FEATURES OF URBANIZATION IN THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC
Dyldaev Mirlan Muktarovich, Candidate of Geography, Dean of Faculty of ecology and managment of K. Karasaev Bishkek State University, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic
In the Kyrgyz Republic, the urban population is 36 %. There are more than 31 cities in the country, and the main distinctive feature of urbanization is that it took place in a mountainous territorial location. Urban areas, as a rule, are mainly located in the valley and low-mountain zone of the Republic, with the exception of some urban systems, which are located in the mid-mountain part. In the Kyrgyz Republic natural and historical processes and cultural and traditional features have influenced the formation of a specific form of urbanization. It differs from the classical type in a relatively small historical period of time-about 100–150 years (excluding ancient fortresses, mausoleums and caravan trade sites). This distinguishes urbanization in the Republic from the world processes of urbanization, the continuity of which has a thousand-year history. In the last twenty years the pace of urbanization has become spontaneous, around large cities (Bishkek, Osh, etc.) so-called «new buildings» have grown, built up with low-rise buildings without adequate infrastructure, which has significantly worsened the sanitary-epidemiological and environmental situation.