Urbanization in the Sayan-Altai Republics: A Perspective from Modernization Theory

Introduction. In the national republics of the Sayan-Altai Region — Altai, Tuva and Khakassia — urbanization has been essentially delayed and is, hence, accelerated. The first urban settlements appeared here only in the 20th century, and many of them were referred to as urban de jure only. Despite the growth of publications studying various aspects of the urbanization in Siberia, there are almost no research works dealing with the development of this historical, cultural, complicated social process and compiled from materials of this region proper. The paper provides a first attempt to assess the features and patterns of urbanization in the Sayan-Altai Region through the prism of modernization theory. Goals. The article aims to analyze urbanization as the most important aspect of modernization through materials collected across Altai, Tuva and Khakassia in the 20th – early 21st centuries. Materials and Methods. The article primarily investigates official statistical data that make it possible to trace the actual urbanization dynamics (for both populations and territories), as well as the process of transformation experienced by material components of city life. Empirically, the study rests on materials of surveys conducted in the Republic of Khakassia (2018) and in the Republics of Tuva and Altai (2019). The total number of interviewees is 2000. The study employs deterministic sampling methods. Results. The work concludes the urbanization development pattern examined in the region is non-linear, which was determined by the difficult and indirect modernization processes nationwide and those in its certain parts in particular. In the history of the ethnic federal subjects of the Sayan-Altai Region, local features of urbanization are more evident than those in other regions of the country, which is largely due to the influence of the ethnic factor, specifics of indigenous cultures and worldviews. Urbanization as a process is studied on the regional materials in two main perspectives: on the one hand, the paper provides analysis of quantitative indicators of urbanization, such as the dynamics of urban population and growth of urban settlements; on the other hand, an important role in the study of urbanization is assigned to its qualitative indicators, the latter including the transformed structure of urban population and evolution of its living standard