Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 29th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview WG6: Evidence-Based Public Policy Making (Physical) Author(s) Anton Gorodnichev Higher School of Economics Moscow Russian Federation Title Opportunities and limitations of Russian national public policy in the field of spatial development of cities File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Anton Gorodnichev Abstract The Russian government run a national project "Housing and the Urban Environment" in 2018, which is a sign of a new stage of a national urban policy in Russia. Russian cities are facing challenges in creating an affordable housing market and renovating urban centers. Nevertheless, two main aims of Russian government and the President are 1) high-rise mass housing development (industry growth by one and a half time by 2028); 2) urban centers redevelopment with mass housing based on private developers and ignoring public housing programs. Overcoming of these challenges is restricted by national economic stagnation and low households' incomes. The implementation of this national project will take place under the conditions of massive governmental financial and regulatory interventions. I consider the national project "Housing and the Urban Environment" a new milestone of urban governance in Russia, although it is evident that the Russian government has been implementing urban courses of national urban policy since 1990th as regulation of urban zoning policy or housing policy. For achieving two main aims, the Russian Government transforms these courses. Although Russian cities have faced numerous challenges for the last 30 years like many post-socialist cities in Central and Eastern Europe, I proposed that the new phase of national urban policy does not intend to solve the main problems of Russian cities. This research aims at evaluation of implementation of national public policy in the field of spatial development of cities – with the help of what mechanisms, what governance models and in what ratio such policy is realizing. The research problem is within the framework of modern theories of meta-governance and network governance. Therefore, I put forward two main research hypotheses: 1) The achievement of the goals of national public policy in the field of spatial development of cities is possible with the balanced implementation of various governance models – hierarchical (command), market and network; 2) The public policy in the field of spatial development of cities is aimed at improving the physical condition of cities, and not at solving social problems. For analysis of Russian urban policy design, we should define a set of institutions and bureaucratic procedures, which is a toolkit of implementation of national urban policy in Russia. There are some tools: 1) A program-target method and a project method in urban planning and urban governance; 2) Sub-national authorities' power frames for establishing rules in urban governance and spatial development for their municipalities; 3) Redistribution of resources among Russian regions, cities and developmental state corporations like DOM.RF, VEB.RF etc.; 4) System of motivations of local and regional civil servants who are responsible for urban governance and planning; 5) Establishing key indicators and aims for urban development in governmental and local programs such as strategies, general plans, and national projects. This research is based on an analysis of the federal urban planning legislation, as well as some cases of Russian cities, whose experience formed the basis of the national urban policy. The research includes official statistics from the Federal State Statistic Service, Russian Government, and local authorities, development programs, comprehensive plans of cities, federal and regional legislation.
