By 2030, Russia will have to develop at least 200 master plans for cities and territories. The task was set in the President's Message to the Federal Assembly in 2024 and confirmed at the Eastern Economic Forum in September 2026, along with a direct indication that a solid legal foundation is needed to implement the master plans.
There is no foundation yet. The master plan is not defined either in the Urban Planning Code or in the law on strategic planning. The only federal regulatory mention of the term is the recommendation order of the Ministry of Economic Development, where the master plan is called the concept of spatial development of a municipality. Today, master plans receive legal force in a roundabout way: through long-term plans for integrated socio-economic development, approved by government orders, and this model works only for the Far East and the Arctic.
Hence the three questions of the session.
- First, what scale are we talking about: a city, a district, a separate site? Everyone understands the master plan in their own way, and without an answer to this question, the argument is pointless.
- Second, does the master plan replace the current urban planning documentation or does it form another layer on top of the master plan, land use and development rules, and socio-economic development strategy? The bill suggests the former, but makes the development voluntary, which means there is a risk of getting two parallel systems.
- Third: how to bring the master plan to the construction site if it is not mandatory?
The only working mechanism today is the integrated development of the territory. The CRT translates the master plan from a picture into obligations on a specific site: through the architectural and urban planning concept in the competitive bidding conditions, obligations in the CRT agreement and subsequent changes in the rules of land use and development. The master plan asks "what", the CRT answers "how", there is only a lack of a correct answer to the question "how much", which can be given when performing high-quality preparation of measurable indicators of future development.