Marine Facade as Part of the City Center of St. Petersburg of the XXI Century - Untapped Potential
The results of the first stage of the strategic project on the formation of a new marine facade of St. Petersburg of the XXI century on the alluvial lands at the Western end of Vasilievsky island are considered. The unique potential of this territory, its unprecedented value for urban development of the city and, especially, the Central zone is emphasized. The new district, which was supposed to reflect the image of the modern "Northern capital", does not differ from the urban periphery in the quality of architectural solutions. The reasons for the negative assessment of the results achieved so far arelisted: thelack of building contacts with the water area, the displacement of the social and business function in favor of the mass standard multi-storey building, the lack of proposals for the formation of "iconic" buildings-symbols. The evolution of the project under the increasing influence of economic factors, its adjustment in accordance with the current needs of the housing market. It is noted that the strategic importance is the inertia of the urban design and construction complex, which since the early 1960s specializes in the construction of standardized complexes of mass economic housing in the peripheral zones and is not prepared to take into account the specific conditions of the coastal zone in the Central region. The revealed defects of the St. Petersburg city planning show that the influence of the highway of the Western high-speed diameter (ZSD) on the reconstruction of Vasilievsky island and the force of its negative impact on the environmental situation were not considered as a decisive in the project "Sea facade". It is emphasized that the planned postponement of the completion of the project and the revision of views on the fate of the Northern section of the alluvium open the possibility of making radical adjustments and stimulates the expansion of the city center of St. Petersburg towards the Gulf of Finland.