R-ECONOMY, 2020, 6(2), 111–124 doi: 10.15826/recon.2020.6.2.010 Original Paper doi 10.15826/recon.2020.6.2.010 Analytical tools for economic research of small municipalities and gaming techniques for community involvement (the case of Voronezh region in Russia) M.I. Solosina1 , I.N. Shchepina1, 2 1 Voronezh State University, Voronezh, Russia; e-mail: [email protected] 2 CEMIRAS, Moscow, Russia ABSTRACT KEYWORDS Relevance. The article deals with the issues of strategic territorial development in Russian regions and municipalities and the analytical tools for studying them. analytical tools, gaming While there is a diversity of tools for studying large municipalities, the choice of techniques, strategic territorial tools for smaller urban and rural settlements is quite limited. This is the research development, municipality, gap this study seeks to address. Research objective. This study focuses on the systemic approach case of municipal districts and settlements in Voronezh region. The aim is to show how the proposed methodology can be applied for such cases. Data and methods. The study relies on the methods of systemic analysis and synthesis, comparison and generalization, multidimensional statistics as well as on the use of gaming techniques. The data for the analysis were obtained from federal, re- gional and municipal statistics; municipal information systems of settlements of Voronezh region; municipal information system MISS ‘Volost’; and from the executive authorities of Voronezh region. Results. The analysis of the set of in- dicators, including the municipal product to GRP, for the period between 2006 FOR CITATION and 2015 has shown that the town of Liski is one of the leading municipalities in Voronezh district (the municipal product of Liskinsky accounts for over 5% of Solosina, M.I., Shchepina, I.N. the region’s GRP). We also applied our gaming technique to establish communi- (2020) Analytical tools for cation between the authorities and local communities in developing the project economic research of small for creation of a historical and archeological park in the settlement of Kostenki municipalities and gaming in Voronezh region. Conclusions. The proposed methodology can be quite pro- techniques for community ductive in building socio-economic profiles of small municipalities, comparing involvement (the case of them with others and revealing the interrelations between them. The gaming Voronezh region in Russia). techniques are effective for enhancing the involvement of local communities in R-economy, 6(2), 111–124. doi: municipal strategic planning. 10.15826/recon.2020.6.2.010 Аналитические инструменты экономических исследований малых муниципалитетов и игровые техники для вовлечения общественности (пример Воронежской области в России) М.И. Солосина1 , И.Н. Щепина1, 2 1 Воронежский государственный университет, Воронеж, Россия; e-mail: [email protected] 2 Центральный экономико-математический институт Российской академии наук, Москва, Россия АННОТАЦИЯ КЛЮЧЕВЫЕ СЛОВА Актуальность. В статье рассматриваются вопросы стратегического тер- аналитический инструментарий, риториального развития российских регионов и муниципалитетов и ана- организационные механизмы, литические инструменты для их изучения. Хотя существует множество стратегическое территориальное инструментов для изучения крупных муниципалитетов, выбор инстру- развитие, муниципалитет, ментов для небольших городских и сельских поселений весьма ограничен. системный подход Это пробел в исследованиях, на устранение которого нацелено это иссле- дование. Цель исследования. Данное исследование рассматривает муни- ципальные районы и поселки в Воронежской области. Цель состоит в том, чтобы на их примерах показать применение предложенной методологии. Данные и методы. Исследование опирается на методы системного анали- за и синтеза, сравнения и обобщения, многомерного статистического ана- лиза, а также на использование игровых технологий. Данные для анализа были получены из федеральной, региональной и муниципальной стати- стики; муниципальные информационные системы населенных пунктов © Solosina, M.I., Shchepina, I.N., 2020 111 https://journals.urfu.ru/index.php/r-economy Online ISSN 2412-0731 R-ECONOMY, 2020, 6(2), 111–124 doi: 10.15826/recon.2020.6.2.010 Воронежской области; муниципальная информационная система МИСС «Волость»; и от органов исполнительной власти Воронежской области. Результаты. Анализ набора показателей, включая муниципальный про- дукт к ВРП, за период с 2006 по 2015 г. показал, что город Лиски является одним из ведущих муниципальных образований в Воронежской области ДЛЯ ЦИТИРОВАНИЯ (муниципальный продукт Лискинского района составляет более 5% ВРП Solosina, M.I., Shchepina, I.N. региона). Мы также применили организационный игровой