Models of Revitalization of Old-Industrial Cities: Case Studies of Siberia

The study of re-industrialization processes in relation to the Russian economy as a whole, to macro-regions, federal districts, separate constituent entities, single-industry towns is a fairly common area of scientific research, both theoretical and applied. However, for many Siberian cities the issue of economic restructuring is also relevant. With the transition to market economy Siberian cities turned from points of economic growth into lagging territorial entities with a full range of socio-economic problems. At the moment, most of them are currently searching for their own way and development model. The main purpose for the research is to assess the prospects of economic re-industrialization in Siberian cities of different size. We introduce the term "economic revitalization" which is more suitable for determining the process of economic restructuring of individual cities. In order to collect information we performed field research in the Kemerovo Oblast, Altai Krai, and Irkutsk Oblast using the methods of observation, monitoring, systematization, and survey. The paper describes the established models of economic revitalization in the framework of the Triple Helix concept. The specification of models for cities with the allocation of key actors, as well as the identification of closeness of interaction between the government, business and the scientific community in the territory is certainly new. The results are presented in the form of case studies using comparative analysis. The studied territorial formations (Novokuznetsk, Bratsk, Biysk, Usolye-Sibirskoye, Sheregesh) differ in scale, status and industry specialization. The models of their development are quite similar: dependence of the economy on key enterprises whose interests are extraterritorial is high; there is an acute problem of preserving the population and improving the quality of labor resources; the dependence of the economy on the conditions of individual markets is significant; the attitude to Public Private Partnership (PPP) is restrained, there are imbalances between the obligations, the powers of local authorities and budget revenues; the mechanism of interaction between administrations and small businesses is insufficiently developed, the existing potential of inter-municipal interaction is not implemented. The bottleneck of all models is lack of consolidation of interests and interaction intensity of participants. The research results can be used in strategic planning at the municipal level, in developing and adjusting concepts and programs of territorial entities development, in developing draft interregional agreements. The prospects for further research are to monitor changes in the described institutional models of revitalization and expand the field of cases.