Socio-economic transformation of rural settlements in the suburban municipal district of the city of Cheboksary over the past 30 years

Abstract

Suburban rural areas are characterized by a number of various relationships between rural and urban populations. A common feature of suburban areas in the post-Soviet period is the intensification of two types of spatially expressed relationships, namely labour migrations of rural population to the city centre and dacha recreational trips of city residents to the countryside. The article considers the regional specifics of the Chuvash Republic (a multi-ethnic region with an increased share of rural population and a rapid expansion of the regional centre agglomeration), and identifies factors of spatial heterogeneity of the post-Soviet transformation of the population of villages in the suburban Cheboksary district. The analysis of the evolution of settlements was preceded by a spatial analysis of the regional rural population dynamics by inter-census periods since 1979. Territorial differences in the intensity of both the emergence of gardening partnerships, and individual housing construction allow the identification of three spatial zones according to the nature of the interaction of rural areas with the city centre: 1) “immediately suburban”; 2) “transitional” and 3) “traditional rural”. The settlements of the “immediately suburban” zone are characterized by the highest intensity of relocation of the urban dwellers to permanent residence i.e. the classical suburbanization. The “transitional” zone experiences the largest migration influx of population from peripheral rural areas, and the “traditional rural” zone demonstrates the largest relative differences between the permanent and summer seasonal population numbers. Rural settlements of different types are characterized within each zone, such as local rural centres, “dormitory settlements” with farms and “dormitory settlements” without places of collective labour. The post-Soviet population dynamics of settlements located at different distances from the city was analyzed, and a conclusion was made about the primary role of transport accessibility of the city centre as a factor in the spatial differentiation of the distribution of the rural population. The availability of jobs in a settlement within the “immediately suburban” zone is not important for its sustainability, while on the contrary, the role of this factor increases in the “traditional rural” zone of the district. As a result, “dormitory settlements” without jobs are both the best in the region in terms of post-Soviet population dynamics (if they are less than 20 km from the city centre, they are transformed into cottage estates) and the worst (if they are more than 40 km away).