Cartographic interpretation of the study of rural lifestyle in Сrimea

The method of obtaining and cartographic interpretation of information revealed in the process of studying rural areas of Crimea is considered. The rural territories of this region are presented as an alternative space to the traditional recreational use of the Crimean Peninsula. This approach made it possible to single out the geoconcept “Other Crimea”. The boundaries of this territory have a complex—natural and administrative—character, which allowed us to identify key points of research with reference to the main landscape and geomorphological regions of Crimea. The program of research of rural territories of Crimea on two thematic blocks is proposed: identification of the transformational dynamics of the rural settlement system within the borders of the whole Crimea and identification of the problems of rural lifestyle within the “Other Crimea”. The result of the study of the spatial-temporal picture of the rural settlement system in the Crimea was the map “Rural settlement of Crimea”. The map illustrates the changes in the population of rural settlements and the density of rural settlement according to the results of the 1989–2014 censuses. Conclusions are drawn about the reduction of the network of rural settlements and depopulation of Crimean villages in the post-Soviet period; an increase in the proportion of small villages with a population of less than 200 people (28 %) and rural settlements with a population of more than 3,000 people (6 %); a change in the functions of coastal rural settlements from agricultural to recreational, which had a positive impact on their demographic situation; preservation of spatial unevenness of rural settlement of Crimea. The results of a sociological opinion poll of residents of 30 rural settlements in 14 municipal districts of the Republic of Crimea and in rural settlements within the boundaries of the federal city of Sevastopol are proposed. The rural lifestyle is illustrated by maps of the structure of the problem field of rural territories of Crimea and the prospects for residents of the peninsula to live in them; estimated income maps of rural residents and the typology of rural territories by income level. The main problems of the rural lifestyle in the non-recreational territories of the Crimea are revealed: the washing out of the peasant lifestyle, the reduction of personal farms of rural residents, increased mobility of rural residents, the perception of emigration from the villages of Prisivashye and the Kerch Peninsula as the main way to solve everyday, social and economic problems, the preservation of the severity of the problem of preserving the values of rural lifestyle among young people.