Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Urbanization and Seasonal Deurbanization in Modern Russia

  • Urban Development
  • Published:
Regional Research of Russia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

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 The fourth includes the assumption that resettlement from the provinces to megacities since the 2000s has been replaced by temporary labor migrations of the Russian population to large centers in search of livelihood.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 is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Escape behind the Moscow Ring Road, 2015. https://riamo.ru/article/50082/begstvo-za-mkad-utopiya-ili-spasenie.xl. Accessed May 5, 2017.

  2. Breslavskii, A.S., Nezaplanirovannye prigorody: sel’skogorodskaya migratsiya i rost Ulan-Ude v postsovetskii period (Non-Planned Suburbs: Rural-Urban Migration and Extension of Ulan-Ude in Post-Soviet Period), Ulan-Ude: Buryat. Nauch. Tsentr, Sib. Otd., Ross. Akad. Nauk, 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Gorod i derevnya v Evropeiskoi Rossii: sto let peremen. (The Town and the Country in European Russia: Hundred Years of Change), Nefedova, T.G., Polyan, P.M., and Treivish, A.I., Eds., Moscow: Ob”ed. Gumanit. Izd., 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Gorozhane v derevne. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya v rossiiskoi glubinke: dezurbanizatsiya i sel’sko-gorodskie soobshchestva (Townspeople in the Village. Sociological Research in the Russian Province: Deurbanization and Rural-Urban Communities), Il’in, V.I. and Pokrovskii, N.E., Eds., Moscow: Universitetskaya Kniga, 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Grigorichev, K.V., Suburbanism in Siberian regions as a mechanism of post-Soviet transformations, in Chto my znaem o rossiiskikh prigorodakh? (What do We Know about Russian Suburbs?), Ulan-Ude: Buryat. Nauch. Tsentra, Sib. Otd., Ross. Akad. Nauk, 2017, pp. 74–87.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Zaionchkovskaya, Zh.A., Demograficheskaya situatsiya i rasselenie (Demographic Situation and Settlement Pattern), Moscow: Nauka, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Zvyagintsev, V.I. and Neuvazhaeva, M.A., Migrants to the countryside: the phenomenon of “reverse migration” in modern Russia, Mir Ross., 2015, no. 1, pp. 101–135.

  8. Kazakova, A.Yu., Kaluga suburban area: settlement system, types of inhabitants and variants of suburbanism, in Chto my znaem o rossiiskikh prigorodakh? (What do We Know about Russian Suburbs?), Ulan-Ude: Buryat. Nauch. Tsentra, Sib. Otd., Ross. Akad. Nauk, 2017, pp. 87–98.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Kummel, T., The stadial concept of urbanization: methodology and methods of analysis, in Metody izucheniya rasseleniya (Methods of Settlement pattern Studies), Moscow: Inst. Geogr., Akad. Nauk SSSR, 1987, pp. 82–100.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Lappo, G.M., Geografiya gorodov (Geography of Cities), Moscow: VLADOS, 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Makhrova, A. G., Medvedev, A.A., and Nefedova, T.G., Garden and dacha settlements of the townspeople in the system of rural settlement pattern, Vestn. Mosk. Univ., Ser. 5: Geogr., 2016, no. 2, pp. 64–74.

  12. Mezhdu domom i … domom. Vozvratnaya prostranstvennaya mobil’nost’ naseleniya Rossii (Between Home and … Home. The Return Spatial Mobility of Population in Russia), Nefedova, T.G., Averkieva, K.V., and Makhrova, A.G., Eds., Moscow: Novyi Khronograf, 2016. http://ekonom.igras.ru/data/bhah2016.pdf.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Mironov, B.N., Rossiiskaya imperiya: ot traditsii k modernu (Russian Empire: From Tradition to Modernity), St. Petersburg: Dmitrii Bulanin, 2014, vol. 1, pp. 839–845.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Mkrtchyan, N.V., Migration balance of Russian cities: the influence of the size and position in the system of center-peripheral relations, in Nauchnye trudy Instituta narodokhozyaistvennogo prognozirovaniya RAN (Scientific Transactions of the Institute of Economic Forecasting, Russian Academy of Sciences), Korovkin, A.G., Ed., Moscow: MAKS Press, 2011, pp. 416–430.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Mkrtchyan, N.V., Problems of registration of the population of certain age groups during the 2010 census: reasons for deviations of obtained data from the expected, Demoscope Weekly, 2014, nos. 581–582.

