WILL THE MECHANISM OF PRESERVATION HELP TO CONSERVE THE OLD CENTER OF SAMARA

The article analyzes the project of preservation and regulation the historical center of Samara (the historical settlement) and consider the positions of developers, authorities and local architects about it. The subject of protection, regulation tools and the concept of integrated protective zone are discussed. The article argues that the policy of the historical settlement project in Samara is aimed not to preserve the historical environment, but to stimulate a densification with new buildings due to the demolition of “dilapidated” houses. The protection zones are being reduced, regulations make it possible to densify urban blocks with new buildings. They violate the parameters of the historical buildings (height, proportions, percentage of land use, the boundaries of land surveying). The list of valuable town-forming objects, which has not yet been accepted, did not include buildings located inside the blocks. It will lead to the destruction of their internal structure and loss the main unit of morphology and socio-cultural fabric of the old center “samara’s courtyards”.