About the practical use of social and economic zoning in public administration system (case study of the European North of Russia)

In reply to proposals of some politicians regarding integration of subjects of the Russian Federation, the author suggests not “to reshape” significantly the territorial-political system of our country and not to go beyond those sections of the Constitution of the Russian Federation which reflect the essence of the Russian federalism. In modern conditions it would be enough: to continue and finish the transformation of autonomous areas as not corresponding to the status of the subject of the Russian Federation; to adjust the boundaries of the federal districts and large economic areas that will expand the functions of offices of the President of the Russian Federation regarding strategic social and economic and urban planning; inside the new federal districts (and corresponding new large economic areas) to allocate spaces (territorial-economic systems) as the operational units of public administration to enhance social and economic ties between the regions and the implementation of large economic projects; to strengthen the regulatory role of intra-regional (-territorial, -republican) zoning as obligatory element of schemes of territorial planning. In such aspect some directions for improvement of the economic and administrative-territorial zoning in the northwest of Russia, including the strengthening of integration ties within the Dvina-Pechora economic system and the unification of the Republic of Komi and the Nenets Autonomous Area into a single region - the new subject of the Russian Federation, are considered.