Spatial structure of industry in the region of Siberia

Abstract

The paper revies the current territorial structure of the industry of the Irkutsk Region, which is a large part of Siberia. The industrial resource potential of the region is unrivaled among all other regions of the Russian Federation. The modern territorial structure of the industry of the Irkutsk Region is reviewed based on 106 major and medium-sized companies’ activity analysis for the last ten years. The spatial features of industrial assets allocation are presented. The main geographical shifts connected with drawing newly-developed mineral deposits into economic activity are retraced. The newly-built industry facilities are identified. The results of the research show that the processing industry facilities of the region are concentrated mainly in the cities while all extractive industry tends to move into little-developed areas in the north. This is connected with the active development of the gas and oil extraction industry and gold mining which means that the industrial growth vector of the region is changing its direction. It is apparent that the industrial construction structure is dominated by extractive industry, gas and oil processing industry, pulp and paper industry where investments are accumulated, thus significantly increasing anthropogenic stress on the environment.