SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF THE DACHA SETTLEMENT NETWORK: A CASE STUDY OF THE REPUBLIC OF TATARSTAN

Abstract

The article studies the regularities of changes in the dacha settlement network of the Republic of Tatarstan in thepost-Soviet period by the example of gardening, vegetable gardening, dacha associations. The author analyzed inter-municipaldifferences in the placement of various types of dacha settlements in the Republic of Tatarstan in 2006-2016, including shifts in thestructure of land use, the dynamics of the number of garden-and-dacha associations, and the degree of their development. Asociological survey of dacha users in Kazan revealed differences in the peculiarities of using dachas depending on their location, theinfrastructure, and other factors. A comparison of the total number of non-commercial gardening associations by municipal districtsof the Republic of Tatarstan is presented in the form of bar charts on the map. It allows us to make a conclusion about the demand for ‘gardens’ in the intercensal period, especially in the Kazan agglomeration. Based on the analysis of the land use structure of garden plots in 2016, the municipal districts of the Republic of Tatarstan were classified into 4 types: recreational, agrarian, agrarian-residential, and predominantly agrarian. According to the sociological survey of Kazan dacha users, the author compiled a rating ofthe most popular dacha destinations among microdistricts (Derbyshki), settlements (Vasilyevo), and municipal districts surroundingKazan (Laishevsky, Zelenodolsky). The dachas were distributed according to their location in the agglomeration (in the suburbs, inthe city, outside the Kazan agglomeration). From the data of the agricultural census and sociological survey, it is possible to conclude that the agrarian function of the garden plots is the leading one in the Republic of Tatarstan; however, the capital’s dacha users, unlike residents of small towns of the republic, prefer to use them for the purpose of changing their environment, recreation, and not for food self-sufficiency purposes.