It is substantiated that the institutional concepts of the latest institutional and behavioural economic theory should be placed in the methodological basis of the development of the institutional environment of the land management system. Institutions and institutes are the key to understanding the relationships between all subjects of the economic system of land management, and institutional changes determine the direction of its development and are a defining trend today. The institutional system in the field of land relations, land use and land management is a set of organically interconnected institutions and institutes that are a certain logically complete, integral unity, capable of self-development and self-reproduction, as well as organizations and individuals that act within given institutional restrictions regarding land relations and organization of land use. Firstly, the methodology of institutionalization of land management considers socio-economic systems through holistic development. The principle of the integrity of the socio-economic system research includes an interdisciplinary approach. Secondly, individuals receive characteristics through the prism of the existence of institutions and institutes that condition their behaviour and interaction. Thirdly, institutional changes require not only quantitative, but also qualitative methods of observation, which analyse not the results of changes (for example, indicators of efficiency and growth), but the direction, strategy and the very process of evolution with the clarification of the causes, all stages and forms of transformations.

The zones of ecological trouble cover about 15% of the territory of Russia, where the main production capacities and the most productive agricultural lands are concentrated. The Samara region is characterized by a distinct natural zonality from a typical forest-steppe in the North with a forest cover close to 30%, to an open dry steppe in the South with a natural forest cover of only 0.1...0.2%. The article presents an analysis of land use in the Samara region on the example of the Borsky municipal district. Research methods include environmental analysis and statistical data analysis.The article presents an analysis of the land use of the Borskiy municipal district. During zoning, the territory of the district is divided into the northern, central and southern parts. Assessment of environmental and economic parameters showed heterogeneity of the territory and the need for detailed consideration of climatic, soil, economic conditions in the design of landscape optimization systems, even in the municipal area. In general, the district's land fund experiences an average anthropogenic load, the ecological stability of the territory as a whole is characterized as unstable stable. In comparison with other areas of the Central MES, the municipal Borskiy district belongs to the category with an average ecological intensity with a stabilization index of 0.59 units due to the beneficial influence of the Buzuluksky area.