Economy Of Towns Research Articles

The COVID-19 Border Closure and Local Economic Development in a South African Border Town

Border towns benefit from cross-border movement of goods, services and people. Many suffered setbacks when governments responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by closing borders. We investigated how the lockdown regulations affected the economy of Ladybrand, a small South African town near Lesotho. We found that local planning was not taking advantage of the benefits of a border town economy and was unprepared for border closure. Retail outlets were the hardest hit, followed by the transport, services and health sectors. Dilapidated infrastructure and poor service delivery made it difficult for the town to cope with the effects of the border closure.

PERANCANGAN E-MARKETPLACE DI DINAS KELAUTAN DAN PERIKANAN KABUPATEN TAPUNULI TENGAH

This study aims to design, create, and assess an electronic market at the Marine and Fisheries Agency of Central Tapanuli Regency as a means to improve the economy of coastal towns. The main objective is to increase market access, product value, and income of coastal communities in the marine and fisheries sector. This R&D system development process uses the Waterfall approach, with the System Usability Scale (SUS) method used to assess user satisfaction. The system was developed using the Laravel framework, CSS, Figma, and MySQL. Suggestions for the long-term development of this e-marketplace include collaboration, local adaptation, and user education. Keywords: E-marketplace, Coastal economy, System Usability Scale (SUS).

Innovative development of single-industry towns: An overview of factors and support measures

Subject. This article discusses the issues related to the diversification of the economy of single-industry towns in Russia. Objectives. The article aims to assess the measures of State support aimed at realizing the innovative potential of single-industry towns. Methods. For the study, we used a statistical analysis. Results. The article determines that the current area of diversification of the economy of single-industry towns is the development of industrial tourism while maintaining the sectoral orientation of systemic companies. Conclusions and Relevance. The volume of investments in the development of single-industry towns is insufficient, and many social problems have not been solved. The results of the study can be taken into account when developing programmes for the development of production in the context of international sanctions against Russia.

Факторы изменения социально-экономического положения малых городов российско-белорусского приграничья

Small towns remain an important element of the settlement framework in the Russian Federation. Socio-economic status, settlement functions and motives of residents determine the prospects for the development or degradation of small towns. The article aims to classify existing and identify new factors in the socio-economic development of small border towns. The paper examined and analysed a set of Russian and foreign publications, as well as collected statistics from small towns in the Russian-Belarusian border area. A scientific hypothesis about the influence of border factors and interstate integration on socio-economic changes in small towns of the Russian-Belarusian border area was tested. As a result, new functions and socio-economic factors of small border towns were identified. The border position of a small town can be a development factor if the barrier of the interstate border remains. It was established that the population decline in small towns of the Russian-Belarusian border area is greater in comparison with its regional indicators and large cities. Investments in fixed capital per capita during the analysed period, with rare exceptions, do not exceed 50 % of the region’s value. However, the number of square metres of housing per capita in small towns is higher than the regional average. A proposed supranational strategy for the development of the Russian-Belarusian border area will help stimulate the economy of small towns and improve the quality of life of the population. When strategically planning the development of small towns in the Russian-Belarusian border area, it is necessary to determine their economic functions, define a specialisation to emphasise their identity and use competitive advantages in the struggle for resources with larger agglomerations.

Local Economy as the Key Driver of Urbanization in the Indian Sundarbans

The relationship between local economic development and urbanization is a vital policy concern across the world, especially in the developing countries. The local economy exhibits enormous potential in the process of transformation of a rural area into an urban one. Based on the theoretical discourse of planetary and subaltern urbanization, this article explores the role of the local economy, even in the form of banal activities, in the process of urbanization of the Indian Sundarbans, a highly vulnerable part of the Ganga–Brahmaputra delta. For this study, we have relied on two facets of local economy—that of the local market centres, and the household economy of small towns. In the local market analysis, we have analysed market details such as the growth story of entrepreneurs, the function of shops in providing services and in developing their own profit level for sustenance and further growth. Household economy has been analysed from the perspective of changes in the occupational structure, nature of employment and household income in order to understand the surplus generation and reinvestment of the same as the local capital. This article is based on an intensive field survey that used the stratified random sampling method. A total number of 240 households and 100 shops have been surveyed from four towns. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection have been followed. The article argues that the local economy plays a key role in the urbanization process of the Indian Sundarbans, as the regional economy is gradually shifting from the farm to non-farm activities.

