Old industrial areas in the conditions of economic space transformation in post-industrial era
In the post-industrial era, under the influence of the fourth industrial revolution (industry 4.0), a transformation of the economic space is taking place, as a result of which the place and role of the old industrial areas have changed. During the period of industrialization, they determined the importance of the leading countries in the world economy, were the concentration of heavy industries. After the emergence in the second half of the twentieth century of new innovative, non-metal-intensive industries (electronics, electrical engineering, etc.), old industrial areas became depressed. The infrastructure created during the industrial boom, as well as the labour culture, a high level of education of the population etc., give a chance to revive these areas. Most of them are breaking up the old industrial structure and introducing new high-tech industries. Such depressed areas primarily included areas of the textile industry, coal basins with a concentration of metallurgical plants, coke plants and other heavy industry objects. Especially the crisis affected areas with a significant share of large enterprises. The use of settlement systems established in old industrial areas, which consists mainly of small and medium-sized cities, without a radical breakdown of traditional socio-economic structures, has become an attractive factor for moving here not only innovative industries, but also non-production units of a number of firms (R&D, computer centers, etc.). In a number of countries, these regions were de-industrialized - tertiary sectors, especially tourism, began to actively develop in them. The author systematized and outlined the problems that affect the pace of modernization of old industrial regions. Based on the example of leading Western countries, he substantiated the proposed ways for the Russian regions to overcome the systemic crisis that characteristic of old industrial regions. The work may be useful for theachers and students of the geographical and economic departments of universities.