The classification system of inhabited localities in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and some other post- Soviet states has certain peculiarities compared with those in other countries.

Classes

During the Soviet time, each of the republics of the Soviet Union, including the Russian SFSR, had its own legislative documents dealing with classification of inhabited localities. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the task of developing and maintaining such classification in Russia was delegated to the

federal subjects The federal subjects of Russia, also referred to as the subjects of the Russian Federation (russian: субъекты Российской Федерации, subyekty Rossiyskoy Federatsii) or simply as the subjects of the federation (russian ...

.Articles 71 and 72 of the

Constitution of Russia The Constitution of the Russian Federation () was adopted by national referendum on 12 December 1993. Russia's constitution came into force on 25 December 1993, at the moment of its official publication, and abolished the Soviet system of gov ...

do not name issues of the administrative and territorial structure among the tasks handled on the federal level or jointly with the governments of the federal subjects. As such, all federal subjects pass their own laws establishing the system of the administrative-territorial divisions on their territories. While currently there are certain peculiarities to classifications used in many federal subjects, they are all still largely based on the system used in the RSFSR. In all federal subjects, the inhabited localities are classified into two major categories: urban and rural.See, for example, th
results of the 2002 population Census
/ref> Further divisions of these categories vary slightly from one federal subject to another, but they all follow common trends described below.

Urban

Cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

s (, ''gorod''; pl. , ''goroda''). Cities and towns are classified by their level of jurisdiction ( district/federal subject/federal). The Russian language has no separate words for "town" and "city" ("" is used for both). Some translators prefer the word "city" for urban populated places with population of at least 100,000 persons. * Urban-type settlements (, ''posyolok gorodskogo tipa''; pl. ) is a type of smaller urban locality. This type of urban locality was first introduced in the Soviet Union in 1924, with the following subcategories: **Urban-type settlement proper—mostly urban population of 3,000–12,000. *** Work settlement (, ''rabochy posyolok'')—mostly urban population occupied in industrial manufacture. ***Suburban (dacha) settlement (, ''dachny posyolok'')—typically, a suburban settlement with summer

dacha A dacha ( rus, дача, p=ˈdatɕə, a=ru-dacha.ogg) is a seasonal or year-round second home, often located in the exurbs of post-Soviet countries, including Russia. A cottage (, ') or shack serving as a family's main or only home, or an outbu ...

s. *** Resort settlement (, ''kurortny posyolok'')—mostly urban population occupied in services to holidaymakers (on the seaside or a mineral water spa, or in the mountains for walks and alpine skiing). *** Shift settlements for shift method work. In 1957, the procedures for categorizing urban-type settlements were further refined. (Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of September 12, 1957 ''On Procedures of Categorizing the Inhabited Localities as Cities, Work and Resort Settlements)

Rural

Multiple types of rural localities exist, some common through the whole territory of Russia, some specific to certain federal subjects. The most common types include: * Derevnyas (, ''derevnya''; pl. , ''derevni''), hamlets * Selos (, ''selo''; pl. , ''syola''), villages (historically, ones with an Orthodox church). *

Stanitsa A stanitsa ( rus, станица, p=stɐˈnʲitsə; uk, станиця, stanytsya) is a village inside a Cossack host ( uk, військо, viys’ko; russian: казачье войско, kazach’ye voysko, sometimes translated as "Cossack Ar ...

s (, ''stanitsa''; pl. , ''stanitsy''), villages (historically, Cossack rural settlements) * Slobodas (, ''sloboda''; pl. , ''slobody''), villages (historically, settlements freed from taxes and levies) *(Rural-type) settlements (, ''posyolok (selskogo tipa)''; pl. ). The "rural-type" () designation is added to the settlements the population of which is mostly occupied in agriculture, while ''posyolok'' () proper indicates a mix of population working in agriculture and industry.

Historical

*Krepost (, a

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

), a fortified settlement **A

Kremlin (fortification) A kremlin ( rus, кремль, r=kreml', p=ˈkrʲemlʲ, a=LL-Q7737 (rus)-Cinemantique-кремль.wav) is a major fortified central complex found in historic Russian cities. This word is often used to refer to the most famous one, the Moscow Kre ...

(, citadel), a major ''krepost'', usually including a castle and surrounded by a

posad A posad (russian: посад, uk, посад) was a historical type of settlement in East Slavic lands since the Ancient Rus, often surrounded by ramparts and a moat, adjoining a town or a kremlin, but outside of it, or adjoining a monaster ...

**An ostrog, a more primitive kind of ''krepost'' which could be put up quickly within rough walls of debarked pointed timber *

Posad A posad (russian: посад, uk, посад) was a historical type of settlement in East Slavic lands since the Ancient Rus, often surrounded by ramparts and a moat, adjoining a town or a kremlin, but outside of it, or adjoining a monaster ...

(), a medieval suburban settlement *Mestechko (, from pl, miasteczko), a small town in the Western Krai annexed during the partitions of Poland; typically a mestechko would have a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish majority and such towns are referred to in English by the Yiddish term

shtetl A shtetl or shtetel (; yi, שטעטל, translit=shtetl (singular); שטעטלעך, romanized: ''shtetlekh'' (plural)) is a Yiddish term for the small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish populations which existed in Eastern Europe before ...

* Pogost *

Seltso Seltso (russian: Сельцо́, lit. ''little village'') is a town in Bryansk Oblast, Russia, located on the Desna River northwest of Bryansk. Population: 17,600 (1970). History Seltso was granted urban-type settlement status in 1938 an ...

, a type of rural locality in the Russian Empire and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth *Pochinok (, ''pochinok''; pl. , ''pochinki'')—a newly formed rural locality of one or several families. Pochinoks were established as new settlements and usually grow into larger villages as they developed.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links