Political Aspects of Formation of Strategic Planning in St. Petersburg

In the article is suggested and proved the hypothesis of the close connection between the strategizing and the policing leading to the appearance of multiple actors participating in a process of strategic planning and management: not only they are the authors of strategy but also the state and municipal administrations, diverse political and non-government organizations, individuals. In a great metropolis the strategizing becomes more complicated because of huge dimensions of the system and the high degree of its complexity and intricacy as well as of the paths of historical development and modern challenges. The ideas mentioned above are illustrated with case-studies of large cities of New York City, Berlin, London, St. Petersburg. As a theoretical background for showing the interdependence of the strategizing and policing processes are used the path dependency theory and the comparative analyses of the policing process and the selection of strategic priorities under various conditions. Among other problems of strategizing and policing in St. Petersburg is stressed that not enough are used the opportunities to form and implement the autonomous policy given to the so called «federal cities» - subjects of federation - including St. Petersburg by the Constitution of Russia. The description of the strategizing in New York City where during about hundred years the strategy is developed not only for the municipality but also for a large region around it hence a large city agglomeration shows the rationality of this variant and also the possibility of strategy development not only in the hierarchical organizational structures (from top to the bottom) but also in a frame of self-organization (from bottom to the top). The forming out of the St. Petersburg’s agglomeration is seen as a most effective possibility for the development of the second largest and one of the most important cities in Russia.