Mobility of residents of small and medium-sized cities of the Sverdlovsk region

Валеева М.В.

doi:10.25136/2409-7144.2022.7.38332

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Sociodynamics

Reference:

Valeeva M.V. Mobility of residents of small and medium-sized cities of the Sverdlovsk region // Sociodynamics. 2022. № 7. P. 24-32. DOI: 10.25136/2409-7144.2022.7.38332 EDN: KZTIHG URL: https://en.nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=38332

Mobility of residents of small and medium-sized cities of the Sverdlovsk region

Valeeva Marina Vladimirovna

ORCID: 0000-0003-1623-8067

PhD in Sociology

Associate Professor, Department of Personnel Management and Sociology, Ural State University of Railway Transport

620075, Russia, Sverdlovskaya oblast', g. Ekaterinburg, ul. Kuibysheva, 48, kab. 607

cherbakova_marina@mail.ru

Other publications by this author

DOI:

10.25136/2409-7144.2022.7.38332

EDN:

KZTIHG

Received:

26-06-2022

Published:

05-08-2022

Abstract: The article is devoted to the sociological study of spatial mobility of residents of medium and small towns on the example of the Sverdlovsk region. The paper presents a theoretical and methodological analysis of the category of mobility based on both classical and modern concepts of sociologists, as well as researchers of related sciences. In the article, the author refers to the concepts of "spatial rotation" and the new paradigm of mobility. In addition, the paper presents the results of an empirical sociological study conducted in 2021, the object of which was the participants of local urban communities (cities that have a bus connection with the Southern Bus Station of Yekaterinburg) in the social network VKontakte. The purpose of the study was to analyze the mobility of residents of small and medium-sized cities of the Sverdlovsk region. As a result of the conducted research, it was revealed that mostly residents of small and medium-sized cities of the Sverdlovsk region visit Yekaterinburg for the purpose of shopping, for education and to visit friends and relatives living in the big city. At the same time, the goals of respondents' visits to the city correlate with the age of the respondents. In addition, it is important that respondents mostly use public transport to travel to Yekaterinburg, even if they own their own car.

Keywords:

space, mobility, spatial mobility, small towns, medium-sized cities, territory, city, social space, spatial rotation, sociological research
This article is automatically translated.

Thus, spatial mobility of residents of small and medium-sized cities to a millionaire city has a meaningful purpose (the realization of a certain need of the social system), which is most often based on the replenishment of certain resources (educational, economic, as well as the need for certain benefits), in turn, cultural and leisure practices are less realized coming from small and medium-sized cities.

References

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First Peer Review

Peer reviewers' evaluations remain confidential and are not disclosed to the public. Only external reviews, authorized for publication by the article's author(s), are made public. Typically, these final reviews are conducted after the manuscript's revision. Adhering to our double-blind review policy, the reviewer's identity is kept confidential.
The list of publisher reviewers can be found here.

