Modern formation of education, in the context of «self-development» paradigm, supposes involves the active use of methods of problematization, prognostication and conceptual modelling at the stage of academic training in architectural design projects. These methods have been considered by example of projects for coastal areas of St. Petersburg in the context of new-quality public spaces formation. The methodological experience of Environmental Design programme developed by St. Petersburg State University has been analyzed through the example of creating yachting ports and marinas, used at the stage of analysis in Master degree theses covering the development of coastal areas of Kronstadt and Lomonosov.