Location of small towns and rural settlements of Ukraine and new realities of the administrative- territorial system: contradictions and perspectives of mutual influences

The article reveals the mutual influences of the geography of small towns (mistechka) and rural settlements in Ukraine and the system of administrative-territorial organization at the middle and lowest levels. Based on the statistical analysis, it was concluded that the location of very small cities, urban-type settlements (selyshchа miskoho typu) and villages is significantly differentiated by regions of Ukraine, taking into account the historical-geographical and natural-geographical prerequisites, the level of urbanization and industrialization, as well as differences in the demographic situation. The study proved that before the administrative reform, the small towns of Ukraine played an important role in the organization of the middle link of the administrative territorial system, being the centers of most districts, but as a result of the reform, their administrative importance in the district division became minimal. At the same time, almost half of the small towns became centres of united territorial communities. The author concludes that the loss of the status of medium-sized administrative units by towns could be compensated by transferring a significant part of the functions of regional authorities to new administrative districts, and most of the functions of former district centres to the centres of low-level territorial communities. For this purpose, it is necessary to create appropriate socio-economic conditions for the small towns-centres of new territorial communities to perform all the functions of serving the population of nearby settlements. It was concluded that such changes in administrative powers can ensure, in general, a shift in the weight of socio-economic life deep into the territory, which is necessary to overcome intra-regional disproportions in the development of the economy and the social sphere. The proposition that the structure of rural resettlement also influenced the territorial organization of local self-government in rural areas in different ways at all times was conceptually substantiated. The main socio-geographic parameters that used to determine and currently determine the structure of rural self-government are the density of the rural population, the average population, and the density of rural settlements. The study proved the presence of various regional variants of the combination of these indicators, which were also reflected in the geography of the centres in rural territorial communities. A positive consequence of the administrative reform was the strengthening of the financial base of rural communities, but at the same time, the administrative importance of many rural settlements of Ukraine decreased due to the loss of the status of rural council centres, and the distances between rural settlements and new administrative centres increased. As villages-community centres began to serve larger territories, if their infrastructural potential and economic base were strengthened, they could become new poles of socio-economic development in rural areas.