Macroregions as the innovation in strategizing the spatial development of the Russian economy

It is extremely important for Russia as a Federal State to approve the meso-level of strategic planning within the framework of transition to the system of planing. The role of such type of planning is to link and coordinate federal strategies both of sectoral and spatial nature with the strategies of social and economic development of the regions of the Russian Federation. Until recently, such a role, although quite passively, was played by the strategies of the federal districts, which were mainly based on the principle of mechanical summation of regional strategies with an attempt to promote somehow the practice of interregional cooperation. When developing the strategic planning documents in accordance with the requirements of the 172nd Federal law the hypothesis of linking the meso-level of such planning to macroregions, partly as an alternative to federal districts was generated. The concept of macroregion is well known in the regional development theory and it is also tested in the national economy, in particular in the form of the system of so-called “councils of national economy” (Sovnarkhoz). However, in modern conditions taking into account the realities of Russia and the specifics of the economy of the market type, the approval of the macroregion as a special subject of strategic planning requires a wide range of legal, economic and institutional prerequisites which are studied in this article.