Shrinking Cities in Belarus. Spatial Differentiation of Demographic Development Ekaterina ANTIPOVA, Liliya SUSHKEVICH, Anton TSITOU, and Journal of Settlements and Spatial Planning, 2025 Global economic shifts, demographic transition, political, social, and environmental changes, as well as local crises, have led to the emergence of shrinking cities around the world. The present article assesses the dynamics and scale of demographic shrinkage of Belarusian cities for three intercensal periods: 1989–1999, 1999–2009, 2009–2019. The geographical study of shrinking cities in Belarus was carried out using the conceptual foundations of the shaping factors and criteria for identifying shrinking cities, theoretical approaches to assess demographic processes, and a set of methods (mathematical and statistical, demographic trajectories, grouping, classification matrices, balance, geographical systematization, cartographic and GIS-technologies). The aim of the study was to evaluate the trends of dynamics, scale and differentiation of demographic development of shrinking cities by regions in Belarus, over the period of 1989–2019. Based on international experience, the criteria of shrinking cities applied to the territory of Belarus were defined for the first time, thus becoming a subject of scientific research novelty. The main criteria of demographic contraction of the Belarusian cities are: population decrease over the period between 1989 and 2019, negative annual growth of population, and regressive demographic balance. The shrinking cities of Belarus are heterogeneous in demographic development and divided into three types: 1) outpacing shrinkage (since 1989); 2) catching-up shrinkage (from 1999–2009); 3) reversible demographic trend, with the dominance of the cities in the second category (68%). The dominance of shrinking cities in Belarus is typical for three regions, namely Viciebsk, Mahilioŭ and Homieĺ, which reflects the general trend of depopulation in the eastern and northeastern regions of the country. Establishing a typology of shrinking cities in Belarus represents a scientific innovation and provides a corresponding basis for a differentiated approach to setting promising strategies for their future development.
Spatial and Temporal Shifts in the Demographic Development of China at the End of the 20th and the Beginning of the 21st Centuries Ekaterina ANTIPOVA, Chen LI Journal of Settlements and Spatial Planning, 2021 The article provides an economic and geographical analysis of the demographic processes in China, considering a set of natural and geographic factors, selected to reflect the influence of the state policy of family planning, as well as the policy for the development of separate regions in the period under study. The methodology included the use of geoinformation technologies, classification method and geographical systematization. Based on the identified spatial differences at the level of provinces, radical and previously absent spatial shifts in the demographic processes in China were established for the first time. They consist in the formation of positive and negative dynamics zones, as well as natural increase and natural decline zones. The demographic balance, for the first time calculated for the provinces of China, for 2010 and 2019, made it possible to indicate the dominance of provinces of a progressive type (53.0%) and a zone of provinces of a regressive type (8.8%). The established trend proves not only a differentiation, but also a spatial polarization at the national level and acts as a phenomenon of modern demographic development in China, in the 21st century. The results of the geographical systematization of the demographic space has practical significance as it provides the opportunity to use this methodology at the microgeographic level in other territories and serves as a scientific justification for the development of the directions of China’s regional demographic policy.
Rural settlement pattern in Belarus Ekaterina AntipovaCDFMR Bulletin of Geography, 2013 The article presents the analysis of the Belarusian rural settlement system over the period of the years 1959‒2009. Spatial and temporal shifts in the rural population distribution and settlement structure were found, and types of the Belarusian rural settlement pattern were developed. Distribution features and demographic development of a new form of the Belarusian rural communities - agrotowns - were discovered
Demographic processes in rural areas of Belarus: Geographical structure and spatial dynamics Ekaterina Antipova, Liudmila Fakeyeva Bulletin of Geography, 2012 Demographic processes in rural areas of Belarus: geographical structure and spatial dynamics The study presents the spatiotemporal regularities and shifts in geo-demographic development of rural areas of Belarus at the multiscale level. Trends in rural population size dynamics for the period of 1959-2009 are detected and characterised. In accordance with the trends in the dynamics of the rural population of Belarus spatial regularities were identified. The geo-demographic territory of Belarus is typified on character of demographic dynamics and natural movement processes of rural population. We have identified three types of districts by the nature of the rural population dynamics for the period of 1970-2009: stable, growing and shrinking; and three types of natural population movement dynamics for the same period in accordance with spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the rural depopulation.
GIS mapping in the geodemographic studies (Case study of the Republic of Belarus) Hungarian Geographical Bulletin, 2012
