This article examines the improvement of administrative-territorial divisions (ATD) as a factor in regional development and the implementation of the “Strong Regions” priority of the Socioeconomic Development Program of Belarus for the period 2026–2030. The article identifies the problems of ATD, defines key global trends in spatial development at the present stage, examines the evolution of changes in ATD in the country, and summarizes the theoretical basis for the formation of spatial boundaries for the implementation of economic relations. Key theoretical principles for the consolidation of administrative-territorial units by merging cities of regional subordination and adjacent administrative-territorial districts are developed, which forms the scientific basis for practical application in the merger of the cities of regional subordination Baranovichi, Pinsk, and Bobruisk with the districts of the same name.

1. On approval of the program of socioeconomic development of the Republic of Belarus for 2026–2030: decision of the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly of December 19, 2025, no. 1. National Legal Internet Portal of the Republic of Belarus. Available at: https://pravo.by/document/?guid=12551&p0=P925v0001 (accessed 08.01.2026) (in Russian).

2. Vertinskaya T. S. From state to public model of local self-government in the Republic of Belarus: advantages, conditions and necessary transformations. Vestnik Instituta ekonomiki NAN Belarusi = Bulletin of the Institute of Economics of NAS Belarus, 2021, iss. 2, pp. 47–65 (in Russian). https://doi.org/10.47612/978-985-08-2743-2-2021-2-47-64

3. UN-Habitat’s strategic plan 2026–2029. UN-Habitat. Available at: https://unhabitat.ru/assets/files/publication/sp_brochure17.pdf (accessed 07.11.2024).

4. UN-Habitat. Cities and action: world cities report, 2024. Bloomfield, United Nations Publications, 2024. 373 p. Available at: https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/2024/11/wcr2024_-_full_report.pdf (accessed 07.11.2024).

5. Ivanov O. B., Buchwald E. M. Spatial development strategy: new developments and old problems. ETAP: ekonomicheskaya teoriya, analiz, praktika = ETAP: Economic Theory, Analysis, Practice, 2022, no. 5, pp. 7–26 (in Russian). https://doi.org/10.24412/2071-6435-2022-5-7-26

6. Elizarov S. A. Formation and functioning of the system of administrative-territorial division of the BSSR (1919–1991). Gomel, Sukhoi State Technical University of Gomel, 2009. 222 p. Available at: https://elib.gstu.by/bitstream/handle/220612/10593/formirovanie_i_funkcionirovanie.pdf?sequence=8&isAllowed=y (accessed 16.02.2026) (in Russian).

7. On the unification of districts and cities of regional subordination having a common administrative center: Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus of January 14, 2023, no. 27. National Legal Internet Portal of the Republic of Belarus. Available at: https://pravo.by/document/?guid=12551&p0=P31300027 (accessed 14.04.2025) (in Russian).

8. Granberg A. G. Fundamentals of regional economics. Moscow, HSE University, 2000. 495 p. (in Russian).

9. Vertinskaya T. S. Theoretical and practical foundations of economic integration of regions of the EAEU member states: using the example of the participation of the Republic of Belarus. Minsk, Belaruskaya navuka Publ., 2018. 372 p. (in Russian).

10. Marshall A. Principles of economics. Vol. 1. Moscow, Progress: Univers Publ., 1993. 415 p. (in Russian).

11. Becattini G. Le district industriel: milieu créatif. Espaces et Sociétés, 1992, no. 66–67, pp. 147–163. https://doi.org/10.3917/esp.1992.66.0147

12. Ukrainskii V. N. Modern French spatial economy: proximity theory and typology of localized economic systems. Prostranstvennaya ekonomika = Spatial Economics, 2011, no. 2, pp. 92–126 (in Russian).

13. Rastvortseva S. N., Grinyova N. A. The issues of regional competitiveness in the works by the researchers of the swiss school of territorial production systems. Ekonomika regiona = Economy of Region, 2010, no. 4, pp. 60–63 (in Russian).

14. Krugman P. Space: the last frontier. Prostranstvennaya ekonomika = Spatial Economics, 2005, no. 3, pp. 121–126 (in Russian).

15. Borts G. H., Stein J. I. Economic growth in a free market. New York, London, Columbia University Press, 1964. 235 p.

16. Gadzhiev Yu. A. Neoclassical and cumulative theories of regional economic growth and development. Korporativnoe upravlenie i innovatsionnoe razvitie ekonomiki Severa: Vestnik Nauchno-issledovatel’skogo tsentra korporativnogo prava, upravleniya i venchurnogo investirovaniya Syktyvkarskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta = Corporate Governance and Innovative Economic Development of the North. Bulletin of Research Center of Corporate Law, Management and Venture Investment of Syktyvkar State University, 2008, no. 1, pp. 6–23. Available at: http://koet.syktsu.ru/vestnik/2008/2008-1/1/1.htm (accessed 14.04.2025) (in Russian).

17. Pred A. R. The spatial dynamics of U. S. urban-industrial growth. 1800–1914: interpretive and theoretical essays. Cambridge, M. I. T. Press, 1966. 225 p.

18. World development report 2009: Reshaping economic geography. Washington, World Bank, 2009. 383 p. https://doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-7607-2

19. Zhuravleva E. M., Rogozina R. E. The application of the isochrone method to study the boundaries of the Orel urban agglomeration. Geographicheskii vestnik = Geographical Bulletin, 2025, no. 3 (74), pp. 50–62 (in Russian). https://doi.org/10.17072/2079-7877-2025-3-50-62

20. On the development of the Orsha district of the Vitebsk region: Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus dated December 31, 2018, no. 506. National Legal Internet Portal of the Republic of Belarus. Available at: https://pravo.by/document/?guid=12551&p0=P31800506 (accessed 16.02.2026) (in Russian).

21. Alimova E. Parkhomchik: We have managed to create a solid foundation on which to build the future of the Orsha region. SB.BY. Belarus today. Available at: https://www.sb.by/articles/zadachi-zavtrashnego-dnya-orsha.html (accessed 17.02.2026) (in Russian).