Do small territories have a future?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

“In our countryside today, conditionally, an extra 15 million people live” - a phrase thrown by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin during a discussion with Chairman of the Board of the Center for Strategic Research Alexei Kudrin, quickly went online, becoming for many commentators a symbol of the authorities' attitude to the hinterland and its population.

The meeting between Sobyanin and Kudrin, which took place within the framework of the All-Russian Civil Forum, provided both participants with a high media response. Putin's index (the number of mentions in the media regarding the first person) for Kudrin and Sobyanin was 11.6% and 13.6%. However, the discussion did not reveal significant differences in positions and was generally in line with the spirit of the forum. There was a lot of talk about the trend towards the expansion of urban agglomerations, the inclusion of new spaces in them, the actual reproduction of the Chinese model. The creation of such hypercenters, uniting, for example, Yekaterinburg, Perm, Chelyabinsk in one node, seemed to the participants the only chance to withstand world competition between cities. The positions of Kudrin and Sobyanin could differ in details, but both of them acknowledge the existence of a common course towards further scaling of megacities. Sergei Sobyanin even announced this course as a ready-made big idea for the country: “15% of the population [of Russia] cannot find a job in small towns, that's 30 million. Make three Moscow out of 30 million, and our country's GDP would grow by 40%. We must concentrate this population in large cities, and not try to keep them with all our might."

Small towns and even more so villages look in this process as rudiments, doomed fragments of the past. From the discussion and its public discussion, one gets the impression that small territories do not have their own strong lobbyists, no one has formed a counter position. The Platforma Center for Social Design, which, together with the Timchenko Foundation, initiated the creation of the Expert Council for the Development of Small Territories, tried to figure out whether small territories are as bad as they are seen through the optics of hyperpolises. The results of the express analysis are in a joint article with Avelamedia. The project is published with the support of RASO, materials of expert discussions organized by the "Platform" were used.

Arguments in favor of enlargement

2017 in Russia was marked by a strategy boom. Two strategies are being developed by the Ministry of Economic Development: socio-economic development of Russia and a strategy for spatial development. In parallel, the CSR is working on its strategy. Small areas are one of the main pain points for the developers of these strategies.

- 18 agglomerations have been allocated, and all small territories must somehow get there, and whoever fails, these are their problems … But, despite this, Russia is a country of small and medium-sized cities. Of course, small territories have prospects. But there are a lot of problems as well.

(Andrey Nikiforov, Deputy Director of the Department of Strategic and Territorial Planning of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation)

The debate about whether it is necessary to support small areas has been going on for quite a long time, and its participants operate in a different way. Amalgamators view cultural and security issues through the prism of economics. Supporters of support for small territories prioritize issues that, in their opinion, are higher than the economy.

- This question is constantly raised on the site of the Gaidar Forum. We have very large experts, in fact, divided into two camps. There is a position, by the way, it is not a position of today, it has been going on for many years, which consists in the fact that it is necessary to evict people from small towns altogether.

(Dmitry Rogozin, Director of the Center for Federated Studies, INSAP, RANEPA)

The first argument for enlargement is regional inequality. In the opinion of supporters of the development of agglomerations, the support of hyperpolises will make it possible to smooth out the differences between Russian regions, which cannot be achieved by taking a course towards the development of small towns.

- The differences between regions in developed and developing countries are increasing. 15–20 years ago, differences between regions within one country became larger than differences between countries. Attempts to reduce these differences in Europe and other countries have failed. Therefore, the first challenge is that we cannot ensure the equalization of economic development between the regions. Any attempts to go against this trend do not lead to results.

(Alexey Prazdnichnykh, partner at Strategy Partners Group)

The second argument for enlargement is the quality of life, understood in economic terms. From the point of view of supporters of the line on the development of agglomerations, it is impossible to achieve a similar level of employment in relevant modern professions, a decent level of services and leisure in small towns. Therefore, there is no need to strive to preserve them, no matter what.

- We have no goal to preserve any specific territory. We have a goal to improve the quality of life. Therefore, if there are no jobs in monotowns, the level of alcoholism, drug addiction, violence is very high, you cannot solve this problem in an artificial economic way. If people from this territory move to a territory with new opportunities, their social, economic status will radically change. They will decrease, say, drink less, use less drugs, and so on. They will be a more integrated part of society and, in fact, happier.

