Issue № 65. December 2017

The Assessment of the Development Potential of Small Towns and Its Effective Use

Marina Y. Sheresheva — Ph.D., Professor, Faculty of Economics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation.
E-mail: m.sheresheva@mail.ru

Matvey S. Oborin — Associate Professor, Perm Institute (branch) of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics; Professor, Perm State National Research University, Russian Federation.
E-mail: recreachin@rambler.ru

Ayi A. Kostanyan — postgraduate student, Faculty of Economics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation.
E-mail: ani.kostanyan@yandex.ru

The article analyzes the problems and prospects for socio-economic development of small cities and regional centers in the Russian Federation. Key approaches to the definition of regional socio-economic potential (including small cities) are defined. The authors describe the types and elements of socio-economic potential, as well as extensive and intensive factors of development, and propose a scheme of socio-economic potential of small cities, identifying the problems and advantages of these cities compared to large agglomerations. The authors characterize transport network development and the accessibility of small cities, and estimate the resource potential of three regions of the Russian Federation: the Vladimir region, the Tula region and the Perm Krai. For each element of the potential, ways of increasing the efficiency of its use are proposed.

Keywords

Socio-economic potential, territorial development, small city, resources, state and municipal management.