According to the All-Russian Classifier of Territories of Municipalities (OKTMO), in Russia there are more than 155 thousand different settlements. Settlements are separate administrative units that involve the settlement of people within a built-up area. An important condition for designating such a territory as a settlement is the constancy of residence on it, albeit not throughout the year, but during the seasonal period.
Problems of definition and comparison of settlements
For an uninitiated person, all settlements are divided into cities and villages. However, their classification is much more diverse. In the modern world, it is difficult to independently understand all the intricacies of the distribution between territories. The boundaries of cities as they expand, the creation of new areas are eroded, absorbing adjacent villages and agricultural land. What yesterday was part of another region is today subordinate to the new administrative centers.
Nevertheless, the classification regarding the division of settled and settled territories according to the “city / village” principle is most widespread not only in our country, but throughout the world. The complexity of the selection of criteria is determined by various factors, especially clearly seen in sparsely populated areas.
What is a city?
City definition is much easier and simpler. Such settlements are the largest settlements of people within a single territory. At the same time, a city is considered to be a settlement whose population is not engaged in agriculture and industries related to it. Typically urban occupations are industry, commerce, science, culture. In addition, such administrative units have their own distinctive, purely individual features.
What makes the city stand out, makes it special?
Most often this is a large population density of people. On average, this number exceeds several tens of thousands per square kilometer. To provide all people with housing, it is necessary to create special housing, which is also typical of the city. In recent years, urban architecture has tended to search for new opportunities in order to fit as many residential premises as possible on as small a plot of land as possible. Thus, cities grow not only in breadth, but also up.
Urban settlements are also a concentration of the cultural, political, legal life of a country or an individual region. Most often this is due to the fact that it is in the city that the administrative and economic center of a certain region is located. This contributes to the creation of a center that brings together the best specialists, technologies, institutions and resources.
Is urbanization really good, as it seems at first glance?
The concentration of opportunities in one place leads to what the authorities are trying to fight, but perhaps so far without success. This is a rapid decline in rural population. This happens for various reasons - a high mortality rate, despite the fact that the birth rate is very low. The outflow of youth into the cities also provokes a lack of work, a cultural environment, places of recreation, a low standard of living, and an absolutely destroyed infrastructure.
Differences between cities, their types by the number of inhabitants
The city is a city of strife. The distance between cities related to cities can be several tens and hundreds of kilometers. This unevenness of urbanization is especially clearly visible in such a large country as Russia. And if in the North-West and Central regions about 80% of the population lives in large settlements, then in Altai, in Ingushetia, Kalmykia - no more than 40%.
The lives of some citizens revolve around the industrial zone, others are concentrated on administrative matters, there are so-called military camps. The main area of activity of such settlements is the maintenance of a military unit located in the immediate vicinity of the city. Such settlements are most often closed settlements; their residents are not counted in hundreds or tens, but in units.
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Big cities |
Extra large |
From 500 thousand people |
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Large |
Up to 500 thousand people |
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Medium Cities |
Welterweight |
From 50 to 100 thousand people |
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Medium |
From 20 to 50 thousand people |
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Small towns |
Small |
From 10 to 20 thousand people |
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Urban-type villages |
Up to 10 thousand people |
However, the share of cities among the total number of settlements is not so high. About 75% of the country's population lives in cities (this trend is widespread throughout the world), but their number in relation to villages is several times smaller. For example, according to the state register, in the Russian Federation there are a little more than a thousand, at the same time, the total number of villages and villages exceeds one hundred thousand.
Division of villages by type
Rural settlements are very difficult to classify. Settlement in different regions of the country was different. Historically, some areas, due to proximity to trade routes, natural resources, and industrial enterprises, are more densely populated. The distance between the settlements in these regions is small. The districts are clearly divided, and each has its own structure, subordination to the center, and managerial hierarchy.
In general, rural settlements can be divided according to two main characteristics - the number of people living and the scope of employment.
My village, I'm proud of you!
A village is not always a small settlement with a dozen yards. Places where functioning enterprises are located, developed agriculture, social infrastructure, can number up to 10 thousand people. Such villages are equipped with good roads, their own educational, cultural, medical institutions, post offices and retail outlets. Most often, this is an economically developed area, the settlement of which belongs to it and is not in an abandoned state, in the future, can claim even greater enlargement.
Since the classification of settlements according to the number of people living in them is not legally fixed in Russia, it happens that villages can be larger than small cities.
Differences of the village from the village
The boundaries of settlements that fall under the definition of "village" are very small. Most often, they do not go beyond one or two dozen yards, and the total number of residents does not exceed several hundred. In such places, the life of people is not very adjusted. The nearest shops, paramedic points can be located at a distance of several kilometers. At the same time, such settlements often lack elementary living conditions — mobile communications, the Internet, gas, and normal transport interchanges. The state is really trying to establish life in the most remote corners of the country, but the main problem remains the outflow of young people, of the able-bodied population from villages. Thus, over the past few decades, according to the state register, 14 settlements have received the status of “former settlement” due to the absolute departure of residents.
