CC BY
3Article
DOI: 10.34130/2070-4992-2023-3-1-21 УДК: 314.8+711.13 (470+571-17)
Northern urban agglomerations: definition, criteria, indicators
Viktor V. Fauzer1, Andrey V. Smirnov2, Tatyana S. Lytkina3, Galina N. Fauzer4
1'2'3'4Institute of Socio-Economic and Energy Problems of the North of FRC Komi SC UB RAS, (Syktyvkar, Russia) iauzer.viktor@yandex.ru; http://vvfauzer.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8901-4817 2av.smirnov.ru@gmail.com, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6952-6834 3tlytkina@yandex.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8901-4817 4gfauzer@iespn.komisc.ru
Introduction. The article discusses evolution of the northern urban space development; the cities with the population of over one hundred thousand people in different periods of time are in the focus of attention. The authors provide an overview and points of view on the essence and formation process of urban agglomerations, it is noted that along with the benefits (agglomeration effect, innovative potential), urban agglomerations give rise to environmental, economic, political and social problems, create threats to stability of small and medium-sized cities. The indicators and criteria for distinguishing in the urban space of the North of Russia — «northern urban agglomerations» are substantiated, their classification by population is introduced. 19 core cities were selected in accordance with the proposed methodology, «northern urban agglomerations» were formed around those cities within a radius of50,100 and 150 km. A description of the «northern urban agglomerations» is given in terms of population, the number of satellites (cities and towns), and industry specialization. It is concluded that the process of studying "northern urban agglomerations"should be continued, including institutional studies.
Keywords: North of Russia, urban space, northern urban agglomerations, criteria, indicators, industry specialization
For citation: Fauzer V. V., Smirnov A. V., Lytkina T. S., Fauzer G. N. Northern urban agglomerations: definition, criteria, indicators. Korporativnoe upravlenie i innovacionnoe razvitie ekonomiki Severa: Vestnik Nauchno-issledovatel'skogo centra korporativnogo prava, upravleniya i venchurnogo investirovaniya Syktyvkarskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Corporate Governance and Innovative Economic Development of the North: Bulletin of the Research Center of Corporate Law, Management and Venture Investment of Syktyvkar State University]. 2023. Vol. 3, issue 1. Рр. 21-30. https://doi.org/10.34130/2070-4992-2023-3-1-21
Acknowledgments: The article is prepared in the framework of the Scientific Research «Human resources of the northern regions of Russia: potential of development or limitation of the economic growth» (No. 122012700169-9, 2022-2024) and the programme BR10965247 «Study of factors, features and dynamics of demographic processes, migration, urbanization in Kazakhstan, development of digital maps and forecasts». The authors are grateful to E. A. Chuprova for his assistance in preparing the manuscript for printing.
Научная статья
Северные городские агломерации: определение, критерии, показатели
Виктор Вильгельмович Фаузер1, Андрей Владимирович Смирнов2, Татьяна Степановна Лыткина3, Галина Николаевна Фаузер4
1,2Д4Институт социально-экономических и энергетических проблем Севера ФИЦ Коми НЦ УрО РАН ifauzer.viktor@yandex.ru; http://vvfauzer.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8901-4817 2av.smirnov.ru@gmail.com, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6952-6834 3tlytkina@yandex.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8901-4817 4gfauzer@iespn.komisc.ru
Аннотация. Рассматривается эволюция развития северного городского пространства; в фокусе внимания — города имеющие население свыше ста тысяч человек в разные периоды времени. Приводится обзор и точки зрения на сущность и процесс формирования городских агломераций, отмечается, что наряду с плюсами (агломерационный эффект, инновационный потенциал) городские агломерации порождают
экологические, экономические, политические и социальные проблемы, создают угрозы стабильности малым и средним городам. Обосновываются показатели и критерии выделения в городском пространстве севера России «северных городских агломераций», предлагается их классификация по численности населения. По предложенной методике отобраны 19 городов-ядер, вокруг которых в радиусе 50, 100 и 150 км сформированы «северные городские агломерации». Дается описание «северных городских агломераций» по численности населения, количеству спутников (городов и пгт), по отраслевой специализации. Делается вывод, что необходимо продолжить процесс изучения «северных городских агломераций», в том числе в институциональном плане.
Ключевые слова: север России, городское пространство, северные городские агломерации, критерии, показатели, отраслевая специализация.
