Cottage fragmentation of rural space (on the example of the city district of Istra)

DOI: 10.35595/2414-9179-2025-1-31-117-127

View or download the article (Rus)

About the Author

Yuri N. Golubchikov

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Geography, Department of Recreational Geography and Tourism,
1, Leninskie Gory, Moscow, 119991, Russia,
E-mail: golubchikov@list.ru

Abstract

Due to dacha and cottage development, the density of the paved road network in the Moscow Region is in some places comparable to the street and road network of the largest cities. However, being confined to dacha and cottage settlements or blocked by them, it not only does not connect neighboring settlements, but often separates them. In Istra municipality, cottage settlements have separated the Zhilkino village and part of it has been deprived of access to the Kostrovo village with vital infrastructure. In a diversion between the streets of the same village one has to get 17 km instead of once 1.8 km. Some forest areas have been completely looped by long strips of cottage developments. The cottage settlements themselves are filled with buildings that do not harmonize with the landscape and destroy the old correspondence between landscape and housing. The set of cottage toponyms of elite settlements most often contrasts with the established toponymic landscape of the Moscow Region and derussifies it. It is proposed to prohibit the protection of cottage settlements and allow traffic through their territory to move from the protection of individual cottage settlements to the decriminalization of the entire territory of the Moscow Region. Rich country houses exist all over the world, but they are embedded in the existing settlement network. It is proposed to allow through passage of vehicles through the territory of cottage settlements and to move from the protection of individual objects to decriminalization of the entire territory of the Moscow Region. Providing access through cottage settlements makes the Moscow Region one of the most highly urbanized areas. All the main cottage roads are becoming strategically important. The dense road network of the Moscow Region is a national treasure of Russia and should serve the development of the country, not the isolation of individual isolated groups.

Keywords

cottage settlements, Istra, road network density, local tourism, toponymic landscape

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For citation: Golubchikov Yu.N. Cottage fragmentation of rural space (on the example of the city district of Istra). InterCarto. InterGIS. Moscow: MSU, Faculty of Geography, 2025. V. 31. Part 1. P. 117–127. DOI: 10.35595/2414-9179-2025-1-31-117-127 (in Russian)