The government approved the country's Spatial Development Strategy until 2030
The formation of a balanced spatial development system to achieve national goals, the search for optimal forms of territorial economic organization, and the development of key population centers that form the country's infrastructure and economic framework—these and other tasks are reflected in the new Spatial Development Strategy until 2030 with a forecast until 2036. The resolution approving it was signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
One of the innovations in the approved strategy is the creation of a unified list of key population centers, whose development will contribute to achieving the national development goals set out in the President’s May decrees of 2024.
The list of key population centers includes urban agglomerations, administrative centers, and cities where new investment projects are being implemented, significantly impacting the economy. Additionally, it includes cities where residents are involved in ensuring national security and maintaining critically important infrastructure. Also included are settlements, including rural ones, performing pivotal functions. These locations host medical facilities, schools, universities, and cultural centers serving the needs of surrounding areas.
Among the priority tasks for developing key population centers are housing construction, the creation of communal and social infrastructure to attract workforce, transportation development, and the expansion of interregional economic ties.
Improving the quality of life in these key points will largely enable addressing pressing spatial development issues in larger territories—federal districts, Russia’s Arctic Zone, and new regions.
For instance, one of the tasks for the Far Eastern Federal District and the Arctic Zone will be boosting international trade links. This involves enhancing the efficiency of the Baikal-Amur and Trans-Siberian railway arteries, the Northern Sea Route, seaports on the Pacific coast, and building roads connecting these ports with logistics hubs.
Attention will also be given to creating airfields and expanding air traffic. This will enhance connectivity between the Far East and other Russian regions and provide an additional impetus for tourism development, including international tourism. Another area of focus is industrial cooperation with friendly countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including within international advanced development territories in border districts of Primorsky, Khabarovsk, and Zabaykalsky krais, Amur Oblast, and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast.
Among the directions for spatial development in new regions are further integration into the country’s overall economic structure, creating a unified economic space of Priazovye by 2028 through improved transport connectivity between Crimea and Sevastopol with new regions, as well as Krasnodar Krai, Belgorod, Voronezh, and Rostov oblasts. The strategy also aims at reducing workforce shortages, implementing investment projects in the coal industry, and developing the tourist-recreational cluster of Priazovye.
Commenting on the approved document, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin noted that the new Spatial Development Strategy was developed taking into account proposals from regions, the Federation Council, the State Duma, and the expert community.
"For us, it is crucial to enhance the autonomy of regions in addressing socio-economic development tasks through increased own revenues of their budgets. Significant attention will be paid to developing social, energy, communal, transport, and information-telecommunication infrastructure. This work will be a fundamental element in implementing the new national project 'Infrastructure for Life,'" emphasized Marat Khusnullin.
Within three months, the Ministry of Economic Development, together with other interested government bodies, will present an action plan for implementing the strategy.