Urban space: archetypal models, morphological properties, mythological plots. The methodology of comprehensive study

Sokhatskaya Dar'ya Associate Professor, Department of Architectural Environment Design, Komsomolsk-on-Amur State University; Member of the Union of Designers of Russia 681013, Russia, Khabarovsk Territory, Komsomolsk-On-Amur, Lenin str., 27, office 308 amurliman-design@yandex.ru

Introduction

The cultural space of the city is multidimensional and represents a whole range of values, parameters and quantities that determine a person's special vision of objects. Many factors influence what is perceived in reality: climate, geography of the place (location on the cardinal directions), a person's mood, his worldview, life experience, etc. But a visual image or a picture that is presented to a person cannot be perceived without an external, stable, material education. Any object is tangible, is realized by a person and gives a complete impression of objective reality.

With the help of certain research approaches, it is possible to identify such subjects in the cultural space that will help a person to look at an already existing and tested space in a different way. The research will be based on the forms of expression of reality through narratives and memories of life, artistic, literary and musical works, decorative elements of architectural objects. All these forms of expression appear to us as morphological properties of objects of material culture and are archetypal models of the cultural space of the city.

In turn, this assumption allows us to conclude that the archetypal model (its classification) is the primary scheme of the image, a prerequisite for the formation of the conscious and unconscious ^[1], attribution to objects of symbolic, symbolic, linguistic meanings that are passed down from generation to generation. Guided by the above, we can say that the archetypal model is a kind of function that allows us to reveal not only the superficial and traditional ways of describing the cultural space of the city, but also to turn to deeper, meaningful, information fields, such as mythology.

Based on the above, this study suggests an attempt to conduct a comprehensive study of urban space using such approaches as: historical and cultural (L. Levi-Bruhl, S. S. Averintsev, F. H. Cassidy, V. Ya. Propp) as a way of describing the mechanisms of existence of traditional society; philosophical and cultural (A. F. Losev, M. Eliade, P. S. Gurevich) – as a way of forming the culture of a place and its society, and as a result, the manifestation of a material component; psychoanalytic (V. Reich, S. Moscovici) how to identify the structure of the conscious and unconscious in the perception of the surrounding reality; symbolic (E. Cashier, A. F. Losev) as a means of identifying a symbolic function, forming a person's ideas about an object (J. Piaget, A. G. Leaders, K. N. Polivanova); linguistic and semiological (L. Elmslev, A. Potebnya, R. Barth, M. M. Bakhtin, Yu. M. Lotman, K. Levi-Strauss) as a way to isolate sign-symbolic systems, semiotic structures interpreting texts.

As a result of the research, we will obtain a methodology in a complex, for which the basis will be the isolation of meanings from various mythological plots of urban space and the compilation of a method for transforming the cultural space of the city (see Table 1).

Table 1

Research sources

To date, the cultural space of the city has been studied and is being studied by many scientists: N. P. Anfitserov, A. Karmin, M. S. Kagan, I. M. Greves, Yu. M. Lotman, S. N. Ikonnikov, etc.). Comprehension of the city as scientific knowledge remains relevant to this day. E. N. Mastenitsa suggests paying attention to various forms of development of the cultural space of the city in his article, where he identifies three directions – sightseeing, local lore, museum and pedagogical. Our interest lies in the knowledge of the city as a capacious space that includes objects of the urban environment, their epic and mythology, interconnected with the stages of the formation of the city ^[2].

From the article by E. N. Mastenitsa: "Comprehension of the cultural space of the city provides a unique opportunity to combine disparate facts and information in their historical variability, and to present the city itself as a model of the universe. The study and interpretation of his multifaceted life in all its manifestations and interrelations can become a powerful stimulus for intellectual and moral formation and development of personality." Indeed, new knowledge about the city will help to create not only its "portrait", but also opportunities in its sustainable development, the formation of a holistic image ^[2]

Therefore, the problem of identifying archetypal models and their morphological properties based on the mythology of the city space is one of the possible options for understanding the cultural space of the city ^[3].

