New management principles: interaction between the main actors of the city

Abstract

The article analyzes the willingness to accept the polysubjectivity of city development management by all its participants. The answer to the research question: do representatives of municipal authorities, businesses, NGOs see the population as a subject of urban development management, demonstrates the difference in the approaches between the main actors. The essential characteristic of the concept of «citizen subjectivity» is substantiated taking into account the analysis of two concepts of urban development: new municipalism and smart city. The paper draws on the results of a mass survey of residents of six cities of the Tyumen region (the total sample size is 2,860 people) and interviews with experts (65 expert interviews with representatives of government, business, non-profit organizations of the same cities). The findings of the study demonstrate that the imperfection of the existing horizontal links presents an obstacle to the embodiment of the subjective role of citizens in the processes of urban development. The unequal or uneven opportunities available to the actors of city management (in terms of access to information, budgetary resources, infrastructure, services, etc.) often become a significant barrier to constructive interaction. The principal challenge in accepting the subjectivity of residents is the lack of synchronization between the development goals and the strategies for achieving them collectively by the actors involved in urban development management. It is argued that constructive interaction is possible when common, shared values, motives, and competencies of the significant actors of modern city management – namely, the authorities, businesses, and the urban population – are formed in the urban space. © HSE, 2024.