The city of the future in the European Commission's documents: A comprehensive analysis

Abstract

The study analyses a holistic vision of the city of the future, which is scattered in various documents and programmes of the European Union. The research relevance is predefined by the need to create a holistic vision that can act as an attractive representative of all current urban values in the mass culture and promote the qualities of environmental friendliness, inclusiveness, cohesion, sustainability, self-sufficiency, etc. The research aims to outline a holistic vision of the city of the future supported by EU documents necessary for the crystallisation of its historical identity. The research results were obtained by using the synthesis method. This study proposes to synthesise the following main conceptual groups of the discourse around the city of the future aimed at the ideals of optimal density, renewable self-sufficiency, techno-biosphere symbiosis, participatory cooperation, social cohesion, and multi-age valorisation. Each of these groups is first considered separately as a field of scientific attention, its main characteristics are given and evaluated in terms of usefulness for improving the urban environment. Next, an attempt is made to combine these groups employing a comprehensive analysis, the methodology of which is aimed at identifying common content nodes in the concepts and tools of each group. Subsequently, they are combined into a common conceptual system, an essential feature of which is the expansion of the interpretation of the features of each group as part of the features of other groups. This allowed to avoid the division of the current discourse around the image of the city of the future into different sectors and to work more effectively with the implementation and promotion of the values of the city image, which is supported by official documents of the European Commission, which is relevant for Ukraine, which seeks EU membership. In addition, the findings can be used in the education of students majoring in architecture and urban planning, as well as design