CC BY
5DOI: 10.29141/2658-5081-2022-23-1-4
JEL classification: P25
Yakov P. Silin
Ural State University of Economics, Ekaterinburg, Russia
Olesya V. Kharitonenko Ural State University of Economics, Ekaterinburg, Russia
Paradigmatic foundations of health resorts' municipal economics (case of Russia's urban districts)
Abstract. The scientific paradigm of exploring health resort towns' municipal economies is just emerging and becomes a relevant research issue, because the problems of maintaining, promoting and restoring population health have been gaining particular significance recently. The paper aims to generalise about and systematise the scientific heritage concerning the factors behind and conditions of appearance, as well as peculiarities of economic structure and dynamics of urban settlements, the principal function of which is providing health resort services. The methodological basis of the research rests on an interdisciplinary approach that combines the achievements of economic and social geography (principles underlying the typology of settlements), economic sociology (theory of the consumer society), and municipal science (municipal economics as its main part). The research benefits from methods of systematisation and formalisation, bibliometric analysis and content analysis. As a result, the study explicates the scientific paradigm of the research of health resorts' municipal economies and exemplifies it by the case of Russia's urban districts; identifies essential characteristics of the concept "urban district of a health resort type"; and justifies the peculiarities of functioning and transformation of municipal economies of health resort towns. The said peculiarities include special infrastructure, high degree of specialisation, distinct seasonality of municipal economy, dependence of business activities on the characteristics of the arriving population. The theoretical and methodological findings allow organising scientific achievements in the field of functioning and transformation of the municipal economies of health resort towns and outlining the directions for further exploration to complete the paradigmatic foundations and determine the key predictors of the future dynamics and economic growth.
Keywords: municipal economics; health resort activity; spa towns; consumer society; local economic development; paradigm.
For citation: Silin Ya. P., Kharitonenko O. V. (2022). Paradigmatic foundations of health resorts' municipal economics (case of Russia's urban districts). Journal of New Economy, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 66-87. DOI: 10.29141/2658-5081-2022-23-1-4 Received September 20, 2021
Introduction
In conditions of economic and social instability as well as a serious deterioration in
the epidemiological situation, the importance of health resort activities is increasing. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the problems of maintaining, enhancing, and restoring population health, building up the health capital. The immense significance in reaching these objectives is attached to the aforementioned activities, which form the core of special municipalities, namely urban districts of a health resort type.
To study them comprehensively, reveal, and justify their basic characteristics we believe it is necessary to use a scientific paradigm, or else paradigmatic attitudes, which we understand in Kuhn's sense as a set of well-established theoretical and methodological structures recognised by the scientific community, and laying foundations for the undertaken research work.
The scientific paradigm of exploring the municipal economy of urban districts of a health resort type is at its early stages and of an interdisciplinary nature due to the uniqueness of settlements of this type.
The purpose of the study is to generalise about and analyse the conceptual foundations of understanding municipal economies, which are formed in the space of urban districts of a health resort type.
Such an agenda involves the attainment of a number of objectives. First, to identify branches of sciences, within which there are presented the studies of the factors and conditions of emergence, specifics of the economic structure and economic development of towns that specialise in providing health resort services (spa towns).
Second, to systematise scientific knowledge and outline the paradigm for researching the functioning, evolution, and transformation of the municipal economy, which is developing within the boundaries of a special type of urban settlements, namely Russia's urban districts orientated to health resort activities.
Third, based on the results of accomplishing the first two objectives, to reveal the essential characteristics of urban districts of this type and substantiate the specifics of the functioning, development, and transformation of the municipal economy of these settlements.
Explicating the scientific paradigm of the research
Urban districts of a health resort type are a special, unique variety of Russia's urban municipalities. Their development is determined by multiple factors and conditions that constantly transform their economy. Therefore, in our research we apply an interdisciplinary approach, since the totality of the accumulated knowledge of one branch
of science is not enough to analyse, evaluate the development and transformation of the economy of urban districts of a health resort type.
