Spatial governance under polycrisis: Reconfiguring agglomeration policy

Cities. 2026. Vol. 179. No. 12. Article 107500.

Borushkina S., Gorodnichev A.

Agglomeration policy has long been a dominant paradigm in spatial development, premised on the assumption that large, integrated city-regions drive national economic growth through productivity, innovation, and global integration. This paper examines how this paradigm is reworked under conditions of polycrisis, a durable state in which economic, geopolitical, and institutional shocks interact and reinforce one another. We argue that, while a crisis is often addressed through recalibrating policy tools and objectives, polycrisis reshapes the underlying rationalities of spatial planning. Focusing on Russia, the study analyses how national spatial priorities shift from growth and competitiveness toward territorial stabilisation, population retention, and the management of systemic vulnerability. It compares the 2019 and 2024 Spatial Development Strategies, drawing on policy documents, implementation materials, and expert discussions, and applies a process-tracing approach to reconstruct changes across two planning cycles. The findings show that agglomeration policy is not a universally stable development model but a contingent framework dependent on growth, openness, and functional integration. As these conditions erode under polycrisis, agglomeration policy is reworked from a governance technology of growth into a mechanism of territorial anchoring and control, signalling a broader shift from development to stabilisation in spatial planning.

Keywords: Russia, городские агломерации, urban agglomerations, spatial governance, стратегия пространственного развития, Territorial Resilience, Россия, polycrisis, поликризис, территориальное управление, территориальная жизнестойкость, Опорные населенные пункты