How to Ensure Consistency of Territorial Planning Documents: Best Practices of Russian Urban Agglomerations

The paper is part of a series of scientific articles devoted to the best management practices for Russian urban agglomerations. The authors of the paper focused on finding possible solutions to the most pressing problems given the current legislation, which explains the widespread use of empirical information in the paper. One of the key tasks of management at the level of an urban agglomeration is the formation and consistent implementation of a unified urban planning policy within the entire agglomeration. It should be based on documents of territorial planning and rules of land use and development of all municipalities, as well as some other types of urban planning documentation. For the purposes of shaping a unified urban planning policy, the documents of all municipalities must be coordinated with each other and subordinated to common goals and objectives. Analyzing the cases of Vladivostok, Ekaterinburg and Novosibirsk urban agglomerations, the authors show some ways to ensure the consistency of urban planning documentation within the boundaries of the urban agglomeration. In order to identify the prerequisites for achieving the maximum effectiveness of each of them the authors compare the management practices used in these agglomerations. It is concluded that it is generally possible to achieve consistency of urban planning documentation within the framework of the current legislation, subject to the active position of the regional legislator.