Changes in the Functional Use of the Space of Dagestan Settlements in the Conditions of Socioeconomic Transformations of Mountainous Territories

The article considers the transformation of the settlement structure of the Dagestan mountainous territories and changes in the daily use of the mountain villages’ space as an interconnected process using the evolutionary-functional principle and the principle of multi-scale. To achieve the study objectives, a typology of the mountainous and foothill territories of Dagestan was carried out based on the analysis of the population of settlements, their high-altitude and center-peripheral position. Further, in accordance with the typology carried out, key villages were selected to study the directions of transformation of the villages’ space functional use by their residents. In addition to statistical data, the study is based on the materials of three expeditions to the Republic of Dagestan in 2020–2022. The authors surveyed 10 districts and more than 30 rural settlements. The methodology of the mountain villages’ survey is based on the method of field observations, expert and narrative interviews. In addition, as the key most typical mountain villages, the features of the use of public spaces by residents of the five settlements of Fiy, Tsumada, Echeda, Tlokh, Gubden are considered in detail (data on other surveyed settlements were used to identify common patterns in the space use). As a study result, it was revealed that the dynamics, internal differentiation and the nature of the use by residents of mountain villages’ public territories is determined by the settlements’ geographical location, the preservation of agrarian functions, the religious factor and to a lesser extent the ethno-cultural differences of local communities, which are more pronounced in mountainous Dagestan compared to other regions of the North Caucasus. The assumption was confirmed that the transformations taking place in the functional use of the village at the local level are the result of socio-cultural changes taking place at the regional and country levels.