FORMATION OF REGULATORY AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR REVITALIZATION OF DEGRADED TERRITORIES IN UKRAINE
FORMATION OF REGULATORY AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR REVITALIZATION OF DEGRADED TERRITORIES IN UKRAINE

Summary/Abstract: The article assesses the incidence of regional policy on overcoming the crisis phenomena of territorial development in Ukraine. The evolution of regulatory and legal approaches to revitalization of degraded territories before Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine (2022) are examined for compliance with sustainable development concept. The methodology for identification of depressed territories and the development of state programs to overcome their depressed condition, legally regulated but as yet unimplemented, are discussed. It was found that due to the adoption of a number of laws and the State Strategy for Regional Development for the period of 2021-2027, there has been a move from declaring depressed territories to be policy targets, which de facto were deprived of state support. Attention is focused on the transition to a territorially-oriented state policy of regional development based on the identification of low-capacity areas, and application of special mechanisms and tools of state support. Among the measures of state regional policy in this field, the state support for potential centres of economic growth and integrated projects of developing territories with special developmental challenges is becoming increasingly important. Ways to improve the regulatory and legal framework for the revival of degraded territories in Ukraine are considered separately. The strategic priorities of the regional policy of territorial development are analysed for their compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals, which are the basic guidelines for the revitalization of territories. It has been established that measures to overcome the crisis phenomena of territorial development, contained in the existing regional strategies, are mostly piecemeal. At the regional level, the policy of revitalization of territories is characterized by the presence of single integrated projects, aimed mostly at the recovery of neglected infrastructure facilities. The experience of integrated planning of territorial development testifies to the attempts to balance spatial, economic, social and environmental goals when forming regional policies. In summation, the prospects for the development of the policy of revitalization of degraded territories with the existing legal regulation are substantiated; conditions, under which the appropriate regulatory and legal framework will contribute to overcoming the threats of territorial decline in Ukraine, are outlined.

• Details
• Contents