Perm hosts the All-Russian Conference "Development of Urban Agglomerations as an Element of the State Policy of Russia”

Photo by Vitaly Koksharov

Members of the All-Russian Association for the Development of Local Self-Government and representatives of federal agencies came to Perm to discuss the development of urban agglomerations.

On September 30, Perm hosted the all-Russian conference "Development of Urban Agglomerations as an Element of the State Policy of Russia". It is organized by the All-Russian Association for the Development of Local Self-Government (AADLS) and Perm City Administration.

Representatives from different municipalities of the country – Samara, Yekaterinburg, Ufa, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow as well as mayors and representatives of the municipalities of Perm Krai came to Perm to discuss the development of urban agglomerations. A number of municipal representatives joined the conference via video link.

Andrey Maksimov, Chairman of the Commission on Territorial Development and Local Self-Government of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, moderated the plenary session of the conference.

“It is not by chance that Perm is hosting this conference and has become one of its initiators. It is one of the few cities with a population of  a million of people in the country that was born from an agglomeration, namely from the workers’ settlements that the city absorbed. Furthermore, Perm is one of the pioneers and leaders in the systematic development of agglomerations in Russia," Andrey Maksimov addressed the conference participants.

He also noted that the regions of demographic growth over the past 10 years are those in which there are large agglomerations. The centers of this growth are their cores, i.e. the largest cities of Russia.

Aleksey Demkin, the Mayor of Perm, opened the conference with a report “Perm Urban Agglomeration as the Basic Element of the Advanced Economic Development of the Western Urals”. He said that in addition to Perm, the Perm agglomeration includes Perm, Dobryanka and Krasnokamsk districts, as well as Zvezdny ZATO and the towns of Dobryanka and Krasnokamsk.

"In the current economic and political situation, the strengthening of inter-municipal connections becomes more relevant and necessary than ever. It is precisely horizontal links between cities that contain a new potential for the development of urban communities. At the stage of shaping the concept for the development of the Perm urban agglomeration, its first stage, including the city of Perm and the Perm district, was singled out. But even within the first stage, the Perm Urban Agglomeration is one of the largest agglomerations in the Urals," Aleksey Demkin emphasized.

The Mayor of Perm also added that Russia's Spatial Development Strategy defines Perm as one of the largest centers of economic growth, forming a large urban agglomeration. Our city is an important transport center of Russia, through which all the main federal highways and the Trans-Siberian Railway pass, and there is also a major waterway – the Kama River. Perm has a high investment potential and ranks second among cities with a population of one million, except for Moscow and St. Petersburg, in terms of investment in fixed assets per capita.

At the moment, the Concept of Socio-Economic Development of the Perm agglomeration until 2030 has been worked out, as well as the plan of joint measures for the implementation of the Concept, taking into account which projects for the creation of transport, communal and social infrastructure facilities are being implemented. Thus, the formation of the Perm agglomeration is also designed to facilitate the convenient functioning of the special economic zone being created in Perm, which is of an industrial and production type. Here resident companies will implement projects in the areas of petrochemistry, mechanical engineering, metal-working and information technology. Residents of the special economic zone will invest more than 27 billion rubles in their projects. The new project of creating a surface metro, implementation of which has already begun, initiated by the Governor of the Perm Region Dmitry Makhonin, is supposed to make travelling within the agglomeration more convenient. Aleksey Demkin also discussed with his colleagues the creation of legal and organizational conditions for the formation of urban agglomerations, as well as ways to stimulate the development of agglomerations and their regulatory support.

In addition, a field trip program was arranged for our colleagues from other cities. For example, the city's guests toured the facilities, which has been improved and built for Perm's 300th anniversary.

"I am grateful to the administration of Perm for bringing together representatives of different cities on one platform. Samara here represents the largest non-capital agglomeration – the Samara-Togliatti agglomeration. Its borders are home to 2.8 million people, a system of industrial parks has been created, and a special economic zone has been established. We have considerable experience, and we have exchanged best practices and discussed problems with colleagues. This was my first visit to Perm and I certainly noticed the large-scale pace of construction. The city wants to dazzle everyone by its 300th anniversary. I have seen many interesting things for myself, and I hope to use them in Samara," shared his impressions Maksim Kharitonov, First Deputy Mayor of the Samara City.

As a reminder, the Association for the Development of Local Self-Government was established in May 2019. At present, the Association includes all regional associations – the Councils of Municipalities of all subjects of the Russian Federation.