USUARIO – BENEFICIARIO

The history of territorial strategic planning in Russia and public discussions of the projects starts in 1997, when the first Strategic Plan in the Russian Federation was developed for St.

Petersburg. Until April 2003, St. Petersburg was the only one of the 12 largest cities in the Russia that had a complete strategic development plan.⁵⁴

Therefore, the St. Petersburg Strategic Plan elaborated by Leontief Center has become a model for the first Russian city strategies. It was developed as a public contract agreement, signed by 145 members of the General Council. The work on the Plan (October 1996 - December 1997) was carried out in an open way, with wide media coverage and conferences, involving interested stakeholders among business, government and society.

The Plan was adopted on December 1, 1997, taking into consideration the European and American practices.⁵⁵

50 Batchaev, Arthur; Zhikharevich, Boris. 2014. Sankt-Peterburg v postsovetskij period: ekonomicheskie strategii i razvitie, p:81.

51 Yusupov, Danijar. 2013. Planirovanie gorodov i regionov: gorodov i regionov: problemy rosta gorodov, gorodskaja ekologija, perspektivy ustojchivogo gorodskogo razvitija, p: 89.

52 Pavlov, Oleg. 2015. Zakon v nadezhde na planirovanie. Russia is on the brink of a recession after oil, the country’s largest export, slumped more than 50 percent since June. The ruble has tumbled 47 percent over the past six months as financing restrictions and export bans imposed by the U.S. and its allies after President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea prompted investors to flee the currency. Korby, Boris; Pavliva, Halia. Russia Cut to Baa3 by Moody’s on Oil as Junk Rating Looms. Bloomberg.com, 16.01.2015, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-16/russia-cut-to-baa3-by-moody-s-on-oil-plunge-as-junk-rating-looms (accessed February 3, 2015)

53 The previous site of the Strategy-2030, accessed and consulted in February 2015, does not function anymore (July 2015).

54 Petrov, Aleksander. 2014. Strategic Planning in St. Petersburg as a Manifestation of Transition to Sustainable Development Economy, p:424.

55 http://www.stratplan.leontief.ru/chtotako/kak.htm

23 In comparison to strategic documents developed for the western cities, the St.

Petersburg Strategic Plan developed during the post-Soviet transition phase included the paragraphs on ‘’formation of favorable business and investment climate’’,

‘’reformation of local public services’’,

‘’improvement of the budgetary expenditures efficiency’’. ⁵⁶ In fact, as Semenov and Shtompel argue, ‘’in post-Soviet countries strategic documents have to consider the local factors, in particular Strategic Plan has itself signified a shift from the traditional Soviet planning complex detailisation to just essential basics for sustainable development of the city in a competitive market environment.⁵⁸

Indeed, according to Tatarkin, ‘’the strategic plan is based on the needs of the practice, taking into account specific needs of the city and its competitive capabilities. The Plan is characterized by high level of innovations aimed at solving the problems of restructuring the economy, accelerated development of industrial and social infrastructure, etc’’.⁵⁹

The St. Petersburg Strategic Plan strived to achieve two main goals: firstly, to raise discussion on the city development priorities and problems among the representatives of different spheres; secondly, to lobby the interests of the city at the regional, Federal and international level.⁶⁰

Accordingly, the Plan was noted for its focus on key areas of the city development, correlation between the long-term perspective and definite immediate actions. In addition to the universal mission statement – ‘‘a stable improvement in the residents’ quality of life’’, the Plan identified a specific goal characteristic of St. Petersburg, such as ‘‘the formation of

56 Batchaev, Arthur; Zhikharevich, Boris. 2014. Sankt-Peterburg v postsovetskij period: ekonomicheskie strategii i razvitie; Zhikharevich, Boris. 2000. Mirovoy opyt strategicheskogo planirovanija gorodov i ego ispolzovanie pri razrabotke strategicheskogo plana Sankt-Peterburga.

57 Semenov V., Shtompel N. 2010. Kompleksny podhod k formirovaniju prioritetov i struktury strategicheskih planov ustojchivogo razvitija krupnejshih gorodov i regionov, p:543.

58 Zhikharevich, Boris. 2006. Desjat let gorodskim strategijam v Rossii.

59 Tatarkin, Alexander. 2012. Forming of the regional institutions of spatial development of the Russian Federation, p: 58.

60 Semenov V., Shtompel N. 2009. Formirovanie ustojchivogo razvitija megapolisov, p:179-184.

Figure 1. Strategic Plan objectives.