  16. Mkrtchyan, N.V., Near-capital territories of Russia: population dynamics and migration balance, in Chto my znaem o rossiiskikh prigorodakh? (What do We Know about Russian Suburbs?), Ulan-Ude: Buryat. Nauch. Tsentra, Sib. Otd., Ross. Akad. Nauk, 2017, pp. 26–37.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Plyusnin, Yu.M., Zausaeva, Ya.D., Zhidkevich, N.N., and Pozanenko, A.A., Otkhodniki (Seasonal Migrants), Moscow: Novyi Khronograf, 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Puteshestvie iz Peterburga v Moskvu: 222 goda spustya. Kniga 1. Dva stoletiya rossiiskoi istorii mezhdu Moskvoi i Sankt-Peterburgom (Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow: 222 Years After, Book 1: Two Centuries of Russian History between Moscow and St. Petersburg), Nefedova, T.G. and Treivish, A.I., Eds., Moscow: URSS-Lenand, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Territorial’naya organizatsiya otdykha naseleniya Moskvy i Moskovskoi oblasti (Territorial Organization of the Recreation of Population of Moscow and Moscow Oblast), Preobrazhenskii, V.S., Ed., Moscow: Nauka, 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Florida, R., Who’s Your City? How the Creative Economy Is Making Where You Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life, New York: Basic Books, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Florinskaya, Yu.F., Mkrtchyan, N.V., Maleva, T.M., and Kirillova, M.K., Migratsiya i rynok truda. Analiticheskii doklad (Migration and Labor Market: Analytical Report), Moscow: Delo, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Berry, B., The counterurbanization process: urban America since 1970, in Urbanization and Counterurbanization, Beverly Hills, Ca: Sage, 1976, pp. 17–30.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Brade, I., Makhrova, A., and Nefedova, T., Suburbanization of Moscow’s urban region, in Confronting Suburbanization. Urban Decentralization in Postsocialist Central and Eastern Europe, Stanilov, K. and Sykora, L., Eds., New York: Wiley, 2014, pp. 97–133.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Confronting Suburbanization. Urban Decentralization in Postsocialist Central and Eastern Europe, Stanilov, K. and Sykora, L., Eds., New York: Wiley, 2014

    Google Scholar 

  25. Geyer, Y.S. and Kontuly, T., The Theoretical Foundation of the Concept of Differential Urbanization, Int. Reg. Sci. Rev., 1993, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 157–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Gibbs, J., The evolution of population concentration, Econ. Geogr., 1963, vol. 2, pp. 119–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Gritsay, O. and Treivish, A., Stadial concept of regional development: the dynamics of core and periphery, Geogr. Z., 1990, vol. 78, no. 2, pp. 65–77.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Hall, P. and Hay, D., Growth Centers in the European Urban System, London: Heinemann, 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Fielding, A., Migration and counterurbanization in Western Europe since 1950, Geogr. J., 1989, vol. 155, p. 62.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Friedmann, J., Regional Development Policy. A Case Study of Venezuela, Cambridge, Ma: MIT Press, 1966.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Makhrova, A.G. and Kirillov, P.L., Seasonal pulsation of settlement pattern in the Moscow agglomeration under the influence of dacha and work commuting: approaches to studies and assessment, Reg. Res. Russ., 2016, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Makhrova, A.G., Nefedova, T.G., and Treivish, A.I., Moscow agglomeration and “New Moscow”: The capital city-region case of Russia’s urbanization, Reg. Res. Russ., 2013, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 131–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Nefedova, T.G., Major trends for changes in the socioeconomic space of rural Russia, Reg. Res. Russ., 2012, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 41–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Nefedova, T. and Pallot, J., The multiplicity of second home development in the Russian Federation: A case of “seasonal suburbanization”? in Second Home Tourism in Europe: Lifestyle Issues and Policy Responses, Roca, Z., Ed., Farnham: Ashgate, 2013, pp. 91–121

    Google Scholar 

  35. Nefedova, T.G. and Treivish, A.I., Differential Urbanisation in Russia, Tijdschr. Econ. Soc. Geogr., 2003, vol. 94, no. 1, pp. 75–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Nefedova, T.G., Slepukhina, I.L., and Brade, I., Migration attractiveness of cities in the post-Soviet space, Reg. Res. Russ., 2016, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 27–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Second Homes: Curse or Blessing? Coppock, J.T., Ed., Oxford: Pergamon, 1977.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Second Home Tourism in Europe: Lifestyle Issues and Policy Responses, Roca, Z., Ed., Farnham: Ashgate, 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Richardson, H.W., Polarization reversal in developing countries, Pap. Reg. Sci., 1980, vol. 45, pp. 67–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Treivish, A.I., “Dacha Studies” as the Science on Second Homes in the West and in Russia, Reg. Res. Russ., 2014, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 179–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119017, Russia

    T. G. Nefedova & A. I. Treivish

Authors
  1. T. G. Nefedova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. I. Treivish
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to T. G. Nefedova or A. I. Treivish.

Additional information

A revised version of the article published in the journal Regional’nye Issledovaniya, no. 2, 12–23 (2017).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nefedova, T.G., Treivish, A.I. Urbanization and Seasonal Deurbanization in Modern Russia. Reg. Res. Russ. 9, 1–11 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079970519010088

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079970519010088

Keywords

Search

Navigation