Для цитирования: Фаузер В. В., Смирнов А. В., Лыткина Т. С., Фаузер Г. Н. Северные городские агломерации: определение, критерии, показатели // Корпоративное управление и инновационное развитие экономики Севера: Вестник Научно-исследовательского центра корпоративного права, управления и венчурного инвестирования Сыктывкарского государственного университета. 2023. Т. 3. Вып. 1. С. 21-30. https://doi.org/10.34130/2070-4992-2023-3-1-21
Благодарности: Статья подготовлена в рамках НИР «Человеческие ресурсы северных регионов России: потенциал развития или ограничение экономического роста» (№ ГР 122012700169-9, 2022-2024 гг.) и программы BR10965247 «Исследование факторов, особенностей и динамики демографических процессов, миграции, урбанизации в Казахстане, разработка цифровых карт и прогнозов». Авторы признательны Е. А. Чупровой за помощь в подготовке рукописи к печати.
Introduction
Settlement of new, uninhabited territories was among the priorities of the Russian state. Russia not only inhabited the remote areas, but also took initiatives to compensate the population for the inconveniences and high cost of living in such areas; the state from the first days of colonization of the North and Siberia created a network in order to support settlements, which by the standards of those years were considered cities.
At the beginning of the XX century Arctic or the polar area was mainly called the North. In the 1920ies the economic concept of «the Soviet North» spread. In the documents of 1922-1923, the concepts of «remote areas» and «northern outskirts inhabited by the native peoples» were applied. The Arctic legal appearance is due to the Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated on May 20, 1926 "On the declaration of the territory of the Union of the SSR lands and islands located in the Arctic Ocean" and the Decree of the President of Russia dated on May 2, 2014 «On the land territories of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation», according to which part of the northern territories became Arctic.
The concept of the territory «Far North» first appeared in legal and practical activities after the adoption of the Soviet of People's Commissars of the RSFSR Resolution dated on October 26, 1932 «On establishment of the territory, which is the subject to the Regulation of the Central Executive Committee and the Soviet of People's Commissars on May 10, 1932 on the benefits for people working in the Far North». The Resolution of the USSR Soviet of People's Commissars dated on November 18, 1945 introduced a new concept «On the list of remote areas, equal to the regions of the Far North». Significant changes in the zoning of the North of Russia were made in 2012. [1]. On November 16, 2021 the Government of the Russian Federation issued the Resolution "On approval of the list of districts of the Far North and localities equal to the regions of the Far North in order to provide the State guarantees and compensations for people working and living in these regions and localities, recognition as invalid of some acts of the Government of the Russian Federation and recognition of the certain acts of the Council of Ministers of the USSR not valid in the territory of the Russian Federation" № 1946.
Spatial development of the North and Arctic has always been connected with the formation of a network of urban settlements. However, in their development in the 1990ies there was a negative trend. Between 1989 and 2022, the number of urban settlements fell from 588 to 373 and reduction of the medium-sized towns and urban-type settlements was particularly significant.
The significance of the study lies in the fact that, with the decrease of the urban population, the number of large and medium-sized cities, urban-type settlements, the North needs more than ever the centers of concentration of socio-economic resources and innovations; the «northern urban agglomerations» can fulfill this role, as they are not formed by means of absorption of adjacent settlements, but conversely contributing to their development. The elements of novelty of the study include: substantiation of criteria and indicators of definition
of «the northern urban agglomerations»; allocation of 19 agglomerations, analysis of their development dynamics and their classification by the kernel weight, the number of adjacent settlements, industry specialization. However, according to E. I. Weinberg, despite the proclaimed importance of the agglomerations for the economic development, these complex dispersed structures are almost never studied [2]. Therefore, in our view, it is necessary to continue work in Russia on identification of the urban agglomerations, collection of data within their boundaries, assessment of the situation in the small and medium-sized cities, rural settlements depending on their relative position to big and large cities [3].
The focus of attention make the cities and the urban-type settlements in 13 regions, whose territories are entirely in the Far North and equal areas and also 11 regions, whose territories belong to the regions of the Far North and equal areas — partially meeting the criteria of «the northern city agglomeration». In order to implement this, it is necessary: to define criteria and indicators that allow to allocate «northern urban agglomerations» from the urban space of the North; to substantiate requirements/characteristics to the core city of «the northern urban agglomerations»; to describe the main characteristics of «the northern urban agglomerations», highlight their branches of specialization.