The topic raised by the author in the proposed article is undoubtedly relevant, and its importance increases if the emphasis is on the results of empirical research. In this case, this is exactly the case, since the author does not just theorize on the problems of spatial mobility, but also relies on specific data obtained during the relevant applied research. At the same time, with such a statement of the question, the volume of the article is extremely small, which immediately raises doubts about the relative reliability of the presented final conclusions. It is obvious that even the locus of research indicated in the article – the Sverdlovsk region, as well as the subject of study – mobility – largely determine the specifics of the representation of the results, and therefore the volume of material, clearly more than what the author was able to offer in his work. In addition, the title of the article clearly needs to be clarified, because it is about mobility from the cities of the region to a well–defined city - Yekaterinburg, and this seriously changes the balance of "forces" in the entire study, it is impossible not to take this circumstance into account. Meanwhile, the article has a clear structure that allows us to trace the logic of scientific research and, in general, the heuristic potential of the entire study. Here, first of all, attention is drawn to the rather weak elaboration of the scientific discourse on the topic in the introduction to the article: the author simply states the fact of the presence of certain works, but does not indicate in which direction research interest in the designated problem is developing, and also does not hurry to fit his direction into the existing developments. In this part, the article clearly needs to be finalized: the author should take seriously the need for a more complete and comprehensive analysis of scientific discourse. The section "Methodology and research methodology" is actually devoted only to the methodology, and not a word is said about the methodology. In addition, the description of the methodology itself looks very modest: the author does not specify the characteristics of the sample, the specifics of the selection of respondents, does not provide data on what "local urban communities" are meant, and in fact, what the author means by this concept, does not provide data on the number and quality of questions in the questionnaire, etc. It is also necessary to indicate the contribution of the author personally to the research and processing of the results, as well as the base on which the survey was conducted (probably this is a university). Without these data, it is difficult to verify the results and generally recognize the validity of the final generalizations in the article. As for the description of the research results, they are so modest that it is difficult to imagine how far-reaching conclusions can be drawn based on them. All the results were literally in four paragraphs. It is not entirely clear how many small and medium-sized cities there are in the locus of the study and what does the figure "31 settlements" mean from this unknown total number? Due to the lack of a definition of spatial mobility, it is difficult to understand what exactly the author wanted to say when giving the numerical indicators of his research? It is probably necessary to take into account the distance between cities, but the author does not say anything about this, which causes confusion and doubt about the verification of the results. In general, it is difficult or even impossible to assess the potential of the generalizations presented in the article. It is interesting to ask the author: so what does spatial mobility indicate, for example, can it speak in favor of the fact that social tension arises, and therefore mobility increases or, on the contrary, decreases, etc. In fact, the author set aside his brief results without any interpretation, which led to an insufficiently high assessment of the article as a whole. Due to the lack of methodological elaboration of approaches and key concepts, as well as selectivity in the presentation of materials, the article does not look complete and convincing.

Second Peer Review

In the peer-reviewed article "Spatial mobility of residents of small and medium-sized cities of the Sverdlovsk region", the subject of the study is intra-country spatial mobility. The main purpose of the study was to analyze the spatial mobility of residents of small and medium-sized cities of the Sverdlovsk region to the millionaire city of Yekaterinburg. The methodology of social space research is derived from the works of classics and contemporaries of sociology who dealt with the problems of spatial displacement. The empirical basis of the study was a survey conducted in 2021 using a standardized online questionnaire among participants of local urban communities in the Sverdlovsk region, those cities with which Yekaterinburg has direct bus service. The survey was conducted on the Vkontakte social network. A quota type of selection was applied by city of residence. A total of 222 people participated in the study. It should be noted that such a sample does not allow us to recognize the study as fully representative, it is more of an intelligence, aerobatic nature. The attention of science and the general public is mainly attracted by migrant flows and related problems, which should not obscure the interest in research on spatial mobility within regions. Due to the development of transport accessibility, it is the spatial mobility of the population that has an increasing impact on the processes of socio-economic development of the region. Such research is of great theoretical interest as well as practical, since the correct answers to them can be an important contribution to the effective development of territories. The scientific novelty of the work is associated with the definition of the causes of intra-country spatial mobility on the example of the Sverdlovsk region. In particular, it was found that spatial mobility is closely related to gaining access to various resources that are underrepresented in small and medium-sized cities. In turn, cultural and leisure practices are less likely to be the main purpose of spatial movements for residents of small and medium-sized cities. In addition, it is noteworthy that the development of transport infrastructure will increase the transport mobility of residents of small and medium-sized cities of the Sverdlovsk region. The conclusions formulated in the article are generally justified. The content meets the requirements of the scientific text. This publication is characterized by a general structuring and consistency of presentation. The work provides links to 17 sources. But it should be noted that the bibliography is not fully presented: there are no references to some of the authors mentioned in the work. Thus, there is an appeal to the main opponents from the field under consideration, but without reference to their works. Conclusion: The article "Spatial mobility of residents of small and medium-sized cities of the Sverdlovsk region" has scientific and practical significance. It will be of interest to specialists in the field of sociology of management, sociology of spaces, sociology of regions. The work can be published after completion, namely, it is necessary to specify 1) the works of the authors mentioned in the text; 2) the reconnaissance, aerobatic nature of the research.

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Mobility of residents of small and medium-sized cities of the Sverdlovsk region