Waste Nothing: The Impact of Glass and Metal Recycling in Imperial Roman Towns

In this article, the authors investigate the effectiveness of glass and metal recycling in Roman towns. The comparison of sealed primary deposits (reflecting what was in use in Roman towns) with dumping sites shows a marked drop in glass and metal finds in the dumps. Although different replacement ratios and fragmentation indices affect the composition of the assemblages recovered in dumps, recycling appears to have played a fundamental role, very effectively reintroducing into the productive chain most glass and metal items before their final discard. After presenting a case study from Pompeii, the authors examine contexts from other sites that suggest that recycling practices were not occasional. In sum, recycling should be considered as an effective and systematic activity that shaped the economy of Roman towns.

Modern prospects for the development of intersectoral social partnership in single-industry towns

The subject of the study is modern approaches to the development of intersectoral social partnership in single-industry towns. Research methods: analysis of research papers and publications devoted to the problems of social partnership and the development of single-industry towns, research of practices for the introduction of intersectoral social partnership in single-industry towns of Russia. The distribution of single-industry towns in Russia has been studied. The novelty of this research lies in the fact that this article presents a new look at the interaction between government agencies, business and public associations in single-industry towns; modern approaches to the development of intersectoral social partnership are analyzed and new methods and models of cooperation are proposed. It is concluded that intersectoral social partnership is of great importance for the development of the economy and social sphere of single-industry towns. One of its main advantages is the ability to combine the resources of various parties to solve common problems. Today, intersectoral social partnership can become an effective strategy for the development of single-industry towns, will attract new investments, create jobs, support entrepreneurship and the development of education. This model of cooperation makes it possible to combine the efforts of the state, business and public organizations to solve problems related to the development of single-industry towns. With the help of intersectoral social partnership, it is possible to implement new technologies and modernize infrastructure, which will create new jobs and increase economic activity in single-industry towns.

From forest to plantation: a brief history of the rubber tree

This article describes how the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) (Willd. ex A. Juss.) (Müll. Arg., family–Euphorbiaceae) which grows wildly in the Amazon forests, came under global focus due to industrial revolution. From 1860 to 1913, since the tree was found only in the Amazon forest, the entire world depended on a few business magnates of that region for rubber. These rubber barons enslaved many local people to extract rubber from the wildly growing trees in the forest since the efforts to grow rubber as plantations failed mainly due to a devastating fungal disease. The rubber slaves recruited to collect rubber latex from the wildly growing trees in the forest went through untold misery. The economy of towns in the Amazonas such as Manaus and Belém, which were located strategically for exporting the extracted rubber by ships, boomed. This monopoly of Amazon’s rubber trade crashed due to the British which itself is an intriguing story. The ‘travel’ of the rubber tree from the Amazon forest to the then Southeast British colonies to be grown as plantations encompasses many fields including biology, sociology, industry, economics and environment.

ГОРОД БИРОБИДЖАН: СТАНОВЛЕНИЕ И РАЗВИТИЕ

On March 2, 1937, the town of Birobidzhan appeared on the map of the Soviet Union, transformed from the workers' settlement of the same name. At that time, for the Jewish Autonomous region, created three years before, it was already the administrative and cultural center. Soon Birobidzhan became one of the industrial centers of the Far East with a developed mechanical engineering, represented by factories for the production of rice-grain and forage harvesters on caterpillar tracks, transformers and complete transformer substations.Light industry products – outerwear, upper knitwear and underwear, winter and summer shoes – were supplied to all settlements of the Far East region. At present, after the deep crisis of the nineties, the town's economy has seen trends in sustainable development, growth in investment, production volume and shipment of products.

