Sustainable Development of Russia’s North-Western Border Areas and Their Neighbors: A Study of Landscape Effects on the Settlement Patterns of Villages and Towns

Abstract

This paper explores the regional settlement patterns of the past 20 years (1998–2018) as seen in villages and towns. The study area is Russia’s north-western border areas and their neighbors. The border areas are the Murmansk, Leningrad, Pskov and Kaliningrad regions and the Republic of Karelia. Their western neighbors are Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Novgorod, Tver and Smolensk regions and the Republic Belarus comprise the eastern neighborhood. Settlement patterns of rural areas and towns are key to the conservation of landscape diversity as well as to sustainable spatial development, which rests on three pillars—the environment, the economy and society. This study of settlement system uses statistical materials to analyze population density, population dynamics in towns, settlement density and road infrastructure. It is also shown how settlement dynamics influence sustainable development in border areas.