Statistical material from the population censuses of 1939-2010 was used, as well as the demographic statistics at the level of settlements, data from geographic information systems on the characteristics of the settlement system of the Russian North.
Urban agglomerations — Northern and Arctic development hubs
The term «agglomeration» comes from the Latin agglomero — I attach, accumulate. The term «agglomeration» was introduced in 1909 by Alfred Weber, a German economist and sociologist, who proposed to consider agglomeration as «a concentration of the industrial production in some place» [4]. From an industry perspective, Alfred Marshall, an English economist, has made a significant contribution to development of the agglomeration theory by identifying agglomeration with a «localized industry» and proving the presence of agglomeration effects arising from localization savings, economies of scale, and savings from urbanization [5].
There are quite a lot of works in the scientific literature where the author's vision of the concept/definition of «an urban agglomeration» and their importance for development of the territories of certain constituent entities of the Federation is offered. Here is the number of definitions that reveals different aspects of the functioning or development of urban agglomerations. Thus, O. B. Glaser and E. I. Weinberg note that the urban agglomeration is a complex and a dynamically developing object. Their territories represent the most expensive land resources, concentrating its socio-economic, scientific, educational and demographic potential [6]. According to A. N. Clark «agglomeration is an urbanized district without clear borders, consisting of several settlements and their suburbs, united in the process of expansion of the certain cities» [7]. The United Nations Organisation considers agglomeration as an urbanized area comprising a major city in the centre and a complex of settlements around it [8]. O. B. Ivanov and E. M. Buchwald define agglomeration as a «territorially compact location of various settlements, actually merged and united in a complex, multi-component socio-economic system with an active internal production and cooperation, transport and socio-cultural links» [9]. According to some authors, agglomeration is a process of concentrating the new settlements around the certain cities and old mono-cities and involving in the functioning of the city-core agglomeration of suburbs, adjacent small towns and urban settlements [10; 11].
The process of agglomerations formation is closely connected to the growth of the economic efficiency in the region. Agglomerations arise mainly around large cities and in the industrial areas with the high population densities and create a common socio-economic system. They provide the effect due to the possibility of sharing local facilities, reducing transaction costs and pooling labour [12].
There are two types of urban agglomerations: 1) monocentric (one-center) with one core city, which influences all other settlements located in its suburban zone (or in the outer periphery zone — suburbs, satellite cities, etc.) and exceeds them in the size and economic potential; 2) polycentric (multi-centric) urban agglomerations have several interconnected centre-cities [13].
In foreign countries when allocating urban agglomerations the «economic approach» was widely applied due to the active development of the theoretical foundations within the concepts of «Spatial economy» [14] and «New economic geography» [15]. The emergence of agglomerations is explained by the influence of positive economies of scale, imperfect competition, transport costs, location of production, demand and other economic patterns.
There are two opposing viewpoints among the scientists: artificial creation of new urban agglomerations or maintaining the existing ones. According to V. Lexin «it is necessary to stimulate the creation (or strengthening of the existing) agglomeration links: modern transport highways; mechanisms of implementation with local infrastructure projects, ensuring the speed of movement to new workplaces and reducing the excessive tariffs» [16].
Like any complex socio-economic entity, creation / development of agglomerations involves both positive and negative sides. O. A. Kozlova and O. N. Soskova include among the positive aspects «changes in the way of life of population, a significant increase in life expectancy, t spread of literacy, growth of education of population and its culture». Whereas the negative aspects are the fact that agglomerations «cause environmental, economic, political and social problems, worsen the quality of the urban environment of small and medium-sized cities» [17]. E. I. Weinberg continues the list of downsides: inside the agglomerations, there is an increase in the load on the territory, there are many environmental problems, increase in road time and transport fatigue. Furthermore, concentration of socio-economic potential and population in agglomerations devastates the territories of the constituent entities beyond its borders [2]. It can also be noted that since «agglomerations themselves are not capable of normal reproduction, they involve population of the surrounding areas, primarily young people in active reproductive ages, eventually deepen the depressive state of the surrounding areas» [18].
Reasoning for development of agglomerations and small towns does not provide a clear choice. Each form of spatial organization has its pros and cons, which reveals under the certain conditions. It is worth noting, however, that urbanization in the context of globalization is an objective and not an easily reversible process. The task is to simultaneously use the positive effects of urbanization and, by preserving develop a municipal framework from small and medium-sized cities in order to take the benefits they provide [19].
