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  • Essay / Trends of globalization in Russian landscape architecture

    Globalization is understood today as an “international process on a global scale related to investments in financial markets that were determined by technical modernization” (Smirnov , 2002). Some authors also distinguish three linked aspects of globalization: economic, cultural and political (Short and Kim, 1999). The use of the term "globalization" in Russia began in the early 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The most frequently asked question in recent Russian sociological literature is: is globalization a phenomenon specific to the 20th and 21st centuries or have there been processes of globalization in the history of culture? (Prosersky, 2003). In Russian history, the most visible cultural globalization was linked to the adaptation of Orthodox Christianity and Byzantine culture in the 10th century AD. Byzantine gardening traditions were most influential in the hanging gardens and monastery gardens of Moscow (Ignatieva, 1997). At the time of Peter the Great (early 18th century), the fashionable European “global” principles of French gardens (symbol of absolute monarchy) were adopted. Peter's famous paradigm of the "open window to Europe" and the creation of a new capital (St. Petersburg) is a classic example of Russia's integration into the "global" European culture and economy ". The Russian Revolution of 1917 introduced the idea of ​​a "proletarian" culture with its unique language of landscape architecture of large public parks for recreation and rest ("parkiculturi i otdicha"). It was a new type of public park, aiming to be a "cultural complex" with a multifunctional program (and associated territory zoning) including sport, cultural and political education of the communities ( Bogovaya, Fursova, 1988). The new Soviet society needed huge public parks, capable of accommodating thousands of people and giving them the opportunity not only to have fun, but also to practice sports and major events (political meetings and major shows), “something like a huge club under the sky” (Kochno, 1986). , 1985). Most of this typology of the Russian Soviet landscape was used as a model in many Eastern Bloc countries. At the end of the 20th century, the process of globalization was perceived in Russia as a process of Westernization and Americanization (Duquenne, 2006). In Russian sociological literature, Westernization is identified as the imposition of Western social and economic development, ideology and culture on non-Western countries. Most Russian authors also believe that in Russia, Westernization affects all spheres of life, not only political and economic, but also ideological and cultural (Zinoviev, 1999). Russia's integration into a capitalist market economy was moving very quickly and had its own peculiarities. Russian society was divided into two very unequal parts: a small proportion (5%) of very rich ("New Russians" or "Russians") »).