Socio-economic development strategy of the town of Zverevo to 2030

Challenge

Zverevo is a small coal-mining town in the Rostov region. Like many single-industry towns, it was looking for a new economic direction. In 2018 the town received the status of a priority development territory, which opened new tools for investment. The town already had a development strategy, but it had been prepared without residents’ involvement and was due for renewal. The new strategy was developed with the active participation of residents.

The city administration first asked for separate pieces of work: a park project and a town brand. Urban Factory proposed one integrated approach instead: a development strategy written together with the people who live there.

What was done

The work started in the summer of 2018 with a participatory design and foresight workshop. In September the administration and Urban Factory signed an agreement of intent, and the strategy was split into five stages.

• Team of Change. Urban Factory set up an interdisciplinary working group that met every week. Thematic groups worked on the image of the town, the economy and entrepreneurship, and a healthy city; groups on tourism and education followed.
• Workshops and expertise. Residents worked directly on large plans of the town. An international round table introduced participants to the experience of Recife, Brazil, with Prof. Circe Monteiro (UFPE). The workshops were run by Urban Factory, which also invited outside experts and brought them to Zverevo for working meetings with the administration and the Team of Change:
  • Sergey Trukhachev — director of the Southern Urban Planning Centre, Candidate of Architecture: territorial planning, general plans and master plans of cities.
  • Andrey Prokhorov — deputy director of the Southern Urban Planning Centre: general plans, land use and development rules, transport schemes and engineering infrastructure of municipalities.
  • Elena Ishchenko — marketing consultant, tourism expert at the Agency for Strategic Initiatives: territorial brands (“Free Don”, “City with Taste”, “Made on the Don”), collective thinking techniques.
  • Alexey Matveenko — head of the Gorod-Park agency: city events, gastronomy, the tourism brand of Rostov-on-Don.
• Investment and partners. Urban Factory prepared material on the priority development territory for potential investors and supported the town’s contacts with partner cities abroad.
• Zverevo Media. As part of the strategy’s communication plan, two videos about the town were filmed and published (Zverevo Team channel, August 2018):
  • “Zverevo — a Town of Opportunities”
  • “Zverevo — a Town of Friends, a Town of Family”

The strategy sets a mission — a park town with an innovative economy. It compares three scenarios (inertial, innovative and target) and sets four directions: a healthy city, tourism, an innovative economy and education.

Result

All five stages were delivered and accepted. In December 2018 the city council adopted the Socio-economic Development Strategy of the town of Zverevo to 2030.

The strategy also became the starting point for the next step: the participatory design of Kolesnikov Boulevard, confirmed as the priority public space at public hearings and by the Team of Change.

Numbers

• 5 project stages, all delivered
• 1 working group, meeting weekly
• 3 development scenarios, 4 strategic directions
• 2 videos about the town