Are “Bear Corners” Homogeneous: Differentiation of Regions Along the Vologda–Kostroma Border

The article considers a strip of municipal districts on the border of Kostroma and Vologda oblasts–a territory that simultaneously belongs to the periphery of both regions, the periphery of economic regions and modern federal districts, and the inner periphery of European Russia. The territories under consideration are part of the old-developed non-Chernozem zone, which is characterized by rapid depopulation and shrinkage of the developed space. The purpose of the study is to identify the spatial differentiation of areas along the border and its role in the formation of differences between the territories. Various methods were used: the study of historical maps, the analysis of modern statistics, methods of qualitative sociology, and field observations. The study showed the predominantly barrier function of the regional border, largely due to physical and geographical reasons–the watershed of the Volga and White Sea basins and the configuration of rivers along which local systems historically formed rural settlement pattern and transport corridors. The historical multidirectional spatial gravity of regions on different sides of the border, combined with institutional barriers, led to the differentiation of economic and social processes in municipal regions. Thus, the socioeconomic indicators of the regions on the Vologda side of the border are generally more prosperous and differ less from each other than on the Kostroma side. The study also revealed an extremely important role that interregional routes could play. With a general trend towards a reduction in the rural population and fragmentation of the local economy, the territories on both sides of the border are heterogeneous, and various combinations of place functions are formed. At the same time, it is premature to attribute a strip of peripheral territory in relation to many centers to the zone of a spontaneously formed natural reserve.