Home – Home – Jornals – Region: Economics and Sociology 2026 number 1

The article presents the results of many years of research into the urban environment of Russia’s closed administrative-territorial formations (CATFs), which are unparalleled in other countries in terms of their number and diversity. It shows that the latter is linked to the peculiarities of the formation of the defense potential of the USSR and Russia in a hostile environment and the need to ensure the security of strategically important facilities. Due to the secrecy of information, there have been virtually no publications on various aspects of the functioning of CATFs for half a century. However, since the early 2000s, articles and monographs have begun to appear in Russia on the history of their creation, legal grounds, and contemporary socio-economic realities. At the same time, the subject of such works is, naturally, not secret facilities, but the specifics of the urban environment of closed administrative-territorial formations. Based on an expanding array of open information, this article highlights the features, essence, and causes of the new problems facing closed cities. In conclusion, it presents some thoughts on the hypothetical functioning of CATFs in the format of a federal territory.