Relatively recently, a new word has appeared in our language - a single-industry town. This concept is a real fact of our economy, as yet little studied.
The meaning of the term
The concept of "single-industry town" in the practice of our country means nothing more than a "factory city". It denotes the closest connection between the existence of a settlement and a fairly large enterprise. At the same time, the plant or factory is called none other than city-forming. Today it is impossible to find in the legislative framework what “single-industry town” means. This word is only implied in the regulations that mention city-forming enterprises.
There is a certain technique of the Ministry of Regional Development, by which it is possible to identify a single-industry town. This is such a locality in which over twenty-five percent of the inhabitants are employees of one enterprise. Moreover, the products manufactured by this plant or factory are related to only one specific industry by 50%.
A monotown is a rather complicated structure. There is an inextricable link between the enterprise and the village. Moreover, the largest plant or factory is not only engaged in economic activity. A social burden is also imposed on such an enterprise, which makes it possible to ensure all living conditions in a given locality. However, this situation leads to the fact that the manufactured products have a high cost. It includes the costs of maintaining the social sphere. As a result, the final product, due to its high cost, is not able to withstand competition in the market.
Signs
Which cities can be classified as single-industry? According to experts, this is such settlements where:
1. There is one or more enterprises of the same type with the same industry affiliation. At the same time, all other business entities of such a city produce products only for the needs of its population.
2. There is a chain of enterprises that have technological connections between themselves and work for one specific end market (except for those who produce products for the needs of the city).
3. The income of the local budget largely depends on the work of one or more enterprises.
4. The population has a uniform professional composition.
In addition, a single-industry town is a settlement located at a considerable distance from other cities, or lacking developed ties with the outside world in the form of roads, telephone networks, etc.
Type classification
The Ministry of Regional Development of the Russian Federation takes into account in its list all the single-industry towns of Russia. Their list to date includes 460 settlements. Moreover, they are classified into several types. So, single-industry towns of Russia can:
- have one city-forming enterprise;
- be satellites of large cities;
- have several city-forming enterprises.
Each of these types of single-industry settlements has its own characteristics of the socio-economic environment and, as a result, special needs in the sphere of maintaining the social sector.
Occurrence
The monotowns of Russia did not start their list at all in the period when the planned economy of the Soviet Union functioned. Everything happened much earlier. The first single-industry towns of Russia arose under Peter I. This was the time when new industries were organized throughout the country, such as cloth manufactories and ironworks.
Development zones at that time were Moscow Region and the Urals. Some factory towns of that time still exist. These are Asha, Irbit and others.
New stage
The development of the single-industry town began again at the end of the 19th century. During this period, workers' settlements arose on the basis of coal and light industry. So, thanks to the development of manufactory production, such settlements as Pavlov Posad, Orekhovo-Zuevo, Shuya and Drezna appeared. Many mining single-industry towns arose during this period in the Rostov and Kemerovo regions.
The formation of Soviet power
The next stage for such settlements was the beginning of the thirties of the last century. In those turbulent times when the young Soviet state was developing, a single-industry town was part of the territorial-production complex. Among the most striking examples of such settlements are Novokuznetsk, Magnitogorsk and Apatity. Some single-industry cities of that period were built using the labor of prisoners of the Gulag. For example, Norilsk and Vorkuta.
Evacuation of large enterprises
A large number of single-industry cities appeared in our country during the Second World War. They arose on the basis of evacuated enterprises. Later, some of these workers' villages merged with nearby cities. An example of this is Bezymyanka, who joined Kuybyshev, as well as Tankograd, which became part of Chelyabinsk. Some of the evacuated enterprises subsequently themselves became city-forming. An example of this is Shadrinsk. It arose on the basis of a part of the ZIL plant evacuated from Moscow.
Post-war years
In the second half of the twentieth century, production facilities began to be placed in existing small and medium-sized cities. This happened, as a rule, in the eastern lands of Russia. Here, enterprises also became city-forming. An example of this is the highly specialized energy cities that are located near nuclear and thermal power plants. These are Kirovsk, Volgorechensk, Novomichurinsk, etc. Such cities as Megin, Urai, and Neftegorsk are also distinguished by their narrow specialization. There are enterprises engaged in gas and oil production. Single-industry cities also began to appear, the population of which was engaged in the extraction of mining and chemical raw materials, iron ores, coal, non-ferrous metals and building materials. In the same period, thanks to the food industry development policy, large meat plants, sugar factories and cheese factories arose. They were built in many district centers located in the European part of our country. Examples of such settlements are: Zolotukha (Kursk region), Starodub (Bryansk region), Shumikha and Petukhovo (Kurgan region) and many others.
