The relevance of the research problem stems from deep contradictions between the socio-economic development of the territories and the state of the environment. Therefore, the main task of territorial administration is the need to ensure sustainable development of natural and human systems, which combines a steady improvement in the economic and social conditions of the people with a long-term conservation of ambient environmental quality.
The purpose of the article is to develop theoretical stances for the geosystem approach to managing the socio-economic development of the territories and proposals for their implementation. From the geosystem approach perspective, the functioning of the territorial administration is largely dependent on its optimal territorial organization, which is oriented towards preserving a high level of environmental quality, economic development within limited resources, and solving social problems. The geosystem approach is worked only when coupled with a socio-economic approach to managing the territorial administration, which is a basis for its application.
The methodological framework for this approach is a systems analysis that makes it possible to take effective decisions on managing the territory as part of the coevolutionary development of nature and society. Despite the fact that some elements of the geosystem approach are applied in the practice of territorial administration, its scientific and methodical provisions have not yet been fully formulated. The article describes the main theoretical provisions of geosystem approach to managing the socio-economic development of the territory. There were considered the characteristics of socio-economic systems on a basin-landscape basis. The results can be effectively used in managing the socio-economic development of the territories as well as in the development of territorial planning schemes.