Building space and myth at the edge of empire : Space Syntax analysis of St . Petersburg , 1703 - 1913

The foundation of St Petersburg in 1703 involves a tension between Scandinavian and Slavic identity. By reviewing grid maps over a period of time, it is possible to create connections of authorial structures and show how they not only come into tension with mythologies being associated with the city but how they also continue to generate a mythos for the city. Drawing on space syntax analysis of five stage of the evolution of the city, I show how the ongoing building of the city cannot be separated from the construction of an evolving mental model of the city. The mythic associations attributed to the city at her foundation stand in stark contrast to the ongoing problems of not only creating an idealized plan but in building a city that was rapidly becoming the major architectural and civil engineering project taking place in the north Introduction Approaches to the imperial city founded by Peter the Great on the Gulf of Finland in 1703 have often split the study of the urban plan between the highly developed mythos associated with the city and its actual construction. The repeated reference to the psychological force of the city so evident in work by Pushkin, Gogal, Dostoevsky, to mention only a few, stand in harsh contrast to the technical accounts of canal and bridge building, the city’s extension toward the Gulf of Finland, the building of the world’s deepest metro system, the industrialization of the city during the Soviet period, and the rebuilding of the city after its destruction in the Second World War. My objective in the following involves a consideration of the relation between the mythos of the city and its construction through the use of tools provided by recent work in space syntax. Although reference will be made to different periods, my primary objective will be to look at the earliest plans for the city and to notice their importance for an emerging mentality of the city. A further argument for this study appears in the absence of any detailed analysis of St. Petersburg from the vantage point of space syntax and in the fact that this year marks the 300th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg. [email protected]