To identify the peculiarities of their functioning, economic transformation and development we use a scientific paradigm that is built on the basis of the three branches of human sciences:
• urban studies in economic and social geography (principles underlying the typology of settlements);
• economic sociology (theory of the consumer society) (consumerism));
• economics, specifically, municipal economics as the major frontier of municipal science, within which theories of local economic development are actively being formed (Figure 1).
Let us further elaborate on each of the branches that constituted the foundation of the research.
Urban studies in economic and social geography. The starting point for accomplishing the objectives and identifying the economic essence of urban districts of a health resort type became the works of geographers devoted to the study of urbanisation processes and the development of a method for typifying settlements in the context of geographical science.
Scientific principles for classifying and typifying settlements, including urban settlements, were laid down in the works of such eminent Russian scientists as Semenov-Tyan-Shansky [1910], Baransky [1956, pp. 164-214], Khorev [1975], Pertsik [1991], Lappo [1997], Lyubovny [2013] and others.
The problems of functional classification and typology of settlements, including cities, are explored by such prominent researchers as Harris [1943], Alexanderson [1959], Beaujeu-Garnier and Chabot [1967], Haggett [1968], Merlin [1977] and others.
Identifying urban settlements of a health resort type is linked with the construction of a functional typology, in which the key role belongs to city-forming functions. According to Lappo, for the construction of functional typologies the following attributes become essential: the degree of development of the functional structure, the territorial content of functions, and the economic geographical location [Lappo, 1997, p. 42].
Spa towns as a special class of urban settlements were described by Harris in the middle of the 20th century while he constructed the first functional classification of American cities based on differences in the structure of employment. According to the scientist, their important attribute is a low proportion of the economically active population [Harris, 1943, pp. 86-99].
Fig. 1. Explication of the scientific paradigm for researching the municipal economy of urban
districts of a health resort type
Later Beaujeu-Garnier and Chabot created a functional typology of cities, and complemented the classification criteria proposed by Harris by distinguishing cities with a dominant hospitality (recreation) function. Such cities have "the means for health improvement, recreation, and entertainment... Their distinctive feature is that the vast majority of the population comes here for a time and considers other settlements, mainly cities, their permanent place of residence" [Beaujeu-Garnier, Chabot, 1967, p. 170].
From the standpoint of Beaujeu-Garnier and Chabot, three types of settlements fulfill the hospitality function: towns oriented to servicing temporary population (health resort towns; towns based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring)); recreation towns (sea and mountain resorts; sunny cities) and towns aimed at serving the permanent population, specifically, people who have retired.
Urban geographers share the opinion about a distinctive functional form of resort towns as an urbanised territory. These urban settlements have a special appearance due to the architectural and planning structure, special cycles of economic dynamics and economic structure.
Consumer society (consumerism). The second important foundation of the scientific paradigm for studying the municipal economy of urban districts of a health resort type is the theory of the consumer society, which has formed in the depths of economic sociology. The key characteristic of the consumer society is consumerism, or overconsumption.
Based on the generalisation of the views presented in the scientific literature we conclude that the consumption is increasing its significance in the structure of the emerging society, as well as in the regional economic space, health resort activities and the functioning of urban districts of a health resort type. This process is due to growing individual needs to promote health, increase health capital, as well as get quality medical services (Figure 2). At present, it is consumerism (from Latin con-summatio - consumption) that mainly drives the transformation of the economic structure of health resort towns.
In Russia, the consumer society began to take shape after perestroika in the late 1980s and the geo-economic upheavals of the 1990s. In the Western countries, it formed in the 1970s [Fromm, 1966; Baudrillard, 1998; Bauman, 1998; Ilyin, 2005, and others] . The rapid development of consumerism was further triggered by the intensification of mass communications and transportation (primarily automobile, and then air).
Today in the literature the concept "consumer society" is interpreted vaguely with even more unclear defining and structuring of its economic component.
Fig. 2. Development of health resort activities in regions and municipalities under the emerging consumer society
The concept of the consumer society is based on the idea that consumption grows into an important productive force: "the system of industrial capitalism changes radically when consumption turns out to be more significant for the structuring of society than production' [Ivanov, 2011, p. 9].
