Priorities and tools for ensuring intra-regional space integration along the “urban-rural” line[Приоритеты И Инструменты Обеспечения Внутрирегиональной Интеграции Пространства По Линии «Город – Село»]

Economic area disintegration is an important problem of the Russian Federation at the present development stage. It is revealed in the inter- and intra-regional economic contacts destruction, spatial compression of the previously developed territories, expanding disproportions and asymmetry in the quality of life of the population and the infrastructural development level. The solution to the given problem justifies the need for the conceptual foundations development and of methodological tools improvement for ensuring spatial integration of the country at the inter- and intra-regional levels. The purpose of the article is to provide rationale for the priority areas and tools for ensuring spatial integration in Russia at the intra-regional level along the “city-rural” line. The research identified the significance of the rural-urban integration which is in economic, socio-economic, cultural ties strengthening, consolidation of the territorial potentials, resources and productive forces, which together makes it possible to overcome the regional space disintegration. Based on the foreign and domestic experience benchmarking, a number of priority areas have been developed for the intra-regional spatial integration in the Russian Federation along the “city-rural” line: strengthening the connectivity of the urban and rural economies, developing a connecting infrastructure and cultural ties between urban and rural areas. It is stated that to increase the integration degree of both nodal and non-nodal forms of space organization in Russia, a number of changes should be introduced into public administration system of territorial development, primarily concerning the conceptual foundations elaboration of integrated rural-urban development, increasing the degree of the powers decentralization, creating institutions of financial and advisory support. The obtained results can be used for the national and regional policy improvement in the field of socio-economic development, as well as for the further development of certain research aspects.