THE INCREASING ROLE OF MILLION-PLUS CITIES: THE EXPERIENCE OF GERMANY IN THE CONTEXT OF RUSSIAN PROBLEMS

Abstract

In the present study, it is proposed to re-evaluate the modern role of million-plus cities in the socio-economic development of countries, basing not only on the universally recognized concept of urbanization (the theory of differential urbanization), but also on the theories, developed in recent years in other areas of scientific thought. The author argues that at the current stage of the world economy development, the largest cities are the points of growth due to a number of factors, including the best conditions for the formation of clusters, the transformation into global cities, the development of the creative class, the transfer of implicit knowledge. Thanks to these advantages, the largest cities with their suburbs become centers of innovative development and continue to concentrate highly qualified personnel. On the basis of statistical data on Germany, the article shows started in mid-2000s concentration of the population in the million-plus cities, the growth of the share of the population in densely populated areas with the reduction of the population, living in sparsely populated areas. The author comes to the conclusion that the increasing role of million-plus cities is an integral characteristic of the current stage of post-industrial society development, so the lack of conditions for their sustainable socio-economic development can cause a slowdown in the economic growth of the country. This fact, however, does not negate the need to implement public policies, aimed at reducing interregional differences in the level of socio-economic development. It is also proposed to supplement the Russian statistics with indicators, reflecting the differentiation of the territories by population density.