Ilyin, the ideologist of studying the consumer society, considers it as "a set of social relations in which individual consumption mediated by the market plays the central role" [Ilyin, 2005, p. 4]. In his opinion, the formation of such a society brings about global cultural transformations that cause changes in the economic system. As a result, classical capitalism, where the money-making ideology dominates, is replaced by a new capitalism with the ideology of consumption (consumerism).
Among the earliest studies in this field, the works of Fromm are noteworthy. He was the first to introduce the term homo consumens (a consuming human) into scientific circulation [Fromm, 1966]. According to him, the formation of the consumer society is possible only at the stage of a developed industrial society, when mechanical labour completely or almost completely replaces human labour, thus increasing free time.
Fromm's ideas were further developed by Baudrillard. In particular, in his fundamental work The Consumer Society (1970), he points to a profound change in the role played by a consumer in the economic system: "The system... increasingly needs them (people) as consumers» [Baudrillard, 1998, p. 83]. The scholar details the essence and
signs of the consumer society: "There is all around us today a kind of fantastic con-spicuousness of consumption and abundance, constituted by the multiplication of objects, services and material goods, and this represents something of a fundamental mutation in the ecology of the human species" [Baudrillard, 2006, p. 3].
Later Bauman noted that in the consumer society, the economic system and the logic of its development are radically changing. In particular, needs are turning into the key factor in the market dynamics: "The way, in which society 'shapes' its members today, dictates, first of all, the obligation to play the role of consumers" [Bauman, 2004, p. 116], and as a result, "with each visit to the market, consumers have every reason to believe that they are the most important ones here, and only they" [Ibid., p. 121].
Summarising the conclusions of Russian and foreign scholars, we can state that the consumer society arises as a logical result of the capitalism evolution, whereas its consequence include rapid economic and technological development, income growth, reduced working hours, increased free time, erosion of the class structure of society, personalization of consumption [Ilyin, 2005; Prothero, McDonagh, Dobscha, 2010; Campbell, 2010; Ivanov, 2011; Solomon, 2020].
Based on the analysis of the scientific literature we identify the following core characteristics and trends of the consumer society that provide the foundation for researching the functioning, development, and transformation of the economy of health resort towns.
1. Involvement of the absolute majority of the population in active consumption, which goes beyond the struggle for physical survival, due to the development of mass (assembly-line), flexible production.
The economy of the consumer society relies on a new type of personality, which is characterised by a propensity to consume as a way of constructing one's identity ([Firat et al., 2013; Varey, 2010] and others). "Consumption ceases to be a means of fighting for physical survival and grows into a tool for constructing social identity" [Ilyin, 2005, p. 5], i.e. a means of self-expression and self-actualisation. Therefore, it becomes impossible to satisfy completely even basic needs, since the identity requires daily reproduction. According to the researchers, this reason also explains the high labour activity of people who have satisfied their basic needs.
2. Production possibilities significantly outstripping the possibilities of individual consumption conditioned by the natural needs of humans, which leads to a 'marketing revolution, and increasing importance of the marketing orientation of firms in order to promote consumption.
3. Revolutionary changes in the organisation of trade and services sectors, as a result of which the key positions are occupied by large shopping malls, supermarkets
that create places for spending free time on their basis making shopping a popular form of leisure.
For the study of regional and municipal economies, the important conclusion is about the transformation of any regional and local goods and services market into one of the branches of the world market due to the active development of globalisation and regionalisation processes [Chernyaeva, 2009; Shalaev, 2015, pp. 9-27]. In one way or another, each producer in a specific territory competes with producers from other regions and countries because of far-reaching changes in consumer standards, and substantially expanded space of consumer freedom. The foregoing largely applies to the health resort and therapeutic services market, since the consumers of these services enjoy the opportunity to compare the quality, range and prices with world level.
4. Rapid development of the consumer credit system and electronic bank payments, which dramatically accelerate the process of making decisions about medium-sized, large purchases and services, stimulates the formation of the consumer society. Ritzer, the developer of the McDonaldization concept, called the credit card system to be the central aspect of a prosperous consumer society [Ritzer, 1999].
