The scientific project “Cultural environment of the historical city: transformation of Kazakhstan’s urban space at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries” is implemented within the framework of grant funding for fundamental and applied scientific research on scientific projects for 2020-2022 of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan (priority direction — Scientific foundations of “Mangilik El” (education of the XXI century, fundamental and applied scientific research in the field of humanities).

The project is aimed at studying the history of the urban environment and its impact on the realization of human and social opportunities, as well as the interpretation of the socio-cultural nature of the historical city, which translates new meanings, values, and experiences necessary in the modern world.

The aim of the project is to study the features of the formation and functioning of the cultural environment of the cities of Kazakhstan at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, as well as the processes of interaction and mutual influence of the city, society and transformation into new models of socio-cultural relations that determined the appearance of the cities of Kazakhstan in various aspects of the life of both society and the state.

The project has the following objectives:

1. analysis of existing concepts of urban research and systematization of historiography;
2. to study the main stages of the genesis of the city and the urban environment in Kazakhstan, to identify the levels of influence of the geographical factor and the civilizational features of the development of the regions on the urban space in the conditions of active colonization of the region;
3. study of the factors of influence of urban space on the development of social groups and institutions, namely, on their formation, the processes of adaptation to the urban environment;
4. consideration of the possibility of applying historical socio-cultural experience in solving modern problems of the city.

The project implementation period is 27 months from November 2020 to December 2022.