Transformation of Urban Settlement and Urbanization in the Perm Krai in the XX–XXI Centuries

This article studies the issues of the deployment of urbanization processes in the modern territory of the Perm Krai from the beginning of the 20th century until the 2020s based on the historical and geographical approach. The purpose of the work is to identify the historical and geographical differences between these processes and outline their comprehensive characteristics. The sources of information were the works of representatives of the Perm school of human geography, various statistical collections, electronic publications and reference books containing data on the administrative and territorial structure of the Perm region, as well as changes in urbanization indicators in the region during the 20th–21st centuries. The authors determine four stages in the development of urbanization in the region based on a comparison of indicators of the dynamics of growth in the number of urban settlements and the growth rate of the urban population taking into account historical, spatial and socio-economic properties and events. It is assumed that the results of each stage were the transformations in the urban settlement system of the region, which was reflected in the expansion (until the 1970s–1980s) or contraction (since the 1990s) of the region’s urban space, changes in the ratio of categories of urban settlements by population, which to date have led to an overconcentration of urban residents in the regional center and its hypertrophied role in the territorial organization of society in the Perm region. The results of the study may be of practical interest to specialists in the field of strategic and territorial planning, who develop documents for the prospective development of the region or determine models for such development. The activities of the regional policy of the Perm Krai at the present stage should take into account the negative experience of the past and outline ways out of the current situation through the creation of a more balanced regional system of settlement and management.