Systemic issues of spatial development of the Russian Federation

The article provides an overview of key issues that prevent the sustainable social and economic development of the Russian Federation in a territory. The composition of the issues studied is determined bythe current “Spatial Development Strategy of the Russian Federation for the period until 2025”. The author proposes an approach to their classification based on the specifics of the problem area and content, as well as the specificity of the relationship with each other. Particular attention is paid to the studyof systemic problems of spatial development of the Russian Federation. The paper proves that the leading and still unresolved systemic problem is a high level of interregional social and economic disparity. The researcher shows that in recent years, regional development has become more balanced, although the differences between macro-regions (federal districts) in terms of the dynamics of economic development still remain. The author concludes that when the problem appears at the subfederal level, the heterogeneity of social and economic development of Russian regions becomes more acute and first of all the researcher points out the “gaps” in the living standards of the population of rural and urban areas. A particular issue is the unbalanced spatial development of large urban agglomerations and the largest urban agglomerations in comparison with other regions and municipalities. The author supposes that in the foreseeable future, the largest urban agglomerations will face the problem of the negative impact of the accelerated development of the economic “core” on balanced territorial development. The paper proves that the insufficient number ofpoints of economic growth in the Russian Federation is largely connected with the low level ofcomfort of the urban environment in most cities, including large ones and the largest metropolitan areas.