Features of population settlement in Orenburg oblast in the Ural river basin

One of the most topical problems of economic and geographical study of the regions of the Steppe belt in Russia is the development of a network of rural settlements. The territory of the Ural River basin within Orenburg oblast, where more than 75% of the region's population lives, was chosen by the authors as a model to assess the transformation of the population settlement system in the Steppe zone in recent decades. The paper gives municipal and territorial characteristics of the region, identifies specifics of the current system of population settlement, and classifies rural localities depending on the population and spatial distribution over the studied territory. The main areas of population concentration along transport, communication and landscape axes are identified and considered. About 20% of settlements are concentrated along 5 major highways; more than 30% of localities are confined to the valleys of 7 major rivers. Engel and Goltz coefficients, population concentration indices are calculated for municipalities, and indicators of the potential of the settlement field are identified for their centers. A cartographic diagram reflecting the spatial distribution of rural localities, the dynamics of rural population density and the level of transport development of municipalities, is constructed. In the territory under consideration, there has been a decrease in the density of the rural population by 4% for the past 10 years. The following large rural localities have the maximal potential of the fields of settlement: Saraktash, Akbulak, Novoorsk, Ilek, Sakmara, Oktyabrskoye and Tyulgan. Along with the compression of space and its polarization, the population continues to decline in urbanized areas too. The population decreased by almost 60 thousand inhabitants in seven cities. Conclusions and proposals on the sustainable development of the settlement network in close cooperation between the development of the supporting and natural-ecological frameworks are formulated.