Abstract: The growing interest towards the defining moments in Russian history takes place under the conditions of establishment of Russia’s independent course. The object of fierce discussion, similar to the period of Perestroika, becomes the activity of J. V. Stalin, as well as the peculiarities of formation of the Soviet political system over the period of 1920’s – 1930’s. Some people see Stalin as a dictator, but other consider him a prominent government leader. At the same time, the interests to his persona causes the occurrence of various tendentious and falsified materials. The authors lean on a broad range of sources: documental materials, testimonies of political and military leaders, works of Russian and foreign experts, as well as use the comparative-historical and problematic-chronological methods. An average Russian believe that the great in Stalin’s era consists in increase of the political-military power of the country, success in industrial expansion, and most importantly – victory in the Great Patriotic War. All of these events overshadow the negative manifestations, such as mass repression, persecution of church alongside the academic and cultural figures, as well as devastation of peasantry during the process of collectivization. Depending on the sociopolitical situation in the country, the historical memory of our citizens will reproduce certain events of the period of 1920’s – 1950’s, which obscures the facts that contradict the established conjuncture. Stalin’s activity can be viewed as the creation of new political elite, which is capable of withstanding the internal and external challenges.

Abstract: The subject of this research is the modern civilization, which ever increasingly acquires and anthropogenic character. A number of researchers refer to its present state as critical, but all complex dissipative systems in its establishment go through the points of uncertainty, in which the future state of the system becomes unpredictable, while the magnitude of chaos reaches the maximum. The XXI century is being defined as an era of cities, but there are significant differences in development of these cities in the developed and developing countries. The authors give a general summary of the key trends of development of global civilization, as well as identify the key challenges of time and possibilities of adequate answer to these challenges. In the industrial era the city became the space of a strict segregation of people. The urban space divides people, and becomes the arena of sharp social, ethnic, and religious conflicts, producing the grounds for deviant behavior. The urban lifestyle also leads to aggravation of environmental problems. The project of garden city even in the modern post-industrial era remains utopic.

Abstract: The subject of this research is the urban water reservoirs within the framework of development of the modern anthropogenic civilization. Since the ancient times, water was not only a scarce resource, but also a notion of mythological and philosophical knowledge. Water environment played a major role in establishment of the first nations, as well as in development of economic relations by means of trade. Today, due to the demographic outbreak and environmental problems, in a number of regions we can observe a deficit of fresh water that eventually can cause the “water wars” in the future. Currently, the majority of humanity resides in cities in the conditions of artificial environment, and this is why the role of green environment and urban water reservoirs has increased. The relevance of the problem is substantiated by the continuing development of “polluting” productions within cities’ suburbs, urbanism, and change of needs of city residents.