(Alexey Prazdnichnykh, partner at Strategy Partners Group)

The third argument for enlargement is low local initiative. Infusion of small towns in the agglomeration is a more effective way of their development, because the heads of settlements are passive and do not use the existing development tools.

- We do not understand elementary things: how to fill out documents, go to some courses, be an elementary competent person in the position that you occupy. It is very difficult to understand how such people get to work in municipalities at the regional level, and it is not entirely their fault that they have no idea about the existence of any problems. Real life is like this. If you talk to financiers, they will say: there is so much money that from time to time there is nowhere to put it. Another thing is, if you receive this money, then how will you account for it, what will you spend it on.

(Roman Skory, former deputy head of the Federal Agency for Tourism)

Arguments against consolidation

The plot about the hopelessness of small territories is indeed in line with the state course, which has been implemented for a long time. At the heart of this course, in the opinion of experts advocating for the development of municipalities, is the state's distrust of the lower level of government.

- The attitude of the state to local self-government, to what is happening below, since the mid-2000s, is dismissive and mistrustful. It is believed that nothing that is worthy of support can happen there. Look at 131-FZ itself on the basics of organizing local self-government. To date, the local authorities have left only the connection to electricity and land issues. Why don't we worry about corruption anymore? Because there is no authority left, except to screw in the light bulbs.

(Sergey Rybalchenko, Director of the Institute for Scientific and Public Expertise)

The first argument in favor of supporting small areas is national security. What and who will occupy the space between agglomerations? If this is a desolate area, dissected by highways, development can turn into a disaster for the country. The question of how the concentration of the population in agglomerations with the simultaneous decay of small towns will affect national security is constantly raised, but there is still no answer to it.

- Outposts are important for Russia. Even if we make life for ourselves no worse than in large cities, even in small cities, they will exist and, thus, will support such a municipal framework. From my point of view, the municipal framework is what, in general, Russia should hold on to. If we lose it, well, we will have several scattered points. I believe that we will lose the whole country

(Sergey Rybalchenko, Director of the Institute for Scientific and Public Expertise)

The second argument in favor of supporting small territories is people, their connection with the identity of small settlements, the potential of “love of one's place”. The historical experience of resettlement of people from inhabited territories suggests that their connection with the settlement is not only economic in nature. In 1935, 294 residents refused to leave the city of Mologa, which was flooded during the creation of the Rybinsk reservoir. Experts implementing projects in small areas note the high social activity of the population. Even in the most hopeless places. This fact in itself indicates that the issue of resettlement in the agglomeration will not go smoothly.

- Small territories have advantages. These are the very same social groups. But they exist out of despair, because things in small towns are bad enough.

(Andrey Stas, Director of the Institute of Territorial Marketing and Branding)

- Human potential from the regions is not "washed out" - our experience refutes this hypothesis. By supporting regional cultural initiatives with grants, we see that people with creative potential live in small territories, who are directed to change lives for the better. By carefully studying their initiatives and projects, we will be able to pinpoint the drivers of growth.

(Elena Konovalova, Head of the Culture Department of the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation)

The third argument in favor of supporting small areas is the lack of data for high-quality strategizing. One of the main factors shaping the view of the development of small territories as a meaningless task is the lack of information necessary for their full and comprehensive understanding.

- Unfortunately, the Federation does not see municipalities at the statistical level. Rosstat, in principle, does not understand what is happening there, how the "natives" are doing there. So we are now bringing up the topic of statistics at the lowest level. This is necessary, firstly, so that we learn to build intelligible strategies, so that this is not the work of enthusiasts who travel to several cities, collect data themselves, and then compile ratings.

(Andrey Nikiforov, Deputy Director of the Department of Strategic and Territorial Planning of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation)

- Our modern research optics does not allow us to reveal the general characteristics of growing and developing cities and villages with a population of less than 100 thousand people and the general conditions for their growth. Rural areas, small towns, large cities, millionaires, agglomerations, megalopolises, hyperpolises - on such a scale, growth is now visible, only starting with millionaires and agglomerations. But, for example, the stable presence of small territories of Russia in the tops of the lists of the leading tourist and environmental ratings hints that we do not know everything about our country in order to draw radical conclusions.

