Dachas and the Colonization of Rural Areas by Urban Citizensin Russia: The Case of the Kostroma Region

Abstract

Kseniya Averkieva — Candidate of Geographical Sciences, Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences. Address: 29, Staromonetnyi pereulok, Moscow, 119017, Russian Federation. E-mail: xsenics@yandex.ru

Tat’yana Nefedova — Doctor of Geographical Sciences, Leader Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences. Address: 29, Staromonetnyi pereulok, Moscow, 119017, Russian Federation. E-mail: trene12@yandex.ru

This article investigates the phenomenon of ‘dachas’, i.e. houses typically located in exurbs of Russian cities and owned by urban dwellers who often use them to escape from urban life. During the Soviet era dacha allotments were allocated to industry workers and therefore their spatial distribution was closely correlated with the pattern of industrial development. However, in the post-Soviet era many of these allotments were sold or completely abandoned, until a new wave of suburbanization arrived instigated by the growing affluence of urban citizens willing to reacquire them. We explore this suburbanization trend by conducting a field study in the Kostroma region, 350— 700 km away from Moscow. Our empirical data comes from surveys and interviews conducted with dacha owners, their local neighbours, and local public officials.
First, we estimate and describe the actual distribution of dacha owners in close and remote suburban areas of the Kostroma region according to their cities of origin, occupational and socioeconomic status, demographic characteristics and country-life preferences. We further reconstruct the historical evolution of various dacha communities from 1970-80s to the more recent 2000s based on data from in-depth interviews with community members. We also explore the regularties in how the composition of dacha owners changes depending on the remoteness of dacha communities from larger cities and how it changes on a seasonal basis. Particularly, we find that in some remote settlements the share of Moscow citizens among dacha owners may reach as much as 85%. Finally, we highlight several aspects and challenges regarding the interactions between dacha owners and native inhabitants, and analyse the prospects of this specific type of suburbanization in the context of decreasing rural population.