The article is dedicated to the issues of interaction between established settlement systems located within specially protected natural areas of the Northwest Federal District of Russia. The purpose of the study is to identify and systematize key models of interaction between settlements and their systems with specially protected natural areas, which will allow for the formation of a scientifically grounded approach to territorial planning and management of these spaces. The research object includes elements of settlement systems located within specially protected natural areas of the Northwest Federal District of Russia. The study examines settlement systems (as functional-hierarchical structures) and specially protected territories (as regulated areas) through the lens of their intersection – in the context of their spatial interaction as interrelated territorial systems. The methodology of the research is based on identifying key factors determining the nature of their interaction: the scale of the specially protected natural area, transport connectivity, settlement structure; and a typological approach to classifying forms of spatial proximity between settlement systems and specially protected natural areas. As a result of the analysis covering grouped settlement systems and specially protected natural areas of the Northwest Federal District, four types of their interaction were identified: central, grouped, dispersed, and autonomous. The concept of a grouped settlement system within specially protected natural areas was introduced and substantiated. Systematization of interaction types allows for the establishment of a rational approach to managing specially protected natural areas, taking into account the specifics of settlement, and forming flexible approaches to territorial planning, where specially protected natural areas and settlement systems act as elements of a unified spatial structure. The proposed typology serves as a tool for balanced management of territories, where environmental protection functions and the needs of settlements are not opposed but mutually complement each other.
Ivan Sergeevich Dmitriev (Thu,) studied this question.