From the Editors

Abstract

Since 2022, the journalIzvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk. Seriya Geograficheskayais publishing special issues onimportanttopicsin geography. Thecomprehensivespecial section offered to readers’ attention is another innovation of the journal. Thiscollectionhas been prepared for the centennial of the International Geographical Union and its congress in Paris (July 2022). It includes seven review articles. Their English translations are simultaneously published in the journalRegional Research of Russia, no. 1 for 2022.These circumstances determine articles’ genre and fundamental features. The topics of the articles were chosen so that the special section reflects areas in which the most striking results have been achieved and which are specific to Russia. The authors are leading Russian experts in their respective fields. They have tried, as far as possible, to compare the topics, methodological approaches, and research results with the world mainstream. The main focus is on the last decade, 2010–2021; when necessary, the authors also have referred to earlier publications. The authors of most of the articles pay attention to the peculiarities of spatial development that arose in 2020–2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.