Review article

In order to evaluate the present status of the open spaces of Saint-Petersburg historic center, a comparison with the situation in the central districts of Venice and Amsterdam is made. The features of the studied objects are considered. Special attention is paid to the conditions of perception of contemporary urban landscape. It is pointed out that although the historical center of Saint-Petersburg has unique architectural characteristics, intensive urbanization has caused some damage which is accompanied with another problem, namely, a high intensity of the traffic in the urban core. The authors propose some reorganization directions, which would eliminate the negative impact.