Sustainable development of million cities: Spatial evidence from Russia

Abstract

Modern cities are centers of economic, social, cultural and intellectual life, which makes it crucially important to ensure proper conditions for their sustainable development. The paper is intended to elaborate on some spatial aspects of the sustainable development of million cities in Russia. The study used official statistics, as well as data from the information and analytical system of urban development VEB.RF. The research method consists in comparing the values of indicators characterizing cities’ spatial particularities with each other and with the national average. The article analyzes accessibility of objects of interest for the population (social infrastructure facilities, leisure centers). It reveals that million cities differ in these parameters quite significantly and can be categorized into three groups. The most numerous group (8 cities) is one embracing cities with liveability above the national average; in four cities, the liveability level is equivalent to the all-Russia average; and two millionplus cities are lagging behind the others. The research also indicates the factors defining the accessibility of objects of interest for city inhabitants: its area, population density, saturation of urban space with such objects and the specificities of their localization, uniqueness of urban planning, and the quality of the urban environment.