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Urbanization and Rural Trends in Russia and in Its Old-Developed Regions

  • OLD-DEVELOPED AREAS IN THE SPACE OF RUSSIA
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Abstract—

The article considers the historical stages and current interaction between cities and rural areas. Old-developed regions of Russia are characterized by relatively high density of cities, but at the expense of small and most problematic ones. The urbanization of the 20th century led to the growth of several large centers that continue to “pull” people out of small and medium-sized cities and rural areas. The gap between the centers of regions and the territories they lead continues to grow. Prolonged urbanization has led to a significant devastation of the countryside outside Moscow oblast and in northwestern Russia. This was partly driven by the spread of small rural settlements in the forest zone. The peculiarity of Soviet agriculture and its post-Soviet transformations, the shift on crop production to the southern regions, and the impact on modern rural settlements are considered. It is shown how the modern technological paradigm of agriculture in the form of large modernized agro-industrial complexes has led spatial contrasts enhancement and the transition to a selective-focal commodity economy accompanied by shrinking land use. This led to the undermining the economic base of many rural settlements, and strengthening rural depopulation.

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Notes

  1. The borders of Russia are considered in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation adopted by popular vote on December 12, 1993, with amendments approved during the All-Russian vote on July 1, 2020.

  2. See the articles devoted to the cities of the Center of Russia and the Urals in this special issue.

  3. We took into account data on the population of precisely cities without urban-type settlements and the rural population included in urban okrugs.

  4. Excluded from calculations are Grozny and Simferopol, as well as the centers of autonomous oblasts (since there are too few cities in them). Moscow and St. Petersburg are united respectively with the Moscow and Leningrad oblasts.

  5. The assessment of the degree of the population sobriety is annually carried out according to a number of indicators: (1) the number of deaths due to certain causes of death (alcohol poisoning), (2) the number of those registered with a diagnosis of alcoholism and alcoholic psychosis, (3) the number of crimes committed by persons in a state of alcoholic intoxication, (4) the volume of alcohol products sold, (5) the number offenses related to the illegal production and circulation of alcohol and alcoholic products, (6) the prevalence of measures to temporarily ban the sale of alcohol (National rating of regions’ sobriety. 2019, 2020. http://www.trezvros.ru/calendar/953. Accessed December 12, 2021).

  6. All-Russian Agricultural Census 2016. Vol. 2. Preliminary results of the 2016 All-Russian Agricultural Census for the federal subjects of the Russian Federation, Moscow: IIC “Statistics of Russia,” 2017.

  7. According to the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, the level of gasification of settlements in rural areas (including multi-story buildings) with network gas as of January 1, 2017 was 59%, and the provision of drinking water (including local water supply systems) was 64%. In 2021 a law was signed on the free construction of a gas pipeline to the boundaries of the land plot of households with permanent residence where a gas pipe is connected to the village, and the distance from the site to the gas distribution network does not exceed 200 m (Federal Law on Amendments to the Federal Law On Gas Supply in the Russian Federation, June 2021. http://publication.pravo.gov.ru). Gasification of a house will still require about RUB 200–300 thous. from the homeowner, which is beyond the power of most rural residents. This does not apply to summer residents with their temporary residence.

  8. All-Russian Agricultural Census 2016. Vol. 2. Preliminary results of the 2016 All-Russian Agricultural Census for the federal subjects of the Russian Federation. Moscow: IIC “Statistics of Russia,” 2017.

  9. Regions of Russia, Moscow: Rosstat, 1999, 2019.

  10. The national economy of the RSFSR. The national economy of the RSFSR in 1987. Statistical collection, Moscow: Goskomstat of the RSFSR, 1988.

  11. The national economy of the RSFSR. The national economy of the RSFSR in 1987. Statistical collection, Moscow: Goskomstat of the RSFSR, 1988.

  12. All-Russian Agricultural Census 2016. Vol. 2. Preliminary results of the 2016 All-Russian Agricultural Census for the federal subjects of the Russian Federation, Moscow: IIC “Statistics of Russia,” 2017.

  13. It is possible that if institutional changes had taken place 30 years earlier, when the problems of agriculture had already become apparent, and the depopulation of the Non-Chernozem regions had not gone so far, agriculture would have had a chance to strengthen itself in a new quality. These changes could be based on farms of various sizes, incl. small private, and social arrangement of rural areas, thereby preserving part of the rural population.

  14. See the article by K.V. Averkieva and T.G. Nefedova Polarization of the Russia’s Socioeconomic Space to the Northeast of the Capital Core in this special issue.

  15. Form of long-term temporary mobility widespread in Russia.

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Funding

The work was carried out at the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences within the framework of the project of the Russian Science Foundation no. 19-17-00174 and within the framework of the state task of the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences AAAA-A19 -119022190170-1 (FMGE-2019-0008).

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

    T. G. Nefedova

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Nefedova, T.G. Urbanization and Rural Trends in Russia and in Its Old-Developed Regions. Reg. Res. Russ. 12 (Suppl 1), S24–S41 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079970522700319

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