The First Five Years of Urban Strategic Planning in Russia under Federal Law (2014–2019)

Abstract

The article continues a cycle of research on the status of strategic planning in Russian municipalities. The paper presents formalized results of an analysis of texts of 82 socioeconomic development strategies elaborated and adopted in cities with populations of more than 100 000 people over five years from the beginning of the Federal Law On Strategic Planning in the Russian Federation (from mid-2014 to mid-2019). In the study, a search was conducted, and a dataset of official urban strategy texts was formed. For the study period, 75 of 168 cities included in the size (by population) group developed new strategies (45%). Each text is characterized by a content codifier. For each strategy, the characteristics of continuity, balance, and ambitiousness were obtained, the declared and real priorities and presence of flagship projects were identified, the scale of planned transformations in the structure of the economy was estimated, and industry priorities were fixed. Special attention is paid to reflection of spatial development aspects in strategies. Analysis of the frequency of using marker words in formulations of the main goals of strategies and missions of cities showed that “quality of life” remains the leading phrase: it is used in 69% of the main goals. It is gratifying to note the attention paid to comfort (40), urban environment (41), space (6), people (24), and such characteristics as favorable/prosperous (21) and sustainable (26). Many cities focus on innovation (27), strive to unlock their potential (27), increase competitiveness (19), attract investment (11), and improve governance and self-government (12). Less commonly mentioned are entrepreneurship (10) and infrastructure (10). The generalizing characteristics of the dataset of 82 strategies for 2014–2019 are calculated and compared with the characteristics of the dataset of 40 strategies for 2010–2014. It has been revealed that the adoption of a federal law led to an increase in the number of strategies compared to the last five-year period, greater unification, increased attention to the project approach, and a decrease in ambitiousness.