«Городская реформа» и «реформа города» Екатерины II: цели и итоги двух комплексных преобразований второй половины XVIII в.

Вестник Государственного социально-гуманитарного университета. 2022. № 3(47). С. 3–13.

Belov A.

The reforms of Catherine II are exceptionally important not only because of their scale. These reforms resulted in a nation-wide structure of government authority based on the territorial and administrative principles. Having undergone numerous changes, this system largely survived until the present day. Thanks to the reform, the cities obtained a number of different executive structures instrumental for the implementation of a range of mandatory functions, which, in fact, were the requirement for the city status as it was understood by the people at the time. This process is traditionally associated with two reforms of Catherine II: administrative, or provincial, and the socalled city reform. Alongside with these transformations, the city had undergone a transformation and became the administrative center. It must be distinguished from the so-called city reform, which was not focused on the city as a place of concentration of functions. Rather, it was aimed at streamlining the structure of urban classes. Therefore, in Russian historiography, it was originally known under a broader and more accurate definition of ‘’social city reform’.

The present paper focuses on the state of cities at the beginning of the reform and the perspective for the modernization of cities. It also touches upon the difference between the social city reform and the reform of the city as the administrative center, with special attention being paid to its purposes. Another point in question is the emergence of city network, which was one of the outcomes of the reform. The author also focuses on the criteria of the city at the time.

The paper is based on the fundamental principles of scientific research: the principles of historicism, consistency and integrity. Alongside with that we employed such approaches as periodization, retrospective and comparative-historical.

The results of the study may be interesting for assessing the reforms of the second half of the 18th century, for the study of historical cities, analyzing the features of the functioning of administrative centers, as well as for evaluating the heritage of Catherine II, which continues to function today.

Keywords: город, city, городская сеть, Russian city, русский город, urban networks, urban settlements, reform of the city of Catherine II, city reform of Catherine II, network of cities and urban settlements, city as the administrative center, реформа города Екатерины II, городская реформа Екатерины II, городское поселение, сеть городов и городских поселений, город – административный центр