Criteria and indicators for urban agglomerations
Three approaches are most commonly used in allocation of agglomerations: administrative, morphological and network (functional). The first one is based on the existing administrative boundaries and historical patterns of development, the second one on the thresholds of density, population or degree of urbanization, the third one on the links between the core city and the neighbouring municipalities [20]. The third approach is used more frequently. In Russia, in the framework of the Spatial Development Strategy by 2025 there is a definition to large and the largest urban agglomerations as «the aggregates of the compactly located settlements and territories between them, connected by the joint use of infrastructure facilities and united by the intensive economic, including labour and social connections»1.
The unified methods of allocation and delimitation of urban agglomerations (UA) used the experience of statistical study of development of the UA in the USSR and provided for the use of the most simple and universal criteria that could be applied to any territory of the «integrated» resettlement. The criteria are the number and number of people in the urban settlements located within a certain temporary accessibility from the center of the agglomeration. The urban settlements (cities and urban-type settlements) in these methods were separated from the rural areas based on fundamentally different functional (centers of control, management, supply and service) and economic (industrial conglomerations) roles for the territory, and temporary/transport accessibility acted as a measure of permeability and so-called space friction or reduced spatial intensity [21; 20].
Many problems of delimitation of the urban agglomerations are common for all methods. This, first of all, concerns the inevitable generalization of the borders of the UA at the level of the boundaries of the elementary statistical information cells (districts in the USA, communes in France, municipal districts in Russia, etc.). Another important problem for application of the universal methods of separation of the UA is the actual blurring of the concept of an urban settlement. At present, the status of the urban-type settlements (their incorporation into cities or their transformation into the rural settlements) is changing rapidly in the municipal practice. During the post-Soviet period, the very essence of the urban-type settlements has changed, many of which lost their distinctive features (primarily the industrial urban base), and vice versa — rural settlements, located in the suburbs of the large cities, have completely lost their agricultural functions, taking on significant service and production. Thus, application of the existing universal methods of allocation and delimitation of the UA in a pure form in modern conditions has a certain methodological drawback [20].
The criteria for including cities and urban settlements in agglomerations may vary. They characterize the core, boundaries (radius), the satellite area and interactions between the settlements. Thus, F. M. Listengurt
1 On the Approval of the Strategy for the spatial development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2025: decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 207-r 13/02/2019. Collection of legislation of the Russian Federation. 2019, no. 7, 702.
allocates the urban agglomerations according to the following grounds: 1) the number of urban population — more than 110 000 people with a minimum size of the central city of 100 000 people; 2) time required for regular availability of the centre (stations) of the main city — 2 hours brutto; 3) proportion of population in the urban areas of the outer zone in the total urban population of agglomeration (agglomeration index) a minimum of 10 %; 4) the minimum number of municipalities located in the outer zone is three; 5) an abstract indicator of the degree and pattern of concentration of the urban settlements in the outer agglomeration zone (coefficient of density of agglomeration — ratio of density of urban settlements to average distance between them) is a minimum — 0.1 [22].
Most often, the threshold number of the core is in the range of 50,000 to 250,000 people, and for adjacent settlements — from 50,000 people in the zone of 1.5-2-hour availability [20]. According to the Spatial Development Strategy of the Russian Federation the total population size varies from 500,000 to 1,000,000,000 people in a big agglomeration, and should be more than 1 mln people in a large one1. If the distance is used, the boundaries of agglomerations shall be 50, 100 or 150 km from the core [23], although the «growth corridor» — the removal of the satellite city from the core can drag from 50 to 200 km [24]. At present, urban agglomerations are moving from scalar (point) to vector form — formation and development of agglomerate corridors [17].
In one of the works, the authors substantiated their approach to the allocation of «the northern urban agglomerations» [25]. The northern urban agglomeration includes a core city with the population of more than 100,000 people, and at least two urban settlements located within a radius of 150 km. As an exception, the cities, in different years, having a 100,000 inhabitants can be attributed to the city-core. The northern urban agglomeration provides the adjacent territories with «the agglomeration effect» through the transfer of innovations and the latest technologies, providing them with a wide range of socio-cultural and educational services. Taking into account the poor road network, the dispersal and remoteness of the northern settlements, only the core city can provide a range of emergency medical services — small aircraft services.
