Published on: 2026-09-28
Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering –
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Associate Professor of the Department of Urban Planning at SPbGASU, Candidate of Architecture Pavel Skryabin carried out research dedicated to the possibilities of retaining and developing territories vital to the country in Southern Siberia through urban planning methods.
The relevance of the study is associated with the shift in the direction of Russia’s economic development and the growing significance of territories east of the Urals. As noted by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 7, 2024, the modern development of Siberia and the Far East cannot be based solely on land distribution: knowledge and technologies are becoming the key means of production.
Pavel Skryabin’s work considers the possibility of shifting from concentrating the population in a few largest cities to a more distributed settlement system – with the development of a network of small and medium-sized cities and towns. According to the author’s idea, this approach allows for creating a more comfortable living environment while simultaneously supporting the demographic development of the territories.
One of the key research directions was the study of the relationship between the spatial organization of the urban environment and demographic dynamics. The author shows that not only socio-economic factors, but also the characteristics of the urbanized environment itself influence the population size and its natural reproduction.
An interdisciplinary approach combining urban planning, landscape topology, demography, and behavioral models is proposed for assessing the urban development potential of territories. Based on this, the concept of “geostructural urban development” has been developed and tested using the example of the Novosibirsk agglomeration.
The study examines specific settlement nodes – the science city of Koltsovo, the cities of Ob, Iskitim, and Berdsk, as well as the work settlements of Krasnoobsk, Kolyvan, and Moshkovo. For them, an assessment of transport accessibility, economic specialization, population dynamics, and features of geolandscape organization was conducted.
The results show a connection between the spatial structure of settlements and living conditions within them. As one example, the author considers the compact multifunctional structure of Koltsovo, while the linear and elongated layouts of Iskitim and Moshkovo are examined in terms of the spatial development constraints associated with them and the factors contributing to population outflow.
An important part of the work has become measurable criteria of urban environment attractiveness: temporal and area indicators, proportions of functional zones, and accessibility of facilities. A methodological framework is proposed for carrying out calculations, including a network approach, the isochrone method, gravitational modeling, and geotopological measurements.
The developed tools are aimed at practical application in the preparation and adjustment of territorial planning documents. In particular, the research results can be used in the development of territorial planning schemes for the Novosibirsk, Iskitimsky, Kochenyovsky, Moskovsky, Kolyvansky, Ordynsky, and Toguchinsky municipal districts, as well as in the adjustment of the master plans of Berdsk, Iskitim, Ob, Koltsovo, Moskov, Krasnoobsk, and Kolyvan.
The work continues research in the field of urban development of nodal settlement systems in Siberia. In the future, it is planned to clarify the boundaries of the Novosibirsk agglomeration, develop a master plan, and consider the possibility of adjusting the strategy for its socio-economic development using the methodology of geostructural urban development.
The news is published based on the results of the execution of gSt. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering 2026 grant.
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