Strategic planning in Russian regions: Spatial development issues

Strategies for the socio-economic development of Russian regions must necessarily include sections devoted to spatial aspects, which in some cases, however, fail to reach their goals due to crude methodological recommendations aimed at effective problem-solving within the regional strategy. The paper discusses the theoretical and methodological fundamentals of sections on spatial development included in the socio-economic development strategies of the RF subjects (using the case of the Ural Federal District (UrFO)). The study rests on the theories of strategic management, as well as regional and municipal management. The research data are obtained from regulatory documents and strategies for the socio-economic development of the UrFO subjects. Qualitative analysis methods were used. We reveal the structural specificity, goals, indicators and measures covered in the sections on spatial development. Despite the existence of the methodological recommendations, each RF subject tends to establish the structure of the ‘spatial’ section based on regional priorities and characteristics. The article reports on the most successful practices of spatial planning in terms of agglomerations and clusters, placement of industrial and social facilities, infrastructure, including the functional zoning of territory, identification of the promising areas of the region’s existing and emerging economic centers’ specialization, etc. Based on the research findings, we recommend to more actively use zoning by the level of socio-economic development, pinpoint promising growth points relating them to the current strategic projects, and develop target indicators more accurately considering the dynamics of population settlement, location of production and infrastructure development.