Evolution of suburban settlements of the capital centers of Russia and their consequences for environment and population

Alexander Rusanov, Higher School of Economics, Moscow

Suburban territories of the Russian capital centers traditionally carried out recreational and agricultural functions, also formed push-pull migrants. Supply of capitals by agricultural production occurred in the agrocities combining a rural landscape with multistorey buildings, and the skeleton of moving of suburban territory was formed at the expense of numerous small rural settlements. Actively summer residences - «dacha», «the second habitation» of capital inhabitants developed - suburbs territory was more than 1 million sites in the garden associations occupying about 3% of the area of Moscow region (2004). By end ХХ century agricultural grounds of residential suburbs have appeared thrown, have started to be sold under private building, agrocities have turned in an enclave of megacity, and summer residences from collective gardenings with agro-recreational function became cottage settlements with recreation and residential function. The stream of the townspeople aspiring on summer residences, in target summer day exceeds 4 million persons. Actually housing estates in a greater degree gravitate to a zone of near and average suburbs (85% of all summer residences), thus it is more than them in the west of Moscow suburbs (about 40% from the area of all country sites) and much less in the east. Garden settlements with cheaper habitation are concentrated basically on the average and distant Moscow suburbs, thus to the West from Moscow their number is reduced. Territorial stratification of country habitation shown: placing expensive cottage and housing estates in near Moscow suburbs mainly in the western direction, and shift of a garden segment on the north, the east and the south in more remote areas of Moscow suburbs. It deforms demographic processes: mass transfer of the earths from agricultural to settlements leads to reduction of agrarian jobs and pushing out the population to capital. Their rural habitations are often replaced by migrants.