Territorial Organization and Planning Commission

According to the statutory provisions and the development strategy of the Russian Geographical Society, the work of the Commission is aimed at:

• formation and support of public initiatives aimed at comprehensive research and deep understanding of the economic and geographical peculiarities of the economy and population of Russia and its regions;
• collection, processing, and dissemination of reliable economic, geographical, and statistical information about the population and economy of Russia;
• mobilization of the intellectual potential of the members of the Russian Geographical Society to solve urgent problems of regional development of Russia, strategic and territorial planning;
• scientific creativity assistance, development of geographical and related social sciences, large-scale dissemination and practical implementation of the best achievements of domestic economic and geographical science;
• popularization of economic and geographical knowledge about Russia, its regions and cities.

From the history of the Russian Geographical Society

The predecessor of the Commission and the Council in the Russian Geographical Society can be considered the Department of Statistics, which functioned along with the Departments of Physical Geography, Ethnography, etc.

The Department of Statistics of the RGS carried out a lot of research. For example, in 1866-1916, 14 volumes of the “Notes of the Russian Geographical Society” were published under the auspices of the Department. Particularly standing out among them are the classical works of the predecessors of modern socio-economic geography and the luminaries of Russian geography in general: D.N. Anuchin’s "On the Geographical Distribution of the Male Population Growth in Comparison to the Growth Distribution in Other Countries" (1889) and V.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky's "City and Village in European Russia" (1910), who headed the Department of Statistics for the last 14 years of its existence (1918-1932).

The predecessor of the modern Commission was the Council on the Issues of the Territorial Organization of the Society and Regional Development under the Academic Council of the Russian Geographical Society. This structural unit was created in 1983 as the "Council on the Issues of the Territorial Organization of Soviet Society" under the Presidium of the Academic Council of the Geographical Society of the USSR on the initiative of the famous Russian economic geographer, Professor Boris Sergeevich Khorev, who headed it for twenty years until 2003. Professors N.T. Agafonov and V.M. Razumovsky were elected Vice-Chairmen. The first Council had about 60 members, most of whom were economic geographers, but it also included economists, architects, planners, sociologists, historians, and geographers of other specializations. During the first period of activity under the auspices of the Council, various events were held in different cities, mainly conferences and scientific meetings on topical issues of territorial organization of the economy and regional development, which had a wide resonance in the circles of the geographical community of the country. The Council also carried out publishing activities.

The second period of the Council's activity began in 2004, when, after a pause, it resumed its work under the leadership of its co-chairs V.M. Razumovsky and V.E. Shuvalov. It received a name corresponding to the new stage of the country's development. During this period, the Council's activities retained their traditional focus on holding relevant national and international scientific conferences, symposiums, and round tables. During this period, the Council with the participation of Lomonosov Moscow State University and St. Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance (now UNECON) held conferences on topical issues of regional development (2004, 2005, 2007, 2008), including discussion of the concept of territorial development of Russia in the 21st century (2005), regional studies (2009), sustainable urban development, conference dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Council (2013), and others. The Council's publishing activities also continued.

In 2013, the Council on the Issues of the Territorial Organization of the Society and Regional Development ceased its activities due to its transformation into the Territorial Organization and Planning Commission of the Russian Geographical Society.