Economic and Legal Aspects of Ensuring the Openness of the City Taking Into Account the Factors of Post-War Reconstruction

Abstract

Theoretical foundations of the openness of the city are summarized, interpretation of relevant key terms including the relationship between the definitions of “openness” and “transparency”, “accountability” and “responsibility” is analyzed. The current state of transparency and accountability of Ukrainian cities was evaluated, on the basis of which the most acute problems related to ensuring their openness were systematized. Economic and legal prerequisites and means of ensuring the openness of the city, taking into account the factors of post-war reconstruction, have been determined. In particular, the need to improve the legal regulation of processes and relations related to ensuring the openness of the city, in particular, by making additions in connection with a significant change in the conditions of functioning of Ukrainian cities, as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation and taking into account the factors of the country’s post-war reconstruction. The expediency of developing and approving City Openness Strategy as a separate independent document of strategic urban planning or supplementing the City Development Strategy with a corresponding subdivision, which will create prerequisites for economic and legal support of city openness, as well as will contribute to the earliest possible recovery of Ukrainian cities affected by the armed aggression of the Russian Federation and the sustainable development of the rest of the cities and Ukraine as a whole. It will allow all stakeholders (state bodies authorities and local self-government, business entities and city residents) to get positive social effect (on the one hand, ensuring openness of the city contributes to the growth of the well-being and comfort of life of the residents cities, thanks to the improvement of living conditions due to the increase availability and quality of city services, on the other hand, it creates prerequisites formation of citizens’ trust and positive attitude of territorial members community to representatives of the city government), economic effect (increasing the efficiency of the city economy due to the facilitation, thanks to the provision of the openness of the city, their access to investment resources, international technical assistance, financial assistance from international donor partners, which will be provided for recovery and development) and environmental effect (improvement the state of the environment and strengthening the ecological security of cities, thanks to the transparency of the local environmental policy, publicity and efficiency of the governmental management decisions of environmental orientation).