For selection and analysis of the northern urban agglomerations we considered cities and urban-type settlements in all 294 urban districts and municipal districts in the North of Russia. The data on the number of people was provided by the population census data on settlements2, as well as current statistics for the beginning of 2022.3 Information on changes in the categories of settlements and their economic specialization is taken from the encyclopedia "All Russia. Cities and settlements"4, official websites of the regions and municipalities. The geographic coordinates of the settlements are obtained from the geo-database GeoNames geographical database.
The cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants were selected as the core of the northern agglomerations, they are the largest settlements in their 150-kilometre neighbourhood, but they are not the only settlements. Then a list of urban satellite settlements by accessibility zones (50, 100 and 150 km) was formed. Settlements that were located within two agglomerations belonged to the one due to their economic specialization and spatial proximity. Calculations were made by using an algorithm implemented in the programming language Julia using the package Geodesy.jl (to estimate the distances between settlements).
Note that the developed methodology requires adaptation for use in other northern countries. First, the selected distances can be adjusted downward for countries with higher population densities. Secondly, it is important to take into account the differences in the statistics of settlements between countries, especially the criteria for defining cities and t the criteria for defining cities and towns.
«Northern urban agglomerations» in the urban area of the North
At the beginning of 2022, the urban area of the North of Russia included 141 cities, of which six are large (Surgut, Arkhangelsk, Yakutsk, Murmansk, Petrozavodsk and Nizhnevartovsk), 12 big and medium-sized, 111 small and 232 urban-type settlements. The structure of the cities is dominated by small and medium-sized cities — 123 (87,2 %). The share of large and big cities makes — 12,8 %, almost half of the population live there — 40,4 %. The population size of all groups was growing until 1989, then it decreased, the same can be said about the average population of settlements (Table 1).
1 On the Approval of the Strategy for the spatial development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2025: decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 207-r 13/02/2019. Collection of legislation of the Russian Federation. 2019, no. 7, 702.
2 Demoscope Weekly: official site. Moscow. URL: http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/census.php (accessed: 08.08.2022).
3 Federal State Statistics Service: official site. Moscow. URL: https://rosstat.gov.ru/compendium/document/13282 (accessed: 08.08.2022).
4 All Russia. Cities and settlements: encyclopedia. Ryabinin (ed.). Moscow, Institute of Economics and Management in Industry, 2001. 575 p.
Вестник Научно-исследовательского центра корпоративного права, управления и венчурного инвестирования Сыктывкарского государственного университета. 2023. Т. 3. № 1
Table 1
Population and settlement indicators of the Russian North, 1939-2022*
Indicators 1939 1959 1970 1979 1989 2002 2010 2022
Population size, thousands of people, including: 4 232,0 6 907,3 8 417,1 10 181,0 12 807,8 10 818,9 10 158,4 9 805,8
cities 1 100,7 2 651,1 3 834,5 5 279,6 7 482,6 7 005,3 6 830,5 6 874,7
urban-type settlements 342,0 1 563,1 1 809,2 2 138,1 2 392,4 1 385,6 1 077,1 931,6
rural settlements 2 789,3 2 693,1 2 773,4 2 763,3 2 932,8 2 428,0 2 250,8 1 999,4
Urban settlements, units 104 411 487 544 588 494 404 373
cities, including 40 85 99 110 130 147 142 141
large (more than 250 000 people) 1 1 2 3 8 6 7 6
big (100-250 000 people) 1 4 9 12 9 11 10 12
middle-sized (50-100 000 people) 3 9 6 10 21 14 12 12
small (less than 50 000 people) 35 71 82 85 92 116 113 111
urban-type settlements 64 326 388 434 458 347 262 232
Average population, persons
cities 27 519 31 189 38 733 47 996 57 558 47 655 48 103 48 757
urban-type settlements 5 343 4 795 4 663 4 927 5 224 3 993 4 111 4 016
Source: [27; 28].
* Census data of 1939-1979 — actual population; census data 1989 -2010, current records in 2022 — permanent population excluding the results of the census data in 2020.
