DEVELOPMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN IN RUSSIA AND IN CHINA AT THE PRESENT STAGE

The article is devoted to the main issues of environmental design development as an academic and scientific discipline. The author analyzes the place of the "environmental design" specialty in the educational systems of various countries, in particular, Russia and China. It is pointed out, that only in these countries the subject under study belongs to the field of education in the sphere of art and culture. That forms some features of students’ training, as well as in the methodology, goals and content of environmental design as a scientific field. This work studies the problems that arise in the process of training specialists and of their subsequent employment in Russia and in China. In particular, the author notes that there is an equation of the concepts of "environmental design" and "environmental approach" in Russia, which leads to misunderstanding of the theoretical boundaries of environmental design. In the article these two concepts are distinguished. Examining environmental design through the prism of the Ervin Laszlo’s "grand synthesis" theory, the author concludes that environmental design is a complex discipline, which synthesizes different scientific fields, and can have further dynamics in the development. Environmental design is presented as a field of activity that combines economic and cultural aspects within the framework of creative work. Due to the specificity of environmental design, as well as to the desire of Russia and China to increase cultural capital, this discipline has prospects for expanding the field of research in future. Also, the article highlights three possible directions for further development of environment design, including architectural, landscape and exhibition approaches.