METHODOLOGY FORMATION OF SMALL CITIES DEVELOPMENT IN RUSSIA
Relevance of the topic. The article illustrates issues related to the methodology formation of questionnaires of the socio-economic development of small cities in Russia.
The current statistics for small cities are incomplete and do not cover all the significant aspects of the development of municipalities.
The problem of low quality of life of the population in small cities is noted against the background of the favorable potential of the territories for the development of the economy, its diversification. Thus, the problem lies in the effective use of internal marketing tools to enhance the effectiveness of comprehensive measures aimed at improving the social and economic space of small cities and regional centers.
The purpose of the article is to develop the method of questioning, intended primarily for representatives of local government bodies and affecting a wide range of issues related to the current socio-economic situation of municipalities and the directions for its improvement.
Methods. To develop the structure of the questionnaire, sociological methods, approaches of the regional economy and the theory of public administration are used. The novelty of the study is to include a number of questions in the questionnaire, information on which has never been collected at the municipal level (in particular, the block of questions on the network interaction of cities). The methodology of the questionnaire developed in the article is tested on small cities in three regions of Russia - the Vladimir and Tula regions and the Perm Territory), and in the future it can be used in all constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
Results. As a result of the study, the questionnaire was compiled, which included unique survey blocks related to the network interaction of small cities. The approach to the survey of heads of small cities and representatives of local authorities, proposed in this article, provides a comprehensive assessment of the current situation of these cities, factors and prospects for their development. Representatives of local governments regularly face many factors, both limiting and stimulating the development of cities. Such information is not available in statistical compilations and is not available to external experts.
The main conclusions: the approach to the survey of heads of small cities and representatives of local authorities, proposed in this article, allows obtaining a comprehensive assessment of the current situation of these cities, factors and prospects for their development.
Keywords: small cities, questioning, social and economic development, local self-government, network interaction.
Highlights:
a comprehensive assessment of the current socio-economic situation of small cities on the basis of the questionnaire;
a presentation of limiting and stimulating factors of small cities development;
the developed questionnaire can become a basic tool that can be adapted for internal marketing of territories, municipalities;
on the basis of the proposed range of issues, the range of respondents whose opinion is significant can be expanded.
Marina Yu. Sheresheva, Doctor of Economics, Professor, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Director of the Center for Network Economics Studies, Head of the laboratory of institutional analysis of the Faculty of Economics; Matvey S. Oborin, Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor, Perm Institute (branch) of Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Professor, Perm State National Research University; Alexander M. Pakhalov, a research scientist at the laboratory of Institutional Analysis of the Faculty of Economics, Lomonosov Moscow State University; Ani A. Kostanyan, a post-graduate student, Lomonosov Moscow State University.