The area of ​farmland, the population density and their dynamics: A study of relationships (on the example of the Bezhetsk district of the Tver Region)

Abstract

Many works consider the state of agriculture and the settlement system, especially the post-Soviet transformation of the countryside. The main patterns of its contemporary development are well-known — they are the center-peripheral and transport-geographical differences in the stability of rural settlements and the efficiency of agriculture. The article aims at identifying the relationship of two indicators — population density and agricultural area — on the example of the Bezhetsk district in the Tver Region. The authors describe the settlement system of the district, analyze its spatial changes during the last 160 years, compare the indicators of population density and the area of cultivated land. Based on the research results, the authors make conclusions about the evolution of the settlement system and the transformation of the territorial agricultural development, about the relationship between the population density and the area of agricultural land used, and about the factors of sustainability of rural settlements’ features on the Bezhetsk district.