SPECIFICS OF THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE USING IN THE URBAN PLANNING OF UKRAINE IN 1940S-1950S

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the natural landscape use specifics in urban planning of Ukraine in 1940-1950. In the postwar years, most cities in Ukraine needed reconstruction after the destruction caused during World War II. On the example of cities-regional centers of Ukraine, such as Kharkiv, Lviv, Lutsk, Ternopil, etc., the peculiarities of the natural landscape use in the conditions of urban transformations and reconstruction of 1940s-1950s are determined. In accordance with the master plans of the 1940s and 1950s, according to which cities were rebuilt after the Second World War, the natural landscape played an important role in the creation of urban compositions. Given the requirement of the city and nature unity, the new urban ensembles tried to integrate into the existing natural landscape in such a way as to emphasize the representative qualities of the central buildings, to form a holistic spatial composition. The landscape use also solved certain functional tasks in the reconstruction of cities: the existing natural relief was usually used to emphasize the specific image of new architectural dominants; ponds, if available near city centers, were arranged and compositionally combined with the urban ensemble; the arrangement of the existing greenery solved the question of the necessary amount of landscaping and the creation of recreation areas for the city population. This approach was usually used for socialist propaganda, but on the other hand, taking into account the peculiarities of the landscape in urban planning and using its features to solve functional and compositional problems, as is known, is characteristic of urban planning at all stages of human history, including 1940s-1950s.