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2024. Vol.9. №4.

Rural agglomeration as a new form of spatial development of the rural-urban partnership (on the example of the Kaliningrad Region)

Feb 10 2025

Gumenyuk I. S., Yustratova V. O. Rural agglomeration as a new form of spatial development of the rural-urban partnership (on the example of the Kaliningrad Region) // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №4. P. 21-43.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-4-21-43

Annotation

Russian publications on the development of rural areas have increasingly used the term “rural agglomeration”. However, interpretations of this term and its relationship with more traditional geographical notions “territorial socio-economic system” and “rural-urban continuum” are still unclear. Moreover, rural agglomerations can be considered as local settlement systems identified by the activity method. Thus, practical application of the term causes difficulties due to the lack of clear quantitative and qualitative criteria for identifying rural agglomerations. On the example of the Kaliningrad Region, the authors developed and tested a methodology for identifying rural agglomerations based on the parameter of time accessibility, which also contributed to the theoretical clarification of the concept. The authors argue that in the economic-geographical perspective, rural agglomeration can be defined as a local rural-urban setlement system, in which the city is its core and rural settlements — its elements; intensive inter-village connections are spatially reflected in the transport infrastructure facilities. Rural agglomerations are normative systems identified with the activity approach, namely the isochronous method (20-minute interval from the center along public roads). Thus, the authors identified 8 rural agglomerations in the Kaliningrad Region with an average population of 12.7 thousand people, an average number of 40 settlements and a core in the form of a small city with an average population of 5.7 thousand people.

Keywords

Rural agglomeration, rural-urban continuum, territorial socio-economic system, small town, Kaliningrad Region.

About the authors

Ivan S. Gumenyuk, PhD (Geography) Associate Professor, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, A. Nevskogo St., 14, Kaliningrad, 236016, Russia.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
Veronica O. Yustratova, PhD Student, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, A. Nevskogo St., 14, Kaliningrad, 236016, Russia.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

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2022. Vol.7. №2.

How the reforms of Malenkov and Khrushchev changed the life of the collective farm Bolshevik: A microhistoric study

Sep 12 2022

Filev M. V. How the reforms of Malenkov and Khrushchev changed the life of the collective farm Bolshevik: A microhistoric study // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2022. V.7. №2. P. 68-92.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2022-7-2-68-92

Annotation

In historiography, agricultural transformations started by G. M. Malenkov and N. S. Khrushchev are usually considered as having improved the situation of the peasantry and the level of production. The author assesses the effectiveness of these reforms with a microhistorical approach based on the study of the collective farm Bolshevik in the Pravdinsky district of the Kaliningrad Region — as typical for the region and the country. The research is based on the archives of this kolkhoz: collective farmers’, communist party members’ and managers’ meetings, annual reports, documents of the regional agricultural authorities. The article describes the main changes in the structure of agricultural production: reorganization of labor brigades, daily routines and machine-tractor stations, consolidation of the collective farm, etc. The author examines the state policy regarding personal subsidiary economies of collective farmers: on the one hand, there were new restrictions, on the other hand, resources of peasant economies improved the statistical indicators of the kolkhoz. The article focuses on administrative and economic ways for motivating peasants to work in the collective farm and shows their inconsistency in terms of increasing labor productivity. Annual statistical reports of the collective farm on animal husbandry and crop production show no sustainable growth of any indicators and only modest progress due to the extensive methods of development and exploitation of the collective farmers’ personal subsidiary economies. The author emphasizes the absence of any significant results from the 1950s reforms which did not affect the roots of the collective-farm system inefficiency.

Keywords

Agrarian reforms, microhistory, Kaliningrad Region, collective farm, machine-tractor station, personal subsidiary economies, G. M. Malenkov, N. S. Khrushchev.

About the author

Filev Maksim V., PhD Student, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University. 236041, Kaliningrad, Alexander Nevsky St., 14.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

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Russian Peasant Studies. Scientific journal

Center for Agrarian studies of the Russian Presidental Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)

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