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Methodological Approaches to the Delimitation of the Boundaries of the Moscow Agglomeration Based on Data from Mobile Network Operators

  • URBAN GEOGRAPHY
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Abstract—

The article highlights the boundaries of the Moscow agglomeration and analyzes its spatial structure using approaches involving the concept of time geography. The study is based on a methodology for determining functional urban areas of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); mobile operators data on the localization of network users are applied. The analysis showed the impossibility of using the OECD methodology without adaptation to Russian conditions. This is because, according to this methodology, the entire territory of a “real city,” including the “bedroom districts” of Moscow and its satellite towns, lies in the core zone. Meanwhile, the suburban zone extends to the territory of almost all of Moscow oblast, in many directions beyond its borders. The proposed adapted variant of the delimitation methodology involves a reduction in the size of the core to the borders of the Moscow Ring Road (MKAD) with a corresponding decrease in the boundaries of the suburban zone. This is consistent with the approaches and ideas prevailing in Russian practice. Using the methodology of the spatiotemporal approach (concept of time geography), a “pulsating agglomeration” model was developed. This model is a way of studying and analyzing the dynamics of socioeconomic functioning of agglomerations, taking into account the different socioeconomic rhythms of the agglomeration. As part of the agglomeration, “static” (constant throughout the year) and “mobile” (seasonal) parts of the suburban area were distinguished. This allowed us to include in the analysis of “pulsation” not only the population of the structural elements of the agglomeration, but also its borders, depending on the seasons of the year.

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Notes

  1. Three hours on the way to work: a study of the Moscow agglomeration. Strelka Institute. 2017. https://api.strelka.com/en/magazine/2017/08/17/moscow-agglomeration. Accessed: April 27, 2019.

  2. A detailed analysis of the evolution of works in the field of time geography is given by A.V. Starikova and A.I. Treivish [15].

  3. Three hours on the way to work: a study of the Moscow agglomeration. Strelka Institute. 2017. https://api.strelka.com/en/magazine/2017/08/17/moscow-agglomeration. Accessed: April 27, 2019.

  4. Functional urban areas by country. 2011. http://www.oecd.org/cfe/regional-policy/functionalurbanareasbycountry.htm. Accessed February 2, 2019.

  5. At the same time, in Moscow oblast there are processes to consolidate municipalities to the level of urban districts. These districts include not only cities and urban-type settlements, but also all former rural settlements of the municipal district. In the near future, this approach will become nonrepresentative and will require a transition to an exclusively kilometer grid.

  6. The authors have no data on commuting in neighboring regions of Moscow oblast.

  7. In addition, the core within such boundaries is in many respects similar to the boundaries of the core of an agglomeration based on data on the density of business life, as determined by the methodology adopted in the United Kingdom, as well as to approaches established in Russian practice [2].

  8. Almost complete compliance of this zone and the territory, which is the core of the agglomeration according to the classical OECD methodology is observed.

  9. It is important to consider that in the first delimitation variant, a significant part of the suburban zone will be located outside the two regions under consideration and may include 1.5–2 mln inhabitants of neighboring regions. https://api.strelka.com/ ru/magazine/2017/08/17/moscow-agglomeration. Accessed April 27, 2019.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to the Department of Information Technologies of the Moscow Government for data provided on the movement of mobile subscribers.

Funding

Sections “Existing approaches to identifying and structuring agglomerations” and “Identification and Structuring of the Moscow Agglomeration” were written by A.G. Makhrova in the Institute of Geography RAS with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 19-17-00174 “Early Developed Regions under Socio-Economic Polarization and Shrinkage of the Active Space in European Russia.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    A. G. Makhrova & R. A. Babkin

  2. Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119017, Moscow, Russia

    A. G. Makhrova

  3. Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, 115093, Moscow, Russia

    R. A. Babkin

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  1. A. G. Makhrova
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  2. R. A. Babkin
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Correspondence to A. G. Makhrova or R. A. Babkin.

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Makhrova, A.G., Babkin, R.A. Methodological Approaches to the Delimitation of the Boundaries of the Moscow Agglomeration Based on Data from Mobile Network Operators. Reg. Res. Russ. 10, 373–380 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079970520030090

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