Review article

The article presents the results of study (on the basis of various sources) of development features of St. Petersburg - Petrograd urban planning and architecture during the implementation of the «garden cities» concept, which has been known in the world architecture since the 1890-s. There has been revealed a common line in the implementation of similar principles of urban and suburban environment formation, which can be traced in St. Petersburg and its historical St. Petersburg agglomeration for a very long period starting from the 1730-s, that can be considered one of the distinctive «environmental» features of St. Petersburg and its suburbs. These «environmental» features (such as a high level of regulation in the urban planning system, standardization of high-rise and density characteristics of the urban development, the level of improvement and urban greening, etc.) predominated in St. Petersburg and its agglomeration for decades, starting from the 1730s, and were almost a standard requirement in the formation of urban and suburban communities known as «slobodas». However, by the middle of the XIX century, this type of St. Petersburg urban development (corresponding to the «garden city») had been displaced from the city center, becoming predominant in the areas of local, suburban and cottage construction. Since 1919, this type of environment was officially localized in Petrograd within the 3-rd zone (the zone of local settlements and suburbs), where active attempts were made for implementing such type of environment. Nevertheless, since the late 1920-s, the «garden city» concept lost its popularity in Russia, being applied only in the areas of suburban cottage construction and at creation of camps for workers.