Systematization of Development Strategies for Small Towns with a Population of up to 12,000 People

According to the 2020 census, 72% of Russian cities are small (cities with populations up to 50,000). Considering them in the context of post-socialist transformation, we notice the existing difficulties in overcoming the changes caused by the transformation, the indicators of which are deindustrialization, population decline, suburbanization and other urban processes (up to shrinkage - in the context of Eastern Europe). Despite the importance of small towns in the settlement system of the Russian Federation, in the context of strategic urban planning for this type of cities there are no specific methodological recommendations for management and development due to the heterogeneity of urban specializations and their development directions. The paper attempts to identify groups of small towns with a population of less than 12000 people by their "specialization" and forms recommendations for some groups. Official statistical data of the subjects of Russia, open data (including geospatial) are used as sources. To achieve the results of the work, first quantitative analysis and expert selection of groups of cities are made, and then the existing strategies of socio-economic development are analyzed, discursive analysis of the compliance of official documents and the real orientation of city development is carried out.