ИСТИНА

The negative demographic trends are a common aspect of most Russian regions’ contemporary development. Unlike the eastern and northern regions of the country, in which the beginning of depopulation almost coincided with the collapse of the USSR, the regions of the central part of Russia are characterized by long-term depopulation the start of which dates to 1970s. In the Ivanovskaya oblast,’ the maximum population number of 1.32 million people was recorded in 1970 (Rosstat) and after that it was almost constantly decreasing, reaching one million people by January 1, 2019. In 16 cities among 17 cities of the Ivanovskaya oblast’ the population number in 2019 was smaller than in 1989. Moreover, the rural settlements network of the region experienced dramatic transformation due to both natural demographic decline and continuing urbanization. According to the 2010 census, there were 3,018 rural settlements in the region, including 634 without permanent (registered) population. Despite the fact that depopulation of most municipalities of the Ivanovskaya oblast’ was caused mainly by the excess of mortality over fertility, its patterns and consequences differ significantly from one municipality to another. Differences in age-sex structure, population dynamics, and components contributing to population change, the impact of depopulation on the economic situation and housing, the transformation of social infrastructure, and many other aspects form the unique shrinkage portrait of different municipalities. Moreover, depopulation is not necessarily associated with negative consequences everywhere and some places benefit from it: it provides low unemployment levels, a decrease in the burden on the social (elimination of shift education in schools and waiting lists in kindergartens) and engineering infrastructures, improvement of housing conditions (increase in housing provision per capita, reducing the cost of housing, the possibility of using vacated houses to provide citizens in need), improvement of the environmental conditions. The present research aims to demonstrate the heterogeneity of urban shrinkage’s manifestations within one shrinking region, its possible advantages and disadvantages for the future local development, as well as tries to identify the governmental levels of interventions that could address shrinkage’s negative effects. The research is based on the statistical and document analysis, nonparticipant observation and series of interviews with the representatives of local authorities in Ivanovskaya oblast’