To determine the tendencies of reflection of the socioeconomic and spatial changes of the post-Soviet period in the minds of Lviv residents, to outline the factors influencing the transformations that are taking place. Historical development of Lviv – a multifunctional city with almost 800 years of history, cultural and educational center of Ukraine, was artificially transformed into an industrial center in the Soviet period. Transformations of Lviv image of the post-Soviet period were investigated on the basis of official statistics, analysis of town-planning projects and selective urban inventory. The actions of the authorities in influencing the changes in the image of the city are analyzed on the basis of approved strategic documents of development, as well as the activities of local self-government bodies. During the last three decades, Lviv has lost its competitiveness, and there is a decrease in population due to both natural growth and migration; increasing concentration of people and business functions in its central part; problems of transport and preservation of the historical environment of the city are aggravated; tourist anthropogression on the city is growing and tourist erosion is increasing. Assessments of an image change in residents’ perceptions are analyzed by comparing their own research and questionnaires. 200 surveys were conducted, the results of which are as follows: 1) An increase in the disorder of urban life and an increase in its intensity were recorded; 2) c the spatial image of the city is associated mainly with the growing importance of the old part of the city (localization of more and more services); 3) post-industrial territories are treated as places where the crisis of the city is visible; 4) the symbols of the city are unchanged, new ones are not named; 5) areas of high attractiveness in functional, social and aesthetic relations are distinguished, as well as low attractiveness spaces. The spatial changes of Lviv in the post-Soviet period are generally assessed as critical. The residents point out that Lviv does not create a sacred image anymore, it loses the aura of its intellectual and cultural center; the center is not attractive to architecture and history, but to restaurants that have transformed former art salons and bookstores; architectural identity and uniqueness are lost; space polarization is deepening (expensive commercial housing adjacent to neglected public spaces); commerce with a devastating excitement about the existing spatial order burst into the historical environment. The lack of a unified vision of city development and management of urban planning processes «in manual mode» causes chaotic and unsystematic changes that destroy the spatial structure, principles of city development and causes irreparable mistakes in its construction then copy it into the registration web field.

The realities of the present require changes and development of urban methodology as a science of methods covering the entire methodological chain – from clarifying concepts, streamlining tasks and establishing characteristics of objects to methods of analysis, evaluation and justification of decisions, and urban planning design and management of urban development. The purpose of this study is to provide an in-depth understanding of the methodology of urbanism in the context of convergence (rapprochement, interconnection, interpenetration) of materialistic and idealistic approaches, and to streamline and develop methodological tools for urban planning. Urban planning activity is considered a set of purposes, criteria, priorities, and constraints. The multiplicity of purposes – strategic, tactical, regulatory, and criteria – necessitates changes in methodology, analysis and assessment of spatial situations, and justification of decisions, including the requirements of multicriteria. The design of territorial systems is oriented towards integrated development, increasing the validity and efficiency of the implementation of the concepts of their spatial organisation. The study is methodological – it emphasises the significance of improving the methodological culture and developing the urbanist’s systemic thinking (reflection, worldview), their creative potential and the set of professional knowledge, skills and abilities to implement projects and other functions of professional activity. It is extremely important in the era of large databases and the Internet, changes in planning and research practices, increased capacity and depth of information analysis, and the emergence of new techniques and procedures. Integration of new research methods should be designed to obtain new knowledge about processes and phenomena, establish regularities and increase the validity of the principles of organisation, functioning and development of urbanised systems and territories

Circular economy offers new visions of how diversely urban spaces could be inhabited and managed. While the generation and management of waste is being treated through innovative practices, disused industrial, rural, and infrastructural areas are resistant to becoming included in a closed-loop cycle. They, in fact, establish wastelands that need to be completely re-imagined as a precondition for the transition. The fact of shifting the definition of a 'neglected area' into a 'wasteland', in line with the metaphor of urban metabolism, could be of tactical importance for generating alternative policies and practices. In exploring how the transition impacts Naples' urban region, the paper argues that turning wastelands into resources has the double potential of rehabilitating spaces and challenging the governance model in use, overcoming barriers in multiple sectors.

The article assumes that the effectiveness of spatial development of the city largely depends on the analysis and consideration of new properties of space. The phenomena of isomerism and invariance as integral properties of urban space, their connection with other dimensions are studied. The theoretical provisions of the phenomenon of invariance and isomerism for urban planning are comprehended, their essence in relation to the problems of centrism is revealed; the role of urban networks and the dynamism of space; tasks of placing new objects in the complex spatial structure of cities. Approaches to the study and consideration of these characteristics in the spatial organization and development of urban systems are substantiated. The categorical-conceptual apparatus is specified. Invariants are quantities, ratios, and properties that do not change from the changes in the components associated with them. They determine the comfort of the environment, the availability of facilities, the effectiveness of solutions and other properties of the space. The phenomenon of invariance is revealed through the functional zoning of the territory, the concept of centrism and the center of cities, communication connectivity and configuration of the urban network, the location of new objects in urban space. These are the instrumental properties of urban space, which are concentrated around the human dimension and human needs. Isomers in urban planning are changes in the properties of urban space with a constant material structure and environment, which is usually associated with the position of a single element in the system. Understanding this phenomenon is important and effective for understanding the morphology and essence of urban systems. The city is an integral dynamic supersystem, and the development of urban space takes place both according to planned decisions and according to the laws of «living» matter. Space interacts with processes (social, technological, informational, functional and economic); combines squares, streets, recreational environment (parks, gardens, squares), creating their own social values. The principles and requirements for the use of invariance and isomerism in architectural and urban activities are substantiated. Invariants determine the proportions of the ratios of shapes and spaces, environmental friendliness, functionality, nodes and internal geometry of space. Isomeric properties of urban space form, as a rule, qualitative symbolic, aesthetic and historically significant urban elements. They: change the range of impressions for users due to changes in architectural and urban characteristics and interactions with the user; increase individual and collective personalization, as well as general identity; make the space safer for the population, provide continuity in their control; universalize the space, which allows to develop new activities and apply mixed functionalities; organize urban nodes as spaces with high connectivity to other urban nodes and zones. The requirements to the formation of urban space are substantiated: the correct definition of the proportional relations between closed and open space, shape and size; environmental friendliness; functional sufficiency; the internal geometry of space must be determined by man; nodal places as invariants should direct people to cross space in all directions - to guarantee visually expressive entrances, attractive visual landmarks, accessibility, convenience of being near them and in them; the label must meet the criteria of scale and traditional design. It is proved that the use of isomerization provisions and urban invariants can be effective for the recovery and effective development of the urban organism.