Review article

The need to analyze the features of the intra-quarter environment as an object of both artistic and material culture is emphasized. An analysis of the functional saturation of urban courtyards at different stages of development has been carried out. It is pointed out that during the urbanization process the courtyards` role in the household activities of citizens was minimized. It is shown that the increased urban development density, starting from the middle of the XIX century, generated the differentiation of the intensity of apartments` illumination and caused the emergence of a new type of profitable houses planning using border-zone narrow courtyards.