Strategic goals for a sustainable space in Russian Arctic cities and towns

Abstract

The article contains a ranking method for a comparative analysis for its study objects: seven cities and towns in the Russian Federation Arctic zone, in their relation between in each other in each of the three years of the analysis. The positions were determined by 18 major indicators divided in two groups – social and economic – and comprising a general set of social, environmental, and economic indicators reflecting the degree of sustainable development in the Russian Federation Arctic Zone. The analysis results allowed us to identify an additive rank of a city or town for each of the two groups of indicators and its changes over the study time frame. All of the cities were put in one of the five socioeconomic development groups by comprehensive additive socioeconomic rank and calculated average rank. The differentiation of the cities and towns by groups helped identify the opportunities and areas of further step-by-step strategic development of the cities in order to raise the level of socioeconomic development and create a united sustainable space in the Russian Arctic.