2021 Issue №1

The article is devoted to studying the territorial patterns of the formation of an innovative space and ensuring innovation security at a municipal level. The geogra­phy of the study covers the municipalities of the Rostov region. The analysis of some indicators of innovative activity characterizing the level of provision of residents and small and medium-sized businesses of municipali­ties in the region with financial and information and communication services, supporting the entrepreneurial infra­structure and infrastructure of e-commerce. The focus is made on identifying differ­ences between urban and ru­ral settlements in terms of involvement in the innova­tion process. An assess­ment of the impact of agglomeration and coastal factors on the diffusion of in­novations at the inter-municipal level is given: from the agglomer­ation center to the periphery and from coastal and conditionally coastal municipali­ties in­land. The center-peripheral trends in the distribution of innovation activity in the Rostov region are considered. The conclusion is made that the center-peripheral divide, which has developed in the region, has a decisive role in the formation of the innovation space, while coastalization and agglomeration fac­tors are complemen­tary. The diffusion of innovations is more intensive in the conventionally coastal municipalities, which is true for both urban and rural areas. In the immediate coastal municipalities, a higher level of innovation ac­tivity is characteristic of zones where urbanization and agglomeration are combined, while in rural areas, the poten­tial of the coastal position remains underutilized.

The practice of managing large urban agglomerations in the status of metropolitan areas is underrepresented in modern Russian conditions. Spatial planning documents concerning agglomerations usually do not reflect the realities and relations within these formations, which have de facto existed for a long time. Moreover, the experience in managing such forms of settlement is accumulated abroad, where active reorganization of the management system is regularly taking place, the paradigms and principles of development of spatial planning documents of large urban agglomerations are changing, and the legislative framework is improving. The article aims to study the theory and practice of institutional management of agglomerations abroad and offers specific recommendations for Russian conditions.