CRITERIA FOR CLASSIFYING A SETTLEMENT AS A CITY IN THE PRACTICE OF REGIONAL AUTHORITIES (USING THE EXAMPLE OF THE URAL FEDERAL DISTRICT)

Abstract

Currently, the issue of criteria for classifying a settlement as a city is a subject of debate, with discrepancies observed both in official documents and in scientific works. There is a vast body of literature on this topic, including specialized reviews of criteria, definitions, and methodological approaches. Today, the decision to classify a settlement as urban or rural is the responsibility of regional authorities. The outcome of this decision significantly impacts the objective assessment of the level of urbanization in a territory and its place within the country. The administrative decision to grant the status of “city” has economic consequences due to the differences in taxation between urban and rural settlements, and affects the development of sustainable development strategies for territories. The purpose of this work is to analyze the use of criteria for defining the concept of a city in the practical activities of regional authorities. The methodological basis of this article is formed by the works of domestic and foreign authors, the classics of urbanism and urban sociology. Among the variety of approaches, the division of criteria into quantitative and qualitative is used as the basic approach. The empirical basis is formed by the laws of regional authorities on the administrative-territorial structure of the Ural Federal District and other constituent entities of the Federation. The analysis of statistical information on the urban population by region of the country, data on the cities of the Sverdlovsk Region is carried out. The results of the study show a significant differentiation in the criteria used. There are differences in both quantitative and qualitative parameters. All the regions studied use qualitative criteria, and some regions do not use quantitative criteria.

Conclusions. The diversity of criteria raises doubts about the objectivity of assessing the level of urbanization in territories. It is necessary to unify the criteria for classifying settlements as “cities”, develop unified methodological recommendations for regional authorities, and create a multi-criteria qualitative and quantitative model of a city.