The Space We Lost (on the New Strategy for Spatial Development of Russia-2036)

The subject of study of this article is the transforming Russian space. The aim is to develop a new network-based (communication) model of it, suitable for integration into administrative documents and forecasting upcoming technological changes. The concept of the space of socioeconomic interactions proposed by the author is based on the idea of three levels—national, regional and local—and three types of spatial diffusion carried out through different types of transport (over several decades). The spatiotemporal concept of development of the Russian space is based on the interaction of technologies and institutions and technical and economic waves lasting 25 and 50 years (perspective of centuries). A comparison of the connectivity of the Russian space with five other major countries in the world determined Russia’s lagging positions and the integral supertask of the efforts of the Strategy for Spatial Development of Russia. According to the author, the technological transformation of the Russian space in the coming decades in peripheral regions will occur faster than in the central ones and will use specific tools and institutions of transformation for the European Center, the Urals, Siberia and the Far East, the North, and the Arctic.