QUALITY OF THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT AS A COMPONENT OF LIFE QUALITY IN AGGLOMERATIONS OF THE ARCTIC ZONE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

A high quality of life in the Russian Arctic cannot be achieved without improving the quality of the urban environment in the cities and agglomerations of the macroregion. Studying the quality of the urban environment in the Arctic is an important scientific task with significant practical implications. The research is based on the analysis of data from the Urban Environment Quality Index of the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation (UEQI) for the agglomerations of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation over the period from 2018 to 2023. The study found that all Arctic agglomerations demonstrate a positive trend in the growth of UEQI values; however, in two of the six analyzed Arctic agglomerations, the intra-agglomeration gap in urban environment quality is increasing, while in four, it is decreasing. Using correlation and regression analysis, the hypothesis about the impact of changes in UEQI values on population migration in Arctic agglomerations was tested. The hypothesis was not confirmed. The article provides recommendations within the framework of strategic planning tools to improve the quality of the urban environment in Arctic agglomerations.