Polarization of rural space in Southern Russia: The Crimean case

In the post-Soviet period, social-economic differentiation in Russia has intensified, which is reflected in the concentration of population, capital and infrastructure in agglomerations and resort areas, while peripheral territories lose opportunities for development. This process has particularly affected small and medium-sized rural communities experiencing depopulation, declining employment and limited access to basic services. Thus, there is a system of uneven development, which consolidates differences between the center and the periphery. The Crimean Peninsula is a concentrated manifestation of such trends: differentiation of spatial development is reinforced by a combination of tourism and recreational specialization, differences in naturalresource conditions, and political-administrative transformations in the post-Soviet period. The contrast between coastal areas and large agglomerations, which concentrate investment and jobs, and rural settlements in the center of the peninsula, which experience population outflow and a lack of resources, makes the region illustrative for the analysis of territorial imbalances. The article identifies social mechanisms that determine differences in the dynamics of rural areas in Crimea. The case study is based on historical, geographical and social-economic analysis, statistical and archival materials, mapping and field observations. Spatial differentiation is considered as both a result of economic processes and a form of social inequality, which affects life strategies of rural communities and structure of local livelihood practices. The author shows that the transformation of settlement patterns in Crimea is accompanied by a reduction in the number of small villages, concentration of resources in a limited number of centers, and deepening rural-urban asymmetries. At the same time, there are compensatory mechanisms based on informal economy, horizontal mobility and local forms of mutual assistance, which explain the specifics of the Crimean rural transformation and the mechanisms of territorial differentiation in post-Soviet rural areas.