Assessment of the territorial and economic connection of cities in the agglomeration (the case of Big Rostov)

The urban agglomeration is a complex form of municipalities association based on the potential of productive and human resources, the effects of concentration and specialization of settlements. The cities that make up agglomerations, form a special system of socio-economic interaction with each other. The existence of permanent and stable links between municipalities within the urban agglomeration is an important condition for its existence and development. Theoretical and practical problems of cities’ agglomeration interaction are at the center of attention of many Russian and foreign scientists. Analysis of the experience of studying agglomerations is the basis of the present research. However, it should be noted that to date there is no well-founded, systematic approach to assessing the degree of cohesion of the cities that make up the agglomeration, and there is no synthetic model for managing the socio-economic development of urban agglomerations, applicable in Russian conditions. The article describes five methods allowing to identify and to assess the degree of such territorial and economic cohesion: spatial concentration based on the Theil index; investigating the regional contact-gravitational environment of the territory; integrated assessment of the variation of indicators of municipalities based on the Gini index; delimitation of agglomeration based on transport linkages between cities; investigating the interaction of cities as economic entities. The object of the study is represented by the Rostov agglomeration (Big Rostov) as the largest and most developed one in the South of Russia. To analyze the degree of territorial and economic cohesion and spatial concentration of the cities of the Rostov agglomeration, a set of methods and indicators was used. They allowed differentiating the cities that make up the agglomeration, according to the degree of their attraction by the nucleus. Based on the totality of the investigated quantitative parameters, a rating and typology of the cities of the reference territory of the Rostov agglomeration was carried out in terms of the degree of interaction with Rostov-on-Don as its center. The analysis of the process of agglomeration gravity of cities and its separate vectors is carried out, directions of their perspective development are determined, proceeding from their established connection of settlements.