Averkieva K.V. Rural gentrification: City dwellers in rural areas of Russia’s Non-Chernozem Region // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2023. V.8. №4. P. 137-151.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2023-8-4-137-151

Annotation

Under the long-term rural outflow to cities, urban migration to rural areas, especially of those not changing urban registration or staying in the countryside seasonally, is almost invisible. However, the influx of new residents affects rural areas greatly since city dwellers have rich social capital and other resources to transform the countryside. Foreign researchers suggest the term ‘rural gentrification’ to describe such processes. On the example of the Verkhovazhsky district of the Vologda oblast, the author shows how city dwellers participate in different spheres of the rural economic and social life or introduce new types of activities that could be characterized as sprouts of rural modernization if not for their close connection with the traditional rural life. The paper is based on the field studies conducted from 2019 to 2023, combining in-depth and expert interviews with participant observation. In the villages of the Vaga valley, there are guest houses, a center for wood-fired ceramics, a base for restorers of wooden architecture and other facilities created by city dwellers. At the same time, former city residents work in the rural social infrastructure — schools, cultural centers, shops, administrations, offering rural residents new, urban practices (public lectures, book crossing, separate waste collection, second-hand stores). On the one hand, former city residents contribute to changes in certain aspects of rural life; on the other hand, they adopt elements of rural lifestyle, which is manifested in clothing, everyday practices, and way of thinking.

Keywords

Countryside, migration from the city to the village, rural gentrification, cultural initiatives, Vologda oblast, Non-Chernozem Region.

About the author

Averkieva Kseniya V., PhD (Geography), Associate Professor, Faculty of Geography and Geoinformation Technologies, National Research University Higher School of Economics; Senior Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences. 101000, Moscow, Myasnitskaya str., 20.
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Averkieva K.V. Post-Soviet transformation of forest settlements in the north of the Non-Black Earth Region // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2021. V.6. №3. P. 90-110.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2021-6-3-90-110

Annotation

The article considers forest settlements—the former centers of timber industry—in the Vologda and Arkhangelsk Regions during the Soviet period. They represent a special type of mono-specialized rural settlements which in a short period turned from the local growth points and centers of attraction into depopulating settlements with shrinking labor markets and social infrastructure. The article is based on field studies conducted in three municipal districts of the Vologda and Arkhangelsk Regions (grassroots statistics and analytical materials, in-depth interviews with local residents, representatives of local governments and municipal authorities). The outflow of population from logging stations is determined, on the one hand, by the collapse of timber industry and institutional restructuring of logging industry; on the other, by modernization of logging which no longer needs permanently inhabited settlements. Due to the higher population density of forest settlements (compared to small rural settlements in the Non-Black Earth Region), their population losses in the past twenty years affect the general migration dynamics of municipal districts. Unlike historical settlements, the geographic location of forest settlements (often remote from transport networks) and the deplorable state of housing do not leave them hopes for at least seasonal redevelopment or new functions. The current state of forest settlements depends on a set of factors: geographical location, type of development, type of community, readiness of residents to self-organize, and so on.

Keywords

Forest settlement, logging settlement, rural settlement system, logging, NonBlack Earth Region, Vologda Region.

About the author

Averkieva Kseniya V., PhD (Geography), Senior Researcher, Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 119017 Moscow, Staromonetny Per., 29, bldg. 4.
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Averkieva K.V. It’s time to go to the village: Materials of the round table at the forum “Sustainable Development of Rural Areas” // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2021. V.6. №1. P. 189-196.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2021-6-1-189-196

About the author

Averkieva Kseniya V., PhD (Geography), Senior Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetny Per., 29, Moscow, 119017.
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Discussion of the presentation of T.G. Nefedova “Polarization of the social-economic space and prospects of rural areas in the old-developed regions of Central Russia” // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2021. V.6. №1. P. 154-169.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2021-6-1-154-169

