Content №3 от 2013

The Population’s Living Space and Settlement Patterns as the Factors and Conditions of Modernization in Russia

The paper analyzes the features of the Russian socio-geographic space connected with a current settlement pattern. We can conclude that Russian network of settlements proved to be non-homogeneous, and to be more precisely, there is a lack of cities; an urban skeleton does not cover all the territory of the country; the settlement patterns have shaped on rather limited territories mostly of local levels; and such settlement patterns do not unite the socio-geographic space. The key trends are the domination of conglomerated settlement patterns, polarization, and shrunk social space. We prove that the features of the socio-geographic space in Russia, in contrast to the key territorial features of a non-correctable nature, could be corrected, and therefore, this could become a goal of further spatial modernization of the country.

Glezer O. B. [email protected]

Vainberg E. I. [email protected]

Keywords: socio-geographic space urban skeleton settlement network urban and rural social environment conditions for Russian modernization