“Reslobalization” of Cities as an Effective Response to the Epidemiological Challenge of the Contemporary. Part I: General Provisions, Research Hypothesis

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of adaptation of the living environment of the population of large and largest cities to the vital and dangerous challenges of the new coronavirus pandemic. The author suggests that historically developed cities in their traditional hypostasis have a certain” anti-epidemic “ potential of morphotypological genesis, which must be taken into account, it is advisable to use and it is desirable to increase in the extreme situation of the global COVID-19 epidemic. The working hypothesis of the study is formulated on the basis of the results of monitoring the data of the offi cial St. Petersburg statistics, which refl ect the dynamics of the incidence of new coronavirus infection among citizens, starting from March 2020. According to these results, the most stable epidemiological situation persists in the historical suburbs of the” northern capital “ and its central administrative districts. The center of St. Petersburg was originally developed as a “conglomerate of sett lements” - pre-industrial and proto- industrial urban planning morphotypes that have been inherent in the Russian urban planning culture since ancient times. Urban sett lements, which preserved their planning characteristics in the course of a historically predetermined morphotypological transformation, became the basis for the formation of a set of spatial loci in the structure of a megalopolis - separate components of the urban landscape, within which, if necessary, the introduction of stringent control measures and epidemiological situation in St. Petersburg, it is possible to protect “idealizations” quality of urban life and where work most eff ectively medicareinsurance “antipandemic” sliders “disaggregation”, “distancing”, “disinfection”.