Challenges and Policy of Spatial Development of Post-Soviet Russia as a Subject of a Unique Academic Research: From the Editors of the Special Issue

The article presents readers with a thematic issue of the journal Regional Research of Russia, dedicated to the selected results of long-term interdisciplinary academic research on the fundamental problems of modern Russia’s spatial development. The uniqueness of the design and content of these studies, conducted in 2009–2019, is revealed as part of a large-scale scientific megaproject. The article describes the goals, content, and results of four research programs successively carried out within its framework: “Fundamental Problems of Spatial Development of the Russian Federation: Interdisciplinary Synthesis” (2009–2011); “The Role of Space in Russia’s Modernization: Natural and Socioeconomic Potential” (2012–2014); “Russia’s Spatial Development in the 21st Century: Nature, Society, and Their Interaction” (2015–2017); “Spatial Restructuring of Russia Taking into Account Geopolitical, Socioeconomic and Geoecological Challenges” (2018–2019). These programs are distinguished by methodological, subject, and organizational continuity. The multifaceted results of research within the framework of the last three programs are published in Russian in the monograph “Challenges and Policy of Russia’s Spatial Development in the 21st Century” (2020). The ten articles in this issue reflect the most important subjects presented in the monograph.