Methods of study

In this study, we propose to use traditional approaches to describe the cultural space of the city. It is proposed to supplement the study and expand its boundaries using the concept of "technematics". This concept occurs in complex approaches to the interpretation of works of art and is noted in the works of G.G. Mayorov, M.Y. Shishin ^{[4, 5]}. The metaphorical, abstract concept of representing a mythologeme in the form of an infinite line will serve as a tool for identifying criteria for evaluating the cultural space of the city, which is represented as three circles intersected and united by a line ^[6]. The first outer circle is a manifestation of the physical properties of the urban environment (everything having mass, shape, volume) ^[7]. The second circle is spiritual (sensory, symbolic perception of the surrounding world; subjective reality) ^[8] and the third is material (objective reality) manifestations ^[9].  The "myth line" proposed in the study allows us to isolate the relationships based on the mathematical theory of Bernoulli's Lemniscata (see Fig. 1) ^{[5, p. 107]}. The three-dimensional (material, spiritual, physical) cultural space of the city exists both in the past and in the present and future time. Existing memories or statements about an object or, in our case, a city, once described by people, are expressed through text and can be meaningful by a person ^[10]. For example, the image of the city in the works of writers O. D. Balzac, C. Dickens, A.M. Gorky, F. S., Fitzgerald, E. Hemingway.

Figure 1 – The movement of the myth line in the cultural space of the city according to Bernoulli's Lemniscate

According to V. N. Toporov: "The urban text is what the city says about itself informally, quietly, not for the sake of any ambitions, but simply because the city and the people of the city considered it natural to express their thoughts and feelings, their memory and desires, their needs and their assessments ..." - it can be noted that the urban space can be understood or read from literary texts. Therefore, any mention of the city will be tacitly present in its subjective reality ^[11].

The line of myth or the line that is represented by the infinite – lemniscata Bernoulli, represents the interconnection of the three existing epics of urban space.  An extended, spatial object - the myth line - is a chain of related knowledge and signs acquired by the city over the entire period of its existence (see Fig. 1).

Discussion

Let's consider examples of a methodology for a comprehensive study of urban space, using the line of myth, archetypal models, and their morphological properties based on mythological plots of the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

From the memoirs of Lyudmila Vasilyevna Tsyganova-Pogodina^[1], a copyist at the Stalprommechanization design office in Dnepropetrovsk (Ukraine): "In my imagination, the Far East seemed to be such a distant, mysterious country..."; "On the way, they already knew about us that we were going to Komsomolsk, that we would work there. But sometimes we heard that we were going to Dzemgi. There's an alarm again. Why on Dzemgi. They said Komsomolsk. But the good people explained. Dzemgi is the same Komsomolsk, only one of its districts..."; "... And I looked at this picture of my first morning in the Far Eastern land and breathed such a thick smell of a New Year tree, it seemed like I had come to another country. There, in the west, I had to visit the forest area, but here I just went out the door and was already in nature."

Memories of Ksenia Sergeevna Pinul^[2]: "By May 1935, we had already moved to the socialist city, to a two-story wooden house, and by May 1, 1935, a good club named after P. I. Baranov was rebuilt. From that moment on, amateur clubs and youth evenings appeared...; "Komsomol meetings were often held in the club, we always gathered an hour earlier and sang songs before the meeting, it was so much fun"; "We improved the club and our house at the beginning. There was a need to start landscaping the park, now it is a park named after Yuri Gagarin. We cleaned shrubs and made alleys. Everything was done manually with great desire. A parachute tower was installed in the park, where they learned to jump with a parachute, the material part was studied at the club. But we didn't just have fun."

"Our brigade was instructed to build a clay-wattle hut for 120 people. We were given the right piece of land, given two axes without axes and one cross saw. The forest had to be cut down in the taiga and from there it had to be carried on shoulders for a distance of up to a kilometer. There were no nails yet, instead, nagels made of wood were used"; "... the task was set to create in the Far East its own industrial complex somewhere in the depths of the region, away from state borders and closer to raw materials sources" - from the memoirs of Safonov Pavel Fedorovich^[3].

