Methodological approach and tools for ensuring region's balanced spatial development

Due to the concentration of labor, financial, and other resources in agglomerations and “denudation” of regions’ periphery, a number of significant problems are becoming more acute in the transformation process of spatial economic structure. Such problems threaten the balance of intra- and interregional development. One of them is an important differentiation of Russian regions’ municipalities in terms of socio-economic development level. There is a dilemma of choosing the regional spatial policy vector: either to support the growth points’ development (agglomerations, special economic zones, territories of advanced socio-economic development), or to reduce socio-economic inequality through additional support for the periphery development. Using the integration of the concepts of the reference frame and sub-regional approach, the research proposes a methodological approach to the balanced spatial development of the region. On the region’s territory, the research distinguishes natural sub-regions, which are the elements of the territory’s reference economic frame, and artificial sub-regions, which are based on inter-municipal cooperation. The essence of the approach is to establish balance between regulation of natural economic processes in the region (for example, institutionalization and reduction of agglomerations’ negative effects) and state support for depressed territories’ development(for example, program sub-regions’ formation). Its usage in the regional management practice allows forming methodological basis for working out strategic documents for the region’s spatial development, economic, organizational, institutional, and social instruments of regional policy. The work presents a set of tools for improving the spatial development balance of the Republic of Bashkortostan, related to the development of natural sub-regions which are already objective growth points in the region, as well as aimed at stimulating the economic self-development of depressed and peripheral territories of the Republic of Bashkortostan.