“Brain Drain”: Causes, trends and their consequences in healthcare

The author analyzes the causes, trends and their consequences of “brain drain” in healthcare. Today, the greatest brain drain is characteristic of the former European colonies of Africa and the Caribbean Islands, the socialist countries of Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation. The consequences of the “brain drain” can be attributed, for example, the loss of young minds, keeping pace with the times; the loss of cultural and scientific figures who could glorify their homeland in their activities; the receipt by other countries of highly qualified minds from other countries with foreign work experience; the decline in the level of scientific development of the emigrant country. The forms of “brain drain” are different. At the same time, a new form of emigration of the intelligentsia was born. In order to stop the brain drain, the Russian Federation offers scientists and experts to create additional opportunities to create their own research groups, increase academic mobility, strengthen the economy of small towns, increase the number of jobs and the number of modern research centers.

Innovations in the economic development of river tourism as the basis of the multiplier effect in the development of small towns

The article considers the prospects for innovative development of water transport in the field of river tourist transportation, proposed on the basis of the use of foreign experience, determines the scope of implementation of a potential innovative transport project and quantifies the possible economic effect. The purpose of the research is to determine the ways of organizing tourist river transportation using innovations to achieve a multiplicative effect in the development of the economy of small towns in the coastal zone. As the main research methods, the authors identified: analytical method, observation, abstraction and generalization. The result of the study is the justification of the need to apply innovations in the economic development of river transport in order to optimize transport flows within the country and the development of the economy of small towns located on the route of passenger ships, as a multiplier effect of the development of domestic tourism.

TRAINING OF ARCHITECTS IN NEW ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS (EXPERIENCE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LANDSCAPE AND TOURIST AND RECREATIONAL ARCHITECTURE OF THE KNUCA)

This article is rather informative about the ways of training those specialists who tomorrow will shape the environment of our life in cities, in nature. In fact, the article is to some extent a continuation of the series started in 2020 on the peculiarities of the training of architects in the field of landscape and tourist-recreational architecture at the Kiev University of Construction and Architecture.
 The complexity of the learning process in 2021-2022 for objective reasons has not decreased, but on the contrary forced to look for new specifics in the training itself and the formation of the worldview of future architects to justify the importance of objects they wished to do.
 The article presents examples of master's theses, which largely characterize the desires and visions of the graduates themselves. As can be seen from the subject of the work, the red line is a painful issue of ecology and social problems.
 The topics of the work are related to changes in the administrative-territorial structure, finding strategic ways to save the economy of small towns by attracting natural resources, solving complex recreational problems of large cities and local settlement systems.

УПРАВЛІННЯ ЕЛЕКТРОТЕХНІЧНИМ КОМПЛЕКСОМ ВУЛИЧНОГО ОСВІТЛЕННЯ ЗА ДОПОМОГОЮ НЕЧІТКОГО РЕГУЛЯТОРА

Street lighting networks are an integral part of the structure of communal economy of cities, towns and large settlements. Electrotechnical complexes of street lighting today are energy-intensive, therefore they need to be modernized in order to further their efficient operation and rational use of electrical energy. Today, it is possible to achieve such results only with the introduction of modern technologies and approaches to the construction of management systems.Modern elements of lighting systems areLED lighting devices, which are very economical and reliable. To date, the planned modernization of street lighting in the country's population centers is underway.Street lighting is an important component of the infrastructure of settlements. The quality of the functioning of the external lighting of populated areas is, on the one hand, a guarantee of people's comfort and the aesthetics of the surrounding space,and on the other hand, it affects the reduction of the number of traffic accidents and other criminal incidents.The purpose of this article is the theoretical justification of the approach to the management of the electrotechnical complex of street lighting, taking into account the multi-criterion of the input parameters to the control system.Taking into account the strategies for the development of control systems and the active implementation of distributed generation sources in various spheres of the world economy, including on the basis of renewable sources of electric energy, hybrid systems of artificial outdoor lighting controlled by intelligent control systems are being developed. The article proposes an approach to the management of the electrotechnical complex of street lighting. The proposed structure of the electrical complex of street lighting based on LED lighting devices and modern sources of electrical energy. Considering the multi-criterion of the input parameters to the control system of the electrotechnical complex of street lighting and the impossibility of precise preliminary determination of the parameters of these criteria, it was proposed to use the control law using the elements of fuzzy sets, which will improve the quality of regulation with the support of Fuzzy Logic commands.

