The urban crisis of the 19th — early 20th century in Russian urban sociological studies of the pre-revolutionary period

The article carries out a historical and sociological analysis of Russian urban sociological researches of the pre-revolutionary period proposing approaches to improving the quality of citizens’ life. The interest in the issues of urban environment improvement discussed by sociologists today arose at the turn of the 19th — 20th centuries as a reaction to the social problems faced by big cities of that time, including Russian cities, due to the social inequality which worsened as a result of rapid and uncontrolled urbanization. It is emphasized that a significant contribution to the sociological study of the social contradictions of urban life and the search for possible ways to eliminate them is made by Russian social thinkers sharing the idea that urbanization should not be spontaneous, but a controlled social process in the late 19th — early 20th centuries.Sociological researches by Russian social scientists seeking solutions of the social problems peculiar to big cities, are grouped around two sociological conceptions - the garden city and municipal socialism. The article defines the theoretical origins of these conceptual constructions and carries out a comparative analysis of these conceptions, thanks to what the huge heuristic potential of scientific developments created within the framework of Russian urban sociology in the pre-revolutionary period is revealed.The author demonstrates that the social problems of big cities, as well as the principles of their solution, analyzed by Russian social scientists at the turn of the 19th — 20th centuries, are highlighted by modern sociologists examining urban life. The article concludes that Russian urban sociological studies conducted in the Russian Empire are a valuable heritage for contemporary Russian and Western sociology and are an important theoretical and methodological basis for sociological researches of city and urbanization in the 21st century.