Abstract: The object of this research is the project competitions held in Saint Petersburg since the foundation of the city until the present day. The creative professional competitions in the sphere of architecture, urban planning, monumental art and landscape-environmental design pursuing the best solution of a specific project task are referred to the area of project competitions. The authors examine the evolution of the practice of implementation of competitive method in Saint Petersburg; and determine the most distinctive types of project tasks solved using the competitive method at various stages of city’s development. The competitions are analyzed in accordance with the following aspects: type of design object, format of its social affiliation (individual, collective, public), location within the city-planning pattern (central, peripheral, suburban zones) and relatively to water objects. The main conclusions consist in the evolution trends of the relevant city-planning objectives, determined on the basis of changes of the prevailing themes ad locations of the objects of competitive designing. The analysis of evolution of competitive practice is conducted in accordance with the five historical stages of spatial development of Saint Petersburg, characterizes by the diverse sociopolitical circumstances, peculiarities of urban development policy, and level if institutialization of the practice of holding the project competitions.

Abstract: The object of this research is the architectural city-planning competitions held in Saint Petersburg in the time after 1991. The indicated competitions are viewed as a part of a broader concept of competitive practices; seven of the most significant areas of their application are described. Based on the analysis of feasibility of the results of studied competitions, the author conducts an assessment of the effectiveness of competitive method as a way of adopting decisions in the field of architecture and city-planning. A need is substantiated for creating the normative-legal mechanism for regulation of holding the competitive procedures for increasing the efficiency of the competitive method. The assessment of efficiency of competitive method is carries out on the basis of specially compiled database that includes over sixty design contests. The main conclusion consists in the proof of the extremely low effectiveness of competitive method of adoption of the architectural and city-planning decisions in post-Soviet Saint Petersburg, as well as a list of the probable causes of the established situation. For the first time is submitted the systematization of various field of application of the competitive methods: the author determines the “strategic”, “developer”, “advertising” contests, as well as the competitions of ideas and foresights, nonpublic design contests (tenders), review and educational contests.