Spatially Uneven Development in Russia

Abstract

The article discusses the main concepts concerning spatial inequality (uneven development, concentration, polarization, fragmentation, shrinking of sociogeographic space) in the Russian and foreign literature as applied to the problems of today’s Russia. Russian geographers pay much attention to both interregional and intraregional inequalities, as well as to their natural, historical, economic, demographic, and institutional factors. On the vast and unevenly developed territory of Russia, with its natural contrasts and different results of post-Soviet transformations, spatial inequality has become one of the fundamental characteristics. On the one hand, inequality facilitates the development of the country by focusing its population and economic activities in certain cores where agglomeration effects are most pronounced. On the other hand, it narrows an inclusive development space, leaving low chances for other areas. Оfficial statistical data sets by region and municipality are applied in the article to analyze the cumulative effects of shrinking socioeconomic space along the North–South, East–West, and center–periphery axes. The inequality of old-developed regions from Central Russia to the Urals is shown in greater detail, taking into account historically inherited and new geographical differences. The results are presented in the form of thematic and complex (typological) maps, drawn at various levels by federal subjects and municipal and urban districts. Centers and growth factors are identified versus peripheralization and lagging of other areas. The research has led the authors to a conclusion about the significant inertia of the Russia’s spatial development and the stability of endogenous factors structuring its space under all changes, including post-Soviet ones.