ASSESSMENT OF THE RURAL SETTLEMENT SYSTEM IN THE CENTRAL CHERNOZEM MACRO-REGION OF RUSSIA

DOI 10.32651/245-114

Issue № 5, 2024, article № 15, pages 114-121

Section: Social problems of rural territories

Language: Russian

Original language title: ОЦЕНКА СИСТЕМЫ СЕЛЬСКОГО РАССЕЛЕНИЯ В ЦЕНТРАЛЬНО-ЧЕРНОЗЕМНОМ МАКРОРЕГИОНЕ РОССИИ

Keywords: SETTLEMENT SYSTEM, RURAL TERRITORIES, RURAL POPULATION, RURAL LOCALITY, RURAL SETTLEMENT, REGIONS OF THE CENTRAL CHERNOZEM MACROREGION

Abstract: Indicators of the rural settlement system are crucial for understanding the spatial distribution of population, which has a significant impact on people's lives and livelihoods. An analysis of the settlement system in the Central Chernozem region from 1959 to 2022 revealed an increase in the number of small and abandoned rural settlements, with a slight rise in the number of larger ones. This trend leads to depopulation in rural areas, spatial polarization, and compression.Rural residents are primarily moving to larger, more prosperous rural settlements due to improved living conditions. However, these larger settlements often have limited infrastructure, leading to low connectivity in a context of limited transportation accessibility. This results in a situation where remote settlements face challenges in maintaining connectivity.Despite the fact that the number of rural settlements in Russia, which decreased significantly between 1959 and 2003, has not changed significantly in the past two decades, there has been a 22% decrease in their population and a 4.7% increase in the proportion of empty settlements. As a result of territorial and administrative reforms, the unification of smaller settlements into larger ones did not lead to an increase in the number of people living in rural areas, but rather to a significant concentration of people in a limited number of urban areas. For the past 60 years, interregional imbalances in the settlement system of the Central Black Earth region have persisted, with some rural areas in the Tambov, Kursk, Belgorod, and Lipetsk regions transforming into urban areas, while in the Voronezh region, against the backdrop of the formation of larger rural settlements, much of the rest of the territory has become depopulated.

Authors: Merenkova Irina Nikolaevna, Gavrilova Zoia Vadimovna