5. Sectoral structural transformations in the national economy of the entire states, as well as their constituent regions and municipalities.
In particular, due to the increasing value of health and economic importance of health capital, healthcare and health resort activities that are part of it are turning into a powerful, growing industry, the purpose of which is to make a profit through the provision of medical services, which corresponds to the logic of the services sector in general.
The emergence of the consumer society stimulates the demand for high-quality medical and health resort services, which is a deciding factor in the industry development. Another relevant factor is current laws governing the labour market, "which constantly generates risks of social exclusion of physically weak and sick people" [Ilyin, 2005, p. 11] and inclusion of a healthy population in the economic processes.
6. Development of a system of health resort and recreational activities, which, first, increases health capital on a countrywide scale as well as promotes its importance for consumers, and second, forms special regions, where medical infrastructure is developed based on unique natural resources, and specialised personnel is concentrated (for example, the North Caucasus, Crimea, etc.).
An essential and ever-increasing part of consumerism is the need to improve health, including through the satisfaction of people's health resort needs. Cities have seen an appropriate rapid growth of medical and prophylactic inpatient and outpatient institutions (sanatoria, therapeutic centres, resorts, mud baths, hydropathic clinics,
etc.), where patients and vacationers receive treatment services mainly with the help of natural means (mud, mineral water, climate, marine resources, etc.), physiothera-peutic procedures, as well as diet, special regimen and style of behaviour, physical education, etc.
We should emphasize that the production and consumption of health resort services, in contrast to the consumption of material goods, practically coincides spatially and temporally. At the same time, medical and economic activities should be organised in accordance with the interests of consumers of services, and not their producers.
The development of territories specialising in health resort and recreational activities is affected by two key divergent factors.
The first one is that there are limitations concerning the scale of health resort activities associated with the availability of unique natural resources, the need to preserve them, as well as the need to ensure the quality of services and pay individual attention to each client.
The second one is that therapeutic processes, which relate to the perfection of modern medical technologies, are more mobile than resources-based ones, and relatively 'limitless', which pushes the boundaries of health resort activities.
Boosted value of health and personal development in the consumer society contributes to the development of a variety of services.
Based on the ideas of the theory of the consumer society, Chernyaeva [2009] framed the concept "consumerisation of tourism", which includes health tourism. In her opinion, "the formation of tourism as a phenomenon of the industrial, and then the consumer society, takes place in the coordinates of a number of interrelated social phenomena" [Chernyaeva, 2009, p. 119], such as mass production, reduction of working time in favor of free time, introduction of guaranteed holidays, development of transport communications, transport infrastructure and ensuring their quality and safety, emergence of specialised intermediary organisations. All this taken together impart tourism, including therapeutic and recreational tourism, the properties of the industry.
Scientific research highlights the dual effect of health resort activities. On the one hand, the visiting population rehabilitates itself, replenishes its psychophysical, spiritual and intellectual resources, restoring itself as a labour force. On the other hand, vacationers become 'donors' for the economic development of health care institutions and services sector of the holiday destinations, and through this stimulate the economy of regions and even entire countries. Vivid examples are North Caucasus, Crimea, Thailand, Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, Sri Lanka and many others that specialise in creating an attractive recreational environment, which is in demand by a wide
mass of the active part of the population of their own states, as well as European and post-Soviet countries.
Scholars point to the role of tourism, including health tourism, as a new social institution in the global consumer society: "Travelers and vacationers are a significant source of income in the consumer goods industry, services sector, which contributes to money circulation in the intersectoral public space and thus provides part of the population, actually millions of people of active working age involved in this area with work and huge (at present) income" [Shalaev, 2015, p. 19].
High rates of development of health resort and recreational activities, as well as all types of tourism, are due to the increased massive need for treatment and rehabilitation, health maintenance and recreation covering literally all categories of the population of modern, and primarily urbanised, territories. In the scientific research, this process has been named "consumerism of generations of developed countries of the world" [Shalaev, 2015, p. 20].