From these lines, we can understand the way of life of people who came to Komsomolsk, their feelings and thoughts. The image of the city consists of keywords: a distant country, Far Eastern land, nature, social city, barracks, landscaping, construction, industrial complex. They can serve as one of the criteria for the form of a cultural phenomenon. Its morphological properties are expressed in the process of its formation.

The city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur was founded in 1932. This is a socialist city built "at the call of the Motherland. There are a significant number of such memories. The mythological plot, which consists of these passages, reflects the worldview of Soviet society, their value systems, and the image of the people's state ^[12].  The Soviet man had to consciously justify his actions as a "victim", therefore the Soviet system of government possessed all the principles of "caring parents".  Therefore, the idea of a people's state was broadcast not only in appeals, but also in beliefs that were prescribed in the Soviet constitutions of 1918, 1936, and 1977. Soviet propaganda manifested itself in publicly accessible cultural objects and values, free recreation and education, and provided housing. This presupposed the full confidence of the Soviet man in the Soviet government.

These facts are reflected in artistic and literary works, in architecture and visual, decorative design of buildings (mosaics, graffiti, bas-relief). Let's look at some of them.

Most of the poems about Komsomolsk-on-Amur are presented by the same authors as: A. Guy, S. A. Smolyakov, A. D. Samar, S. M. Household, M. F. Aslamov, G. G. Khaliletsky, N. K. Povarenkin, S. G. Ostrovoy, G. I. Kozlov, G. F. Perestoronin, etc. The poems reveal themes about nature, the boundless and impassable taiga, tireless work, the construction of city streets and people who have made a significant contribution to the organization and development of Komsomolsk.

Frequent mentions of a collision with the elements represent an allegorical image of a man who, despite difficulties and fatigue, continues to work tirelessly to build a "new city". For example, lines from the poem by G. G. Khaliletsky "The First brick" (from the cycle of poems about Komsomolsk "The City of the Young") ^{[13, p. 234]}:

"We slept in tents, and in the morning it happened,

As a feat, it was a difficult climb.

We went to the taiga, and the taiga stood up to us

To meet him in his stubbornness..."

"...The bad weather threw snow in our face,

And yet we were moving forward."

 The lines show the difficulty of overcoming setbacks, unbearable climate and fear of the elements. But here there is also an insistent, persistent desire to fulfill the "request of the Motherland" (the authorities) – to build a factory city, an "industrial outpost".

The process of the emergence of a new city was captured in his poems by A. D. Samar "Komsomolsk" ^{[13, p. 232]}:

"A hundred years in this place,

On the left bank of the Amur River,

There were dilapidated houses,

Nanai people lived here in poverty,

Keeping the old customs,

People ran wild in ignorance,

And the camp was called Melky."

   The author reveals the theme of the city's location – the left bank of the Amur River and shows that the place already has a population and history. The Nanai people living there practiced shamanism and spiritualized the forces of nature. The indigenous people believed in harmony between nature and man. The phrases "ancient customs" and "dilapidated houses" mentioned in the lines of the poem speak about the elimination of the old and the introduction of a progressive, new one ^[13].

"... Yesterday the nasal shamans,

The people were deceiving, howling –

Today at school and hospital

Fighters of the country of socialism

People are taught and treated with love..."

As you can see, these lines trace the idea of neutralizing any manifestations of belief, except political, Soviet.

A fragment of N. K. Povarenkin's poem "The Highway of Love" testifies to the mass appeal to the Komsomol construction site ^{[13, p. 261]}:

"The whole country has gathered

The taiga is not unknown,

Like the Amur coast

Became the heart of the great roads…

...Here in the thirties

Komsomol members, walking through the valleys,

Registered forever,

Laying a young city in the taiga..."

 Earlier in the poem, the author lists the cities from which young people came at the call of the Komsomol: Zaporozhye, Moscow, Vyatka, Kiev, Odessa, Nizhny Novgorod, Tula, Ryazan, Taganrog.

