Settlement system as a result of population's adaptation to the socio-economic conditions of regional development

The relevance of our research is associated with the dynamic nature of socio-economic development necessitating constant adaptation of the population to the changes. This process acquires diverse forms, one of which is the formation of the settlement system in the region. Thus, the purpose of the research is to assess the structure of the established regional settlement systems and their transformation (if it is available) as a result of population adaptation to the changing socio-economic conditions. Thee scientific novelty of the work in theoretical terms is to substantiate the typology of institutions of settlement transformation as a process of adapting the population to dynamic development. We have found that informal institutions (behavioral patterns and personal characteristics) have a predominant infl uence on the evolutionary settlement transformations, while controlled transformations are determined by the complex infl uence of formal institutions (including legislative, fi nancial, etc.). In methodological terms, we propose to assess the transformation of the regional settlement system based on the analysis of changes in the patterns of population distribution using Zipf distribution, which allows determining the specifi c spatial settlement characteristics. We have substantiated the typology of regional settlement systems taking into account their structural and dynamic characteristics, with the selection of three types. We have concluded about the need to take into account the features of formation and transformation of the regional settlement systems when justifying the measures of regulatory impact in the process of developing a strategy of spatial and socio-economic development of the region in terms of managing the processes of population distribution, strengthening connectivity of certain territories of the region, improving the quality of life in general.