The cities as a socio-economic basis of the Russian North's development

This paper reviews the problems of socio-economic development of cities in the Russian North. The peculiarities of their formation and evolution from the strong points of reclamation to multifunctional development of urban settlements are shown. The periods are marked and the reasons for the emergence of cities in historical perspective are identified. The peculiarities of placing cities on the territory of the Russian North, and some of its macro-regions defined as compact urban areas are reviewed. A grouping procedure of urban settlements according to the economic specialization and administrative functions is made. A close relationship between the developments of urban settlements with the cyclic use of natural resources is shown; the risks arising from their single-industry development and economic diversification problems of cities associated with the high cost northern factors are noted. The role and influence of cities on the social and economic processes in selected macro regions and subjects of the northern zone of the Russian Federation are revealed. A special role of cities in the socio-economic development of the northern subjects of the Federation is underlined. The main directions of the development of different functionality cities in a promising period are reviewed.