The method is based on collection, description and assessment of qualitative and quantitative indices.
The purpose of the rating is to carry out an integrated collective and public analysis of the urban environment, compare urban environments, analyze strengthens and weaknesses and to prepare information for managerial analysis and to make personnel decisions.
The rating was designed due to the objective need to conduct a complex analysis and assess disproportions in distribution of population, labour resources and production capacity in the Russian Federation.
The purpose of the rating is to carry out an unbiased and complex appraisal of Russian cities in terms of the criteria which determine the quality level of all spheres of activity of the population, city economy and urban environment.
The main method is a procedure borrowed from qualimetry, in which several approaches to quantitative appraisal of quality were developed.
To compare various properties measured in scales different in range and dimension
The values of importance ratios are determined with the help of expert and non-expert (analytical) methods.
The relative importance was determined using a method of expert survey involving 50 experts of various industries and areas of business, different social and professional status.
for all indices forming a part of the final general index of city appeal.
The general city appeal index is directly calculated as an average compound of all characteristics
The key problem of selection of the minimum combination of properties (indicators) forming a part of the item quality may be solved through the functional and typological analysis considering the quality as a system of objective properties, and based on the volume of the original information (statistical and open-access information).
The top ten cities are characterized by high indicators in nearly all the aspects.
The only exception is the housing affordability factor, in terms of which the leading cities have low indicators because of high prices for 1 square meter of residential space.
The following cities are noted for satisfactory development levels: Orsk, Ulan-Ude, Orenburg, Sterlitamak, Syzran, Ussuriysk, Oktyabrsky, Votkinsk, single-industry cities Magnitogorsk, Nizhni Tagil, and the single-industry city having the highest investment inflow – Nakhodka.
Evidently, such a high difference is determined by objective difference of potentials of the cities; it is also important to notice that, in accordance with the Pareto principle, it is not obligatory to improve all the components of qualitative appraisal of cities.
In particular, the value of the general index of Omsk, which ranks 10th, is just 1,2 times (by 20%) higher than that of the mid-city Mezhdurechensk.
The only exception is Moscow (the value of the general indicator is 3 times higher than that of Mezhdurechensk; 2,5 times higher than that of the 10th city – Omsk – and twice as high as of the 3rd city – Novosibirsk).
For most cities it can be said that the level of economic and industrial development would differ very much depending on living conditions.
For example, Syberia and Ural are centers for hydrocarbon production and metal mining.
With the highest income rates per capita, these cities are characterized by the worst natural climatic conditions and low-developed transport system.
The group of mid-cities comprises rather different cities, ranging from the largest metallurgic mono-cities – Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, Kamensk-Uralsky to cities with quite versatile economy – Vladimir, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Volzhsky.
On the whole, this group consists of either industrially developed centers with negative natural and climatic conditions, or mid-cities of old-cultivated regions, characterized by primarily average values of all indicators.
The lowest indices are found among underdeveloped cities of the North Caucasus and South Siberia.
This is connected primarily with agricultural specialization of the economy of these cities and adverse effect of conflicts which took place on the territory of the North Caucasus.
In addition, real income of population grows faster, which is determined by constant production growth in innovation industries.
The study and appraisal of urban environment, namely, the parameter of appeal for internal and external factors and consumers, is of value: On November 21, 2012, in the Polytechnical Museum of Moscow, the Russian Union of Engineers presented the General rating of appeal of Russian cities for 2011, which attracted much interest among the general public, Mass Media and local, regional and federal authorities.
[2][3][4] For this work, the Union designed the methods of urban environment quality assessment and a city appeal threshold.