Transformations In The Settlement System Of The Region

Abstract

Against the backdrop of economic recovery, population decline remains one of the critical Far East trends. Regional spatial policy plays a crucial role in solving demographic problems, an essential element of improving the settlement system. The choice of forms and methods of regulation requires taking into account the inherited differentiation of settlements and differences in the prospects determined by their role in the further socio-economic development of the region. This circumstance determines the need for monitoring emerging processes. The purpose of this work is to analyze the transformations in the settlement system of the region, caused by socio-economic changes determined by the crisis processes and transformations in the state policy of the Far East. As an object of research, the Amur Region was chosen to develop which all the main features of the regional development of the macro-region are present. The analysis is carried out based on a database on the Amur Region settlements based on the results of population censuses and data of current statistical reporting. The results obtained indicate an increase in asymmetry in the position of the region's settlements. Based on the study results, measures are proposed to improve the strategic plans for the spatial development of the region.

Keywords: Settlement systemspatial development transformations

Introduction

One of the most important consequences of spatial development inequality is a high level of differentiation in the state of regional settlement systems and the dynamics of the current processes, while an increase in intraregional differences is becoming more widespread. The transformations in various regional settlement systems indicate that inequality, significant differences, are manifested at the level of individual settlements within the same municipal district. The successful development of some is combined with the degradation of others, predetermining an increase in asymmetry, differentiation in the population's position, which is acquiring extreme negative forms. This situation is becoming less and less bearable since its direct consequence is the escalation of the most acute problems in the sphere of the well-being of the population, in particular, the formation of a significant circle of spatially localized disaster zones, where poverty of the able-bodied working population is widespread.

Problem Statement

The ongoing changes in the settlement system helped attract the attention of representatives of various scientific fields. In economic scientific works, significant steps have been taken to study economic space and the ongoing processes of integration and disintegration (Kuznetsova, 2019; Lavrovsky & Shiltsin, 2009; Minakir, 2015; Minakir, 2019). In Gritsay and Treyvish (1990) and Zubarevich (2019), have received detailed research the division of economic space into " center " and "periphery", the development of -periphery relations. Lappo (2019) and Shmidt et al. (2016) investigate the rapid growth of cities, the creation of agglomerations and the growth of their importance. The further development of this process is associated with the development of the polycentrism trend, when agglomerations of the second order become the structural elements of the spatial organization of the regional economy (Karachurina, 2018). The subject of research by Alexeev and Safronov (2017); Dyachenko & Lazareva (2020); Nefedova et al. (2015); Rumjancev et al. (2019); Shcherbina and Gorbenkova (2018) is the emerging acute problems in rural areas, affecting various aspects of the processes developing in the system of the rural population. An important result of the analysis Tkachenko (2018) and Vikhryov et al. (2016) was the identification of settlements in the settlement system, which are the centers of the surrounding territory, or centers of settlement.

Research Questions

In some periods, regional settlement systems may develop tendencies that are fundamentally different from the widespread ones. Accordingly, the approaches developed based on taking into account the general laws of spatial development, firstly, are not universal, applicable to all "places" and in all cases, and secondly, they by no means exhaust the entire range of issues and problems that should be the subject of consideration of the national spatial strategy. The emerging diversity makes it necessary to focus in scientific research on the definition of general patterns and the fixation and comprehension of the features that determine the effectiveness of management decisions. The significance of assessing the features is especially great in relation to the processes taking place in the settlement system of regions that have significant differences in natural and climatic conditions, the degree of development of the territory, and types of economic activity. The set of such differences in the country is most typical for the North Caucasus, the zone of the North and the Far East.

Purpose of the Study

In this work using the example of the Amur Region, an attempt to assess the transformations in the regional settlement system occurring at the level of various types of settlements in the region is made, taking into account the possible relationships that develop within individual localities. The choice of the Amur Region is determined by the fact that in its development and state there are all the main features of the regional development of the Far East, which is characterized by the incompleteness of the process of economic development, the presence of vast unpopulated spaces, a sparse settlement network, low density of settlements and population density, and limited transport accessibility. At the same time, we considered the internal diversity of the listed characteristics of the territory, the presence of both localities with significant specificity, and those that are mostly similar to ones that are characteristic of the old-developed regions.

Research Methods

To analyze the current situation in the region, a database was formed that includes all settlements that have existed since the 1939 census. The results of the censuses of 1970, 1979, 1989, 2002, 2010 were taken as points of fixation of changes and statistical data in subsequent years based on the resources of the Amurstat Database, the Dynamic Series of Statistical Indicators, the Database of Indicators of Municipal Formations and specially carried out passportization of settlements in the region. At the same time, when forming the types of settlements, the following were taken into account: the population size, the status of the settlement in the administrative-territorial structure, economic specialization, the internal status of the located industries, the remoteness of the settlement from the district center and the center of the rural council, belonging to the natural and climatic zone.

