differences in their natural conditions, economic development, demography and ethnic and
social conditions.
Evaluation of the development potential of Russian cities.
The expert evaluation to be carried out to judge the development potential encompasses all of
the centres of constituent members of the Russian Federation (Districts, Regions, Republics,
autonomous regions and areas) as well as significant industrial, transport, resort and other
centres in different parts of the country (199 cities). In general the expert evaluation
encompasses almost all of the Russian cities of resident population over 100,000.
The quantitative evaluation was curried out with the aid of 22 indicators, which form the
following 11 factor groups (Brade, Pertsik & Piterski 2000, Pertsik & Piterski 2000):
demographic situation (including regionally differentiated effects of migrations to the
cities),
administrative significance (including changes within the hierarchical central system),
industrial potential (the Russian urban settlement system was, to a large extent, dependent
upon the process of industrialization of the country),
scientific and cultural potential,
transportation (including effects of the new state borders which change the significance of
border and port cities),
financial resources,
quality of life,
infrastructure,
ecological situation,
political conditions,
criminality
The selection of indicators was curried out in an expert way. Statistical data of the Russian
State Committee on Statistics (Goskomstat) were normalised and the summation of the
indicators was curried out with the aid of expert evaluations with the assistance of
geographers, economists, ecologists and architects (Moscow Lomonosov State University,
State Institute of Urban Planning, Institute of Geography Russian Academy of Sciences,
Institute of Economic Forecasting Russian Academy of Sciences, Central Scientific Research