Socio-economic development of the territories of the Trans-Siberian corridor in the 21st century
T.I. ZABORTSEVA, O.A. IGNATOVA, P.V. ROGOV
V.B. Sochava Institute of Geography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Irkutsk, Russia
Keywords: Siberia, Trans-Siberian corridor, territorial differentiation, degree of industrialization, construction industry, twin cities
Abstract
The article proposes a spatiotemporal characteristic of external relations in the “twin cities” format and analyzes the aspects of the structural and dynamic development of the administrative centers of the Asian part of Russia within the Trans-Siberian Corridor (TSC). Regarding the extent of their territories, these comprise five subjects in Eastern Siberia (Krasnoyarsk Krai, the Republic of Khakassia, Irkutsk Oblast, the Republic of Buryatia, and Zabaikalsky Krai) and six subjects in Western Siberia (Tyumen, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, and Kemerovo Oblasts, and Altai Krai). The level of industrialization, the construction sector, and the inclusion of “soft” diplomacy (the growth of twin city ties) as a component of foreign economic activity are indicative of several changes in the economic complex of the TSC regions due to the circumstances of the domestic vector of “pivot to the East”. It is convincingly presented that the production potential of two eastern subjects (Krasnoyarsk Krai and Irkutsk Oblast) exceeds a quarter of the total TSC; the maximum positive dynamics of the industrialization degree indicator is also observed in the East Siberian part of the studied sublatitudinal Trans-Siberian Corridor. Based on the analysis of the structure of manufacturing industries by types of economic activity in the TSC regions, it was revealed that metallurgical production and production of finished metal products (except for machinery and equipment), as well as food production and beverage production are in the lead. The multidirectional influence of the level of development and location of the construction industry on demographic processes is estimated. It is confirmed that the developed housing and construction sector increases the concentration of the population in large administrative centers. At the same time, it is noted that in recent years the share of housing commissioning in a number of administrative centers has noticeably decreased in the TSC territory in comparison with the overall regional volume (Novosibirsk, Tomsk Oblasts, Krasnoyarsk Krai, etc.) due to suburbanization (the capital is inferior to the suburbs in terms of the availability of a square meter of housing). We would like to draw the reader’s attention to the fact that such an important financial indicator as the average per capita monetary income of the population currently equalizes the eleven regions under study within the Trans-Siberian corridor, which is lower than the Russian average. The study was conducted using statistical and comparative-geographical methods; the subjects (regions) of the Russian Federation and administrative centers were taken as units of statistical observation.
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