The city as an object of research at the conference attracted the attention of representatives of various fields of scientific knowledge: philosophers, sociologists, political scientists, economists, historians, natural scientists, representatives of technical sciences, and, most notably, more and more young researchers are taking part in its work. Young scientists propose to discuss the problems of city functioning not only in terms of solving utilitarian tasks of its organisation, but also in order to implement humanistic ideals of its development as a major cultural centre, as an achievement and at the same time an ontological beginning of human culture.
A rational solution to these problems requires a holistic vision of the city, an understanding of its genesis and development as a ‘living’ organism that carries vital structures and traditions. All this requires clarification and scientific substantiation of the main factors influencing the qualitative changes in urban life, identification of the causal basis for the permanent modernisation of the city and historical changes concerning the conditions of formation of urban society.
The modern city is a complex phenomenon integrated into a certain integrity, containing a variety of different socio-economic, political, cultural and anthropological processes. It can be considered the best conventional environment for studying social phenomena in all their modifications, because modern Ukrainian cities best reflect the processes taking place in society. That is why so much attention at the conference was paid to the formation of the urban environment and the directions of city development: from coming up with creative ideas for the tourism industry to analysing modern ideas of city development and its near and distant future. The socio-cultural sphere of the city in Ukrainian philosophy and sociology of the city still remains under-researched. Its consideration from the methodological point of view allows us to overcome the underestimation of socio-cultural factors in the genesis, functioning and development of the city.
Such aspects as the socio-cultural potential of the city, the lifestyle of the city's citizens, from the point of view of cultural theory, were most relevant at the conference. For the first time, it was proposed to understand the city in terms of the world scientific heritage to study cities that have unique cultural values and represent a special subculture of the holistic world culture.
