Competition of municipal strategies 2022: history of strategic planning and flagship projects

The article describes the experience of designing and conducting a competition of municipal strategies “Implemented Strategies: From Idea to Execution”, held in 2022. The competition is seen as a method of practice analysis of municipal strategic planning in Russia during 25 years (1997-2022). The materials of participants i.e. 33 municipalities from 19 regions were studied. The participants were divided into three size groups by population. In each group, the winner in the final nomination “The Best Strategic Planning System” was determined based on the results in two intermediate nominations - “The Most Stable Strategic Planning System” and “The Best Flagship Project.” The best in the final nomination were the city of Belogorsk (Amur region), Surgut district and Surgut (both are located in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - Yugra). The systems of strategic planning of Koltsovo work settlement (Novosibirsk region), Surgut district and the city of Surgut, starting their history since 2002, 2005 and 2004, respectively, are recognized as the most stable ones. In terms of flagship projects, Zadonsky district (Lipetsk region), Michurinsk (Tambov Region) and Novorossiysk (Krasnodar Krai) are in the lead. Based on the materials of the competition, two approaches to strategies’ updating are identified: frequent change of strategies with a short planning horizon and regular updating of a long-term strategy. The flagship projects were grouped by industry orientation. (Most of the projects are presented in the groups “Production”, “Infrastructure, urban environment, transportation”, “Social sphere, culture, sports”; few projects were in the areas of housing and communal services and ecology.) The criteria for the quality of a set of flagship projects are identified: balance of the set of projects by industry, clear relation with the priorities of the strategy, provision of accelerated development in a certain area, concreteness of the results.