VISUAL STRUCTURE OF THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT AND THE CULTURAL CODE CONCEPT

The article discusses the conditions for applying the concept “cultural code” in the field of urban studies. The visual structure of urban space is formed not only with the help of aesthetic and stylistic techniques, but also through the representation of the deep meanings of culture – values, images, normative attitudes, and moral standards. A code that allows the translation of information from the addresser to the addressee is used to convey any message in the field of communication. The specificity of the cultural code lies in the fact that it is an intermediary between the sign and the meaning rather than between the sign and the object. In fine arts, architecture, and urbanism, the same coding principle operates, according to which, at the level of presentation of a fact, a direct message is encrypted and transmitted (denotation), and, at the level of representation of meaning, subtext and context (connotation) are used. Culture is a semiotic environment, that is, a dynamic space for an exchange of signs and sign complexes. A sign in its connotative aspect always expresses some meaning. The cultural code is the order of expression of meanings, the norm of their communicative representation. According to the semiotic approach to analyzing urban space, the city is read as a visual text that directly communicates the functional configuration of the living environment and at the same time (at the level of connotation) refers to the values and traditions of a particular culture through various means of their visual representation.

urban studies, semiotics, cultural code, city, visual environment, presentation, representation, cultural identity