REVITALIZATION OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES IN THE SHRINKING CITIES OF THE NORTH-WEST OF RUSSIA

The article presents a study of the factors of the revival of social grassroots activity and local business in the depopulation of territories. The concept of “shrinking cities” and the theory of stakeholders is used as a conceptual framework. The empirical basis of the study was the former military towns in the subjects of the North-Western Federal District. There is a decline in the industrial and social spheres, weak influence of local authorities. Despite this, in some cases, there are points of local communities activity to solve urgent problems of the development of settlements. The analysis made it possible to identify all the settlements under consideration in four groups, five most stable scenarios for the development of local initiatives in the conditions of declining cities and their crisis socio-economic situation were identified.