The city as a cultural phenomenon under conditions of social transformation

The article presents the experience of studying the city as a cultural phenomenon under the conditions of modern social dynamics. As an artificially created space in which the achievements of civilization are concentrated, the city creates special conditions for a person, the development and improvement of which occur together with the change of the urban environment. The phenomenological approach makes it possible to identify the features of the interaction between a person and the environment and establish factors that allow optimizing social processes during the transformation period. Р. Bourdieu's theory of symbolic capital made it possible to substantiate the increasing role of culture in the conditions of the formation of an information society. Modern urban culture is formed in the sphere of "between" disappearing and emerging forms. 1ts role is to clarify the meaning; its function is to coordinate, synchronize, balance, establish rational consensus, and justify changes that meet the goals of self-preservation for man and society. The values and meanings developed in the process of the formation of the city and defining the features of the lives of citizens determine the status of the city and its role in resolving the contradictions of the modern world. 1n the human mind, the city lives as an image - a uniquely formed set of identification values characterizing the urban space, or a symbol with a deep meaning referring to the historical and cultural context associated with a particular territory. As a cultural phenomenon, the city has internal and external dimensions. The internal dimension is determined by the development of identification strategies, an important part of which is the development of unique practices in which life-preserving meanings are encoded, proceeding from the presupposed knowledge of the organic connection of man, society, and the environment - their interdependence. The external dimension is connected with the role of the city in the surrounding space; it is a response to its symbolic sound in the programs on a larger scale.