At the same time, poems about Komsomolsk-on-Amur note the quantitative results of actions and events achieved during the construction of the city.

In the prologue from S. G. Ostrovsky's poem "The City of Youth" ^{[13, C. 287]}, one can note the morphological properties of cultural forms in the form of buildings, structures, streets and avenues:

"... And the city stood up, strange, unprecedented,

A river of glass and a tier of gardens.

And the blue squares of the blocks

The boiling leaf was fanned

Thoughtful heads of houses…

Light cobwebs in the street spans

The arches were through. In marble columns

The day was just beginning to break with a cool depth…

...And the streets are straight, like strings,

They lined up as if for a parade"

 This poem was written by the author in 1935. It should be noted the rapid development and construction of Komsomolsk: "... And the city stood up, strange, unprecedented, like a river of glass...".  The author draws attention to the words "tier of gardens", "boiling foliage", making it clear to the reader about the characteristic landscaping of the city. Currently, this phenomenon has acquired morphological properties and is a legend. So, in various sources Komsomolsk is called: "garden city", "green city".

Looking at the general plan of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, a structural geometric grid of streets, highways and avenues is noted, which the author notes in the lines "... And the streets are straight, like strings ...". Arches and marble columns demonstrate the neoclassical style in the architecture of some residential buildings, palaces of culture, as well as entrance groups to the spaces of the Gagarin Park located within the boundaries of Kalina, Sovetskaya, Komsomolskoye Shosse streets.

Noting the symbolism in the architectural features of the buildings and structures of the city, it is necessary to refer to the poem "The Legend of the City" by Granit Fedorovich Perestoronin ^{[13, p. 334]}:

"The sun is shining in the festive columns,

They contain the light and truth of Lenin's ideas..."

 As in the prologue from S. G. Ostrovsky's poem "The City of Youth" ^{[13, p. 292]}, there is a stable manifestation of class morality, where each person fulfills the goals of the Motherland:

"Their difficult path was dark and far,

But look – the open spaces are spread out

And the prologue of the story is completed.

And I would like to be in front of a chased formation

It's so hard to win back a dream

To find out who was her hero…

And the streets answered:

- Let's open it!

And the streets said:

"It's you!"

The phrases "the hard way" and "it was dark and far away" symbolize the difficult stages of the construction of the city and its factories. It was compliance with the laws dictated by the Motherland (the government) that allowed the working Komsomol members to achieve success in their actions.

The results of our analysis of literary works allow us to draw some particular conclusions that are of interest to our research. The archetypal model of the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur is a reflection of the political life of Soviet society during the 1930s and 1940s, and is a time interval saturated with cultural phenomena expressing the world as a place of action, efforts and struggling forces. Based on the statement of A. N. Maslova, who notes the image of the city as the embodiment of the mythological consciousness of its citizens ^[14], it can be argued that the cultural space of the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur contains many phenomena, actions that took place despite the difficult reality. This fact is also confirmed by the scientific work of V. A. Davydov, where the author attributes to the myth the role of an intermediary between the communication of two inextricably linked forms of manifestation of life – man and the city. The myth translates people's idea of urban space through their memories, stories, essays and poems, songs, works of art, including paintings and sketches, and is also reflected in architectural forms and elements.

Thus, the events taking place in Komsomolsk-on-Amur are depicted in various manifestations of art and architecture ^[15]. In most of the literature on Komsomolsk, a number of associative words are presented: "the city born of a feat" ^[16], "the city of labor valor", "the city at dawn" ^[17], "feat on Amur" ^[18], "the city of courage, labor and heroism" ^[19]. These mythical statements build an archetypal model of human hero behavior ^{[1, 20]}, as an image of the unconscious, where actions, his behavior in the surrounding reality manifest themselves in the form of the need to win, solve complex problems, while choosing a place that is for the "hero" - a "battlefield". The hero man in this regard is a Soviet man. An archetypal model emerges as a background for the human hero - a political party, a government that controls the consciousness of a person, that is, many Soviet people. It manifests itself in the desire to control and dominate people, persistently moves towards its goal and occupies a significant position in society. The mythological consciousness of the Soviet people reflects the whole process of phenomena occurring in the country and was expressed in folk art.

