Human centered development of Russian megacities: Opportunities and limitations

Abstract

Currently, the role of the big cities in the development of economy and society, the organization of high-quality urban space for people are widely discussed. However, there are still many unresolved urban issues with the crucial one being the need for the city-person interaction. Better interaction, diversity in satisfying the population’s needs, feedback from an active citizen who influences the development of the city are the attributes of modern metropolis that competes for any person. City’s advantages result in a greater population size and better quality of their life. Otherwise, the city shows the degradation signs and population decline. The purpose of the study is to justify the need for a multi-criteria assessment of living conditions in the Russian megalopolises under the citizens’ needs and the improvement of modern urban space. This assessment could guide the managerial decisions in defining the strategic priorities in city development. The following methodological tools were used: experts’ assessments of urban environment quality, demographic analysis of urban population movement; positioning of Russian megacities by criteria ‘urban environment quality’ and ‘population’s cost of living’, their grouping by the qualitative characteristics of urban environment; content analysis of the strategic documents for the development of the largest megacities. The novelty of the study is a new interpretation of the concept of ‘place’ in terms of the urban area. It is defined in a broader sense rather than a particular localization with the borders. It is an urban environment with a set of different opportunities to meet citizens’ growing needs. The study arrives at the approaches to a multi-criteria assessment of the living conditions in million cities under the citizens’ needs. To do this, the authors applied the methods of the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities in the Russian Federation and analyzed the conditions and dynamics of the urban environment, studied the demographic processes, and evaluated the megalopolis attractiveness under the income and cost of living ratio. This revealed the challenges of the cities which could be theoretically solved in the strategic documents of megalopolis development, while the development of efficient mechanisms could help in the practical implementation of the solutions (municipal programs and projects). The article offers to analyze and constantly update the strategic documents of the million cities with regard to the public opinion and the needs of city dwellers in high-quality urban space. The authors worded the need to re-define the urban space which used to be interpreted as a place for living and the human role in its development. The results of the study could be of interest to public authorities and local governments that strategically manage the million cities. Further research is seen to be connected with the development of a comprehensive integral multi-criteria assessment for the current condition and dynamics in the urban space quality to define the megalopolis competitiveness in terms of their interest for the citizens.