A coherent approach to the development of a modern model of the spatial development of the Ukrainian economy

Abstract

The article outlines the dominant features and tools for the application of a coherent approach to the development of a modern model of the spatial development of Ukraine’s economy, taking into account the context of administrative and financial decentralization and the post-war recovery of Ukraine. The authors offer the definition of spatial coherence of regional development as a synthetic (integral) characteristic that reveals the ability of the territorial-social system for spatial integrity, integration, connectivity, and coherence in the social, economic, and institutional plane at the local, regional, subregional, macroregional, and national levels. The article substantiates that the effectiveness and harmony of the spatial development of Ukraine are achieved under the condition of the implementation of a coherent approach to ensuring spatial cohesion and strategic competitiveness of regional development (the defining priorities of the 2027 State Strategy for Regional Development). However, the simultaneous achievement of these tasks is often difficult due to their asynchronicity, which manifests itself in the issues of approaches, tools, and mechanisms of regulation and development. This calls for the development of scientifically-based recommendations for the improvement of regional policy in Ukraine based on the search for the optimal balance and coordination of priorities (mechanisms) for the achievement of spatial coherence (cohesion, integration, and inclusion in the economic, social, and institutional spheres) and the development of promising and strategically competitive types of economic activity, which would take into account the competitive advantages of territorial and social systems and be based on the priorities of their smart specialization, ensuring in the future the increase of territorial capital and growing social, budgetary, and economic returns for the regional system in general. The subject areas of conceptual and applied tasks for the formation of a modern model of spatial development of the economy of Ukraine on a coherent basis are defined. The financial, economic, institutional, and spatial planning instruments of coherence of strategic socio-economic and spatial priorities of development of territorial social systems of different levels and the policy of integrated development of regional and local systems and coordination of strategic and spatial planning at the national level are substantiated.