Mythological signs symbolizing strength, might, labor, valor, and courage, manifested in architectural and artistic styles, were used in the construction of images of a human hero and power ^[21].

Results

According to historical data, the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur was supposed to correspond to an exemplary city of the socialist future and this was manifested not only in the planning composition (ray system), but also in the monumental architecture, broadcasting socialist symbols based on the principles of socialist realism^[4].

In his works, A.V. Lunacharsky wrote ^[22] that: "socialist realism "is given through and through to the struggle, he is a builder through and through, he is confident in the communist future of mankind, believes in the forces of the proletariat, its party and leaders."

Mosaic images laid out on the plane of the walls with smalt occupy an essential place in the cultural space of the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur. In Komsomolsk, they are present on public buildings along Mira Ave., Lenin Ave., Alley of Labor Str., Sevastopolskaya Str., Vokzalnaya Str.; on residential buildings – Krasnoflotskaya Str., Orekhova Str., Yunosti Boulevard.

Mosaic painting "Glory to the Komsomol" (see Fig. 2), located on the facade of the Youth House at Mira Ave., 2, symbolizes the history of youth participation in the construction of the city of Youth, embodying the unity of workers and the Komsomol. The reference to the myth of the hero worker is obvious here.

Figure 2 - Mosaic painting "Glory to the Komsomol",

Komsomolsk-on-Amur

Mosaic "Science" with bas-relief elements (see Fig. 3) it is present on the facade of the Komsomolsk-on-Amur State University building. The panel is made in blue and ochre-yellow colors. It depicts a woman of Science holding in one hand a spike - a symbol of well–being and prosperity, in the other a ray of light as a symbol of knowledge and enlightenment. Her powerful arms and legs are solved in the aesthetic canons of the style of socialist realism. On the left side, mechanical engineering structures are depicted as a symbol of the man–made transformation of nature by the forces of science, on the right - a tree similar to the frame of a tower crane, where vertical lines symbolize the desire for new heights. The semantic bipolarity of symbolism (spike, tree – ray of light, technique) reproduces both the pagan symbolism of fertility and the enlightenment myth of scientific and technical knowledge as power over nature ^[23].

Figure 3 - Mosaic "Science" with bas-relief elements,

Komsomolsk-on-Amur

The symbols of the urban mosaics of Komsomolsk-on-Amur express the desire and strength to overcome adversity. Some of them are designed to symbolize the myth of labor, others are dedicated to the memorable dates of the construction of Komsomolsk. The mosaics representing the modernist myth of science and technology have a symbolic meaning.

Graffiti is presented in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the form of a decorative panel on the facade of the House of Life building, as well as a residential building along the Alley of Labor, 9 (see Fig. 4).

Figure 4 – Sgraffito, Komsomolsk-on-Amur

It is made in two colors – orange and gray. The sgraffito technique is relatively simple and does not require special expenses, which is typical for the decor of that time. The panel is made in the style of socialist realism. The center of the composition is two workers or engineers. They are highlighted on an orange background specifically to emphasize the symbolism and importance of their work. The left and right depict the means and objects of labor.

The symbolic meaning of places depends on the binary structure of festive and profane time. The initial significance is emphasized only when the time comes for a festive date, for example, city day or Victory Day. On other days, the symbolism is forgotten and replaced with other meanings, for example, the meaning of a place of rest or celebration of events not related to this monument. The expression and meaning of mosaics no longer has a significant impact on the current generation of Komsomol members, as well as graffiti and decorative panels. Modern street art and graffiti are more significant, since on the one hand they solve the problem of outdated facade decoration, on the other hand they endow them with meanings close to the culture of the present time ^{[24, p. 54]}.

