The first agglomerations in our country began to form during the Soviet Union, and these trends, associated with the growing importance of cities and the influence of urbanised areas, have been further developed in the new Russia.
The agglomeration process is a wave-like process, its intensity depends on many factors, including the development of transport infrastructure, which directly affects pendular migration, which, in turn, is one of the main characteristics of this phenomenon.
The Federal Law ‘On Strategic Planning’ (No. 172-FZ of 28.06.2014), adopted in 2014, outlined the main guidelines, and in 2019 the ‘Strategy for Spatial Development of the Russian Federation’ for the first time legally introduced the concepts of large and largest agglomerations.
In 2020, the Ministry of Economic Development prepared a package of draft laws aimed at legal regulation of the development of urban agglomerations and improvement of legal mechanisms for inter-municipal cooperation. The package included a draft federal law ‘On Urban Agglomerations’ and two draft laws designed to adjust related laws and amend the Civil Code of the Russian Federation in connection with the development of inter-municipal cooperation in agglomerations. The package was not approved.
How will the process of institutionalisation of the concept of ‘agglomeration’ in Russia develop further? And is the lack of comprehensive legislative regulation of agglomeration construction a blocking factor for the implementation of agglomeration development projects and improvement of management models?
We will discuss with experts the practices of Russian regions and examples from friendly countries.