Multidimensional Mapping and Unresolved Methodological Issues of Domestic Urban Studies (Application to Settlement Systems of the South of the Russian Far East)

While analyzing settlement systems, cartographic methods can serve as a rather good means of demonstrating the validity (or, conversely, absurdity) of certain research constructs and theories, allowing us to approach important issues from the point of view of research methodology. The main issue is the prevalence of a universalist attitude to the study of such complex systems as urban agglomerations and large settlement structures, despite the fact that the need to use a problem-oriented approach in this area has long been evident. The objects of discussion are the process of formation of the backbone settlement framework of the Southern macroeconomic zone of the Russian Far East and the Khabarovsk urban agglomeration. The analysis of the development of the settlement framework of the Southern macroeconomic zone of the Far East made it possible to identify the period of extensive development (pre-revolutionary), when the general contours of the macroregional system were set by establishing supporting settlements and building a railway line connecting them, and the period of predominantly intensive development (Soviet), during which a significant part of the efforts was aimed at ensuring the growth of the largest settlements of the zone, which contributed to the formation of a number of key urban agglomerations in the south of the Far East. Although a retrospective analysis of maps of the territory of the city of Khabarovsk and its immediate environs showed quite characteristic signs of the presence of the urban agglomeration in the middle of the last century (a core city surrounded by satellites), this agglomeration turned out to be ‘hidden’ for many domestic researchers. The reasons for this can be seen in the conversion of the content of the term ‘agglomeration’ in domestic urban studies, the prevailing formalism and the search for universal approaches, traces of which can be found in modern regulatory documents