Karaganda economic region: The past, present, and future
Subject The article addresses the economic capacity of the Karaganda region, i.e. how to preserve, utilize, and build it up.  Objectives The purpose is to assess environmental and socio-economic capabilities of the Karaganda region, analyze theoretical and statistical studies on further development of the region under market economy.  Methods I employ economic, statistical, and comparative methods of research.  Results The analysis of statistical data for 2006-2015 shows that the Karaganda region can be assigned to depressed regions. It experiences a decline in the scope of scientific services, downward trends in capital investment in fixed assets. The paper states that it is imperative for the Karaganda region's ecological potential to be included in the economic capacity of the region category. I offer my own structure of the region's economic capacity. The main ideas of the paper can be used as a methodological basis for working out strategic plans for regional development.  Conclusions Under current conditions, the availability of a variety of development institutions, as well as a horizontal communication environment that ensures the transfer of new knowledge, should not lead to deterioration of ecological situation in the Karaganda region.