ZAPORIZHZHIA AS A CENTER OF THE REGIONAL SETTLEMENT SYSTEM

Administrative regional centers are always the centers of the regional settlement system. Because Zaporizhzhia is located in the north-west of the region, this, in turn, leads to problems in the management and transport-geographical accessibility of remote settlements in the region. The purpose of the study is to identify Zaporizhzhia as the center of the regional settlement system and its influence on the territory of the region. In the article, with the help of mathematical formulas and data of the Main Directorate of Statistics, the field of demographic influence of Zaporizhzhia, the population concentration index and the potential of the settlement area of the region are calculated, the actual center of resettlement of the Zaporizhzhia regional settlement system is determined. Zaporizhzhia, as a large industrial city and an administrative center of the region, concentrates a large part of its population in suburban areas around it, therefore the study also substantiates and determines the formation of the Zaporizhzhia agglomeration. Consequently, as a result of the study, it was determined that the center of settlement of the Zaporizhzhia regional settlement system is near Stepnohirsk, and tends more to a geographical center than an administrative one. However, 43.2% of the region’s population is concentrated in Zaporizhzhia. It is characterized by the largest field of demographic impact and the potential of the settlement area in the Zaporizhzhia regional settlement system, which in turn shows the unevenness of the population of the region and the concentration of population in the regional center and its surroundings. Zaporizhzhia together with surrounding settlements forms Zaporizhzhia monocentric agglomeration. It consists of: 4 cities (Vilnyansk, Orikhiv, Vasylivka, Dniproprudne), 6 urban-type settlements (Balabyne, Kushuhum, Malokaterynivka, Stepnohirsk, Komyshuvakha, Kamiane) and more than 10 rural settlements. This agglomeration can be considered as developed. Thus, we can conclude that Zaporizhzhia is the center of a regional settlement system. However, its remoteness from the geographical center causes certain inconveniences and disproportion in the resettlement of the region.