Основные направления географического изучения административно-территориального деления

Региональные исследования. 2019. № 1 (63). С. 6–15.

Tarkhov S.

The main discourses of geographical studies of administrative-territorial division (ATD); the hierarchy of its units, configuration of ATD network, its topology, features of the distribution of neighbor’s number and size of administrative-territorial units (ATU), spatial logics of division of the territory into ATU, the processes of changes of ATD network, factors of changes of this network), its quantitative measures (number of hierarchy levels, number of ATU of each hierarchal level, spatial size of ATU, ratio of its number to the area size and population of each unit and its average value) and dynamics (increasing or decreasing of ATU number, its enlargement or disaggregation) are discussed. General trends of the evolution of the ATD at the country-level are revealed (alternate waves of enlargement and disaggregation of units of 1st hierarchic level; phases of enlargement and disaggregation are divided by lasting periods of sustained equilibrium; interruption of ATD system’s equilibrium leads to its destruction and reorganization of the network of ATU, ending by the obtainment of new sustained equilibrium close to the original one).

Keywords: административно-территориальное деление, административно-территориальные единицы, administrative-territorial division, administrative-territorial units, ability and stability of ATD, ephemera ATU, изменчивость и устойчивость системы АТД, АТЕ-эфемеры