The social organization of the territories in Komsomolsk had one characteristic feature - the construction of large socialist quarters with a common courtyard space. This technique made it possible in the future to assign a leading role in the organization of wide avenues, boulevards, squares with palaces of culture and other administrative, public, residential buildings. In modern times, the general plan of the city has developed and represents a ray system. In the central district, the streets-rays of Kirov, Mira Avenue and Oktyabrsky, International Avenue and Gagarin Street with the central axis of Pervostroiteley Avenue are closed by Lenin Avenue on the west side ^[25]. The Amur River is the center of convergence for these streets and leads to the embankment, as well as significant places of the city (monument, eternal flame, memorial stone of the landing of the First Builders, etc.).

The quarters formed in this way embodied ideological principles, conveyed the socialist worldview of society: equality, justice, transition to public ownership.  Built wooden barrack-type houses in some areas of the city, designed according to socio-ideological principles, are currently not in demand, outdated. In the 1990s, a myth was formed about such areas, in which most of the population claimed that such houses were inhabited by failed individuals, antisocial families without any moral foundations and values. During this period of perestroika, there was no proper maintenance of buildings and the financing of neighborhoods was declining, which means that such housing was available to people who did not have jobs and were supported by the state. For example, the area of 34 blocks in the Leninsky district ("Dzemgi"). Wooden barracks used to exist on this site, but today they have been demolished. Nevertheless, the construction of new medium-rise residential buildings is not carried out due to the prevailing myth about the poor condition of the territory. In addition, such places are located in the central district (Letchikov St., Vokzalnaya St. and Magistralnaya St.). In our opinion, such mythological plots are associated not only with stereotypes attributed by citizens to these places, but also remoteness from central streets, as well as possible proximity to industrial facilities. For example, the area of "site No. 6", which is located near an oil refinery in the northern part of the city. The area is almost abandoned and is not favorable for a modern family to live in.

Residential wooden houses and blocks built in the 1940s and 1950s were the bearers of the heroically sacrificial myth of the foundation and construction of the city, as well as other buildings. Today, these areas are a mythological plot, broadcasting only the historical, cultural phenomenon of the myth of the Hero-worker, who transforms the chaos of nature into a total space of technology and labor.

Conclusion

In the study of the myth, our task was to determine its possibilities in the future. Considering cultural phenomena in the temporal-spatial continuum (past, present, future) we can design and transform a myth into specific plots aimed at attracting the attention of the population to certain places, urban sites, buildings, etc.

This is due to the attribution of new, timely and modern ideas, functions, values to the studied territory, urban object, element. Therefore, it becomes very important to comprehensively study the myth as one of the ways to transform the cultural space of the city.

Referring to the Lemniscate (see Fig. 1), we can see how the movement of the myth line captures the cultural, historical, symbolic, psychological aspects of the events taking place. In the past, the myth line acts as a tool that accumulates various information about a particular object, allows you to save information and transfer it to the present. In this time interval, the information obtained takes the form of a mythologeme forming archetypal models or archetypes. They have morphological properties and may either not be in demand by people in the future as a mythological plot, or they may be reorganized and presented in the future as a new cultural phenomenon.

At the same time, a number of specific issues related to the methodology of studying urban space based on the myth remain little disclosed in this study. But at the same time, it opens up opportunities for a more thorough study of the myth line as one of the possible options for transforming the city's space, preserving historical, architectural, artistic and literary heritage.

^[1] L.V. Tsyganova-Pogodina went to the Far East at the call of V. Khetagurova to build a new city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur

^[2] "In 1932, I entered the Federal State Educational Institution at the garment factory No. 4 in Penza, where I was raised in an orphanage and joined the Komsomol at the factory in 1932. Upon completion of the Federal Law, it was mobilized in 1934 for the construction of the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur."

^[3] Arrived from Leningrad

^[4] (Lunacharsky A.V. Articles on Soviet literature. – M., 1958. – p. 239; italics. – A.R. For the first time the phrase “socialist realism” appeared in the editorial of the Literary Gazette of May 23, 1932 (author – I.M.Gronsky))