The Human Factor in Socialist Urbanization: The Emergence of New Guidelines.

The article provides information on the emergence of guidelines on human factor in socialist urbanization in the Soviet Union in 1987. In the initial stages of socialist urbanization, its principal driving force was the country's accelerated industrialization. The growth of cities, the formation of new settlement systems, and the redesigning of existing ones were determined by the plans for the location of industrial enterprises. It is the social factor that is of primary importance, and above all people's needs for a high-quality environment in which to live. The agglomeration of settlements, their formation into group systems, and other processes of integration in the settlement system are stimulated not only by the development of production, but mainly by the necessity of creating a high-quality life environment. The role of cultural and service establishments in shaping a city has been described often but the influence of the development of the mass media on urbanization is less recognized. Their activity has had tremendous integrating influence on the state of public consciousness of the country's population. To the degree that the standards of culture created in the large cities spread, the countryside has advanced to the status of a city, the small city to the status of a large city and the periphery to the center.