Retrospective analysis of urbanization stages and trends in urban development in Kazakhstan

Abstract

The general contours of settlement and urbanization in Kazakhstan are determined by the peculiarities of historical and economic development, the specifics of geographical, natural and climatic conditions. For a long period in the republic, differentiation in the development of a small number of large cities and a large number of mono- and small towns in terms of the level of well-being of the population has been preserved. In the context of the dynamic influence of external factors for the integrated socio-economic development of Kazakhstan, the role of further improvement of the administrative-territorial structure of the country through controlled urbanization is increasing. The State Program for the Development of Regions for 2020–2025 is dedicated to solving this problem. The purpose of the work is to study the features of the development of the process of urbanization in Kazakhstan in a historical retrospective and in modern realities. To achieve it, a review of the main stages of urbanization was made, statistical data on demographic indicators, the administrative-territorial division of the republic were given, and the causes of regional disproportions in the modern structure of cities were identified. The lack of development of such issues as the place of urbanization in social development, the rational combination of sectoral and territorial formations, the administrative-territorial organization as a whole determine the theoretical and practical significance of this study. The authors used a set of the following research methods: monographic, program-targeted, retrospective, statistical analysis, comparisons and generalizations, abstraction and synthesis. Based on a review of scientific and statistical sources, a retrospective analysis and classification of the stages of urbanization was made, within which the formation and development of the cities of the republic were studied. The paper concludes that in Kazakhstan the processes of urbanization are manifested to a sufficient extent, however, their intensity across the regions of the country is extremely uneven. Based on the identified trends and problems of urbanization, recommendations are substantiated for choosing the main directions of managed urbanization in Kazakhstan.