Symbolic Space of Everyday Urban Culture in Russian Cultural-Philosophical Discourse

The article examines the main conceptual approaches and interpretations of such concepts as “city”, “urban environment”, “urban space” in the Russian cultural philosophical thought of the XIX–XX centuries, identifies the main symbolic layers, semantic contexts and interpretations of urban culture. The article substantiates the position on the binary nature of urban symbols, which, on the one hand, reflects the functionality and utilitarian components of everyday symbolic forms, emphasizing their constructive and pragmatic nature, represented in symbolism. On the other hand, it contains (and visually demonstrates) the textured features of the artistic forms of the symbolic space of the urban environment and the specifics of its aesthetics. It is specified that both the material and spiritual forms of the semiotically “loaded” urban environment are culturally, historically, ideologically and socially interconnected with the deep semantic hermeneutics of Russian/Slavic culture, its historical roots. It was found that the symbolic space of urban culture is generally recognized among researchers, which reflects the natural foundations of both utilitarian and spiritual-moral dominants of urban identity, everyday, aesthetic, sacred, representations of the urban individual, accumulating constructive elements of the material and spiritual culture of the city in its everyday dimension.