The main trends in the spatial development of the Russian Federation, as well as most countries of the world, include the concentration of economic growth in a limited number of centres. The factors of socio-economic development of the largest agglomerations are a capacious domestic market, a high level of human capital development, innovative potential, entrepreneurial activity, a high-quality urban environment and developed social infrastructure. There is a concentration of agricultural production in areas with the most favourable agro-climatic and soil resources and a favourable position of relatively capacious consumer markets, mainly in the central and southern parts of European Russia and regions with access to the Baltic and Black Seas, as a result of the increased role of transport and geographical location concerning international markets. The economic specialization of some territories has become inefficient as a result of changes in market conditions for the production location.
The period of natural birth of the rural population, where it was artificially concentrated and forcibly retained for a long time, has long passed and for socioeconomic reasons has been replaced by a movement to the cities. The viability of rural areas is lost with the depopulation, disintegration and disappearance of villages and hamlets. The population's capacity for food self-sufficiency has significantly decreased, which is an important factor in achieving national and food security in emergency conditions of natural, economic and geopolitical nature, pandemics, economic and geopolitical crises.
The wealth of Russia is its territory and keeping the territory in a viable state is the main strategic task of the government but it is impossible to preserve the territory without living on it. A large number of abandoned houses and deserted territories make the space uncomfortable for living, rural population "make choice with their feet" leaving the historical places of their residence. The depopulation process is chaotic, informal, and is in the "grey" zone. In the centre, in the regions and locally, they, publicly recognizing the problems, are not ready to solve them either today or in the future, taking into account the current reality and future forecasts, ignoring the catastrophic nature of the existing trends. All strategies and plans, even if they are written, proceed from the usual idea of "expansion and growth": for four to five years it will be small (three per cent) with a steep rise after this period. This is the idea that growth will certainly be, moreover, it will be in the foreseeable future. Unwillingness to work on solving the problem of depopulation of rural areas while maintaining some control over the reducing population density of rural areas with the search for specific and visible alternative formats for preserving their viability, designed, for example, to live in small groups around modern agro-cities, leads to an increase in the number of abandoned villages and hamlets and complete "desertification" of rural areas.