Fesenko H. The Cultural and Philosophical Discourses of Urban Landscapes

The thesis explores field of urbanism by introducing the urban landscape as a subject of cultural-philosophical reflection. The focus is on the specificity of the semiosis of the natural landscape in the process of its cultural development by the city. The integral cultural-philosophical study of urban landscapes as mediators of urban / cultural processes is carried out. The interpretation of the city's landscape in the context of ontological and ethical searches for the coherence of the links between nature and culture is highlighted through the ecosofia ideas. The cultural and historical review of landscape practices of the “development” of the sacred space is carried out. The transformation of forms of city planning is analysed. Conceptual parameters for identifying urban landscapes are outlined. The necessity of using the latest epistemological practices for understanding the morphogenesis of urban landscapes is emphasized. The subject area of the morphology of urban landscapes is analysed by exploring the semantic features of city planning in the different cultural and historical periods (antiquity, medieval, Renaissance, modern). In particular, the metaphysical orientation of the “value vertical” of urban landscapes is considered. The city is presented as a symbol of the universe and a place for spiritual self-design of man and metaphysical mission. The cultural-historical approach, which displaces cognitive accents in understanding the phenomenon of medieval urbanism through the "rooting" in the outlook of the idea of moral justification of urban existence, is proposed. The results of the cultural examination of the central city of Chuhuiv in the Kharkiv region have been presented. It has made it possible to develop proposals for a reconstruction of the city's cultural and historical location in order to create an orderly horizontal continuum between historic-architectural and monumental objects. The dissertation is focuses on the interpretation and reinterpretation of landscapes of world-view and historically significant cities (Venice, Vilnius, Jerusalem, Kyiv, London, Nova Gorica, Paris, Rome, Florence, etc.).