Том 9, № 1 (2019)

The course of urbanization in 20th-century Russia and its specifics during Soviet times and today are considered. To explain the specifics of the urbanization process, the authors put forward five hypotheses, discussing them in detail. The first hypothesis pertains to the inadequacy of Russian statistics. The second depends on the conclusion about the urbanization/deurbanization stage within a territory considered urban (urbanized). The third hypothesis explains the fuzziness of current processes in Russia in terms of their diversity and sometimes the opposite character in various regions and for various population groups. The fourth includes the assumption that resettlement from the provinces to megacities since the 2000s has been replaced by temporary labor migrations of the Russian population to large centers in search of livelihood. The fifth hypothesis holds that the massive involvement of owners of second rural homes, used by city dwellers as dachas during warm months, has created a special type of Russian seasonal dacha suburbanization/deurbanization, slowing down deurbanization typical of developed countries.

This article presents an original method of assessing the influence of the factor of transborder clustering on the economic and demographic dynamics of the Leningrad oblast territories. It is shown that the economic potential is primarily focused in towns (especially in district centers), as well as in rural settlements neighboring St. Petersburg. Amid the crisis trends evident since summer—autumn 2014, the majority of settlements hosting the components of transborder clusters (in areas such as shipbuilding, machinery industry, wood processing, pharmaceuticals industry, IT technology, etc.) increased their tax base and, at the same time, showed a positive demographic dynamics; the clusters themselves in this generally adverse situation (in the presence of currency and finance turbulence, opposition to sanctions, and, consequently, a reduction in export and import operations), demonstrate an ability to adapt and represent a significant factor of the territory’s socioeconomic resistance.

Socioeconomic differences in different parts of Russia’s borderland are analyzed. Based on a compiled database of statistical indicators for 2000–2016 characterizing demographic, economic, and social development, as well as external economic ties of Russia’s border regions and neighboring countries, the territorial gradients on both sides of the Russian border are assessed on a comparative basis. An increase in differences in the demographic potential has been identified in the Russian–Chinese and Russian–Kazakhstan regions. In the post-Soviet borderland, a growing inward turn of the borderline economies for the respective countries and an increasing marginality of border zones have been identified, which hinders interaction and cooperation. It has been established that the largest gradients in the level of economic development are observed at the old borders in the European part of the country inherited from the former Soviet Union. With an analysis of the economic and trade relations between the border regions of Russia and neighboring EU countries, as well as China, it has been shown that the larger the gap between their demographic and socio-economic indicators, the higher the probability of unequal economic relations.

The article presents a multiscale analysis of domesticated reindeer herding in Arctic regions. The analysis revealed factors that have the strongest effect on the dynamics of reindeer livestock at different spatial levels (international, national, and regional) and determined the causes of geographical shifts in domesticated reindeer herding toward the western tundra zone and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug’s loss of its leading position in number of domesticated reindeer in the post-Soviet period. With a case study of the okrug, we identified intraregional (across municipal districts) shifts and factors affecting them (economic, political, institutional, natural–climatic, and sociocultural). This is the first time that information across all reindeer farms of Chukotka has been systematized and generalized, which has provided insight into particularities of the post-Soviet transformation in select enterprises. Based on field research data collected on regional farms in rural localities or villages of Neshkan, Konergino, and Tavaivaam, we studied in detail local characteristics of development of the industry. It has been inferred that during years of economic crisis, trends in head of reindeer in Chukotka were in sync with the overall economic situation in the country at all spatial levels, although the correlation was not as strong during years of economic stability. Within the industry, intraregional and local contrasts and differences become more pronounced during crisis, and, conversely, subside during a period of stability and growth.

The paper studies the correlation of the scope of the shadow economy and agriculture and validates the statement that growth in the share of the agricultural sector in GDP leads to growth in the shadow economy. The results of testing the statistical correlation of the scope of the shadow economy in the Russian regions and indicators reflecting the agricultural scope are presented (the share of the rural and urban population in the total population, the share of agricultural production in GRP). The research methodology includes an analysis of the approximation curves constructed based on scatter diagrams using the indicator of the share of the urban population and the logarithm of shadow sector indicators. Russian Federal State Statistics Service data and the authors’ calculations of the scope of the shadow economy in Russian regions for 2002–2013 are used. Overall, the authors confirm the hypothesis on existence of a direct correlation between the scope of the shadow sector and share of agriculture in the economy. A noticeable correlation between the scope of the shadow economy in regions with the share of the rural population and a moderate correlation with the share of agriculture, hunting, and forestry in the GRP is revealed. A tendency toward an increase in informal employment in nonagricultural types of activity is specified. It is concluded that population migration from the countryside to cities, and increase of the urban population will contribute in the future to an increase in the scope of the shadow economy in the least urbanized regions and a decrease thereof for regions with a medium level of urbanization.

The article discusses the problems involved with assessing the prospects for the creation of a transport corridor along the Asia-Europe route through Mongolia as additions to the options of direct relations between China and Russia. The results of model experiments using fuzzy sets show that intensification of transit through the territory of Mongolia is possible only if there is an active state policy of tariff regulation for rail and road transport and creation of a logistics center in Ulaanbaatar.

The global experience of geographical study of information flows is reviewed for the first time based on journal papers and monographs published in 1988–2017. It is established that the issue is understudied, subject to a shift from understanding the relevance of such studies to attempts to measure and structure information flows. The key areas of geographic study are identified: flows without channels and traffic, channels without traffic, traffic without channels, and flows with channels and traffic. No publication has been retrieved for the fourth area, which is most important for regional studies. Three new approaches are proposed in the framework of next-generation communication network studies and in line with the fourth area: uplink–downlink traffic distribution, redistribution of traffic inside a region proportionally to the population size of settlements, and the definition of potential of mobile communication field. The new approaches are tested with a case study of Russia’s Irkutsk oblast.