DOI 10.51255/2311–603X_2025_1_36
G. S. Tziafetas. Old problem, modern solution: Floods and protection in St. Petersburg/Leningrad
(1703–1924) // Petersburg historical journal, no. 1, 2025, pp. 36–47
Abstract:
The article contains a scientific view of environmental management, projects for protecting St. Petersburg from floods, which were proposed by engineers of the 18th and early 20th centuries, as well as a social justification for why flood supports began to be seriously designed only after the catastrophic floods of 1924. Was it a catalyst for the authorities and engineers — or was this design phase more dependent on other (social) processes?
Key words: catastrophic flood 1924, public utilities, sewage system, water supply, pavements, dam projects, ideas about flood nature, floods, flood damage, St. Petersburg before revolution, Leningrad.
Author:
Tziafetas, Georgios S. — Master of Arts, Doctoral Candidate at the University of Bern (Bern,
Switzerland).
E-mail: geotziaf@yahoo.de
References:
Bogdanov, V. L., Kulinich, A. V., Nikolaev, N. L., Shustova, L. E. Some Aspects of Studies of the Gravity Field, Geoid and Phenomenon of Fennoscandia. In Poutanen M., Kakkuri J. (Eds.) Final results of the Baltic Sea level 1997 GPS Campaign.Research works of the SSC 8.1 of the International Association of Geodesy. Kirkkonummi, 1999, pp. 132–140.
Bukhanovskii, A. V., Kalyuzhnaya, A. V., Lopatukhin, L. I., Pomeranets, K. S. Navodneniya v Sankt-
Peterburge: istoriya i sovremennost’ [Navodneniya v Sankt-Peterburge: istoriya i sovremennost’. In Russ.]. St. Petersburg, Universitet ITMO, 2017. 87 p.
Ćurić, M., Spiridonov, V. History of Meteorology. Cham-Switzerland, Springer, 2023. 366 p.
Ekman, M. The Changing Level of the Baltic Sea During 300 Years: A Clue to Understanding the Earth. Åland Islands, Summer Institute for Historical Geophysics, 2009. 155 p.
Gordeeva, S. M., Malinin, V. N. Izmenchivost’ morskogo urovnya Finskogo zaliva [Variability of the Sea Level of the Gulf of Finland. In Russ.]. St. Petersburg, 2014. 178 p.
Kakkuri, J. Postglacial Deformation of the Fennoscandian Crust. In Geophysica. 1997. Vol. 33. No. 1, pp. 99–109.
Lindgrén S., Neumann J. Great Historical Events That Were Significantly Affected by the Weather:
5, Some Meteorological Events of the Crimean War and Their Consequences. In Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 1980. Vol. 61. No. 12, pp. 1570–1583.
Malinova-Tziafeta, O. Y. Iz goroda na dachu: sotsiokul’turnye faktory osvoeniya dachnogo prostranstva vokrug Peterburga (1860–1914) [From City to Dacha: Sociokultural Factors of Development of Dacha Belt around St. Petersburg. In Russ.]. St. Petersburg, Izdatel’stvo Evropeiskogo universiteta v Sankt-Peterburge, 2013. 336 p.
NEZHIKHOVSKII, R. A. Reka Neva i Nevskaya guba [The Neva River and the Neva Bay. In Russ.].
Leningrad, Gidrometeoizdat, 1981. 109 p.
Obertreis, J. Tränen des Sozialismus. Wohnen in Leningrad zwischen Alltag und Utopie 1917–1937. Köln/Weimar, Böhlau Verlag, 2004. 456 s.
Pyaskovskii, R. V., Pomeranets, K. S., Chernysheva, E. S. Povtoryaemost’ navodnenii v Peterburge
[Recurrence of Floods in St. Petersburg. In Russ.]. In Priroda. 2003. No 9, pp. 21–23.