To Explore the Common Prosperity Path of Guangdong's Market Towns from the Perspective of Urban-Rural Integration Development

Common prosperity is the basic principle of socialism. The CPC has always been striving for common prosperity. At present, the greatest imbalance in the relationship between urban and rural areas is the inadequate development of rural areas, which has become an important obstacle to realizing common prosperity, and to promote the integrated development of urban and rural areas is the key to crack the urban-rural imbalance. As a link connecting urban and rural areas in Guangdong, the construction of market towns must be based on the integrated development of urban and rural areas, with "special" as an important starting point, high-quality life as an important goal, and cooperatives as an important organizational form to develop the world-oriented town economy, and create a common prosperity model of urban and rural areas with Guangdong characteristics in practice.

Small business in construction: new products and new markets

The problem of getting out of an economic recession is equally relevant not only for all countries without exception, but also for all segments of national economies. Analysis of the response of small and medium-sized businesses, as well as individual entrepreneurship, showed that this is perhaps the most affected segment of the national economy from the coronavirus crisis. At the same time, the study showed that the recovery potential of the economy significantly depends on the degree of development and scale of small business. And if the pattern of achieving sustainability in overcoming crisis shocks identified by the authors is higher, the lower the share of SMEs in the global economy, the lower the share of SMEs in the global economy, the higher the share of SMEs in GDP, the more successful recovery growth is.
 Unlike developed countries, Russia has a three-fold lower share of SMEs in GDP, but a significantly higher volatility of the shadow economy. Preventive measures that prevent the expansion of the latter and support small businesses have not been able to stop the bankruptcy of small and medium-sized enterprises and have not yet led to the desired results in terms of the recovery rate of business and investment activity in the small business segment. Their effectiveness is assessed by the business as insignificant. At the same time, from the authors point of view, not only inclusive incentive and supportive measures can cope with the recession of the small business segment. It is important to find drivers of development in the specified segment. They are the ones who will be able to give an impetus to development at the high level of economic efficiency maintained during the crisis.
 In the context of the search for economic clusters that need construction services and have proven their ability to implement investment and construction projects in a cost-effective manner, the authors identified eight starting types: creative economy, innovative economy, green economy, health and sports economy, festival and farm economy, and service economy of small towns and settlements. Targeted focus of government support measures for these segments can become a real trigger for the development of SMEs.

Strategic Guidelines for the Modernization and Diversification of the Resort Town's Economy

The article is devoted to the study of strategic guidelines for diversification of production and modernization of the economy of a resort town on the example of the urban district of Yevpatoria of the Republic of Crimea. The competitive advantages, distinctive features of the draft Strategy for the socio-economic development of the urban district of Yevpatoria of the Republic of Crimea, including strategic guidelines for the modernization and diversification of the city's economy, necessary for its further development as a resort city, are formulated. The research methodological framework is based on the theoretical principles of strategic management, regional and municipal economy. This study is based on a comprehensive analysis of the draft strategy for the socio-economic development of the urban district of Yevpatoria of the Republic of Crimea by using a combination of methods: logical, dialectical, and also causal ones. The article is of interest to researchers, practitioners, including state and municipal officials dealing with the formation (development and updating), as well as the implementation and control over the implementation of strategies for the socio-economic development of territories and other stakeholders.

