Internal Contrasts of Spatial Mobility of the Population of the Russian Near North Regions (Yaroslavl, Kostroma, and Vologda Oblasts): A Time-Geographical Approach

Researchers of migration processes in the regions of Russia usually focus on one type of movements or on their large classes. At the same time, migration flows do not exist in isolation: they simultaneously change the population of a territory, but the contributions of the flows are different. For some areas, the outflow or inflow of people during resettlements between cities and rural areas and between regions is important; for others, the inflow or outflow of otkhodniks (long-term temporary mobility including seasonal and fly-in/fly-out and drive-in/drive-out migration); for still others, daily commuting or recreational migration; etc. The scale of the flows depends on the size of settlements of migrants’ departure and arrival, on the state of their economy and the social sphere, infrastructure security, etc. The purpose of this article is to propose and test a methodology for comparing various types of spatial mobility at the intraregional level, to determine the contribution of various types of spatial mobility to the formation and smoothing of intraregional territorial contrasts in living standards and socioeconomic development using the case of three regions of the Russian Near North—Yaroslavl, Kostroma, and Vologda oblasts, as well as to identify the features of migration processes inherent in these territories. An effective tool for achieving the goal is the calculation of the special indicator of the human activity density. It allows comparison of flows whose data are not comparable in pure form. The calculation was carried out within the framework of the time-geographical approach, with account for the actual number of man-hours per year lived in the territory by the permanent and temporary population. It is shown that in Yaroslavl oblast, contrasts are associated with center–periphery gradients. Cities of Yaroslavl and Rybinsk are organizing rural areas around themselves; with proximity to major roads and Moscow playing also an important role. In Kostroma oblast, the influence of the oblast capital weakens towards the periphery, and in the northeast, the natural factor appears: in the so-called Kostroma Opolye (аn area with better drainage conditions, soil quality, etc. in the Non-Chernozem Zone of Russia), a denser rural population has been preserved. In Vologda oblast, the territorial organization of space is to a greater extent subject to the influence of return mobility, which is manifested in the formation of large zones of increased human activity density of the temporary population around cities of Vologda and Cherepovets.