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

Abstract

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 standards.