Second-tier agglomerations of Ural region: The capacity for creative reindustrialization

Abstract

The author deals with the concept of second-tier agglomerations in Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions of Russia and their capacity as centers of creative re-industrialization. There are six such agglomerations in the Urals (Greater Serov, Greater Tagil, Kamensk-Uralskii, Greater Kyshtym, Greater Miass, and Magnitogorsk), which differ in the number of population, economic sustainability, and transport accessibility from the leading cities of region, that is, Ekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk agglomerations. While the agglomerations mentioned are typically comprised of monotowns and thus depend upon the industrial sector (mining, metallurgy, machine-building, nuclear chemistry), they are capable of developing cultural industries; a necessary precondition in the ability to attract extra consumers from the largest cities. Thus, transport accessibility is the decisive factor in determining the strategies for making up creative and cultural industries in particular agglomerations. The author concludes that, even though Greater Kyshtym possesses the optimal transport accessibility, a set of environmental and legal issues will prevent it from developing rapidly. The transport accessibility and economic potential of Greater Miass and Kamensk-Uralskii make these second-tier cities suitable for launching a program of creative reindustrialization.