To implement the atomic and defense policies of Russia, closed monotowns were created in the country. These are Kurchatov and Polyarny, Snezhinsk and Baikonur. Such cities were independent administrative entities restricting the entry and exit of citizens, as well as having special supplies.
The rapid development of the scientific and technical potential of Russia has led to the creation of science cities. The first experiment was conducted in the Novosibirsk Academgorodok. A little later, Troitsk and Obninsk, Chernogolovka and Dubna, Zelenograd and many others were built.
Already at the end of the 80s of the last century, there were about four hundred single-industry towns in Russia. A significant part of these settlements was built near the enterprises of woodworking and forestry, food industry, as well as machine building.
A distinctive feature of single-industry towns
Settlements built in the immediate vicinity of large enterprises have inextricable ties with them. Moreover, this is observed not only in the economic, but also in the social sphere. The city-forming enterprise itself ensures the livelihoods of the population.
In Soviet times, workers in single-industry towns received departmental housing. On the balance of factories and plants were boiler rooms and kindergartens, schools and clinics. The manufacturing complex incurred all expenses for providing social facilities, including costs in the cost of own production. With the advent of market economy, this has led to the non-competitiveness of such enterprises.
Geography
What does a single-industry town mean for our country? This is a locality that supports the work of a large enterprise, and, accordingly, contributes to the economic development of the state. For maximum efficiency of the work of single-industry towns, they were always located with reference to large deposits, the industrial belt of state development, etc.
So, in the agglomeration zone there are such single-industry towns as Voskresensk, Kirishi and Novomoskovsk. Their city-forming objects are enterprises related to the metallurgical and chemical industries. The high economic status of the satellite monotown of the agglomeration zone arises in connection with its proximity to a large administrative center. This allows the state to allocate less funding to maintain the social environment of such a locality.
A large number of single-industry towns specializing in the processing of raw materials have been built in the eastern and northern territories of Russia. These are Nizhnevartovsk and Surgut, Usinsk and Novy Urengoy.
Traditionally, the territory of the country's industrial belt, which is located in the Urals and southern Siberia, was used to place single-industry towns. Krasnoturinsk, Beloretsk, Sayanogorsk and other monotowns of this belt were built here, the enterprises of which belong to metallurgy and mechanical engineering, are the least prosperous in the development of the social sphere. This situation has arisen in connection with their considerable remoteness from large administrative centers.
Problems
With the advent of the nineties of the last century, the bulk of single-industry towns found themselves in a difficult situation. This was facilitated by:
- decline in production;
- breaking ties of a planned economy;
- the inability of the main products to compete in the market;
- A large number of social objects on the balance sheet of enterprises.
All these factors have significantly affected the deterioration of the quality of life of the population of single-industry towns. The problem of such factory towns lies in the fact that the enterprises located on their territory have lost a significant part of the sales market. A particularly difficult situation has developed in those settlements whose economy was dominated by the nearby manufacturing complex. How can such single-industry towns come out of a crisis? State support is required of them without fail.
Closed single-industry towns were in a particularly difficult situation. Due to the loss of demand for products, they were on the verge of extinction. Lack of funding from the state led to the cessation of research and increased unemployment. To date, the closed-type single-industry town program should come from the huge anti-crisis potential that exists in them. In addition, the state, which takes care of its defense capabilities and security, intends to continue financing the activities of these high-tech enterprises. To date, closed monotowns have begun to produce products for export. For example, an electrochemical plant located in Novouralsk supplies low-enriched uranium to Spain, Germany, France, Sweden, the UK, Finland and the CIS countries.
Ways to solve the problem
The Monotown program may have several mechanisms for overcoming this situation. The first of them is market. For its implementation, workers need to be relocated to those settlements that can provide them with work. However, there are some difficulties. Among them - lack of housing and lack of vacancies in the labor market. Low labor mobility is also associated with the vast expanses of our country. In addition, it is difficult for older people, who are many in single-industry towns, to break loose, undergo retraining and adapt to new conditions.
The most acceptable ways to solve the problems of single-industry towns consist in large-scale state support or in the evolution of urban functions. In the first case, the platform of non-performing enterprises can be used to develop any new business. Then the state should legislate a number of benefits for those who will produce products here. In the second case, the city will lose its original functions. The enterprise will be closed, and the settlement will become the center of the agricultural region.