Development of Russia through the eyes of a country expert. A.I. Treivish is trying to answer pressing questions of the geography of development: whether it leads forward or circles, whether there are schemes that are uniform for all countries. The main feature of the book is a multi-scale vision of the country and its parts. The author builds a consistent chain of research: a country against the background of the world - a region against the background of a country and a world - a city against the background of a region, a country and a world. The development of Russia as a whole, the nature of its regional network and the problems of regionalization are shown. A separate chapter is devoted to the historical and modern role of cities with the allocation of leading cities in the regions, in the country and in the world.