2019 Issue №2

The geographical location of the Kaliningrad region calls for the coastal factor to play a greater role in the development of the region. Created in the Soviet period, the backbone of local maritime activities is highly polarized along the coastline of the region. Similarly polarized along the coastline is the settlement system, which incorporates both the growing cities of the Kalinin­grad agglomeration and areas of low population density, the latter located primarily along the bays. These circumstances determine what effect the coastal factor has on the socio-economic development of a certain municipality in the Kaliningrad region. We believe that the municipalities that use this fac­tor to a limited degree do not fully realise the potential of their geographical location. Alongside employing other development resources, it is logical for the municipalities to run projects taking advantage of the coastal factor. In this work, we set out to examine how the coastal municipalities of the region plan to benefit from the coastal factor in terms of socio-economic devel­opment. From our analysis of strategic documents and programmes of region­al municipalities, we conclude that the most diversified approach to the coastal factor is employed in the Kaliningrad and Svetly city districts. In the other coastal municipalities, projects have a narrow thematic focus, most of them dedicated to developing waterborne transport as an element of the tourism and recreation industry.

In this article, I examine trends in the development of cross-border coop­eration between the Kaliningrad Region of the Russian Federation and the Republics of Lithuania and Poland within a range of cross-border cooperation programmes. I analyse all the projects approved within three cross-border co­operation projects over the past ten years. I focus on the projects that were successfully completed by the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University — a key actor in cooperation. I examine collaborations between municipalities on either side of the border when preparing and running projects under cross-border cooperation programmes. I classify the municipalities of the Kalinin­grad region by their involvement in the projects and try to explain why a cer­tain municipality is closely or under- involved in the collaborations. I conclu­de that the rate of development of cross-border cooperation is likely to remain at the current level unless the municipalities are provided with recommenda­tions on enhancing cross-border cooperation.

In this article, I carry out a critical analysis of the existing methods for assessing the quality of life of cities and propose a method for assessing Rus­sian cities as experienced by youth. The main result of this study is a method that can be used by municipal authorities in preparing strategic planning documents. I conclude that the existing methods for assessing the quality of life of cities are poorly applicable in practice and thus they require substantial improvement. At the same time, the proposed method is suited to assess both large cities and small and medium-sized ones.