Based on the proposed criteria of compliance with the «northern urban agglomerations» 18 cities with a population of more than 100 thousand people and 4 cities where the population was more than 100 thousand people within the period of 1979-2002 were selected. According to the criterion «population size» — they correspond to the role of the core city. Selected 22 cities were formed: in the tsarist time — 8 cities, in the Soviet period — 14 cities. The population size of eight cities founded in the tsarist time increased from 584,900 people in 1939 to 1,992,900 in 2022 or by 1,408,000 people, an increase of 3.4 times, their share in 2022 was 46.7% and the average population — 249,100 people. The urban population size, in the cities, which were established within the industrialization and urbanization period (1918-1959) increased from 119,400 people in 1939 to 1, 165,600 in 2022, or increased 9.8 times, their share in 2022 was 27.3 % and the average population — 145,700 people. The population size of the cities established within the period of 1965-1982 increased from 53,700 people in 1970 to 1, 112,300 in 2022 or increased 20.7 times, their share is 26,0 % the average population — 185,400 people. As you can see, the fastest population growth was in the group of cities created on oil and gas fields in Western Siberia and occupying the second place in the average population.
Fig. 1. Urban agglomerations in the settlement system of the Russian North, 2020
After considering 22 cities according to the criterion — the presence of satellites near the core city (towns or urban-type settlements), the city of Khanty-Mansiysk was excluded as not meeting the selection criteria (the presence of satellite settlements), two cities — Severodvinsk and Nefteyugansk — became the part of the Arkhangelsk and Surgut urban agglomerations, which can be considered polycentric. Thus, the role of the core-cities of the northern urban agglomerations corresponds to 19 cities, six of which are located in the European and 13 in the Asian part of the Russian North (fig. 1). The northern urban agglomerations included 124 urban settlements (including the core cities), including 65 cities and 59 urban-type settlements (table 2).
Table 2
Dynamics of the population size in the cities of the North of Russia in different periods, having had a population size of more than 100,000 people, 1939-2022, persons *
№ City Year of establishment 1939 1959 1970 1979 1989 2002 2010 2022 **
1 Arkhangelsk 1584 284 570 256309 342 590 385 028 416 812 356 051 348 783 342 164
2 Yakutsk 1643 52 882 74 330 107 617 152 368 187 661 210 642 269 601 341221
3 Petrozavodsk 1777 69 723 135 256 184 481 234 103 269581 266 160 261987 280 890
4 Syktyvkar 1780 25 281 64 461 125088 170 980 231673 230 011 235 006 243 279
5 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky 1812 35 373 85 582 153885 214 977 273 368 198 028 179 780 181293
6 Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk 1905 - 85 510 105 840 139 861 156 347 175085 181 728 201703
7 Kyzyl 1914 - 34 462 51 683 66 027 83 822 104 105 109 918 123 260
8 Murmansk 1916 117 069 221874 308 642 380 817 472 274 336 137 307 257 279 064
9 Komsomolsk-on-Amur 1932 70 808 177278 218 127 263 950 316224 281035 263 906 239 386
10 Severodvinsk 1938 21 304 78 657 144 672 197 232 253 864 201551 192 353 179 742
11 Khanty-Mansiysk 1950 - 20 677 24 754 28 266 35 494 53 953 80 151 105995
12 Norilsk 1953 - 109 442 135 487 180 358 179 757 134 832 175365 184 124
13 Bratsk 1955 - 51 455 155 362 213 725 257587 259335 246 319 222 528
14 Surgut 1965 - - 34 011 107 343 250198 285027 306 675 395 940
15 Nefteyugansk 1967 - - 19 675 52 393 94 578 107 830 122 855 128 685
16 Nizhnevartovsk 1972 - - - 108 740 244 752 239 044 251694 280 834
17 Noviy Urengoy 1980 - - - - 95 254 94 456 104 107 118 667
18 Noyabrsk 1982 - - - - 87 144 96 440 110 620 109 488
Cities that are no longer big
1 Magadan 1939 27 313 62 225 92 105 121250 151520 99 399 95 982 91 432
2 Ukhta 1943 - 36 154 62 923 87 467 112 876 103 340 99 591 91 066
3 Vorkuta 1943 - 55 668 89 742 100210 115329 84 917 70 548 51 321
4 Ust-Ilimsk 1973 - - - 68 641 110 335 100 592 86 610 78 718
Source: [27; 28]
* Population census 1939-1979 — actual population, census 1989-2010, Current records 2022 — permanent population. Ranked by the year of establishment;
