Opportunities and limits of using digital technologies in the process of intensification of rural development: the experience of Russia and China

In the 21st century, the over-intensive process of urbanization has led to an excessive concentration of population in cities, and their expansion has become one of the most difficult problems of territorial development. The depopulation of rural areas negatively affects the development of agricultural production, ensuring food security, and violates the principles of sustainable development. Modern information and communication technologies are one of the tools for normalizing the structure of settlement systems and achieving spatial balance. The purpose of the presented research is to determine the possibilities and boundaries of digital technologies as a means of integrating space, both highly urbanized territories and territories with settlements separated by a considerable distance, which in the most general form can be characterized as rural. Methods. The study was conducted based on a systematic approach using a comparative analysis of normative legal acts and program documents of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China, as well as an understanding of the development of the territory as a process of interaction between the space of places and the space of flows. Results and conclusions. Overcoming digital inequalities through intensive development of digital technologies, both in territories with a high level of urbanization and in rural areas, is identified as one of the most important systemic factors in the formation of territories with balanced spatial development.