Transformation of Perception of Novy Arbat Street as a Public Space in 1960-2016

The research paper considers the urban community perceptions of Novy Arbat street as one of the most ambiguous subject of the soviet modernist architecture. Novy Arbat was the symbol of “the thaw period” as well as the symbol of the wide avenue cut through the historic area of the city. The project of Novy Arbat became the architectural and social experiment. The formation of the architectural scene of the street which determined the “new brand” life style was affected by “the thaw period” in the political life of the state and the orientation to the West under the dominating paradigm of the rationalism and large-scale housing construction in the city-planning. The study analyzes the prerequisites of the formation, the history, the evolution of the spatial modifications of the street and the key features of the urban community perceptions of the street by lapse of time. The research analyzes the modification of the significance of the street in the social life of the urban community, its role and tendencies in the spatial development of the city, the transformation of its role as a public space with the course of time. On the basis of the interview with the residents and non-residents of Novy Arbat as well as expert interviews the researcher analyses the patterns of the street perceptions of the different groups of respondents in the different time lines. In the framework of the research paper the author examines the vector of the street development in correspondence with the dominating perceptions, key features and its perspectives of the development and on the basis of the study findings formulates the recommendations on the street space formations.