** estimation of the population size is made excluding the results of the census data in 2020.
Formation of the northern urban agglomerations can be traced from 1939 to 2022 — the period for which full statistical information is available. In 1939, only two northern urban agglomerations, located in the European North: Arkhangelsk and Murmansk met the selected criteria. By 1959, three more core cities were added: Petrozavodsk, Norilsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur. In 1970 ten northern urban agglomerations met the criteria, the new ones: Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Bratsk, Syktyvkar, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Yakutsk urban areas were added. By 1979, urban agglomerations with the core cities of Vorkuta, Surgut, Nizhnevartovsk and Magadan had been established. By 2010 the process of the northern urban agglomerations formation was completed, in 1989 Ukhta and Ust-Ilimsk new urban agglomeration appeared, then Kyzyl in 2002 was added to the list, and the Arctic Noyabrsk and Novy Urengoy agglomerations were established in 2010 (Table 3).
Вестник Научно-исследовательского центра корпоративного права, управления и венчурного инвестирования Сыктывкарского государственного университета. 2023. Т. 3. № 1
Table 3
Population size of the northern urban agglomerations, radius of 150 km., 1939-2022, persons
Urban agglomerations 1939 1959 1970 1979 1989 2002 2010 2022
Urban population 1442687 4214225 5643778 7417719 9874944 8390895 7907652 7806361
Urban agglomerations, in total: 504708 1367957 2836871 4249231 5928298 5396880 5495251 5594836
including:
Arkhangelsk Arctic 325517 396 614 571131 680 091 770 592 636 687 608 248 579 410
Murmansk Arctic 179 191 389 185 530 660 643 045 806 139 627757 566252 518 830
Petrozavodsk - 256891 314 004 373215 415 659 362 845 351172 356 400
Norilsk Arctic - 130 941 178 907 259391 309 783 247 040 198 427 205 570
Komsomolsk-on-Amur - 194 326 262931 334 122 414 051 358 639 334 416 299 939
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk - - 283 313 330 860 362 878 325 542 283 729 295 569
Bratsk - - 209 948 266 680 312 419 285 551 270075 243 987
Syktyvkar - - 179 472 234 129 287 272 287 694 288 244 289 972
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - - 177 873 261984 332 566 265358 243 862 244 076
Yakutsk - - 128 632 184 538 235 661 258956 298816 372 516
Vorkuta Arctic - - - 193 913 217711 132 328 95 241 70 849
Surgut - - - 166 184 496 511 588 986 633 643 749 585
Nizhnevartovsk - - - 161 830 437 412 463 369 480277 510 841
Magadan - - - 159 249 195 645 122 681 116 547 109 446
Ukha - - - - 194 319 172 309 162 052 147 351
Ust-Ilimsk - - - - 139 680 126258 109 605 98 188
Kyzyl - - - - - 134 880 140 899 159 418
Noyabrsk Arctic - - - - - - 167 346 179 156
Novy Urengoy Arctic - - - - - - 146 400 163 733
The share of population of the northern urban agglomerations in urban population size in the North of Russia was constantly growing, with the exception of the period of 1939-1959, when it decreased from 35,0 to 32,5%. It was increasing further, and reached 60.0% by the end of the Soviet period and 71.7% by 2022. Although, 25.2% are European agglomerations and 46.5 % are Asian ones. 9,6% of the urban population in the North of Russia live in the biggest Surgut urban area, 7,4% in Arkhangelsk and 6,6% in Murmansk urban areas.
Concluding the analysis of the northern urban agglomerations, let us focus on describing those ones, located in the European North of Russia, a total of six, three of which are in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. By population, the Arkhangelsk Arctic urban area stands out. The city of Severodvinsk included in it on the first criterion could claim the role of the core city. Economically — one of the most diversified centers in the North, it has: a developed shipbuilding and ship repair, education, forest industry and transport. In terms of the number of urban settlements in the satellite zone Murmansk Arctic urban area takes the first place, as it has ten cities and nine urban-type settlements. It specializes mainly in maritime transport, fishing and fish processing, ship repair. Mechanical engineering, metalworking, forestry, food, light industry and transport are concentrated in Petrozavodsk urban area. Syktyvkar urban area is based on the timber and pulp-and-paper industry, production of nonwovens, food industry. Ukhta urban area has a closely located satellite-town of Sosnogorsk. It is the centre of oil and gas industry. Vorkuta Arctic urban area is a part of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, the main economic activity is coal mining.
