Changes of the territorial structure of housing facilities in a single-industry town (case study of the town of Kirovsk, the Murmansk oblast)

The article presents a methodology for large-scale mapping of settlements to study an urban shrinkage phenomenon, which becomes evident through depopulation and structural transformation of housing stock. The work is of immediate importance because the intraurban spatial differentiation of shrinkage processes is insufficiently studied, particularly for the single-industry towns. The authors aim to develop a mapping methodology integrating high resolution remote sensing data (WorldView-2, GeoEye-1, Pleiades-1), housing stock statistics (AIS PLC “FRT”), municipal master plans, the OpenStreetMap vector base, and field surveying data. The methodology includes analyzing urban development dynamics, the state of housing facilities, remoteness from city centers and core industrial enterprises, as well as data verification through sociological surveys and visual inspections of buildings. The single-industry city of Kirovsk in the Murmansk region was selected for mapping. The mapping results revealed a “doughnut-shaped” pattern of urban shrinkage: the maximum housing vacancy was found in peripheral areas, such as the 25th km (Kukisvumchorr) district. It was found that nearly 10% of residential space in the area remains unoccupied, compared to about 7% in the city center. Key factors of depopulation include the aging housing stock, remoteness from public and cultural centers, and distance from population hubs. Data visualization confirmed a contradiction between plans for extensive development and the actual reduction of housing. The analysis demonstrated that the proposed methodology is effective for identifying spatial patterns of urban shrinkage. However, limitations were noted, including challenges in analyzing individual housing and dependence on temporal density of satellite data coverage. The results emphasize the need to adapt territorial planning strategies to account for intraurban differentiation of demographic processes. The study contributes to the advancement of urban cartography methods by offering tools for monitoring structural crises under the depopulation processes.