Theories of local economic development. The third scientific foundation for revealing the distinctive features of the functioning and development of the municipal economies of urban districts of a health resort type lies within economics (see Figure 1).
According to Glazyev, this science "should reveal the patterns of development of economic activity during the known history of mankind, explain the mechanism of its functioning at the present time, suggest scenarios for further development depending on the pursued economic policy as well as substantiate the content of the latter" [Glazyev, 2016, p. 19].
Within the economic science, the municipal science is becoming increasingly important, understood as "a special type of knowledge that applies the unity of social, human and natural sciences to analyse municipal processes, and identify diverse local phenomena" [Gladyshev, Ivanov, Patrushev, 2003, p. 4].
The works of the founders of municipal science, in particular, of the representatives of the German school of thought [Damaschke, 1904; Gassert, 1912; Riss, 1914; Sombart, 1924; Weber, 2001], serve as an essential theoretical foundation of this study. Prominent Russian scientists also contributed generously to the development of both the municipal science and municipal economics (cf. [Bezobrazov, 1874; Schreider, 1902; Totomiants, 1902; Ozerov, 1906; Danilov, 1917; Grigoryev, 1919; Velikhov, 1928; Tverdokhlebov, 1928], etc.).
The emerging municipal science is mainly of applied nature, because it does not only allow gaining new knowledge about local communities, but also helps change people's lives for the better [Gladyshev, Ivanov, Patrushev, 2003; Silin, 2015]. If we take an economy that functions in the space of cities (including Russia's urban districts) as a model of municipal economy then first of all, the municipal economics should
study patterns of improvement (or degradation) of urban settlements' economic base, determine conditions and prerequisites for their functioning, as well as strategic goals and reference points for their development.
Currently, both representatives of the scientific community and practitioners are evincing an intense interest in studying municipal development in general and municipal economic development in particular. At the same time, in the economic literature, there is no established interpretation of the concept "municipal economic development" [Silin, Animitsa, 2021, pp. 95-97]. We shall agree that "in the most general form, municipal economic development can be perceived as a process of certain changes in the space of a municipality aimed at improving its economy" [Vetrov, 2009, p. 5]. The purpose of this process is to ensure the growth of the local community's welfare, improve the quality of life, which can be expressed as the degree of satisfaction of people's material and spiritual needs.
The factors affecting local economic development can be various components of both endogenous and exogenous nature. For some territories, the main driving force is the local resource base, for others it is a progressive institutional environment, as well as benefiting from a convenient location and creating economic growth areas.
In line with the study's objectives, in particular, concerning the need to reveal the development specifics of unique local communities existing within the boundaries of urban districts that function on the basis of health resort activities, we will apply the theories of local economic development, an actively emerging direction within the municipal economics (see Figure 1).
Theories of local economic development are united by the idea of ensuring high rates of economic growth in urban and rural settlements. This is achieved in various ways, specifically:
• by identifying and maximising the satisfaction of the needs of local and arriving population (the theory of needs [Maslow, 1954; Inglehart, 1997; Kenrick et al., 2010; Animitsa, Silin, 2021, p. 17, etc.]);
• through the efficient use of the local resource base (theories of the local resources [Hägerstrand, 1967; Perloff, 1973; Belomestnov, Sharaldaev, Erdyneeva, 2012; Sim-chenko, Tsekhla, 2016, etc.]);
• by a reasonable choice while locating new production (location theories (spatial theories [Pertsik, 1991; Animitsa, Vlasova, 2008; Filippov, Avdeeva, Lavrova, 2013]);
• by creating an effective institutional environment (institutional economics [North, 1997; Sukharev, 2008; Silin, Animitsa, 2021, pp. 99-100]);
• through the use of resources of propulsive industries in the municipal economy (the theory of polarised development [Boudeville, 1961; Perroux, 1961; Pottier, 1963;
Fleisher, Li, Zhao, 2010; Raspe, Oort, 2011; Christofakis, Papadaskalopoulos, 2011; Wojnicka-Sycz, 2013; Rossi, 2020]).
