LAUSR

The paper proposes typology of Russia regions by the key features of urban settlement networks. Applied typologizing method is designed for strategic spatial development and involves size-status parameters of central cities along with the intra-regional urban structure (the population of the regional centres and concentration of urban population at the intra-regional level) as principal criteria. At more specific level subtypes, these indicators are extended by two general characteristics of urban settlement – share of the urban population and urban network density. The approach formally allows to engage the settlement pattern morphology as a condition and factor that, directly or indirectly, differentiate regional development. By comparison of two main and two additional urban settlement parameters, 5 types (metropolitan urban systems (capital cities’ agglomerations), urban systems with 1+ million urban centers, systems with major urban centers, urban systems with large-city centers, undeveloped urban settlement systems) and 13 subtypes of regional urban settlement systems are set. The mostly wide-spread is the large-city type, covering a total of 35 regions. A brief description of the types and subtypes of regional urban settlement systems is provided, summarizing principal challenges and directions of strategic spatial development specified by regional features of urban settlement networks.