Interconnection of open and closed public spaces in historic city centers in Russia

The theme is dedicated to the problem of urban heritage preservation in the era of globalization with the rapid growth of large cities and megalopolises. The object of research is the Old Town designed in the period of urban and politics reforms of Russian Imperial age. Only in the last 100 years, the territory of modern Russia has undergone numerous reforms and political turmoil. During the research there were studied Moscow as the capital of Russia and some other Russian cities with their historic urban landscapes integrated with contemporary architecture, and also the problems of transport situation of these cities were analyzed. In the last decades the low-rise residential quarters with historical favorable ambience are demolishing; on their places skyscrapers have been building, constant migration from residential areas to the centers and the growing number of vehicles, parking lots are not sufficient. The aim of this paper is to show the opportunity for preservation of the architectural and landscape heritage in the historic city centers of Russia with a glance of contemporary social requests. Based on the study of information and on the documents of conservation of historic city centers, the opportunity to preserve the urban and architectural heritage is offered with new regulatory standards of urban development and of the use of land in the most valuable historical urban areas. The solution was found in the creation of pedestrian areas in the major public city centers.