DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2021-6-1-154-169
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.
Polarization, differentiation, center, periphery, depression, regionalization, old-developed regions, culture.
Averkieva Kseniya V., PhD (Geography), Senior Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetny Per., 29, Moscow, 119017.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Glezer Olga B., PhD (Geography), Senior Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences; 119017, Moscow, Staromonetny per., 29.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Nefedova Tatyana G., DSc (Geography), Chief Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences; 119017, Moscow, Staromonetny per., 29.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Pugacheva Marina G., Researcher, Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; 119571, Moscow, Vernadskogo Prosp, 82.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Sergey N. Smirnov, 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,
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Treivish Andrei I., DSc (Geography), Chief Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences; 119017, Moscow, Staromonetny per., 29.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2017-2-4-86-106
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.
rural area, periphery, early-developed territory, agriculture, forestry, social capital
Averkieva Kseniya V., PhD (Geography), Senior Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119017, Staromonetny Per., 29.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.