Resource Potential Assessment of the Russian Rural Areas from the Standpoint of Modern Concepts on Spatial Development

Abstract

During its technocratic development, humanity has faced many global problems caused by inequality in socio-economic systems. To a large extent, these problems affected rural areas. Economic growth, traditionally regarded as a critical condition for social development, often leads to a deterioration of the economic and social situation of the rural population and the destruction of agro-ecological systems. This study aims to analyze the concepts of spatial development that underlie national strategic decisions on the resource potential of rural areas. The study involves two concepts of spatial development: (1) polarized spatial development (controlled contraction) and (2) endogenous economic growth. Both concepts claim that rural areas have low development potential, which assigns them the role of a resource generator for urban development. The current socio-economic situation in rural Russia and its development trends confirm this assumption. An analysis of demographic processes showed that since the beginning of the twenty-first century, two phenomena have been spreading in rural areas of Russia, leading to the degradation of human potential: depopulation and social desertification. The situation is aggravated by the marked informational inequality between residents of big cities and rural settlements, which has both social and economic consequences. In the information society, the qualitative and quantitative insufficiency of human and information resources in rural areas accelerates the degradation of other development resources. This situation cannot be improved by local investment in the material resources of socio-economic systems. Therefore, to solve the problem of sustainable development of rural territories, it is necessary to go beyond the framework of the considered concepts of spatial development and create mechanisms for forming the resource potential of territories with a priority role of human and information resources.