THE SUBJECT MATTER OF STRATEGIC PLANNING OF TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT AS A COMPONENT SCIENCE OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

Abstract

The article is devoted to exploring the place of the concept of strategic planning for territorial development within the system of knowledge of public administration and management science. Strategic planning is an important aspect of the broader dimension of public administration that concerns the functional content of managerial activity. Today, strategic planning of territorial development is considered an effective mechanism for implementing the state’s regional policy in the context of increasing self-organization of territorial communities. It is appropriate to speak about the institutionalization of territorial development strategic planning as a relatively distinct area of practical public administration and a component of the science of public administration and management. In conceptual terms, strategic planning of territorial development should be interpreted as a category of public administration that characterizes the system of sectoral governance mechanisms. Some experts define territorial strategic planning through the concept of a “mesosystem,” which encompasses regions, subregions, cities, agglomerations, settlements, and districts. Strategic planning is one of the most important forms of exercising the authority of regional and local governance structures, through which the decisive role of power in defining the directions of territorial development and the consequences of managerial decisions is manifested. Within the science of public administration, strategic planning as a concept and mechanism is viewed as a system with a complex structure. The systems approach allows for a multifaceted analysis of the territory, an objective assessment of its state, and the proposal of optimal development paths based on a multi-criteria selection of goals and directions.