Let us project how the scientific foundation of the theories of local economic development can be applied to comprehend urban districts of a health resort type.
The theory of needs allows deciding on strategic goals in their development, which suppose meeting the needs of both the arriving population, who intend to receive medical, tourist and recreational services, and the local community, with the special attention to the family and children's recreation. Implementing measures in this area is a driving force behind the formation and development of the municipal economy on the basis of self-organisation and self-sufficiency with economic resources. We should explicitly specify that in a municipality belonging to a health resort type, a person (either a representative of the visiting population or a local resident) should be able to satisfy their diverse needs, from physiological to spiritual.
An important component of municipal economic development in urban districts of a health resort type is the reasonable, efficient use and preservation of the advantages linked with their unique resources, many elements of which are renewable. Therefore, of great importance to learning about the object of the study are the scientific conclusions derived from the theories of the local resources. The key provisions of these theories can be used as a general methodological approach to the research of local communities with good natural resource opportunities, to which urban districts of a health resort type definitely belong. Followers of these theories speak in favour of maintaining the existing economic profile by upholding the principle of integrated development through stimulating clean high-tech production and green technologies.
Conceptually, conclusions of the supporters of the location theories (spatial theories) are close to the attitudes provided by the theory of the local resources (see Figure 1). We should note that these two theoretical foundations are based on the properties of a territory, which is the central characteristic of a municipality.
The territory is a place, where resources necessary for municipal development are concentrated, and economic (production) activities are conducted. Within the framework of the location theories, municipalities (urban and rural settlements) are considered as "spatially separated economic units that have their own comparative advantages, as well as the ability to interact with each other as partners or competitors" [Filippov, Avdeeva, Lavrova, 2013, p. 54].
Let us highlight that health resort towns gravitate towards places with unique natural healing resources (climate, mineral springs, therapeutic mud, etc.). These territories have a special lifestyle (traditions, culture, specific needs of the local population), which determines the possibilities and spatial boundaries of the activities of
producers of goods and services targeted at the demand of the visiting population and the local market. In line with the location theory, the local community is considered as the external environment of entrepreneurial activity.
Institutional economics contributed enormously to the choice of the ways for local economic development. We should highlight that economic development of urban districts of a health resort type is significantly conditioned by their special status of a therapeutic and recreational area (resort), and in connection with this, the status of a specially protected area. In particular, Article 14 of the Federal law "On natural healing resources, therapeutic and recreational areas and resorts"1 establishes special rules for the lands development in therapeutic and recreational areas and resorts in compliance with the rules for the specially protected areas. Health resort organisations are obliged to use property exclusively for the purposes of treatment, prevention of diseases and recreation of the population, unless otherwise follows from the said federal law.
Accordingly, the institution of a therapeutic and recreational locality (resort) can either contribute to the economic dynamics of urban districts of a health resort type, or slow it down.
Reasons behind the polarised distribution of economic processes and phenomena in space, the uneven development of regions, substantial differences in economic growth within the boundaries of various territories are explained in the research methodologically based on the theory of polarised development (the theory of growth poles).
We believe that this theory is of scientific interest for studying the economic dynamics and transformations in the municipal economy of urban districts of a health resort type, because health care and health resort activities included in it are propulsive industries of the local economy that act as a multiplier for the development of related industries on both a regional and a town scale.
Health care in general and spa activities in particular are economic activities that base on innovation, advanced technologies and scientific knowledge. The development of these types of activities in urban districts stimulates the economy of adjacent territories that produce goods and services for the visiting population. However, the growth potential of urban districts of a health resort type is quite limited due to the need to both ensure the quality of therapeutic and recreational services provided and preserve unique natural resources.
Application of the classical theory of polarised development makes it possible to recognise different types of effects emerging within the boundaries of urban districts
1 On natural healing resources, therapeutic and recreational areas and resorts: Federal law of February 23, 1995 no. 26-FZ. In: Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation of February 27, 1995 no. 9. Art. 713. (In Russ.)
of a health resort type, as well as between them, including agglomeration, ecological, tourism and recreational, managerial, urbanisation effects, economies of scales [Aslanov, 2012, pp. 124-125; Basnina, Valitova, Sheresheva, 2021, pp. 62-77]. Of particular significance are the limitations linked with the agglomeration effect and economies of scale. Because of the specifics of health resort services it is irrational to create million-plus cities and giant sanatoria in these kind of territories.
