FORMATION OF AGLOMERATION AS A FACTOR OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE REGION

Abstract

The article analyzes the possibilities and factors influencing the formation and further development of urban agglomerations using the example of Severodonetsk-Lisichansk. The Severodonetsk-Lisichansk agglomeration was formed in the late 1950s - early 1960s, when an attempt was made to unite Lisichansk, Rubezhnoe and Severodonetsk into one city called Mendeleev. They were united by the proximity and presence of a developed chemical industry in all cities. The formation of the agglomeration took place in two directions: "from the district" and "from the city". Of the three phases of urban agglomeration development, the Severodonetsk-Lisichansk agglomeration is in the first phase, that is, Severodonetsk, as the core of the agglomeration, is developing, its population is increasing, and the periphery (the cities of Lisichansk and Rubezhnoe) is decreasing. According to the spatial model, this urban agglomeration is polycentric: the agglomeration has three cores - Severodonetsk, Lisichansk and Rubezhnoe - cities of regional subordination. The location of agglomeration settlements in different districts of the Luhansk region (settlements of the Severodonetsk and Lisichansk city councils, the western part of the Novoaydarsky district, the southern and eastern parts of the Kremensky district, the northern and eastern parts of the Popasnyansky district) complicates the coordinated development of the agglomeration as a single urban entity. In 1989, the population of the agglomeration was 443 190 people, in 2001 - 394 223, in 2015 - 345 941, in 2020 - 329 351 people. Population growth rates in the period 1989-2020 accounted for 74.31%. Attracting investments in the development of the cities of Severodonetsk, Lisichansk and Rubezhnoye, increasing their industrial production capacities will concentrate economic, financial, administrative and human resources and will make it possible to predict the further sustainable development of both the urban agglomeration and the region as a whole.