Purpose of the Program:

• Development of the concept of natural and economic organization of the territory of the North Kazakhstan Region in the context of sustainable development.

Program Objectives:

To develop the concept of natural and economic organization of the region, the following objectives will be achieved:

1. Development of the conceptual foundations for organizing the North Kazakhstan Region based on the principles of sustainable growth. A review of global best practices will be conducted, key features of the region will be identified, and the most suitable foundations for territorial organization will be selected;
2. Analysis of global practices for the effective development of territories based on spatial and landscape planning — a review of best international experiences across several continents will be conducted, comparative analysis will be carried out, and conclusions and recommendations will be formulated;
3. Assessment of climatic, water, and land components of territorial development — natural and climatic conditions will be studied using modern technologies. An inventory of natural resources will be conducted, and previously developed technologies will be scaled up;
4. Assessment of labor resources as the foundation of socio-economic development — collection of data over the past 20 years, analysis of demographic and migration indicators, gender and age composition of the population, training in educational institutions, identification of trends, and forecasting the development of labor resources;
5. Assessment of transport and communication infrastructure and the availability of services — collection of materials, digitization in GIS, database creation, and evaluation of the condition, capacity, and accessibility of services;
6. Assessment of the economic efficiency of sustainable development of the studied territories — collection of data for the past 20 years, analysis of development trends, assessment of sustainability, forecasting, and organization of a multi-criteria analytical model;
7. Development of a series of digital maps on land use and land management for effective spatial and landscape organization — collection of cartographic materials, updating outdated maps using remote sensing (RS) and field surveys, digitization in a GIS environment, database formation, and creation of a series of digital maps;
8. Determining the optimal option for spatial and landscape planning of the territory, taking into account labor and land resources as well as the economic potential of the region — development of a Decision Support System (DSS), obtaining DSS recommendations, preparation of several planning options, comparative analysis, and selection of the most optimal option;
9. Development of a set of measures for sustainable growth of the North Kazakhstan Region based on linking the existing or new framework of settlements to land and water resources, with the identification of the necessary socio-economic conditions — obtaining DSS recommendations and development of a set of measures;
10. Development of a comprehensive program of spatial and landscape organization of the North Kazakhstan Region with scientifically substantiated measures in the context of sustainable development — obtaining DSS recommendations and development of a set of scientifically based activities.

📄 Calendar plan

• For 2024:
  The conceptual foundations for the arrangement of the North Kazakhstan Region based on the principles of sustainable growth will be developed, in particular:
  • A review of world scientific literature over the past at least five years will be conducted, highlighting global practices for developing conceptual frameworks for territorial arrangement.
  • A spatial database will be compiled, consolidating materials and data on the natural-climatic and socio-economic indicators of the North Kazakhstan Region.
  • A website will be developed providing complete information about the program, including the list of participants, publications, patents, and user resources.
• For 2025:
  • World practices for effective development of territories based on spatial and landscape planning will be analyzed.
  • Climatic, water, and land components of territorial development will be assessed.
  • Labor resources will be evaluated as the foundation of socio-economic development.
  • Transport and communication capabilities and the availability of services will be assessed.
  • The economic efficiency of sustainable development of the studied territories will be evaluated.
  • A series of digital maps on land use and land management will be created.
  • Spatial and landscape planning options will be developed taking into account the region’s resources.
  • One publication will be issued in a highly rated international journal and eight in journals recommended by the Committee for Quality Assurance in Science and Higher Education (CQASHE / KOKNVO).
• For 2026:
  • A comparative analysis will be carried out, and the optimal option for spatial and landscape planning will be selected.
  • A comprehensive set of measures for sustainable regional growth will be developed, linking settlements to natural resources.
  • A set of spatial and landscape development measures with scientifically substantiated solutions will be elaborated.
  • Methodologies, guidelines, and recommendations for the Regional Development Program will be developed.
  • Curricula for at least ten disciplines will be updated, and three new disciplines will be developed.
  • A working curriculum for a new educational program will be created.
  • Eight articles will be published in peer-reviewed journals and two in those recommended by CQASHE (KOKNVO).
  • A monograph providing an in-depth study of land development issues will be published.
  • A seminar will be held to present the research results.
  • Patents will be obtained, and intellectual property objects will be registered.
  • At least one result will be registered as a Research and Development Outcome (RNNTD).
  • The program website will be updated with achieved results.

📄 Calendar plan for 2026

📄 Calendar plan for 2025

📄 Calendar plan for 2024–2026

📄 Report for 2024

📄 Report for 2025

Within the program, an analysis of global practices for efficient land development using spatial-landscape arrangement will be conducted. Climate, water, and land resources will be evaluated using modern GIS and remote sensing technologies, including stereoscopic, multispectral, thermal satellite imagery, radar sensing, and gravimetry.

A multi-criteria analytical model will also be organized, incorporating information layers of retrospective and forecast data in time differentiation for labor resources, transport, and communication opportunities, as well as economic efficiency of sustainable development in the studied territories. Based on the obtained data, a series of digital maps for land use and spatial planning will be developed, and the optimal option for spatial-landscape planning will be determined.

The program includes the development of an adaptive concept for the sustainable development of the natural and economic structure of the North Kazakhstan region. This concept includes a set of measures ensuring effective risk management in the context of climate change, geopolitical and economic conditions, as well as natural disasters that negatively impact the region's development and its ecosystem.

One of the key features of the program is the scaling of previously developed land-use technologies (based on GIS, remote sensing, and process-analytical hierarchy methods), creating conditions for the development of irrigated agriculture using meltwater in the North Kazakhstan region, and the establishment of a decision support system (DSS) for regional planning and spatial arrangement.

The DSS will include three specialized modules:

• Potential of land use
• Risks associated with pollution and geotechnical hazards
• Data related to the assessment of economic viability of existing facilities

The program implementation will ensure:

• Methodology for creating digital relief models (DRM) and terrain models (DTM) based on up-to-date and large-scale data
• Organization of a multi-criteria analytical model
• Development of a decision support system for regional planning

As part of the implementation of the program, the following publications and results are planned:

• 9 (nine) articles and/or reviews in peer-reviewed scientific journals within the program's scientific direction, included in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd quartile by impact factor in the Web of Science database and/or with a CiteScore percentile of at least 50 in the Scopus database.
• 10 (ten) articles in journals recommended by the Committee for Control in Education and Science (CCES).
• 1 (one) monograph recommended by the KazNAIU Academic Council.
• 5 (five) intellectual property objects (patent; for IT-related applications — copyright certificate) registered with the National Institute of Intellectual Property of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Useful information for potential users: