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DOI: 10.15862/35FAOR425 (https://doi.org/10.15862/35FAOR425)

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Belov I.A. The concept of balanced regional development. Genesis, content, and relationship with adjacent categories. Russian journal of resources, conservation and recycling. 2025; 12(s4). Available at: https://resources.today/PDF/35FAOR425.pdf (in Russian). DOI: 10.15862/35FAOR425

The concept of balanced regional development. Genesis, content, and relationship with adjacent categories

Belov Ilya Andreevich
Togliatti State University, Samara, Russia
E-mail: ilya.belov83@gmail.com

Abstract. Balanced regional development is one of the most widely used yet least precisely defined concepts in regional economics. A.G. Granberg interpreted it through sectoral structure proportionality, S.N. Bobylev linked it to the trinity of economy, society and ecology, while V.V. Kudrevich, E.I. Piskun and I.S. Kusov formalized it through mathematical models. The author traces the genesis of the concept from the Soviet school of territorial planning (L.V. Kantorovich, V.V. Leontief) through the UN sustainable development framework to the works of Ya.P. Silin and E.G. Animitsa on regional economics paradigm evolution. Six approaches to definition are systematized, three levels of analysis identified, and four adjacent categories delineated. It is shown that none of the existing approaches captures all significant dimensions of balance simultaneously, necessitating integration across scientific schools. The model-formalized and paradigmatic approaches, previously excluded from typologies, substantially expand the category’s content beyond traditional sectoral proportions. The analysis reveals that the concept’s content varies not only across scientific schools but also across levels of analysis, requiring a multi-level definition. An original definition is proposed whereby balanced regional development is a state of a regional socioeconomic system in which proportions between economic, social, and environmental subsystems ensure reproduction of territorial resource potential without accumulation of structural disproportions. The practical value lies in the applicability of the proposed definition as a conceptual foundation for developing balance monitoring indicator systems at various territorial levels.

Keywords: balance; regional development; sustainable development; proportionality; regional economics; socioeconomic system; structural disproportions; territorial planning; resource potential; spatial development

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