The changing understanding of urban nature

Abstract or Introduction

Since the 19th century, the countries of the Western world have entered the era of the industrial revolution. The new way of life, the development of science and industry had a huge impact on all aspects of society. At this time, in the major cities of the world, problems of a social, economic, and environmental nature were sharply aggravated. In the middle of the 19th century, ecology emerged as an independent science. The birth of a new direction of research was, on the one hand, the result of the progressive development of knowledge about nature, and on the other hand, a precursor of the ecological problems of the planet already accumulating by that time. Architects and city planners of the time began to propose various urban planning concepts, in which an attempt was made to solve new problems generated by the development of technical civilization. Similar theories and concepts continued to be advanced later, throughout the 20th century. At present, the concept of sustainable development, which aims to create a high-quality living environment that satisfies all the demands of society, is becoming increasingly used (Hall 2014b). The concept of a sustainable city has gone through a long evolutionary path of development, the consideration of which is of great interest for understanding the essence of the concept and its practical implementation in the cities of the world.