Extra-urban territories as an adaptation resource in the context of a pandemic crisis

Abstract

The article is devoted to the identification of the problem of reducing depopulation processes and improving demographic processes in rural areas in the context of a coronavirus pandemic. Cities have shown their vulnerability to the pandemic, and it has become a trigger for arousing interest in rural areas as promising from the point of view of residence security and development. According to the authors, it is rural territories that can act as an adaptation resource in the conditions of a pandemic crisis, but it is possible only if their infrastructure is actively developed and the state provides comprehensive support. The purpose of this article is to describe demographic and migration processes taking place in rural areas, as well as to substantiate the prospects for the development of rural areas as a resource for adaptation during the pandemic crisis. The diagnosis of the dispositions of the population regarding the problem of the development of the socio-demographic potential of rural areas was carried out on the basis of a sociological study conducted by the authors of the article in the Belgorod region in 2021, and included a mass questionnaire survey of the population (n = 1000), an expert interview (n = 37), and a series of focus group interviews. It is noted that the most important problems significantly affecting the demographic development of rural areas are the problems of underdevelopment of social infrastructure, unemployment, poor social security of the village. It is emphasized that the coronavirus and the crisis caused by it become an argument in favor of de-urbanisation and rural development. The necessity of taking a number of active measures to maintain the motives of citizens for de-urbanisation and rural development is justified.