Source: St. Petersburg Strategic Plan (1998) http://www.stratplan.leontief.ru/draft/bearing.htm (accessed April, 2015)

24 St. Petersburg as a multifunctional city, integrated in the Russian and world economy, ensuring a high quality living environment and production’’.⁶¹

Stable improvement of quality of life of all residents of St. Petersburg was to be achieved by:

creation of a favorable business climate; integration into the world economy; improvement of the urban and social environment. The Strategic Plan highlighted several major projects:

‘’reconstruction of the historic center and its effective use; preparation for the tercentenary of the city; development of the Sea port, highways, transport and economic complex as a whole, highlighting St. Petersburg as the European gate of Russia in close cooperation with the Leningrad region and other regions of the North-West; establishment of the best economic climate in Russia as the basis for investment and economic growth in competitive branches of industry, science, education’’.⁶² St. Petersburg was envisioned in the Plan, with the Barcelona model as a template, as ‘‘Russia’s gateway to Europe, a cultural capital with an open economy, which offers sustained improvement in the quality of life for its residents’’.⁶³ Actually, the Plan developed on the threshold of the 300^th anniversary of St. Petersburg (2003) signified both ‘’reconstruction of the physical space and construction of the new image of the ‘most European city in Russia’. Ideology of ‘Europeanness’ (‘evropeiskost’) formulated in the Plan should have promoted St. Petersburg at the international level to attract international investment’’.⁶⁴ According to Axenov, Brade, Bondarchuk, ‘’St Petersburg was the first city in the Russian Federation to redefine its role within the European and Russian economic area. In order to have a real chance of being integrated into the European economy, St Petersburg had to strive for a clearly defined international functional specialization’’. ⁶⁵

Despite these facts, the Strategic Plan still did not feature any implementation deadlines. As Risin and Shatalova point out, ‘’most Russian cities’ strategic plans are characteristically conceptual in their nature, as they do not contain a calculated assessment of the resources required to implement the declared goals’’.⁶⁶ Indeed, the Plan did not contain any normative

61 Risin I. E.; Shatalova E. A. 2007. Strategicheskoe planirovanie socialno-ekonomicheskogo razvitija gorodov:

zarubezhnyj i rossijskij opyt, p: 29-30.

62 Zhikharevich, Boris; Limonov, Leonid. 1999. Opyt razrabotki i monitoringa Strategicheskogo plana St.

Peterburga; Zhikharevich, Boris. 2000. Realizacija, monitoring i korrektirovka Strategicheskogo plana.

63 Trumbull, Nathaniel S. 2014. Culture-led development and conflict over urban space: reimag(in)ing St.

Petersburg, Russia, p:1; Trumbull, Nathaniel S. 2003. The impacts of globalization on St. Petersburg: A secondary world city in from the cold?

64 Zhelnina, Anna. 2011. “Learning to use the public space”: perception of the urban spaces in the post- soviet context, p:4.

65 Axenov, Konstantin; Brade, Isolde; Bondarchuk, Evgenij. 2006. The Transformation of Urban Space in post-Soviet Russia, p:38.

66 Risin I. E.; Shatalova E. A. 2007. Strategicheskoe planirovanie socialno-ekonomicheskogo razvitija gorodov:

zarubezhny i rossijskij opyt, p:30; Bojkova, Marina; Ilina, Irina; Salazkin, Mihail. 2011. Budushhee gorodov:

goroda kak agenty globalizacii i innovacij, p:44; Knyaginin V.N.; Lipetskaya M.S. 2008. Prakticheskie aspekty razrabotki strategij socialno-ekonomicheskogo razvitija regionov RF.

25 prescriptions, providing direction for the long-term development, it did not feature topical solutions to the economic progress of the city. ⁶⁷

By 2004 28% of planned initiatives in the Strategic Plan were either poorly realised or not carried out at all. Among the realised projects there were: the World Bank loan for the city historic center reconstruction, adoption of the city’s General Plan, ongoing construction of the Ring Road, etc.⁶⁸

The sum up, the first Russian Strategic Plan adopted for St. Petersburg in 1997 was different from other types of plans, as well as strategic plans of the Western cities. Unusually for the Russian practice, the document was developed openly and democratically from the very beginning involving public hearings, commission meetings, publication of intermediate results in the media, consideration of incoming comments and suggestions.⁶⁹

2.3.2. Concept of Socio-economic Development of St. Petersburg - 2020