Abstract
The project addresses the problem of replacing inconsistent and harmful practices of city planning by a balanced approach for sustainable development of the cities. The original methodology of the Anatomy of the City presented in this case is a new urban planning language that is easy to understand by different actors and has potential for creating diverse professional communities for the social good. The case study explains the methodology and presents its practical implementation in a master plan for development of a post-industrial territory in Saint-Petersburg, Russia with a total area of more than 4,000 ha. In the course of its history Saint-Petersburg has witnessed different contradicting approaches: from private land and development to mass state-sponsored social housing construction. The present situation is affected by this disrupted tradition, inefficient planning and the urban sprawl without sufficient infrastructure. The solution we propose is to treat the city body as a complex living organism similar to a human body, including the society and social interactions (soul and energy), engineering system (internal organs), transport (structure and skeleton), city management (nervous system) and architecture (muscles). We present a detailed city development plan for the chosen area with consideration of all the essential aspects, as well as a tool for diagnostics of healthy city development and creating dynamic digital models.