The theoretical foundation of municipal science allowed Aslanov while exploring the health and resort complex of the Caucasian Mineral Waters to identify the following properties of spa towns: stability, inertia, dynamism, spatially expedient distribution; institutional determinism [Aslanov, 2012, pp. 125-126].
Based on an interdisciplinary scientific foundation that combines the achievements of municipal science, economic and social geography, economic sociology, we extended the interpretation of the concept "urban district of a health resort type".
Urban district of a health resort type is a special kind of municipalities, the territories of which concentrate natural healing factors and resources (mineral springs, therapeutic mud, sea resources, favourable climate, etc.), health resort institutions and social facilities, have a characteristic structure of the municipal economy with the dominance of health resort activities aimed at meeting the needs of the arriving population concerning the treatment, maintaining and promoting health, as well as recreation.
Health resort town (spa town) is a set of enterprises, organisations, institutions and norms of economic behaviour all associated with the organisation of the consumption of health resort services (in accordance with the interests of consumers), which contribute to the accumulation of human capital (health capital).
The interdisciplinary approach also allowed us to specify the following peculiarities and key predictors of the functioning and transformation of the municipal economy of urban districts of a health resort type.
1. The special structure of the municipal economy dominated by activities related to the provision of services (resort, tourist, household, etc.), and with the relatively less developed material, primarily industrial, production.
Resort towns are characterised by the predominance of those employed in health care, as well as in trade, catering, urban transport, etc. Health care is a commonplace industry, but in these towns it acts as a city-forming industry.
In resort towns, the boundary between city-forming and city-serving functions is blurred, since the services for local residents and vacationers are provided mainly by the same institutions. The studies show that the volume of sales of paid services per capita "in resort towns is 2 times higher than the average for the region, while 40-50 % of this amount are services related to the resort and tourism industry, as a
result of this the services sector is the most important source of income and employment for the population of an urban district" [Filobok, 2004, pp. 96-97].
2. The municipal economy is a specialised complex, where the leading function is health care and health resort activities being part of it, which stimulate the emergence of complementary industries and activities oriented towards the latter.
In a resort town, along with the main therapeutic and recreational function performed by health care institutions (sanatoria, clinics, holiday homes, boarding houses), many other spheres and industries develop: science (spa medicine, health care, environmental studies, plant introduction, etc.), retail trade (to satisfy the demand of vacationers and tourists), transport (urban and external one that services vacationers), industry (to service vacationers and tourists, primarily food, as well as consumer goods, souvenir, building materials industries), education and training (for healthcare, excursion business, reception of foreign tourists).
The inflow of vacationers fosters the development of various festivals (film and music festivals, sports competitions, scientific conferences) and theatrical and concert activities (for vacationers and tourists).
3. Distinct seasonality of the functioning and development of the municipal economy due to seasonal fluctuations in individual demand for services of health resorts and therapeutic and recreational tourism.
We should emphasise that no other type of urban settlements experiences such powerful impact of the seasonality factor as resort towns and urban districts of a health resort type do. Seasonal cycles are the most important predictor of fluctuations in the entrepreneurial activity, employment, revenues of the public budget and incomes of local residents.
This feature was highlighted by urban scientists Beaujeu-Garnier and Chabot: "The main difficulty for all holiday towns is the short duration of the holiday season. For example, on mineral springs, the summer season usually lasts two, maximum three months... In this regard, northern beaches are in a particularly problematic situation, because swimming ceases after the first of September. No better is the situation with high-altitude resorts... However, completely avoiding dead seasons is not possible. And at this time overhead costs have to be reduced" [Beaujeu-Garnier, Chabot, 1967, pp. 176-177].
4. High dependence of the municipal economy on the economic and social characteristics of the arriving population (their demand, income levels, social composition, etc.).
