Urban-type settlement

Urban-type settlement[note 1] is an official designation for a semi-urban settlement (previously called a "town"), used in several Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the Soviet Union and later also for a short time in socialist Bulgaria and socialist Poland. It remains in use today in nine of the post-Soviet states.

Urban housing in Mezhdurechensky, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia, an example of urban-type settlement

The designation was used in all 15 member republics of the Soviet Union from 1922, when it replaced a number of terms that could have been translated by the English term "town" (Russia – posad, Ukraine – містечко, mistechko, Belarus – мястэчка, miastečka (the last two are diminutives from місто and места, correspondingly, similarly to the Polish word: miasteczko, lit. 'small town' being derived from miasto) and others). It was introduced later in Poland (1954) and Bulgaria (1964). All the urban-type settlements in Poland were transformed into other types of settlement (town or village) in 1972, in Bulgaria and five of the post-Soviet republics (Armenia, Moldova, and the three Baltic states), they were changed in the early 1990s, while in Ukraine in 2023.[1][2] Today, this term is still used in the other nine post-Soviet republics – Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. It is also used in Transnistria, an unrecognised breakaway state in Moldova.

What counts as an urban-type settlement differs between time periods and countries and often between different divisions of a single country. However, the criteria generally focus on the presence of urban infrastructure or resort facilities for urban residents.

Soviet Union

In the Soviet Union, the criteria of urban-type settlements were set independently by the Soviet republics. Those criteria, however, only differed very slightly from one republic to another.

Russian SFSR

In the Russian SFSR, urban-type settlements were subdivided into three types:

  • Work settlements (рабочие посёлки): localities with factories, mining industry, power stations, construction industry, with population of at least 3,000 and with at least 85% of the population being workers, professionals, and the members of their families;
  • Resort settlements (курортные посёлки): localities focusing on resort and health facilities (around beaches, mineral water spas, etc.), with population of at least 2,000, with at least 50% of the average annual population being non-permanent residents;
  • Suburban settlements (dacha settlements, дачные посёлки): settlements with a focus on private summer-time and weekend recreation, with no more than 25% of the permanent population being employed in the agricultural sector.

Ukrainian SSR

In 1981, the Presidium of the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR defined an urban-type settlement as follows:[3] "To the category of an urban-type settlement may be included any settlement located near industrial enterprises, buildings, railroad connections, hydro-technical constructions, and enterprises in production and refining of agrarian products as well as settlements that include higher or middle occupation educational establishments, science-researching institutions, sanatoria, and other stationary treatment and recreation establishments that have a state housing provided to no less than 2,000 inhabitants[4] out of which no less than two-thirds consist of workers, servicemen, and their families.

In exceptional cases, settlements could be classified to the category of urban-type settlements if they had a population less than 2,000, but more than 500; this happened when they had a close perspective of an economic and social development or a potential increase in number of people.

The term was introduced in Ukraine in 1920s and became official since the resolution of the Central Executive Committee of Ukraine of October 28, 1925 replacing all towns (mistechko) as urban-type settlement.

Post-Soviet states

Azerbaijan

As of 2011, there were 256 urban-type settlements in Azerbaijan.[5]

Belarus
Main article: List of urban-type settlements in Belarus

According to a 1998 law of Belarus,[6] there are three categories of urban-type settlement in the country:

  • Urban settlements: with population over 2,000, industrial enterprises and developed residential infrastructure.
  • Resort settlements: with population of at least 2,000, sanatoriums, resorts or other health recuperation establishments, and developed residential infrastructure.
  • Worker settlements: with population at least 500, servicing industrial enterprises, construction sites, railroad stations, electric stations, or other industrial objects.

Georgia
Main article: Daba (settlement)

As of 2014, there were 47 urban-type settlements in Georgia. Eight of them are located on the territory of the partially recognized states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and are de facto not under the control of the Georgian government.

Kazakhstan

As of 2019, there were 48 urban-type settlements in Kazakhstan.[7]

Kyrgyzstan

In accordance with the 2008 Law on Administrative and Territorial Subdivision of Kyrgyzstan,[8] urban-type settlements are those that comprise economically significant facilities such as industrial plants, railway stations, construction sites, etc., as well as settlements with a recreational potential with population of at least 2,000. In exceptional cases, administrative, economic and cultural centers with a potential of economical development and population growth can be classified as urban-type settlements.

Inhabited localities

In modern Russia, the task of deciding whether an inhabited locality meets the criteria of urban-type settlements is delegated to the federal subjects. In most cases, the federal subject's legislative body is responsible for all administrative and territorial changes, including granting and revoking of the urban-type settlement and town status.[9]

Administrative divisions

Apart from being used to refer to a type of inhabited locality, the term "urban-type settlement" and its variations is also used to refer to a division of an administrative district, and sometimes to a division administratively subordinated to a city district of a city of federal subject significance. This kind of administrative division is equal in status to the towns of district significance and selsoviets, and is normally centered on an inhabited locality with urban-type settlement status. As of 2013, the following types of such entities are recognized:

Tajikistan

As of January 1, 2018, there were 57 urban-type settlements in Tajikistan.

Turkmenistan

As of February 1, 2016, there were 76 urban-type settlements in Turkmenistan.[10]

Uzbekistan

As of January 1, 2011, 1,065 settlements have urban-type settlement status in Uzbekistan.[11]

See also

Notes
  1. Russian: посёлок городского типа, romanized: posyolok gorodskogo tipa, abbreviated: Russian: п.г.т., romanized: p.g.t.; Ukrainian: селище міського типу, romanized: selyshche mis'koho typu, abbreviated: Ukrainian: с.м.т., romanized: s.m.t.; Belarusian: пасёлак гарадскога тыпу, romanized: pasiolak haradskoha typu; Polish: osiedle typu miejskiego; Bulgarian: селище от градски тип, romanized: selishte ot gradski tip; Romanian: așezare de tip urban/orășenesc.

References
  1. Постанова. Верховної Ради України. Про прийняття за основу проекту Закону України про дерадянізацію порядку вирішення окремих питань адміністративно-територіального устрою України
  2. "Zelensky canceled urban-type settlements" (in Ukrainian). Ukrainska Pravda. 25 October 2023. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  3. (in Ukrainian) Official Decree of the Presidium of Verkhovna Rada of March 12, 1981
  4. Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia (Українська радянська енциклопедія), vol. 10, p. 94 , 1983
  5. Samadov (www.anarsamadov.net), Anar. "Azərbaycanın əhalisi". Azərbaycan Respublikasının Dövlət Statistika Komitəsi (in Azerbaijani). Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  6. Закон Республики Беларусь от 5 мая 1998 г. № 154-З «Об административно-территориальном делении и порядке решения вопросов административно-территориального устройства Республики Беларусь»
  7. Basta! (2022-01-11). "Справочник кодов ОКЭД РК 2023 с расшифровкой и поиском". Basta! (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  8. Кыргызской Республики от 25 апреля 2008 г. № 65 «Об административно-территориальном делении Кыргызской Республики»
  9. "О порядке решения вопросов административно-территориального устройства РСФСР от 17 августа 1982 - docs.cntd.ru". docs.cntd.ru. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  10. "Государственный комитет Туркменистана по статистике | Административно-территориальное деление". 2017-10-19. Archived from the original on 2017-10-19. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  11. "68-сон 13.03.2009. O'zbekiston Respublikasi aholi punktlarining ma'muriy-hududiy tuzilishini takomillashtirishga doir qo'shimcha chora-tadbirlar to'g'risida". lex.uz. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
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