofs are considered to be the most harmful for eyes. With such a picture it has nothing to “catch on”. Stressfully scanning the space the eye receives monotonous information and “does not know” which of the elements should be fixed, highlighted. The visual system works in an uncomfortable, unusual mode. And after all, it’s true, in nature we won’t be able to see such a form for the human eye that it is pleasant on a subconscious level.

And based on the above, microdistricts are not so bad but they do not meet people's requirements. Life won’t be comfortable although many developers neglect these judgments and continue to construct these boxes.

Psychologists as well as architects are talking about how to better erect new cities and improve old ones and come to the same conclusion that microdistricts should be removed and at the same time they should be made but the number of storeys should be reduced and as well as some aspects and it will help ordinary citizens feel as if they are a part of the city life and will improve the happiness, health and prosperity of the population.

REFERENCES

1. Why construction was carried out precisely by "nine-story buildings in the USSR" [Electronic resource] - https://zen.yandex.ru

2. Quarterly development: features of the territory layout, infrastructure. Modern trends in urban development [Electronic resource] - https://labuda.blog

3. A multi-story trap: why aren't microdistricts needed? [Electronic resource] - https://gre4ark.livejournal.com

4. The problem of urban development and its solutions [Electronic resource]. - https://www.gkh.ru