2023 Vol. 15 №3

This article aims to analyse the development of Russia’s North-Western Federal District (NWFD) regions between 1998 and 2021, based on data from Rosstat. It focuses on how the territories responded to migration to the St. Petersburg agglomeration in the early 21st century and compares their progress with the cores of the St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Helsinki agglomerations. For building the models, regions with similar development dynamics were divided into four sectors: St. Petersburg, the Leningrad region, three less advanced northern areas, and the more successful NWFD territories. Before the 2008—2009 crisis, St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region outperformed the other north-western areas. However, the crisis led to a sharp decline in economic growth rates across the federal district, with manufacturing, agriculture, and forestry replacing the service sector as the main drivers. St. Petersburg’s development slowed down, and it became less efficient compared to the Leningrad region and the other five territories, which excelled in manufacturing, agriculture, and forestry. Despite migration to the St. Petersburg agglomeration and an associated increase in employment, the city did not gain a significant advantage over the other NWFD regions due to insufficient investment and hindrance in the development of new economic sectors. Migration to the St. Petersburg agglomeration primarily involved younger people but did not significantly impact traditional industries, such as manufacturing, agriculture, and forestry, which remained at the core of NWFD regions’ economic success. St. Petersburg’s higher economic efficiency compared to Moscow and Helsinki was a result of greater investments in manufacturing.

The article analyses the challenges associated with the development of rural areas in the Kaliningrad region. The author analyses trends in the development of agriculture, population dynamics, and settlement patterns, while also exploring their interconnectedness and external impacts. The research draws upon comparative-geographical, economic-statistical, and cartographic analyses utilizing official statistical data. The study reveals that since the early 2000s, agricultural production in the Kaliningrad region has been outpacing the national average growth rate. This is primarily attributed to the advancement of larger organisations, while the growth rates of household and small-scale farms remain comparatively low. This development trend is underpinned by a surge in labour productivity accompanied by a substantial reduction in the workforce. Consequently, rural residents are increasingly seeking alternative employment opportunities, either moving to urban areas or engaging in a different type of economic activities. Contrary to the situation in most regions of the Russian Federation, the rural population of the Kaliningrad region is growing. This growth is facilitated by an influx of individuals from other parts of Russia and other countries. Following the polarisation theory, population growth is driven by municipalities in the western part of the oblast, while eastern rural territories are losing population due to both natural decline (common to the oblast as a whole) and migration. Eastern municipalities have the demographic potential to increase the working-age population, while the western part of the oblast does not. The region has been implementing a policy of support for rural territories, especially for the peripheral eastern municipalities. However, there is a need for the policy to be further reinforced, alongside the development of a comprehensive spatial development strategy for the region. The article outlines proposals in this regard.

Digital transformation of socio-economic processes is the basis for sustainable development of regions in the digital age. The foundation for such a transformation is the information and communication infrastructure and, first of all, the mobile Internet. The technological growth of mobile networks has provided a rapid increase in the number of users around the world, contributing to further digitalization. With the development of digital technologies, research in the field of human geography has received a new impetus. The impact of the Internet on all spheres of life has necessitated a rethinking of the existing geographical approaches to the study of physical space and the emergence of a new object of research — digital space. On the one hand, the latter is closely connected with traditional institutions and systems. On the other hand, it is characterized by its own patterns of construction and functioning. The problem of delimiting the boundaries of cyberspace makes it difficult to manage digital processes taking into account territorially determined needs and interests, while the current socio-economic unevenness of regional development results in the digital divide. Border regions, maneuvering within the dichotomy of ‘frontier — integration bridge’ models, can gain additional benefits from the development of digital infrastructure in the context of realizing their integration potential. This article assesses the geography of the mobile internet in Russia and its connection with the development of border regions. The authors use geo-information, statistical, and econometric analyses to assess the impact of mobile technologies on interregional information transfer, commodity-money flows, and migration. The study demonstrates the diversity in the availability of mobile internet access among residents in various categories of border and interior regions. Furthermore, the research establishes a link between the quantity of transmitted digital data, the import-export of goods and services, international migration, and two key metrics: the accessibility of 4G mobile internet and the number of mobile subscribers. The article pinpoints specific border regions within the Russian Federation, including Krasnodar Krai, Leningrad, Kaliningrad, Novosibirsk, Smolensk, Rostov, Chelyabinsk, Voronezh, Samara, and Kursk regions. These regions exhibit pronounced potential for executing integration functions through the advancement of digital technologies, particularly under favourable geopolitical conditions.