According to our proposed qualification for small northern urban agglomerations with the population size up to 250,000 people are Ukhta (147,400 people) and Vorkuta urban areas (70,800 people); middle-sized agglomerations with the population size of 250,000- 500,000 people are Petrozavodsk (356,400 people) and Syktyvkar (290,000); big agglomerations are with more than 500,000 people: Arkhangelsk (579,400 people) and Murmansk (518,800 people) as of early 2022.
Conclusion
The results of the conducted studies are as follows:
- the author's method that allows in the urban space of the North of Russia to allocate «northern urban agglomerations» is introduced; 19 core-cities meet the proposed criteria, six are located in the European and 13 in the Asian North, of all — six are located in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation;
- to the official classification of big and large urban agglomerations we propose to apply other more «soft» criteria to the northern urban agglomerations: urban agglomerations are small — with the population of up to 250,000 people, medium-sized — with the population from 250,000 to 500,000 people and big — from 500,000 people;
- the history of formation and evolution of 19 northern urban agglomerations is reviewed; most of them were formed within the period of 1939-1979, they are distinguished by the fact that the largest share in the urban population of the Russian North (71,7%) they have achieved by 2022;
- Northern urban agglomerations are classified on different bases: Surgut agglomeration is the biggest one according to the population size of 749,600 people, Vorkuta is the most sparsely populated (70.800 people), Murmansk Arctic agglomeration is the leader in the number of settlements (19), there are only 3 settlements in Bratsk, Norilsk and Noyabrsk urban agglomerations; Norilsk Arctic urban area is the northernmost (69°20' N let), Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is the southernmost (51°42' N let); the best dynamics was achieved within the period of 2010-2022 by Yakutsk agglomeration (+24,7%), the worst was in Vorkuta Arctic urban agglomeration (-25,6%).
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Информация об авторах
Виктор Вильгельмович Фаузер, доктор экономических наук, профессор, заслуженный деятель науки Российской Федерации, главный научный сотрудник, заведующий лабораторией демографии и социального управления Института социально-экономических и энергетических проблем Севера ФИЦ Коми НЦ УрО РАН (Российская Федерация, 167982, г. Сыктывкар, ул. Коммунистическая, д. 26).
Андрей Владимирович Смирнов, кандидат экономических наук, старший научный сотрудник лаборатории демографии и социального управления Института социально-экономических и энергетических проблем Севера ФИЦ Коми НЦ УрО РАН (Российская Федерация, 167982, г. Сыктывкар, ул. Коммунистическая, д. 26).
Татьяна Степановна Лыткина, кандидат социологических наук, старший научный сотрудник лаборатории демографии и социального управления Института социально-экономических и энергетических проблем Севера ФИЦ Коми НЦ УрО РАН (Российская Федерация, 167982, г. Сыктывкар, ул. Коммунистическая, д. 26).
Галина Николаевна Фаузер, научный сотрудник лаборатории демографии и социального управления Института социально-экономических и энергетических проблем Севера ФИЦ Коми НЦ УрО РАН, (Российская Федерация, 167982, г. Сыктывкар, ул. Коммунистическая, д. 26).
Information about the authors
Viktor V. Fauzer, Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor, Chief researcher, Head of the Laboratory of Demography and Social Management at the Institute of Socio-Economic and Energy Problems of the North of FRC Komi SC UB RAS. (26 Kommunisticheskaya str., Syktyvkar, 167982, Russian Federation).
Andrey V. Smirnov, PhD in Economics, Senior Researcher, Laboratory of Demography and Social Management of the Institute of Socio-Economic and Energy Problems of the North of FRC Komi SC UB RAS. (26 Kommunisticheskaya str., Syktyvkar, 167982, Russian Federation).
Tatyana S. Lytkina, PhD in Sociology, Senior Researcher, Laboratory of Demography and Social Management of the Institute of Socio-Economic and Energy Problems of the North of FRC Komi SC UB RAS. (26 Kommunisticheskaya str., Syktyvkar, 167982, Russian Federation).
Galina N. Fauzer, Researcher, Laboratory of Demography and Social Management of the Institute of Socio-Economic and Energy Problems of the North of FRC Komi SC UB RAS. (26 Kommunisticheskaya str., Syktyvkar, 167982, Russian Federation).
Статья поступила в редакцию: 09.02.2023
Одобрена после рецензирования: 17.02.2023
Принята к публикации: 28.02.2023
The article was submitted: 09.02.2023
Approved after reviewing: 17.02.2023
Accepted for publication: 28.02.2023