The permanent population of health resort towns is insignificant, "but in certain seasons it swells and the number of inhabitants increases almost 10 times. In addition, they are characterised by a certain instability. They depend on the vagaries of
fashion. The clientele of these towns is generally very mobile... Motorists often stop in the towns for only a few days" [Beaujeu-Garnier, Chabot, 1967, p. 176].
A study of the resort towns in the Krasnodar krai indicated that the rhythm of life in these towns and their well-being is determined by the out-of-town, 'alien' population, which for a certain period of time becomes an integral part of the town's population [Belikov, 1994].
5. Transformations in the economic structure of resort towns triggered by the diversification and development of manufacturing industries, as well as of the services sector.
The emergence and development of resort towns is determined by therapeutic and recreational activities strictly tied to unique natural resources. In this regard, the towns of this type tend to be located near mineral springs, therapeutic mud, etc. Since the mid-1960s, the historical structure of the economy of resort towns has begun to actively transform due to the rapid growth of the manufacturing and related industries, which increased the urbanisation of the territory and its population [Aslanov, 2012, pp. 109-111]. Fast capital turnover has made resorts attractive investment destinations for non-resort activities that provide employment for their growing population.
Frequently, the industry of national and regional significance comes into conflict with resort's economy in terms of the use of limited territorial, water, financial, and labour resources [Khorsun, 2014; Simchenko, Tsekhla, 2016].
Conclusion
The findings of our study prove that the scientific paradigm for researching the factors, conditions of emergence, and peculiarities of the economic structure and economic development of towns, the major function of which is the provision of health resort services is at its early stages of formation.
Understanding the conceptual foundations of the municipal economics of urban districts of a health resort type allowed outlining the scientific paradigm for studying this special type of urbanised territories. The paradigm is interdisciplinary in nature and relies on the developments of three branches of human sciences: urban studies in economic and social geography (principles underlying the typology of settlements), economic sociology (theory of the consumer society (consumerism)), economics, in particular, municipal economics as the main frontier of municipal science.
The interdisciplinary scientific paradigm allowed extending the interpretation of the concept "urban district of a health resort type". Specifically, we note that the territories of these municipalities concentrate natural healing factors and resources, specialised infrastructure facilities (medical and social), and labour resources with
special competencies. The functioning of this complex is aimed at meeting the needs of the arriving population concerning the treatment, maintaining and promoting health, as well as recreation.
The functioning and development of the municipal economies of urban districts of a health resort type displays the following specifics:
• domination of health care and economic activities related to the provision of services in the structure of the municipal economy;
• stimulation of the emergence of complementary industries and activities that are completely focused on the health resort activities (science, retail trade, transport, food, consumer goods, souvenir industries along with education and training, festival, theatrical and concert activities, etc.);
• pronounced seasonality of the functioning and development of municipal economies due to seasonal fluctuations in individual demand for the services of health resorts, recreational and medical tourism;
• high dependence of municipal economies on the economic and social characteristics of the arriving population (its demands, income level, social composition, etc.);
• transformations in the structure of resort towns' economies triggered by the processes of diversification and development of manufacturing industries, as well as the services sector.
The identified specifics should be taken into account when formulating development strategies for this unique type of urban settlements, the municipal economy of which is based on the provision of health resort services.
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Information about the authors
Yakov P. Silin, Dr. Sc. (Econ.), Prof., Rector, Prof. of Regional, Municipal Economics and Governance Dept., Ural State University of Economics, 62/45 8 Marta / Narodnoy Voli St., Ekaterinburg, 620144, Russia
Phone: +7 (343) 283-11-11, e-mail: odo@usue.ru
Olesya V. Kharitonenko, Applicant for Candidate Degree of Regional, Municipal Economics and Governance Dept., Ural State University of Economics, 62/45 8 Marta/ Narodnoy Voli St., Ekaterinburg, 620144, Russia Phone: +7 (343) 283-10-76, e-mail: rime@usue.ru
© Silin Ya. P., Kharitonenko O. V., 2022
