SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITIES OF THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY OF RUSSIA

Globalization affects the development of cities. Concentration of economic activity in the largest cities and its decline in small ones is typical for Russia. There are economic shifts, which determined dynamics of number, migration and employment structure of the population in Russian cities. Typology of these cities by population and leading city-forming functions was made. It was revealed that small towns with narrow industrial and transport specialization account for almost a half of the cities; the largest and million-people cities with multifunctional economic structure account for a quarter of the cities. Population change trends of different city types have been determined. Scales and specificity of changes in cities industrial sector were estimated with the help of balance method. In cities along the Trans-Siberian Railway (Transsib), the number of engineering and food industries decreased, and the number of petrochemical and construction materials industries grew. Correlation between the change of industrial functions and the number of population in different types of cities was defined. Tendencies of social and economic development of the largest city were traced on the example of Irkutsk city. In Irkutsk, there was a steady city growth due to young female population inflow together with increasing of the role of urban services functions. In the municipal budget, the share for education expenditures was high and it is still growing now, while the share for the health expenditures is decreasing. Revealed features of the economic development of Transsib cities coincide with trends, which are general across whole Russia.