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 ............................................................................................................................. 4 1.1. The Subject to the Research ............................................................................................. 4 1.2. Justifying the Topicality of the Problem .......................................................................... 5 1.3. Aim and Contribution....................................................................................................... 6 2. Background. Systemizing the Existing Knowledge of Monotowns ........................................ 8 2.1. Defining the Phenomenon ................................................................................................ 8 2.2. Historical Overview on the Foundation of Russian Monotowns ..................................... 9 2.3. Recent Problems and Their Causality ............................................................................ 12 3. Determining the Theoretical Framework .............................................................................. 15 3.1. Agglomeration Advantages and Lock-Ins...................................................................... 15 3.2. Functional Monotown Classification ............................................................................. 19 4. Data and Methodology .......................................................................................................... 24 4.1. Research Purpose, Objectives and Design ..................................................................... 24 4.2. Data Selection and Methods ........................................................................................... 24 5. Empirical Analysis ................................................................................................................ 28 5.1. Mapping Russian Monofunctional Towns ..................................................................... 28 5.1.1. Considering the Emergence of Monotowns ................................................................ 28 5.1.2. Defining the Functional Classes of Monotowns .......................................................... 31 5.2. Developing Monotown Taxonomy ................................................................................ 40 5.2.1. Analyzing the Monotown Classes across Different Categories .................................. 40 5.2.2. Developing Monotown Taxonomy in an Attempt to Identify Problems/Lock-Ins ..... 42 6. Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 51 7. References ................................................................................................................................. 53 8. Appendices ................................................................................................................................ 57 1 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1-1. “Heat-map”: Distribution of Russian Monotowns with the Consideration of their Town Sizes (the more intensive (red) is the color, the more populated is the area). ...................... 4 Figure 2-1. Historical Stages of the Urbanization Process in Russia. .......................................... 11 Figure 3-1. Agglomeration Advantages and Lock-Ins ................................................................. 19 Figure 3-2. Building an Analytical Framework ............................................................................ 23 Figure 5-1. Histogram: Emergence of the Monofunctional Towns over Time since 862 ............ 29 Figure 5-2. Histogram: Periods when the Settlements were Declared Towns/Urban-type Settlements .................................................................................................................................... 30 Figure 5-3. Histogram: Periods when the Settlements were Declared Towns/Urban-type Settlements in the 20th century ..................................................................................................... 31 Figure 5-4. Russian Monofunctional Towns according to their Functional Classes .................... 32 Figure 5-5. Distribution of monotowns among functional classes ............................................... 33 Figure 5-6. Manufacturing Class: Distribution of Towns among Divisions ................................ 33 Figure 5-7. Manufacturing Class: Distribution of Population among Divisions .......................... 34 Figure 5-8. Manufacturing Functional Class of Monotowns according to their Industrial Divisions ....................................................................................................................................... 35 Figure 5-9. Mining Class: Distribution of Towns (left) and Population (right) among Divisions 36 Figure 5-10. Mining Functional Class of Monotowns according to their Industrial Divisions .... 37 Figure 5-11. Other Functional Classes of Monotowns according to their Industrial Divisions ... 39 Figure 5-12. Specialization of Mining Monotowns in the Categories 1 and 3 ............................. 44 Figure 5-13. Specialization of Manufacturing Monotowns in the Categories 1 and 3 ................. 45 Figure 5-14. Periods when the Mining Settlements were Declared Towns/Urban-Type Settlements .................................................................................................................................... 46 Figure 5-15. Periods when the Manufacturing Monotowns were Declared Towns/Urban-Type Settlements .................................................................................................................................... 46 Figure 5-16. Monotown Taxonomy .............................................................................................. 47 2 LIST OF TABLES Table 5-1. Considering the Population and Town Sizes of Monotowns across Different Categories ..................................................................................................................................... 41 Table 5-2. Monotown Taxonomy ................................................................................................. 42 Table 5-3. Considering the Particular Monotowns across Different Categories .......................... 48 Table A-1. Russian Monofunctional Towns (data matrix) ........................................................... 57 Table A-2. Considering Monotowns of Different Functional Classes ....................................... 111 Table A-3. Divisions in the Manufacturing Functional Class .................................................... 112 Table A-4. Divisions in the Mining Functional Class ................................................................ 114 3 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. THE SUBJECT TO THE RESEARCH Monofunctional towns, or monotowns, 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. The transition towards a market economy broke the existing linkages that provided functioning of the dominant companies and revealed their weaknesses. Enterprises were not able to face the tough open-economy rivalry due to their uncompetitive production, obsolete facilities and infrastructure, the state non-participation and improper management (World Bank Report 2010, Lappo 2013). The situation was amplified with the “predatory” privatization (Gusev 2012, Lappo 2013) when large plants came to hands of people, some of whom formed the new class of oligarchs a while later. Unlike in the Soviet Union where town-forming enterprises were providing jobs and social services to local residents, nowadays many companies do not perform such social function (Institute of Regional Policy 2008). Despite downgrading of social services, some monotowns