Nodes of Population and Production Concentration in the South of Yenisei Siberia

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to identify the spatial relationship between the population and production of the territories of the south of Yenisei Siberia (Krasnoyarsk krai without northern areas, the Republic of Tyva, and the Republic of Khakassia). The study was conducted using statistical, cartographic, and comparative geographic methods; urban districts and municipal areas were chosen as units of statistical observation. The main results include identifying the main urbanized areas and transport corridors in places of maximum population concentration. Thus, the demographic potential of the Krasnoyarsk part of the Trans-Siberian transport corridor makes up more than half of the region’s population, while it receives migrants from peripheral territories. The branches of industrial specialization have been singled out, and a grouping of municipalities of the region has been carried out according to the volume of industrial production (four groups have been identified). The influence of the level of development and distribution of productive forces on the demographic situation and the transformation of settlement systems has been assessed. The correlation between the population size and the volume of industrial production for the set of urban districts is very high (0.98), and for the set of municipal districts it is very weak (0.28), indicating large differences. The consideration of cities as nodes of the supporting framework of the region’s territory shows a very strong correlation between population and industrial development, which is obscured when the analysis is extended to the entire territory of municipal districts. The geographical aspects of spatial development are expressed in the strengthening of the central–peripheral gradients of the concentration of population and production. Modern market conditions through the strengthening of economic contrasts, the weakness of subsidized budgets, and the degradation of local infrastructure affect the demographic situation. In all the regions considered, the dominance of capital cities in terms of demographic and industrial potential has been noted; it is these administrative centers that are regional points of growth. The grouping of municipalities by production volume shows the unevenness of industrial development. The leaders and nodes of the supporting framework of the territory are cities with developed industries of great all-Russian, regional, or export significance, as well as centers with extractive industries.