ИСТИНА

Within a case-study authors consider University gardens as a particular category and an integral part of the cultural and natural heritage of European civilization. The genesis and development of the University garden as a system in the urban structure is determined on the one hand by specific landscape and natural conditions, and on the other hand by the idea of university education. This category of cultural heritage is characterized by the set of determined functions: ecological, educational, economic, recreational, research, medical and others. University gardens of central European cities are considered as examples of planning structure generation, functional zoning definition, biological diversity formation and specific landscape design methods formulation. The study is aimed at determining the peculiarities of University gardens in the 16th-20th centuries from the standpoint of modern European urban cultural landscapes diversity forming. Thus, it become possible to outline the prospects for the development of University gardens as cultural and scientific centers in the 21 century. The authors analyze features of University gardens structural and functional organization as elements of the urban cultural landscape. The results of historical and geographical analysis through the prism of University garden conception determine how great is the impact of natural, geoecological and socio-cultural factors on the properties of University gardens as complexes.