Exposure to Wind as a Threat to the Sustainable Development of Small Towns in the Zhambyl Region (Kazakhstan)

Abstract

Currently, global urbanization trends offer various development models, but their main goal is to create a comfortable and safe environment for city residents. Most cities in Kazakhstan are small in scale and face several pressing problems, such as limited infrastructure, inadequate public services, economic challenges resulting in unemployment, environmental problems, and housing shortages. In this article, using the examples of the towns of Zhanatas and Karatau, an attempt was made to indicate the threat posed by wind to the sustainable development of monocities in the Zhambyl region. The working hypothesis of our study is that state policy supporting the sustainable development of small towns is insufficient and should be changed. Theoretical, empirical, and cartographic methods were used during the research, depending on the specificity of the analyzed territories. The unique climatic features of the cities of Karatau and Zhanatas, which are located in the study area, were taken into account and unfavorable meteorological phenomena were analyzed. The collected data were used to assess the impact of climatic conditions on the sustainable development of small towns in the study area. The research’s results allow one not only to determine the impact of wind exposure on the sustainable development of small towns in the Zhambyl region, but also constitute a basis for assessing, more generally, the opportunities and threats relevant to small towns.