RUSSIAN AGGLOMERATIONS WITH A METROPOLIS CORE: FEATURES OF GOVERNANCE AND IDENTITY POLITICS

Abstract

The article presents information about various models of agglomerations, as well as the author’s view on the problems of managing agglomerations with a center in metropolitan cities, the feasibility and possibility of forming the identity of residents of such territories. 16 Russian agglomerations of this type have been identified. The current experience of identifying structural units in megacities and existing forms of managing them are generalized. Key debatable issues regarding the optimal form of management organization have been identified, and it has been shown that in our country, the tasks of coordinating the development of agglomerations are most often transferred to the management structures of the metropolis itself. In our country, the “mechanistic” approach dominates in understanding the essence of the development of agglomerations, which assigns the most important role specifically (and only) to the economic development of the territory. The author is convinced that it is inappropriate to pose the task of forming the territorial identity of the inhabitants of the agglomeration to the authorities at the moment, however, a policy of identity of the agglomeration should gradually be formed, including seven main directions: institutional and programmatic development of plans for the development of the agglomeration, polyvariant symbolic “marking” based on territory branding, inclusion of the involvement of the population in the agenda to determine their attitude to the development of the agglomeration, the formation of images of the agglomeration and residents in the eyes of the political and managerial elite and the population, the development of political and socio-cultural practices for the formation of territorial identity, monitoring the satisfaction of the population with the actions of the authorities, identifying the correlation in mass consciousness of various types of territorial identity.

Keywords:

metropolitan areas, agglomerations, management strategies, identity politics, Russia