The research aims to design a method for identifying trends in municipal districts' economic development in economic space of Russian regions. Municipal districts are a type of rural municipalities in Russia, therefore methodologically the paper relies on the theoretical propositions of both spatial and rural economics. The authors systematise Russian scholars' approaches to the analysis of the municipalities' socioeconomic development and based on this suggest their method for identifying constructive and destructive trends in economic development of municipal districts. The method encompasses four stages: assessment of scales of municipal districts' presence in economic space of a region, assessment of municipal districts' own economic dynamics, generalisation of these assessments and final identification of type of trends with the ultimate conclusions about municipal districts' impact on the economic space of a region. The authors test the method at the example of Sverdlovsk oblast. According to the research findings, four out of five municipal districts in the oblast develop constructively. The only municipal district that has a destructive effect on economic space of the region is Slobodo-Turinsky municipal district. At this, the authors consider a trend constructive if it contributes to the development of economic space of a region, and destructive if it leads to its destruction. Theoretical and practical significance of the work is that the designed method allows not just assessing the economic dynamics of municipal districts but also linking it to the regional spatial economic development.

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Several decades have seen negative trends in spatial economic development of rural municipalities not only in Russia, but in the majority of developed countries. Such a situation is due to the concomitant transformation of the settlement system during the change of socio-economic development stages and requires searching for the relevant management methods and mechanisms. The paper focuses on designing a mechanism for controlling spatial economic development of a rural municipality considering the case of Russia’s municipal districts and allowing for the condition of the economic space outside cities and changes in the regional governance paradigm. Spatial economics and regional governance paradigm constitute the methodological basis of the research. The methods include systematisation, functional and comparative analysis, deduction, elements of the regulatory impact assessment. The research allows concluding that it is beneficial for the regional government to take into account the values and methods of the post-new public management (post-NPM) and to incorporate them into management of municipalities’ spatial economic development. The most important characteristics of such management include focus on social problems (specific for the territory and related to its identity), their priority over economic growth; long-term strategic thinking given there is an objective to embrace interests of the inhabitants; centralized collection of various timely objective information about citizens’ needs with the aim of sustainable development of a region; participatory approach in the sphere of interaction between citizens and local authorities; networking between government authorities, business, inhabitants and consultancy infrastructure. The study of the strategic framework of spatial economic development reveals that at national level the principal role of municipalities is to reinforce the settlement system. In line with the findings of the research, the authors build a concept and a mechanism for implementation of a municipal programme that understands the regional governance paradigm changes and trends in spatial development of rural municipalities.

Introduction. Adoption of the national strategy of spatial development in Russia has made it especially relevant to develop a scientifically grounded toolkit for managing spatial economic development at the municipal level. The objective of the study is to investigate the foreign best practices of spatial development and to assess their applicability when controlling the spatial economic development of the municipal districts of the Russian Federation, which are the principal type of municipalities in rural areas. Materials and Methods. The research was based on the comparative method, within the framework of which the best practices of foreign municipalities similar in some respects to the municipal districts of the Russian Federation were systematized. Empirical and theoretical studies, reports and guidance materials of international organizations, associations and foundations of the local level, as well as official websites of municipalities were used as materials for this research. Results. The systematized review of the best practices from the UK, Sweden, Germany, Italy and Slovenia has demonstrated that Russia’s municipal districts can use the following practices for their economic and spatial development: sharefarming, informal spatial planning, flexible transport solutions. Municipal districts can also involve digital technologies for conducting population surveys and collecting data about the municipality, design facilities that increase the attractiveness of the territory, as well use spatial planning to create decentralized concentration in suburbanized areas. The identified practices can be adopted to readjust the directions of the economic and spatial development of municipal districts, taking into account the level and trends of changes in such parameters of the economic space as saturation, coherence and physical basis. Discussion and Conclusion. The development of a municipality does not necessarily have to be aimed at increasing economic and other indicators through attracting investment and wealthy population, as well as through providing other incentives. The alternative objectives of spatial development can be: to maintain the current indicators and the territorial identity of the municipality, as well as to reduce its negative impact on the environmental situation. The results of the study can be used in the practical activities of regional and municipal authorities when developing and implementing strategic planning documents, as well as for further theoretical conceptualization of the process of economic and spatial development of municipalities.

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