Развитие промышленного туризма в регионах России: стратегический анализ

Industrial tourism is a strategically important area of tourism development in the context of the rich industrial heritage of our country, the need to diversify the economy of single-industry towns and attract the younger generation to work specialties. Tourism has a significant multiplier effect and gives impulses to the whole economy of the region, what confirms a number of hypotheses based on the relationship between tourism and economic growth in the region (for example, Tourism-led Economic Growth Hypothesis). The strategic potential of industrial tourism is obvious in the era of Behavioral economics, when emotional experience, customization and seamless travel are on the top when choosing a tourism product. A number of regions realized the possibility of developing the regional economy through the support of the tourism sector and are already implementing comprehensive tourism programs together with the leading enterprises of the region under the methodological guidance of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives. The article analyzes the level of industrial tourism development by the method of clustering regions according to a number of essential parameters of an economic, infrastructural, and social nature. Based on the results of the study, general recommendations are proposed for the strategic development of industrial tourism in the regional context.

An enhanced denitrifinal membrane bioreactor -A case study for Taihu Lake of Changzhou

In recent years, with the rapid development of the economy of villages and towns and the improvement of the living standards of residents, the rural sewage discharge tends to be concentrated and the discharge increases. People begin to pay attention to the treatment and reuse of rural sewage gradually. However, due to the backward rural economy and the low level of technical management, the progress of sewage treatment is slow. In this paper, a new wastewater treatment and recovery process, which is mainly denitrification, is developed for the area with small water environment capacity, which is enhanced denitrification MBR process. The system not only has the advantages of the original membrane bioreactor, but also is convenient to use, and can carry out the sewage evolution treatment for the domestic sewage of the individual households, which improves the flexibility of the sewage treatment. The results of effluent test show that MBR process effluent meets the first level B standard in GB18918-2002, and has high efficiency in removing ammonia nitrogen, COD, BOD and other pollutants, which plays a significant role in improving the water quality of the drainage basin and region, and has important value for the improvement of the water quality in rural areas.

An analysis of the sectoral structure of industry of the Vologda Oblast mono-cities

Subject. This article explores the development of the mono-industry town's economy and its dependence on the successful operation of the township-forming enterprise. Objectives. The article aims to analyze the sectoral structures of industry of the Federal Districts of Russia, and the Northwestern Federal District, in particular, as well as the Vologda Oblast and mono-cities located in it. Methods. For the study, we used a comparative analysis. Results. The article identifies problems common to the areas under study. Conclusions. To develop mono-industry towns, it is necessary to design and adopt framework programmes, supplemented by targeted measures that take into account the industry specifics.

Small and medium-sized businesses in towns of commodity regions as source of diversification and modernization of their economy

The article presents the results of the analysis of economic indicators of economic entities of the regions with raw materials specialization, from the perspective of the goals and capabilities of medium and small-sized businesses. In modern conditions, due to the achievements of scientific and technological progress, the goals of the activity, and the potential of small and medium-sized businesses, the authors identify and analyze possible directions of diversification and modernization of the economy of these regions. The towns of commodity regions are located mainly in areas of adverse environmental conditions away from large industrial and cultural centers and in many cases depend on the performance of one or two large town-forming companies. Thus, the prospects of maintaining the attractiveness of doing business for small and medium enterprises in the towns of these regions as well as the attractiveness of these towns for the population were revealed and analyzed. As measures to maintain this attractiveness, the authors consider the possibility of diversifying and modernizing the economy of such towns by supporting the activities and development of small and medium enterprises, as well as implementing measures aimed at introducing the technologies of the “Smart City” concept. It is assumed that to diversify and modernize the economy of the commodity regions, it is necessary to create conditions for the revitalization of many areas of activity. In particular, it can be achieved through the implementation of “Smart City” projects in these regions. This should stimulate the process of activating the most technologically advanced and innovative areas of activity and have a positive impact on the development of small and medium-sized businesses involved in these areas. In turn, the stable and efficient functioning of such enterprises is one of the most significant tools for such transformations and can speed and intensify the efficiency of the implementation of these processes. At the same time, the use of “smart” technologies for making “smart” decisions, in the process of modernizing the urban economy included, will increase both the efficiency of functioning of small and medium-sized enterprises, and the mechanisms for supporting their activities and development.