Abstract
In the context of the reorientation of regional policy in Kazakhstan toward the formation of managed urbanization, it becomes relevant to study asymmetry within the regional space in terms of the interaction of regional centers with their surroundings. The article analyzes the spatial differentiation of the regional socio-economic development of Kazakhstan along the ‘center-periphery’ axis, formed on the basis of the degree of proximity to the regional center of neighborhood zones of different orders. The analysis showed that urbanization and concentration of the population in agglomerations and regional centers manifested themselves in the strengthening of the center-periphery spatial differentiation of socio-demographic indicators. The center-periphery relations are most clearly manifested in the dynamics of the population settlement: decline in population increases with distance from regional centers. To quantify the center-periphery spatial differentiation, median values of indicators and coefficients of variation for per capita values of the main socio-economic indicators by neighborhood zones were used. Among the main economic indicators, there can be observed an increasing contrast in spatial differentiation in per capita values of industrial output. Higher values of the coefficient of variation for this indicator show a trend toward the concentration of industrial production. At the same time, a decrease in the value of the coefficients of variation for the volume of retail trade and commissioning of the total area of residential buildings per capita indicates a tendency to spatial smoothing in the distribution of income