Findings

By the beginning of 2019, the Amur Region includes 286 municipalities, including: urban districts - 9, municipal districts - 20, municipalities within districts - 257, of which: urban settlements - 15, rural settlements - 242. A feature of the settlement support frame in the Amur Region is the low level of development of the network of urban settlements. Only a quarter of all residents of the region are concentrated in Blagoveshchensk, the regional center. Belogorsk and Svobodny are medium-sized cities. The remaining 6 cities are small with a population of 10 to 35 thousand people. Under these conditions, the role of district centers is played by 5 urban-type settlements and 7 villages. Of the 18 urban-type settlements, most are oriented towards the maintenance of the railway, some of them are oriented towards electric power enterprises; their population formally is rated as the urban type, but in fact the urban way of life in these "industrial settlements" has not been formed.

Rural settlements differ in the nature of population dynamics. It depends, first of all, on their functional structure. A significant part of rural settlements in the region (over 25%), according to the 1989 census, are not associated with agriculture. 27.2% of the rural population lived there. These are mainly settlements at industrial and construction enterprises as well as enterprises associated with the exploitation of communication means and communication lines. Most of them (62.6%) are concentrated in the northern and northern taiga zones.

The results of population censuses make it possible to assess changes in the settlement system of the region. So, in the period of 1939-1959 861 rural settlements disappeared in the region, then 221 settlements appeared. Subsequently, the mobility of the settlement system tended to decrease. In 1959-1970. 310 disappeared from the map of the region and 91 settlements arose. In the 1970s, 35 new settlements arose in the region (most during the construction of the BAM) and 107 were liquidated. As a result, the total number of settlements decreased by 70 and reached 665 by the time of the 1979 census. In the 1980s, the process of reducing the number of rural settlements continued, but to a lesser extent than in previous periods. 56 villages disappeared, and 8 appeared.

At the same time, in the north, this process was more active - if the number of settlements in the region as a whole decreased by 53, then in the two northern zones - by 29. The transition to market reforms was marked by cardinal changes in the demographic situation. After the 1989 census, several periods can be distinguished in the socio-economic development of the region, significantly differing in their dynamics. The most acute and painful crisis processes were manifested in the results of the 2002 census, when the growth in the population of the region due to the massive closure of some enterprises and the decline in the activities of others caused a sharp decline in living standards, massive unemployment and an outflow of the region's population.

In 1989-2002, the settlement system of the region underwent minor changes - 16 settlements of various sizes disappeared, and one appeared. The period after 2010 saw the processes of intensification of economic activity, which were reflected in a significant decrease in the outflow of the population, a weakening of the degradation of the settlement system. Finally, the period after the 2010 census to date is characterized by noticeable positive shifts in the economy, among which the increase in agricultural production and the implementation of a number of large investment projects in the region stand out.

We consider the current dynamics of processes in the regional settlement system in details using the example of various types of settlements.

Conclusion

The analysis of transformations in the regional settlement system shows that throughout the entire period under consideration, the dominant trend is urbanization, accompanied by a gradually slowing down the reduction of the number of settlements. The increase in the number of small settlements and their share in the settlement system leads to an increase in the number of inhabitants living in the smallest settlements, with low living conditions, with a steady tendency to turn into disaster zones. The most critical role in the degradation of the settlement system is played by small towns and villages, which are regional centers, the decline of the service potential of which significantly limits their ability to perform service centers for the rural population.

The analysis carried out shows that the decrease of the population and significant changes in the settlement structure of economic nature are associated with negative and positive economic activity processes, which determine a reduction in the need for labor. In these conditions, counteraction to destructive processes can reduce the severity of problems by complementing the current policy with state support measures for depressed territories, stimulating the intensification of economic activity.

Support for small settlements presupposes the formation of their economic base for their existence, ensuring the population's year-round employment. In the absence of it, such settlements are likely to disappear. There is no alternative to the conservation and termination of the existence of small settlements created at the mining enterprises

in the North. Significant opportunities for improving the rural population's living conditions are associated with developing the service sector of district centers, which can be facilitated by a particular preferential policy.

The experience that has developed to the current moment shows that regional spatial policy's improvement presupposes the inclusion of the rural settlement system's optimization among the most critical issues, which implies the identification of settlements to be resettled.

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