Малые города Тверской области: в поисках формулы места

Abstract

The article attempts to determine «the place formula» for four small cities of the Tver region – Toropets, Kalyazin, Bezhetsk and Bologoye. In the scientifi literature, the phrase «place formula» fi appeared and conceptually took shape, probably in the article by A.I. Zyryanov, published in the journal «Regional’nye issledovanija» in 2013. The theoretical framework of this concept is the classical concept of economic-geographical position (EGP). The identifi of the key features of the EGP of these small cities based on the fi research with using local historical information and statistical data. The studied cities are different in their history, location, performed functions and role in the space of the region. Several positions were chosen as the key characteristics that were included in the formulation of the main properties of the place: natural features, transport accessibility and density, metropolitan position, and centrality. The main features of the EGP, which formed the basis of the «geographical formula» for the selected small cities of the Tver region, are as follows: for Toropets – remoteness and borderline, for Kalyazin – location on the Volga and proximity to the Moscow region, for Bezhetsk – its existence as a center of agriculturally developed and densely populated territory, for Bologoye – its functioning as a railway junction between the two Russian capitals. For a city, and especially for a small one, the articulation and translation of its “formula” can become the basis for a long-term development strategy.