From agglomerations to key settlements: A new trend in spatial development

Subject. Institutional foundations of Russia's spatial development. Objectives. Assessment of the phenomenon of anchor settlements in Russia's spatial development priorities. Methods. General scientific research methods were applied. Results. It has been shown that actively developing small urban agglomerations will allow for a more balanced optimization of settlement patterns and ensure a more even spatial development of the country. Conclusions. Changes in the development of agglomeration processes require the adoption of a federal law on agglomerations, which should lay out the principles for their creation, define their boundaries, and establish a mechanism for evaluating their effectiveness. Issues related to the relationships between core settlements and agglomerations (especially the problem of determining funding sources) also need to be regulated at the legislative level.