Annotation

On March 11, 2021, at the joint seminar of the Center for Agrarian Studies of the RANEPA and the Chayanov Research Center of the MSSES, the researchers discussed the presentation of Tatyana Nefedova, DSc (Geography), the Chief Researcher of the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, on the polarization of the Russian social-economic space and the prospects of rural areas in the old-developed regions of Central Russia. Geographers, sociologists and economists discussed the driving forces of the contemporary rural development in Russia, the relationship of the Soviet agrarian heritage with the new trends in the transformation of rural areas, the role of various rural-urban strata—migrant workers, summer residents and villagers—in the preservation and possible redevelopment of the countryside. The participants considered the key concepts of the presentation: polarization, reduction of rural areas, features of their previous development, regional and local examples of the mostly depressive but sometimes sustainable ways of rural development. Some participants focused on the latest trends of rural development (2020–2021) as determined by the impact of the pandemic on both the city and the countryside; discussed the meaning and directions of rural-urban migrations both in Russia and from neighboring countries to Russia; emphasized the role of the subjective factor (strong leaders) in the local sustainable rural development. The participants admitted that, under the increasing state and market centralization of resources accompanied by the so-called optimization of rural social infrastructure (in fact many rural schools, hospitals and cultural institutions were just closed) and given the weak and ineffective rural municipal self-government, there are growing negative trends of the strengthening depression in rural areas of Central Russia. However, the old-developed rural regions have the historical-cultural potential for a new rural development.

Keywords

Polarization, differentiation, center, periphery, depression, regionalization, old-developed regions, culture.

About the authors

Averkieva Kseniya V., PhD (Geography), Senior Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetny Per., 29, Moscow, 119017.
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Glezer Olga B., PhD (Geography), Senior Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences; 119017, Moscow, Staromonetny per., 29.
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Nefedova Tatyana G., DSc (Geography), Chief Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences; 119017, Moscow, Staromonetny per., 29.
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Nikulin Alexander M., PhD (Economics), Head of the Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; 119571, Moscow, Vernadskogo Prosp, 82.
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Pokrovsky Nikita E., DSc (Sociology), Chief Researcher, Institute of Sociology, FCTAS RAS; Professor, National Research University Higher School of Economics; 101000, Moscow, Myasnitskaya St., 20.
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Pugacheva Marina G., Researcher, Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; 119571, Moscow, Vernadskogo Prosp, 82.
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Smirnov Sergey N., DSc (Economics), Head of the Center for Analysis of Social Programs and Risks, Institute for Social Policy, National Research University Higher School of Economics; 101000 Myasnitskaya St., 20, Moscow,
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Treivish Andrei I., DSc (Geography), Chief Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences; 119017, Moscow, Staromonetny per., 29.
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Averkieva K.V. We can do it together! Community initiatives in the Tot’ma style // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2019. V.4. №4. P. 132-137.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2019-4-4-132-137

About the author

Averkieva Kseniya V., PhD (Geography), Senior Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetny Per., 29, Moscow, 119017.
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Averkieva K.V. Seminar-conference “Participatory Development of Cities and Rural Areas” // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2018. V.3. №4. P. 196-204.

DOI:  10.22394/2500-1809-2018-3-4-196-204

About the author

Averkieva Kseniya V., PhD (Geography), Senior Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119017, Staromonetny Per., 29.
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Averkieva K.V. Vologda Lad. The Fourth All-Russian Belov Readings // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2018. V.3. №1. P. 183-188.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2018-3-1-183-188

About the author

Averkieva Kseniya V., PhD (Geography), Senior Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119017, Staromonetny Per., 29.
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Averkieva K.V. Symbiosis of agriculture and forestry on the early-developed periphery of the Non-Black Earth Region: The case of the Tarnogsky district of the Vologda Region // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2017. V.2. №4. P. 86-106.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2017-2-4-86-106

Annotation

The article considers the social-economic structure of the Tarnogsky district of the Vologda Region, which has a peripheral position in both European Russia and the region. Its specific features such as the low rate of population decline and the growth of the local economy that is not high compared to other Non-Black Earth regions do not correspond to the centre-periphery logic of the well-developed space adopted in social and economic sciences. There is a highly developed timber industry including manufacture of a wide range of complex products; eleven agricultural enterprises and creamery that increase production annually, which is a rarity in the peripheral Non-Black Earth region. Such success of the Tarnogsky district is determined by both reasonable regional policies in forestry and agriculture and by personal qualities of the residents, i.e. the social capital. The author argues that the long-term territorial isolation combined with a long history of economic development played an important role in the current situation. Perhaps, the development of stable and close social ties was influenced by the ‘cluster’ (or “nesting”) type of rural settlement, in which “bushes” of 10-15 villages are located in walking distance from each other and separated by forest areas.

Keywords

rural area, periphery, early-developed territory, agriculture, forestry, social capital

About the author

Averkieva Kseniya V., PhD (Geography), Senior Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119017, Staromonetny Per., 29.
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