Strategic planning of municipalities’ development under post-growth scenarios

Modern economic and social instabilities and resource constraints make it increasingly relevant to search for a new model of territorial development, which focuses on the quality of life, social well-being and environmental sustainability. The formation of a post-growth model for municipalities becomes a vital step towards a more sustainable and fair society and transforms the established processes of strategic planning by prioritising social and environmental well-being over economic growth. The article aims to study the theoretical, methodological and practical aspects of strategic planning of municipal development under post-growth. Methodologically, the research rests on the concepts of economic development, theories of strategic planning and management, regional and spatial development, and the systems theory. The methods include synthesis, comparative and structural analysis, content analysis and foresight. The evidence base covers municipalities’ strategic planning documents and the composite rating of their socio-economic development in the Sverdlovsk oblast. The authors have determined that, within the framework of the post-growth concept, the construct of economic well-being acts as an indicator for municipalities to assess their economic progress, and reflects the results of responsible development and conscious following to the principles and priorities of sustainability. The introduction of this construct changes the content of strategic planning priorities by emphasizing the preservation of human capital, population of the territory, its natural potential, awareness of and responsibility for its development and orientation towards qualitative indicators of economic progress. The results of the empirical analysis show that the municipalities most successful in the traditional sense of the growth economy have a greater ability to consider post-growth realities in their strategies.