HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS OF FORMATION SYSTEMS OF CITIES OF UKRAINE

Abstract

The system of cities of Ukraine is a set of settlements that have passed a complex historical and political path of formation on the border of Europe and Asia and formed a unique combination of many cultures and ethnic groups. Depending on the peculiarities of socio-economic problems of countries that occupied the modern territory of Ukraine in different age periods, the process of forming a system of cities of our state should be differentiated into 5 spatio-temporal stages. The main criteria for distinguishing such stages were defense, agricultural, handicraft and trade factors. It was found that during the earliest stage of urbogenesis (by the end of the XII century) 99 first cities were formed, most of which were in the northern (41) and western (25) parts of modern Ukraine; during the medieval stage of urbogenesis (XIII century – XV century) – 218 new cities, most of which were concentrated in the western (123), central (45) and northern (41) regions; during the stage of urbogenesis of the Polish-Lithuanian period (XVI–XVII centuries) – 285 new cities, most of which were in the northern (96), eastern (79) and central (75) regions; during the stage of urbogenesis of the New Age – 408 new settlements, most of which were concentrated in the eastern (158), southern (130) and central (81) regions; during the stage of modern urbogenesis (XX century – beginning of XXI century) – 284 new settlements, most of which were concentrated in the eastern (155) and southern (55) regions. It is concluded that over a period of more than 2.000 years of urban development, the structure of the urban network has changed several times, in accordance with the needs of the population and economic characteristics. Each newly formed network of cities, based on the previous one, increased the number of settlements, as the old cities no longer corresponded to the new factors and lost their importance in the structure of settlements. Usually at each stage of urbogenesis of Ukraine a certain group of cities was formed, which are the representatives of the principles of urbanization of their time.