Seasonal pulsation of settlement pattern in the Moscow agglomeration under the influence of dacha and work commuting: Approaches to studies and assessment

Resumo

This paper analyzes the domestic and foreign experience in accounting of dacha and work commuting as well as methodological approaches to their use to assess the number of dacha residents and commuters in the Moscow agglomeration. The pulsation of the Moscow and Moscow oblast populations in different seasons is considered, and changes in the forms of population mobility during dacha and work commuting are revealed. Due to the lack of information for assessing the mobility of the dacha and working population, it is important to use all possible approaches, and the research technique is a mixed method within which a set of different techniques complement and enhance each other. As before, seasonal dacha migration determines the specifics of suburbanization in the Moscow agglomeration: more than 3 mln Muscovites have dachas, and over half a million own all-season suburban homes. The scales of living in the sub urbs on a regular basis are still significantly smaller, which confirms the retention of the traditional model of living at dachas on the weekends, regardless of season. Meanwhile, rapid motorization of the population, together with the development of alternative forms of employment (distance work, freelancing, flexible working hours, etc.) and the availability of winter dacha houses has led to an increase in living at two residences, leading to the transformation of the old forms of dacha-resident and commuter mobility. There is a growing number of Muscovites who use dachas as secondary permanent homes, which increases the flow of commuters from suburban homes to Moscow by almost 1 mln people in summer, reduces it to half a million in the off-season, and to 300000 people in the winter season. Living at two residences changes the traditional practice of the dacha-commuting mobility of Muscovites, blurs the concept of residence itself, and leads to pulsation of the settlement system in the Moscow agglomeration, in whose suburban zone the population during summer weekends exceeds more than 11 mln people and decreases to 6 mln people during winter weekdays.