Master Program in Economic Growth, Innovation and Spatial Dynamics Russian Monotowns Delgir Maksimova
[email protected] Abstract: Monofunctional towns of Russia represent the extreme case of specialized settlements where the socio-economic development mostly or fully depends on the performance of one or a few town-forming enterprises. This phenomenon obtained attention after the Soviet Union collapse, which has resulted in worsening of the socio-economic situation in monotowns. However, since the 2000s the differentiation in the development among monofunctional towns was observed. What can condition such differentiation? In this study an attempt to provide a new perspective, through which monotowns can be studied. The analysis is done in the step- wise manner and based on the developed data matrix and taxonomy of monotowns. Key words: monotowns, monofunctional towns, agglomeration, specialization, lock-ins, functional classification EKHM51 Master's Thesis (15 ECTS) June 2015 Supervisor: Karl-Johan Lundquist Examiner: Jonas Ljungberg Word Count: 15 883 Website www.ehl.lu.se TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ 1 List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. 2 List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. 3 1. Introduction