механизм для (2020) Analytical tools for установления связи между властями и местными сообществами при раз- economic research of small работке проекта создания историко-археологического парка в поселке municipalities and gaming Костенки Воронежской области. Выводы. Предложенная методология мо- techniques for community жет быть весьма продуктивной для построения социально-экономических involvement (the case of профилей малых муниципальных образований, сравнения их с другими Voronezh region in Russia). и выявления взаимосвязей между ними. Игровые технологии эффектив- R-economy, 6(2), 111–124. doi: ны для повышения вовлеченности местных сообществ в муниципальное 10.15826/recon.2020.6.2.010 стратегическое планирование. Introduction tive resources, such as the municipal information Strategic planning has now become essential system MISS ‘Volost’ and the data provided by the for settlements, towns, cities and other territorial executive authorities of Voronezh region (Depart- entities as they get involved into the global com- ment of Economic Development, Department of petition for development resources (investment, communications, Department for the Develop- human capital, technologies, etc.). Strategic ment of Municipalities of Voronezh region). As plans and similar documents should incorporate a result, we were able to create our own research the vision and aspirations of local communi- database. ties. These documents should also be based on Since there are more than 22,000 municipa- comprehensive analysis of the current situation lities in Russia, and only in 15 of them the popu- and development prospects of the territorial lation exceeds one million, the available tools for unit, including its strengths and weaknesses and studying urban and rural settlements often prove development priorities. ineffective in the Russian context. For example, In Russia, the system of strategic territorial more than a half of inhabitants of Voronezh re- planning has been developing intensively over gion live in the municipalities (446 urban and the past 15 years. One of the significant stages rural settlements of Voronezh region) selected was Federal Law No. 172 ‘On Strategic Planning for our empirical analysis. To measure the so- in the Russian Federation’ adopted in 2014. The cio-economic parameters in these municipalities, law requires methodological uniformity of such we need appropriate tools that would also help us documents on the regional and municipal levels, make adequate comparisons. as well as their consistency with the state strat- An important factor and the main resource egy for economic and social development. To for the development of settlements is human devise such strategies, it is necessary to conduct capital. The strategic nature of the social system preliminary quantitative analysis of the statistics (settlement, city, country) determines its read- characterizing the socio-economic situation and iness for dynamic changes and development development trends of the territory. National, re- (Arshinov, 2007). Some territories may turn out gional and municipal-level documents are usu- to be more attractive to people than others due to ally drawn based on federal and regional statis- the opportunities they offer, which inevitably af- tics, while for smaller municipalities (urban and fects migration trends (Tiebout, 1956). rural settlements), this can be a problem due to The article describes a set of analytical tools the lack of statistical data. This problem can be that could be used for building socio-economic addressed through the expansion of the database profile of small municipalities (urban and rural and development of tools of regional and muni- settlements) and gaming techniques for creating cipal statistics. projects of strategic territorial development in- The lack of data in the official statistics da- volving local communities. tabase (Russian Federal State Statistic Service – Questions of territorial strategic develop- Rosstat) causes a shortage of available tools for ment are discussed by Glazyrin (2016), Glazychev analyzing the socio-economic situation in small (2005), Zubarevich (2010), Makarov (2010), and municipalities. For our research, we used alterna- Pilyasov (2016). Ayvazyan, Afanasyev, Kudrov 112 https://journals.urfu.ru/index.php/r-economy Online ISSN 2412-0731 R-ECONOMY, 2020, 6(2), 111–124 doi: 10.15826/recon.2020.6.2.010 (2016, 2018) give particular attention to these Development, Department of Communications, questions on the regional level. Most studies, Department for the Development of Municipal- however, focus on territorial strategic develop- ities of Voronezh region) (Bystryantseva et al., ment on the national and regional levels, some 2016). also consider the level of municipal