Networking of small cities to gain sustainability

Abstract

The paper addresses networking as a basis for cooperation of small cities leading to more sustainable regional development at the city, regional, and federal level. It is shown that networking of cities can contribute to increasing sustainability in many ways. Still, additional research is needed to adjust best management practices discussed in the relevant academic literature to the peculiarities of transition economies. The objective of the research presented in the paper was to help regional and municipal authorities in the optimization of territorial development planning aimed at long-term sustainability. Research was carried out in Russia on an example of two regions, namely Perm Krai and Vladimir Oblast. The case study revealed that local authorities underestimate the potential of small cities in raising regional sustainability. Actually, a number of small cities in both regions have hidden competitive advantages but cannot realize them separately, whilst development of regional city networking is a fruitful approach to improve their socio-economic situation, and to boost sustainable regional development. Therefore, when planning regional development, federal and local authorities should regard the role of small cities, including disadvantaged and depressed ones, as potentially valuable members of a city network. Measures to embed small cities into different types of networks should be based on the thorough assessment of their resources, with the aim to develop collaboration of cities with mutually beneficial network externalities.

Innovative mechanism for local tourism system management: a case study

“…In the twenty-first century, the focus of research came to the innovativeness of tourism enterprises (Sundbo et al, 2007;Nybakk, Hansen, 2008;Hjalager, 2010;Walsh et al, 2010;Szymańska, 2015); measuring innovations in tourism (Camison, Monfort-Mir, 2012;Volo, 2012); networking in tourism as a way to sustainable client-oriented innovations (Baggio, Sainaghi, 2016;Camison, Monfort-Mir, 2012;Aarstad et al, 2015); tourism entrepreneurship and regional development (Ateljevic, 2017;Mingaleva et al, 2017). Also, the issues of modeling innovative mechanism for local tourism systems management remain one of the hot topics (Omerzel, 2015).…”

“…In Therefore, there is a need to develop innovative local systems in tourism that are complex networks, based on new ideas and approaches, services and products. Managing innovation within such networks is crucial for sustainability and long-term success of any contemporary destination (Mingaleva et al, 2017;Zach, Hill, 2017;Biemans, 2018). UNWTO (2010) offered recommendations on the innovative policy development in tourism and defined the priority goals in this field.…”

Towards the Silk Road economic zone initiative: historical perspective

“…Well-developed communication infrastructure and means always has been precondition of economic cooperation of leading towards sustainable economic development of networking partners (Mingaleva et al 2017;Monni et al 2017;Prause, Atari 2017;Otter et al 2017;Lavrinenko et al 2016;Lavrinenko et al 2017;Mikhaylov 2018). The legendary highway of the Middle Ages -The Great Silk Road is the subject of modern historical research, its 1,500-year history of the route is a world cultural and economic miracle.…”

Sustainable Development Factors Of The Economy Of Regions In Russia

“…Along with clusters, other types of network structures are also among the tools for sustainable development (Mingaleva, Sheresheva, & Oborin, 2017). A significant problem in ensuring the sustainability of the regional system is the low efficiency of using the potential of small towns and rural territories.…”