Economic Space Density as a Measure of Territory Potential’s Effective Use

Introduction. In the territory of modern Russia there is a compression of economic space to places of concentration that testifies the decrease of potential development opportunities of separate territories, the degree of their inclusion in economic activity, the efficiency of the territory resources use. Theoretical analysis. The understanding of the current trend in modern Russia is based on the concept of J. Friedmann’s “center-periphery”, which is a model of interaction between the central and the peripheral regions in the process of their development. Economic space density is one of its qualitative characteristics, which shows the concentration of economic activity, the degree of the territory’s saturation with economic objects. The main indicators of the regional economic density are the number of population and the volume of GRP per unit of area. All other indicators correlate with them and are derived from them. Empirical analysis. High density of economic space is typical for big cities, megacities and highly urbanized territories. It is these forms of settlement that are able to concentrate various spheres of economic activity and labor resources, which contributes to innovation activity and economic growth. The heterogeneity of economic space and the unevenness of economic growth and development create inevitable disparities between the center, the periphery and the province. Therefore, we can assume the existence of a direct relationship between the density of the economic space of a territory and the quality of economic processes occurring on it, which affects the level and quality of life of the population living in the territory. Results. Almost all regions of Russia have undeveloped territories, which at this historical stage it is impractical to develop economically as a whole. The most appropriate option would be to compress or concentrate their economic space, which would improve the quality of the space and make it possible to compare its parameters with other regions.