The peculiarities of transformation of the economy of large and medium-sized cities in the Western Region of Ukraine: a comparative analysis

Abstract

The problems of structural changes in the economy of large and medium-sized cities of the Western region of Ukraine are investigated. Special attention is paid to the spatial localization of cities, the cultural and historical traditions of functioning of their economy, the branch specialization and institutional environment of influence on the formation of business climate and economic development as the main factors of structural transformation of urban economy. To compare the peculiarities of economy transformation in the selected for the study large and medium-sized cities of the Western region of Ukraine, the dynamics of change of individual comparable indicators of their development in 2010 - 2017 were analyzed. This primarily relates to such indicators as the volume of freight transportations, the total area of new residential buildings, the retail turnover of enterprises, the capital investments, as well as the export services and its ratio to the export of goods. Based on the analysis of the relevant data, the main tendencies of structural transformation of the economy of large and medium-sized cities of the Western region of Ukraine that were selected for the study have been identified. The mentioned structural transformation are confirmed to be occurring primarily in the direction of equalization of the branch proportions of economic development of cities, irrespective of their size. At the same time, there is a tendency to move from mono-functional to poly-functional specialization of the urban economy on the basis of accelerated growth of those types of economic activity, the potential of which has not been fully realized before. The research gave the basis for the conclusion that the size of the city is not the determinative factor for the development or decline of certain types of their economic activity. Instead, spatial localization and traditions of business culture as well as the characteristic features of the evolution of the institutional environment of the city and the quality of human capital have the primary importance.