Типология сельских территорий по уровню развития инженерной инфраструктуры

Abstract

The relevance of the study is that the poor quality and fragmentary engineering arrangement of rural settlements negatively affects the demographics of rural areas. The aim of the study is to develop a comprehensive methodology for assessing the impact of the state of engineering infrastructure of rural settlements on the demography of rural territories, which is an integral indicator of the proposed rural population density. The paper proposes a method for a comprehensive assessment of rural areas by the level of development of engineering infrastructure. The composite index of rural engineering infrastructure development aggregates seven private statistical indicators calculated for each region of Russia in 2018 and normalized using the linear scaling method. The main difference between the author’s method and the previously conducted research is the combination of the results of ranking Russian regions by the level of development of engineering infrastructure in rural areas with grouping by the density of the rural population. The novelty of the proposed approach is associated with the formation of two-dimensional groupings of rural areas, where population density is regarded as the primary grouping characteristics, and the level of development of engineering infrastructure as a secondary grouping characteristic that gave the possibility to evaluate the correlation between the level of development of social and engineering infrastructure of rural territories and their people. The results of the correlation analysis indicate a moderate relationship between the density of the rural population and the level of development of engineering infrastructure in rural areas. In practical terms, the typology formed serves as an objective basis for identifying and comparing growth points and priorities for sustainable spatial development of rural territories in the future, which creates prerequisites for the unification of state approaches to strategic planning and management of socio-economic development of rural territories of the Russian Federation and regions. The directions of further research are related to the development of the proposed approach in terms of comprehensive coverage of other components of socio-economic development of rural areas (demography, economy, agriculture, social infrastructure) for a more complete assessment of their impact on the rural population density.