Issues concerning spatial development for many years were on the periphery of the economic policy agenda of Kazakhstan since its existence as an independent state. The launching of the “State Program on the Development of Monocities for 2012-2020” can be considered as the first spatial development program in more practical sense. Before this, the concept of spatial development was limited to major cities and to the development of the capital city.
Kanat Makhanov is a research fellow at the Eurasian Institute of the International H.A Yassawi Kazakh-Turkish University. He holds a BA in Business Economics from the KIMEP University from 2012. In 2014 he earned his Masters degree in Economics from the University of Vigo (Spain), completing his thesis on “Industrial Specialization in autonomous regions of Spain and Kazakhstan”. His main research interests are Spatial Economics, Economic Geography, Regional Economics, Human and Economic Geography.