Laura Ashirbekova

The creative industries sector is snowballing, and many developing countries see it as a tool for national and local development. Given the regional specificity, political narratives adopted in developed countries may not apply in economies under transition. This paper aims to evaluate the current state of creative business in emerging countries such as Kazakhstan. Adopting the design of a qualitative method, 34 semi-structured interviews were conducted with entrepreneurs and owners of small and medium-sized businesses in Kazakhstan’s creative industries. The Nvivo 10 qualitative data analysis software was used for processing the data. The interviews help to understand better the factors affecting the development of the creative industry. In general, results indicate insufficient support from government agencies, lack of accessible resources to support entrepreneurs (65% of respondents used their capital, while 17% of them were forced to apply for loans from a bank), information availability, and skills shortage. Shortage of skills is also related to the creative brain drain in Kazakhstan. One of the main problems is access to materials and technology since most of the resources are foreign-made and imported.

Acknowledgment
The authors appreciate the grant funding for young scientists Scientific and (or) in the years 2020–2022 the MES science project number AR08052483 “Creative Industries: methodological aspects of classification and quantitative measurements in the Republic of Kazakhstan” in the framework of the budget program 217 “Development of science”.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Intensifying urbanization has created significant social, economic, and environmental sustainability challenges. The study aims to analyze the sustainable development of urban agglomerations in Kazakhstan. Five urban agglomerations (Aktobe, Almaty, Astana, Karaganda, and Shymkent) are evaluated using our methodological framework, which involves social, economic, and environmental sub-indices and their aggregation into an integral Urban Agglomeration Sustainability Index interpreted according to our normalized scale. The analysis utilizes 21 indicators from the Bureau of National Statistics of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan, covering the period from 2016 to 2024. Findings indicate that the population of Kazakhstan’s urban agglomerations increased to 8,885.1 thousand people (27.0%) between 2016 and 2024. Ongoing urbanization is characterized by both polarization and scale effect. Kazakhstan’s urban agglomerations remain in a developing stage, exhibiting mostly quasi-sustainability (level B). In 2024, the Urban Agglomeration Sustainability Index was 18.2 (A) for Astana, 16.2 (B) for Almaty, 14.5 (B) for Karaganda, 13.0 (B) for Aktobe, and 11.1 (B) for Shymkent, out of a maximum of 27. The hierarchy of leaders (Astana and Almaty) and outsiders (Shymkent) has remained stable throughout the period. Functional specialization is evident: Astana demonstrates high social sustainability (7.4, A), Karaganda excels in economic sustainability (7.0, A), and Aktobe leads in environmental sustainability (6.0, A). These results underscore the need for comprehensive, balanced policies that foster simultaneous development across economic, social, and environmental domains, reduce interregional disparities, and establish mechanisms for sustainable growth.