Spatial development: Essence and specifics

Evolution of the regulatory framework in the Russian Federation brought to the fore the theoretical and methodological issues of spatial development in the country. The paper focuses on identifying specific features of the concept “spatial development”. Theoretically and methodologically, the study is based on scientific ideas in the field of philosophy, physics, economic geography, and regional economics (theories of the productive forces distribution, comparative advantage, and the growth poles theory). Conventional theoretical and empirical methods of cognition are used: a causal method, a method of analysis and synthesis, a method of scientific abstraction. The author systematises domestic and foreign studies and proposes an integrated approach to defining economic space, which allows for both the physical properties of the territory and its economic environmental and dynamic characteristics. As a result, the work contributes to the theory of regional development and expands the content of the concept “spatial development” by defining its relationship with similar terms, namely “territorial development” and “development of territories”. The distinctive characteristic of spatial development is a change in the structural characteristics of space; development of the territory is connected with changes in its borders, and territorial development is a complex of multidirectional changes (including the processes related to spatial development). The research findings can become a basis for a scientifically justified methodology for the strategic planning of spatial development.