Gusakov T. Yu., Gusakova L. K. Settlement sustainability as a result of the human and social capital development (on the example of the urban-type settlement Oktyabrskoe in the Republic of Crimea) // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №4. P. 218-245.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-4-218-245

Annotation

Sustainable development of territories is one of the key goals of global and national policy. However, despite the resonance and financial assistance, many territories still lag behind and suffer from social-economic crises due to the peculiarities of both economic specialization and local communities. In Russia, depopulation has affected not only certain types of settlements and localities but also macro-territories (such as the North and the Arctic), which is determined not only by economic backwardness but also by social atomization of local communities, i.e., weak social ties at the micro level. The government makes efforts to smooth out demographic contrasts within the country, providing lagging regions with additional funding in the form of federal transfers and subsidies (policy of participatory budgeting, national projects, and various target programs to support local projects). The population of the Crimean Peninsula, except for Sevastopol, has gradually decreased due to a number of reasons: the region’s peripheral status, lagging social-economic development, proximity to the war zone, ethnic tensions, etc. However, some settlements do not lose their population and even manage to increase the number of residents. The authors consider one such settlement in different perspectives (historical prerequisites, economic specialization, features of social-economic and economic-geographical development, possibilities for accumulating social and human capital) and make a conclusion that its sustainability cannot be ensured only by additional funding for improvement projects and infrastructure construction.

Keywords

Sustainable development, settlement, rural areas, human capital, social capital, Crimea.

About the authors

Gusakov Timur Yu., Researcher, Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Vernadskogo Prosp., 82, Moscow, 119571, Russia.
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Lyudmila K. Gusakova, Independent Researcher. Novaya St., 19, Novoalekseevka village, Krasnogvardeisky district, Republic of Crimea, 297060, Russia.
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