Review: For the improvement of cities, the project «Formation of a comfortable urban environment» has been implemented in Russia for several years. In many regions, a number of their own landscaping projects are being carried out. The analysis of feedback from the population can be used as a tool for monitoring and measuring the effectiveness of urban improvement programs. The purpose of the work is to evaluate the results of the implementation of improvement programs in Kirov, the regional center of the Kirov region, taking into account the opinions of the population as the main recipient of these programs. The object of the study is the current state of improvement of the city of Kirov. The subject of the study is the analysis of landscaping in a number of areas (road transport, house and communal infrastructure, accessibility and quality of work of socio-cultural facilities) through feedback from the population. The study was carried out by analyzing official statistics data, a formalized survey of the population and interviews with experts. Two clusters of citizens were identified according to the level of satisfaction with the current state of the city's improvement, a large proportion is a cluster with a low level of satisfaction. However, 60% of residents believe that the quality of the urban environment has been gradually changing for the better over the past few years. The majority of respondents have minimal experience of involvement in the co-development of the urban environment, usually expressed in voting for objects for priority improvement. The study made it possible to identify and concretize the problems of the urban environment: disproportions in the improvement of central and suburban neighborhoods, catching up with the nature of infrastructure development during housing construction, insufficient road capacity, insufficient landscaping of park areas and public recreation areas. A scheme for solving the identified problems of landscaping is proposed, combining two directions: urban planning and communication and managerial.

Keywords: participatory design, infrastructure, improvement programs, feedback, monitoring, urban development, the improvement of the city, the quality of the urban environment, the infrastructure of the city, city problems

Review: The development of the historical center of St. Petersburg has special parameters and characteristics that form the uniqueness of the city as a whole and its individual fragments. At the moment, due to the emerging urban planning errors and violations, there is a need to clarify the strategy of urban planning regulation of the historical center in order to preserve the uniqueness, integrity and quality of its architectural and urban environment. In this regard, the task of moving to a detailed and comprehensive study of the parameters of fragments of the urban environment becomes urgent. The purpose of this study is to study the existing architectural and urban planning characteristics of the residential development of St. Petersburg. The object of research is the historical block within the boundaries of Moskovsky Prospekt, Klinsky Prospekt, Bronnitskaya Street, Zagorodny Prospekt. The subject of the study is morphological and structural-compositional features of the building. On the basis of the conducted historical, archival and bibliographic surveys and a full-scale survey, the enlarged stages of the formation of the block were identified and the main patterns of the construction of the front front were determined. The morphotype of the block is a perimeter building of the historical center of St. Petersburg of the XIX century with the inclusion of objects of the mid–XX century, with irregular surveying and an incomplete system of courtyard buildings. The nature of surveying and urban fabric, which developed mainly in the second half of the XIX – mid XX century, was influenced by the planning structure laid down in the XVIII century and the location of the block in the structure of the city. The compositional organization of the front along Moskovsky Prospekt is subject to uniform principles, which made it possible to form a high-quality urban environment. The front facades have fragmentary losses of decorative elements and structural violations at the ground floor level, which can be eliminated provided that the historical rules of formation and decorative and plastic design of buildings are observed.

Keywords: urban environment parameters, stages of building formation, block development, historical buildings, the historical center of St. Petersburg, architectural and urban planning environment, architecture of St. Petersburg, morphology of the building, facade architecture parameters, composition of facades

Review: This work is devoted to identifying and defining the features of the formation of the planning structure of the city of Changchun at the end of the 19th– first third of the 20th century, which in a relatively short time transformed from a small settlement into the capital of the pro-Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. The object of the study is the urban development of the city of Changchun in the period under review. The subject of the study is the peculiarities of the influence of Russian and Japanese architects on the development of the structure of the general plan of the city. In the course of the work, the main stages of the development of the planning structure of the city against the background of socio-cultural, economic and political changes affecting Manchuria are analyzed. The history of the settlement formation and its development within the framework of the traditional Chinese urban planning school based on the modular system and the formation of the "Chinese square" is briefly considered. The stage of Changchun's development as a Russian station of the Kuancheng is considered in more detail, where the city developed in accordance with the standard development of the 4th Class railway stations. The analysis of the Japanese period of development, characterized by a gradual increase in the status of the city, due to its nodal position, uniting the CER and the SMR. The stage of development of the urban planning structure as the capital of Manchukuo Xinjing was studied, when a comprehensive development plan was developed based on the latest developments of Japanese architects.

Keywords: Manchukuo, Manchuria, SMR, CER, Xinjing, Changchun, Kuanchengtze, urban planning, architecture, China