Assessment of the Territorial Development of Russia’s Regions on the Western Part of the Northern Sea Route

Abstract

The purpose is to assess the territorial development of the Russian Federation subjects based on the expert method in the region of the most exploited Western section of the Northern Sea Route. Methods. The article considers one of the methods of expert assessment of territorial development of the subjects of the Russian Federation of the Western section of the Northern sea route on the example of five Arctic coastal regions - Murmansk region, Arkhangelsk region, Republic of Karelia, Nenets and Yamal-Nenets Autonomous regions. Three subsystems of the General geoecological Arctic space of the Russian Federation are used: natural-ecological, economic-ecological and social-ecological. The assessment was carried out on an alternative five-point scale. Expert assessment criteria - subsystem proportionality and closeness to harmonious ecological-socio-economic development. Results. The results are summarized in tabular and graphical form. An expert comparative assessment of the Arctic coastal regions of the Western section of the Northern sea route revealed regions with different degrees of territorial development. It determines the subsystem coordinate proportionality and proximity to the ideal area of harmonious ecological-socio-economic development of each of the five regions. The results of the expert assessment showed that in comparison with the five subjects of Russia, the trajectory of territorial development of the Murmansk region is more balanced, but all five regions are still far from indicators that characterize harmonious development. Conclusions: In the range of methodological approaches to the assessment of complex socio-ecological and economic coastal systems, the application of this method seems to be the most appropriate for obtaining practically significant results.