United cities of the Moscow region: the result of evolutionary development or administrative transformations

Using the example of the Moscow region and based on the analysis of various information, including data from cellular operators, we studied a poorly explored phenomenon of absorption of some cities (towns) by others. The objectives of the article included the development of an approach to the study of united cities (towns), including an assessment of the preservation of their self-sufficiency as autonomous centers, as well as the identification of factors and stages of integration.

It is revealed that in the Soviet period the unification of cities (towns) in the Moscow region occurred as a result of the evolutionary development of neighboring centers and their merger. In recent decades the inclusion of cities (towns) into neighboring centers is mainly the result of artificial amalgamation during the current stage of municipal reform. Based on the example of the three largest takeover cases of recent times (Khimki – Skhodnya, Balashikha – Zheleznodorozhny, Podolsk – Klimovsk), and using the data of cellular operators, we analysed the borders, population numbers and the system of external relations of the population. It is shown that all united cities (towns) under consideration continue to be independent centers (in terms of population size and density, and their role as local centers of labor gravity).

The study of the absorbed cities (towns) of the Moscow region made it possible to identify the stages of their integration. It is revealed that after formal administrative subordination, the united center goes through the stages of infrastructural and socio-cultural merger, ending with the stage of complete absorption. It is shown that under the influence of a number of factors (geographical proximity, population size, economic structure, etc.), merger processes can accelerate or slow down.

A methodology proposed in the article is aimed at forming an approach to the study of absorbed cities (towns). The latter disappear from the field of view of official statistics and specialists, despite their continued functioning as independent centers for a long time.

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