Assessment of the configuration of public green spaces in St. Petersburg

The article discusses the complexity of the configuration of the boundaries of open public green spaces (OPGS) of St. Petersburg, which is considered as the most important parameter of the territory along with its area. The complexity of the configuration is assessed in order to improve the preparation of tasks for the design of public green spaces. As initial data, information about the OPGS was taken from the regional geoinformation system of St. Petersburg, then the data were processed in the QGIS program. The article clearly shows exactly how the configuration affects the design solution and the planning structure, and what significance it has for landscape design. The complexity of the configuration is estimated by comparing the length of the boundaries of the OPGS with the perimeter of the reference figures – a circle and a rectangle with an aspect ratio according to the rule of the "golden section". It is shown that the choice of a reference figure does not significantly affect the assessment of complexity. For the calculated configuration complexity coefficient, Jenks natural breaks optimization and clustering based on minimizing the sums of intra-group variances of neighboring clusters (MSIV) were used. It is shown that the use of the MSIV algorithm is preferable. For each of the selected classes of configuration complexity (simple, advanced, complex, very complex), visual illustrations and descriptions of the essential features of the figures belonging to the classes are given. In the conclusion of the article it is shown that the proposed complexity classes make it possible to divide all OPGS into ordered groups, that the complexity of the configuration is often caused by formal reasons. The results of the study led to the conclusion that simple configurations (Class 1) and very complex configurations (Class 4) require noticeable differences in the use of design techniques and, as can be assumed, the conditions for the maintenance of objects.

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