Effective management of historical and cultural heritage as a factor in overcoming regional inequalities[Эффективное Управление Историко-Культурным Наследием Как Фактор Преодоления Региональных Неравенств]

Introduction. The article examines the contradiction between the critical importance of preserving the historical and cultural heritage and its use as a factor in the development of cities and regions, from the perspective of the academic community, its considerable attractiveness for businesses. It also discusses the lack of effective preservation and development management mechanisms for this type of heritage at the regional level. The author draws on a retrospective analysis of laws and their practical application at various stages of modern Russian history. The paper also looks at the evolution of governance mechanisms, both at the city and regional levels, with regard to urban environment assets, specifically cultural heritage sites. Methods. Based on the empirical data of the representative survey (6,021 questionnaires) conducted by Center for Sociology of Management and Social Technologies, Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FCTAS RAS) through a questionnaire in 2019-2020 in twelve regions of Russia, the author used secondary conceptualization to explore the relationship between the assessment of increased role of local government in regional life, the functioning of the governing bodies of local governments, and the assessment of preservation of historical and cultural heritage by residents. The study revealed patterns in regional differences of management and preservation of historical and cultural heritage, as well as the factors exacerbating territorial inequality and determining socio-territorial inequality. Results and discussion. Based on the outcomes of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that there is a need to implement the management technology for historical and cultural heritage that was developed by the Center of Sociology of Management and Social Technologies (FCTAS RAS) on the basis of predictive social design (T. M. Dridze). To illustrate the enhancement of the effectiveness of regional administration in terms of preservation and advancement of historical and cultural heritage as well as mitigation of the intensity of social regional disparities and successful implementation of the predictive social design technology, a comprehensive diagnostic research in the Bronnitsy city of the Moscow region is given as an example.