Tourist and Recreational Development of the Makazhoi Basin Cultural Landscapes: Potential, Threats and Prospects

Aim. A comprehensive study of modern patterns for tourist and recreational development of the Makazhoi depression cultural landscapes in the North-Eastern Caucasus (Chechen Republic, Russian Federation).
Methodology. The study applies the method of cultural landscape analysis based on identifying territorial homogeneities by the principle of unity of landscape components, economic types of its development and ethnocultural community. It allows to identify cultural landscape complexes, their spatial distribution, historical functionality and belonging to a certain ethno-social group. The data of visual interpretation of satellite images, derived morphometric characteristics of the digital elevation model SRTM (the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) and historical and geographical literary sources for the area of the object of study are used as source materials.
Results. 27 cultural and landscape complexes have been identified. The preferred trajectories of their tourist and recreational development have been developed with reference to the identified natural and cultural-historical attractors. Three modern tourist and recreational clusters of the Makazhoy Basin are considered from the standpoint of their impact on the environment and the adverse geoecological processes caused by them. Ideas for revitalizing the traditional pastoral landscape as an object of research are proposed.
Research implications lie in the consideration of the tourist and recreational development specifics, unprecedented in intensity for the territory of the Makazhoy Basin, and the geoecological problems caused during this activity in order to develop proposals for the environmental optimization of developing projects.

1. Akhmadov Ya.Z. Ocherk istoricheskoy geografii i etnopoliticheskogo razvitiya Chechni v XVI–XVIII vekakh [Essay on the historical geography and ethnopolitical development of Chechnya in the 16th–18th centuries]. Grozny, 2009. 423 p.

2. Bajrakov I.A. [Tourist and recreational resources of the Argun Historical, Architectural and Natural Reserve]. In: Rekreatsionnaya geografiya i trendy razvitiya turizma [Recreational Geography and Tourism Development Trends, Irkutsk, 2021, pp.193–196.

3. Bekmurzaeva L.R., Bratkov V.V., Kerimov I.A. [Current Climatic Trends in the Mountain Landscapes of the North Caucasus Against the Backdrop of Global Climate Change]. In: Izvestiya Dagestanskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta. Yestestvennyye i tekhnicheskiye nauki [Dagestan State Pedagogical University Journal. Natural and Exact Sciences], 2022, vol.16, no.3, pp.56–62.

4. Vedenin Yu.A. [Kenozerie Territory: Cultural Landscape Zoning]. In: Naslediye i sovremennost [Heritage and Modern Times], 2019, vol.2, no.2, pp. 20–34.

5. Daukaev A.A., Abumuslimov A.A., Zaburaeva H.Sh., Daukaev A.A., Abumuslimova I.A. [Tourism and Recreation Industry of the Chechen Republic: History and Modernity]. In: Vestnik akademii nauk Chechenskoy respubliki [Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of the Chechen Republic], 2020, no.3. pp.22–29.

6. Dinnik N.Ya. Po Chechne i Dagestanu [Across Chechnya and Dagestan]. Tislis, 1906. 78 p.

7. Dotsenko V.V. [Geomorphology of North Yursk Depression within the Chechen Republic and Adjacent Territories]. In: Groznenskiy yestestvennonauchnyy byulleten [Grozny Natural Science Bulletin], 2021, vol.6, no.1, pp.17–40.

8. Ivanenkov N.S. [Mountain Chechens]. In: Terskiy sbornik [Tersky Collection], 1910, no.7, 223 p.

9. Kalutskov V.N., Matasov V.M., Shulgin P.M. [Applied Cultural-Landscape Zoning Of Small Historical Territory (Case Study: the Kazan Kremlin)]. In: Pskovskiy regionologicheskiy zhurnal [Pskov Journal of Regional Studies], 2015, no.21, pp.97–108.

10. Mikhailovsky G.P. [In memory of Nikolai Alekseevich Sokolov]. In: Yezhegodnik po geologii i mineralogii Rossii [Yearbook on geology and mineralogy of Russia], 1907–1908, vol.9, pp.205–210.

11. Nabieva U.N., Shakhabasov S.M. [The role of the cultural heritage of Dagestan in the formation of a tourist destination]. In: Vestnik Dagestanskogo nauchnogo tsentra RAN [Bulletin of the Dagestan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences], 2006, no.24, pp.141–145.

12. Ozerova N.A. [Lake Kezenoi-Am in the 19th – Middle 20th Centuries as an Object of Study and Tourist Attraction]. In: Vestnik akademii nauk Chechenskoy respubliki [Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of the Chechen Republic], 2021, no.4, pp.73–85.

13. Petrov L.A. [Historical Routes of Travelers of the 19th and 20th Centuries as a Valuable Resource for the Development of Recreation in the Middle and High Mountains of Chechnya]. In: Nahaev M.R. Problemy i perspektivy razvitiya turizma: regionalnyj aspekt [Problems and prospects for the development of tourism: a regional aspect]. Grozny, 2021, pp.153–159.

14. Petrov L.A. [Cultural Landscape's Spatial Structure of Mid-High-Mountainous Chechnya]. In: Izvestiya Dagestanskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta. Yestestvennyye i tekhnicheskiye nauki [Dagestan State Pedagogical University Journal. Natural and Exact Sciences], 2021, vol.15, no.4, pp.76–79.

15. Rabazanov N.I., Barkhalov R.M., Rabazanov R.N., Markevich G.N. [State of the Population of Kezenoi-Am Trout (Salmo trutta ezenami Berg, 1948) and the Forecast of the Development of the Ecological Situation in Lake Kezenoi-Am]. In: Aridnyye ekosistemy [Arid Ecosystems], 2022, vol.28, no.1, pp.131–139.

16. Rossikov K.N. [State of the lakes of the northern slope of the Central Caucasus. Report on 1893 and 1894]. In: Zapiski Kavkazskogo otdela Imperatorskogo Russkogo geograficheskogo obshchestva [Notes of the Caucasian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society], 1895, no.18. pp.440–447.

17. Rossikova A.E. [Journey through the central part of Mountainous Chechnya]. In: Zapiski Kavkazskogo otdela Imperatorskogo Russkogo geograficheskogo obshchestva [Notes of the Caucasian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society], 1896, no.18, pp. 139–228.

18. Meganck L., Santvoort L., Meyer J. Regionalism and modernity: architecture in Western Europe, 1914–1940. Leuven, Leuven University Press, 2013. 240 p.

19. Tsenova V., Wood G., Kirk D. Designing with Genius Loci: An Approach to Polyvocality in Interactive Heritage Interpretation. In: Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 2022, vol.6, no.6, pp.1–38 p