(Vladislav Shulaev, co-chairman of the RASO committee for the development of territories, an expert of the AGT agency)

What can be done

The fork between the development of hyperpolises and the degradation of small areas is an example of a false choice between economy and culture. The country needs to preserve cultural constants, which inevitably globalize in big cities. This task does not contradict the task of ensuring economic growth, but complements it.

- Regional, urban and any other economy has a certain trend. We can try to be on the wave of these trends, or we can go against these trends. This is one topic. And the second aspect, we are talking about regions, cities, it is always a value, our roots. We are between a pragmatic language and a value language. Therefore, this topic is always very difficult.

(Alexey Prazdnichnykh, partner at Strategy Partners Group)

Nevertheless, there is an economy in small areas, and it can be developed. Small towns and villages provide a number of opportunities and benefits that could be the focus of strategies.

Small cities can compete with large cities as sites for high-tech industries.

- Is it possible to achieve long-term development of cities that are not included in the agglomeration? Gazprom comes to the city of Svobodny in the Amur Region, builds almost the world's largest gas processing plant, a major chemical cluster is being formed there, the Power of Siberia oil pipeline is laid nearby, China is nearby - there is a crazy context! And an explosive population growth is expected in the city.

(Maxim Isaev, Project Director of KB Strelka)

Small territories can be built into the new economy as centers of the experience industry, and it does not always make sense to be limited to the Russian scale.

- The WTO decided for us that in the current situation the country is capable of receiving 78 million foreign tourists a year. Where does that notorious "golden billion", all these wealthy people of the planet want to go? They don't need a shopping center in Moscow because it is no different from France, the United States and Japan. Nobody is interested in this anymore. Everyone is interested in authenticity, a return to roots, organic products. Even the Chinese, which is very surprising. Who are these people who will create these products that are in great demand on the world market? Residents of non-industrial areas.

(Roman Skory, former deputy head of the Federal Agency for Tourism)

Success on this path depends on finding a growth point for a small area. The opinion that all small towns are hopeless is refuted by the experience of a number of settlements.

- Sheregesh got rid of mono-dependence and became a tourist cluster. There is also the city of Baikalsk, its pulp and paper mill has not been functioning for a long time, and the city also has great potential for tourism development.

(Maxim Isaev, Project Director of KB Strelka)

Small territories can be a source of a polycentric model of organizing economic ties, which provides residents with greater comfort. But the use of this opportunity requires an additional vector of strategizing, taking into account the nature of the connection between settlements on the territory of the districts.

- In the case of agglomeration, the belts of the adjacent area are of a service nature for the center, and within the area, its center or large rural settlements serve the rest of the area. For small territories, the most promising development models are not “center-periphery”, but more polycentric ones, depending on the presence of more developed urban and rural settlements in it. It can be not only industrial, but also agricultural settlements based on cultural and leisure centers, museums, agricultural towns. It is necessary to develop a strategy for large rural settlements in order to give them the status of a center with higher standards of service, a more developed service part.

(Natalya Budyldina, Lead Analyst, Center for Applied Research and Development, National Research University Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg)

Finally, small territories can provide a country with a new model for the development of human capital based on the use of the potential of local communities.

- The development of local communities, and in the future the funds of local communities - perhaps this is one of the most important tasks for the territories to come to life. Moreover, so that they look for their own resources. There are elementary tools through which, it seems to me, we can form the infrastructure. And we, both federal players and local communities, could work effectively together.

(Alena Svetushkova, vice president for social affairs, head of the third sector development program of the Rybakov Fund)

The moment for the final solution of the issue of small territories is clearly not the best time now. Russia is not ready to give up small towns and villages. This means that their interests should be taken into account more closely at the federal level.

- The picture of hyperpolises, which the experts paint, is cold. It's chilly in this world. There is too much plastic, structures, automatic machines in it. It does not touch its own, genuine - that which small territories still preserve.

(Alexey Firsov, General Director of the Center for Social Design "Platforma")