Image of a city as a resource

Abstract

Radical transformations of the social structure of the Russian society over the recent twenty or twenty-five years have affected not only its political and economic life but also its demographic features, such as territorial resettlement. People move from one part of the country to another, f.e. from the Far East or the Arctic Circle to the Central Federal District, from rural to urban area, from one big city to another. Relocations are partially over, but some of them are on even now (for instance, migration between big cities). Relocation from rural area and small towns to big cities, as well as from big cities to metropolitan areas is quite thoroughly studied. What is lacking attention is the concentration of population from several neighboring regions in one regional centre being a place of attraction for different social groups and causing a population decline in those regions people come from. Reasons that make people move from one place to another are well described but what is behind their preferences are not easily defined. This is what the article is about.