Strategic management of northern urban agglomerations in Russia: Regulatory, legal, and organizational aspects

Urban agglomerations serve as key drivers of socio-economic development. However, their management at the regional level remains insufficiently studied. This article examines the regulatory and organizational aspects of strategic management for the development of urban agglomerations located in the Far North of Russia or the territories equated to this region. The study draws on both domestic and international experiences in strategic urban agglomeration management. In the Russian context, the authors identify a hierarchical structure of documents related to agglomeration development at the regional, inter-municipal, and municipal levels. A detailed analysis of strategic management documents was conducted for five northern urban agglomerations — Arkhangelsk, Norilsk, Khanty-Mansiysk, Surgut, and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The findings reveal significant variation in the content and comprehensiveness of the available documents, indicating the absence of a unified system for the strategic management of urban agglomerations. A key issue is the lack of coordination among the strategic planning documents of municipalities within each agglomeration. Additionally, inter-municipal cooperation tools are not being utilized effectively. Among the cases analyzed, only Norilsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and Surgut have developed formal concepts or plans for agglomeration development. The study’s scientific contribution includes the diagnostic assessment of the strategic management system for northern urban agglomerations, as well as the development of a methodological approach to classifying strategic planning documents. Future research will focus on designing an organizational and economic framework for managing the development of northern urban agglomerations.