The Origin of the St. Petersburg Agglomeration. Patterns of the Initial Stage of Urbanization Part 2

Abstract

The article is the first part of the publication, in which the patterns of emergence and the initial stage of development of a large urban structure are considered on the example of the territories in the Neva Delta and in the east of the Gulf of Finland. The high heterogeneity of the available information base is emphasized, there are significant differences in the interpretation of basic definitions and terms, therefore, the research methodology is the division of the object under study into the simplest structures, combined with system analysis. An attempt was made to attract quantitative data on the infrastructure being created, its "technical and economic indicators". The connection between the processes of urbanization and the reform of the state territorial-economic and administrative-managerial structure is revealed. It is shown that the main determinants of the development of the city were local hydrology, the infinity of the fund of state lands and the relative autonomy of the main developers – government departments. The role of changing financing conditions and the gradual absorption of territorial resources is emphasized. The second half of the 18th century (the potential of the natural framework for the development of the territory has been exhausted) and the beginning of the 19th century (the free allocation of land plots has been stopped) are distinguished as milestone stages of urban development. Attention is focused on the polycentricity of the town-planning structure formed in the Neva Delta and the fundamental heterogeneity of its constituent elements.