Orfonidiy Anastasiya V.

Research problem. Transformation of megacities into smart cities is currently a crucial factor of the citizens’ living conditions improvement. In the last decade, the concept of a “smart” city has gained significant popularity, as its implementation allows residents to more efficiently meet their needs in a particular infrastructure, save resources and improve social services quality. Despite the existing ratings of the Russian “smart” cities, the “smart” technologies implementation processes in the regions of the Russian Federation have not yet been expressed in scientific research, and the existing works are predominantly aimed at studying the so-called. best practices. This article deals with the expert assessment of the smart city technologies implementation practice in certain municipalities of the Sverdlovsk region.
The research purpose is to consider the expert assessment results of the implementation state and problems of the “Smart cities of the Sverdlovsk region” regional program, developed and approved in the framework of the “Smart cities” federal departmental project.
Methodology and methods. As the research methodological, a systematic approach to the “smart” city analysis is applied. Additionally, the work uses an activity-based approach to researching the content and results of activities of the national authorities and the Sverdlovsk region local bodies on the “smart” cities elements implementation in the regional municipalities. To collect empirical data, the following methods have been used: normative legal acts and official documents analysis, expert interviews (6 experts - representatives of public authorities of the Sverdlovsk region and local bodies; representatives of IT companies implementing the “smart” technologies in urban space management; public representative - an urbanist).
Research results. For the time being, when implementing the “Smart cities of the Sverdlovsk region” regional project, municipalities have not managed to get the pursued results. One of the most important problems is the multifaceted nature of the municipal activities in the part of the city key areas digital transformation: different elaboration degrees of the platforms functional equipment, infrastructure facilities due to the lack of standards mandatory for municipalities at regional level. Moreover, the funding level is insufficient: municipal budgets cannot fully ensure the transition to the cities of the future. What makes things even worse is that the cities of the Sverdlovsk region do not participate in the best practices contest held by the RF Ministry of Construction, which means they do not receive additional funds in the form of subsidies and grant support.
Scientific novelty. The research expands the perception of mechanisms for the “smart” city technologies implementation in the Russian Federation; facts characterizing the experience of the cities of the Sverdlovsk region of the smart city technologies implementation are presented; the current state and problems of the “smart” technologies implementation in the municipalities of the Sverdlovsk region are revealed.

The modern development of digital technologies, according to a number of researchers, significantly transforms the usual mechanisms for citizen participation in public administration through the approach described in the literature as Web 2.0 and Governement 2.0. In this regard, the article is devoted to the study of the implementation of individual feedback mechanisms in the practice of municipal government, both within the framework of the federal project "Smart City" and outside it. The article considers foreign experience in implementing such technologies (Civocracy, Maptionnaire, CitizenLab, etc.). and the results of a number of cities in the Sverdlovsk region (Ekaterinburg, Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Novouralsk, etc.).
In the course of the study, such methods were used as the analysis of statistical data and analytical materials of the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications of the Sverdlovsk Region, local governments; content analysis of the content of feedback portals of the cities of the Sverdlovsk region; as well as an assessment of the satisfaction of portal applicants, collected automatically.
It is concluded that the introduction of feedback technologies can be considered as an important step for expanding civic participation. On the other hand, it is important to work out the procedural aspects of participation and their further “digitization” within a certain platform.