Current Development and Policies on Russia’s Single-Industrial Cities

Abstract

To realize transformation and sustainable development for single-industrial cities is a worldwide problem. It is also a development problem faced by China and Russia that transitioned from the planned economy to the market economy. Russia has a more prominent problem in this regard as it has a greater portion of company towns which poses a prudent impact on the country’s overall economic development. A company town (or mono-profile city) is a place where practically exists one big plant or factory (as a rule industrial one) owned by the single employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, churches, schools, markets and recreation facilities. In the face of Western economic sanctions as well as plummeting oil prices, the Russian economy has fallen back into a development dilemma: its company town development situation more severe and its transformation and sustainable development more urgent. Under this context, the Russian government has introduced a series of policies to stabilize and stimulate company towns, combined with the import substitution strategy, with a view to making the economies of company towns more diverse and market-oriented. As China and Russia are similar in terms of institutional background and development stage, having an in-depth understanding of Russia’s governance experience and lessons in company towns has important practical implications for China.