The Pekhorka Valley concept for Balashikha and Reutov expanded to incorporate not only development of the riverbank by introducing commercial attractions but also the establishment of authentic urban nuclei by revitalising industrial heritage. Light industry — a relatively new phenomenon in the Russian market — will anchor the updated territories. Its distinguishing features are proximity to consumers (Balashikha and Reutov have a combined population close to 600,000), little to no need for industrial buffer zones, and an orientation toward customisation rather than mass production.

Market analysis helped us identify the most dynamic forms of light industry in Russia and abroad, which informed our recommendations for placing enterprises in renovated industrial sites based on historically rooted specialisations, environmental conditions, transport accessibility, and required buffer zones. Our recommendations also drew upon “chains of cooperation” approaches to locating complementary enterprises — such as marketing, accounting, legal services, logistics, packaging, and advanced printing — within easily accessible proximity. Because the sites are near high-density residential areas, we recommended socio-cultural resources and food services as well.

Despite the Southern Cluster’s abundant industrial heritage, the main development approach submitted for Kolomensky, Lukhovitsy, Ozyory, and Zaraysk involved creating a tourism cluster branded the Territory of Impressions. According to official data, Kolomensky’s administrative centre receives 1.2 million tourists per year. Media analysis revealed that 88% of visitors are residents of Moscow or the Moscow Region, and 64% are between the ages of 25 and 44. Market research showed that the most popular tourist destinations are not historical or archaeological sites but contemporary museums dedicated to local products. For example, the museums of Kalach bread, Pastila sweets, and soaps each bring more than 150,000 people per year. Museums of this kind require minimal investment and can be managed by private entrepreneurs, placing less burden on municipal and regional tax revenues. The Territory of Impressions concept envisions an extensive shopping area composed of museums dedicated to local products, hotels with historic themes, and market fairs at cultural heritage sites. Thus, knowledge of a place’s history and culture emerges through consumption of goods and services.

Analysis of the origins and incomes of international tourists to the Russian Federation helped identify target groups with potential interest in local industries, cuisines, and excursions. China, Germany, and Poland were among the prospective source countries. We compared present tourist attractions with demand from Moscow and abroad, compiling a custom matrix to gauge potential. This matrix will be important for developing related infrastructure for the Southern Cluster — that is, a brand and navigation system.

International benchmark analysis indicates that popular tourist sites are part of thematic routes and highly specialised umbrella brands. An umbrella brand is essential for helping the Southern Cluster attract tourists with diverse interests — from shopping and active recreation to cultural experiences and quiet rest in natural settings — and inspiring them to return. This would bring new economic development to Lukhovitsy and Ozyory, which do not yet have their own tourist flows. At the same time, successful implementation of a tourism cluster is dependent upon proposed transportation measures: establishing a transit hub in Kolomna’s historic centre, dedicating parking areas for tourist vehicles, setting up pedestrian-oriented shopping streets, developing a transit hub in Zaraysk with updated railway lines, and providing effective signage systems.

Due to the extensive land resources of a private investor (the owner of Domodedovo International Airport), the conceptual plan — titled Aerotropolis — involved substantial new construction. Proposed additions encompass a wide variety of commercial real estate: a conference centre, office space, an expo venue, an amusement park, an industrial-logistics park, an apartment complex, and a big-box shopping area. Novaya’s market analysis included a review of best practices for placing certain enterprises near airports and an examination of similar commercial real estate projects in Moscow and the Moscow Region; this informed our collaboration with local stakeholders to optimise the Aerotropolis concept in terms of priority locations and promising courses of action.

The research team selected nine comparable international airports based on of passenger traffic, distance from the city centre, transport accessibility, and related business activity. Analysis of these cases provided a basis for recommending components of the airport zone: hotels, exhibition spaces, conference venues, industry, logistics, offices, shopping, and entertainment. It also revealed significant potential for developing business tourism, which makes up 10.4% of average GDP worldwide but less than 5% in the Russian Federation. It is also promising in terms of economic impacts, which include direct expenditure for accommodations and catering as well as spending by employees of event operators, booking services, and translation firms — not to mention the future impacts of business agreements.

At present, there is a shortage of large, high-quality conference and exhibition centres in Moscow and the regions. Many local facilities were built during the Soviet Era and have become outdated, creating an urgent need for venues with efficient layouts and specialised equipment. Moscow has close to 800 thousand square metres of specialised exhibition space, of which approximately 600 thousand is of high quality.

Domodedovo’s accessible and sophisticated links to other Moscow airports have not yet given rise to an exhibition complex on site, and major events in coming years will likely take place at VDNH-Expo. Construction of an Expocentre in the airport zone is only justified if the Moscow Region establishes a conference and exhibition bureau to supply it with important business opportunities.

Compared to the other international airports serving Moscow, Domodedovo has the lowest supply of hotel rooms in its vicinity. Plans for accommodating more passengers include building two hotels of different classes and a combined capacity of 300–350 rooms. This complex would also contain a conference centre.

Regarding industry and logistics, Domodedovo is among the most advanced areas in the Moscow Region. This is due to the proximity of Moscow as well as the work of real estate development and management professionals. Existing facilities are at full occupancy, and the market can absorb 20 thousand warehouse and industrial enterprises per year. This forecast justifies the considerable space allocated to industry and logistics in the development concept, with potential for increasing the capacity and accessibility of transport corridors.

In contrast to industry and logistics, office real estate south of Moscow is beset with high vacancy and slow return on investment. Thus, we decreased office real estate in the proposal to a compact 5–10 thousand square metres — primarily serving small businesses and other enterprises associated with the airport. Due to the area’s present saturation with shopping centres, we focused on commerce based on targeted visits. This development is to begin in the project’s next stage, after securing agreements with investors for “built-to-suit” facilities.

The amusement park idea was put on hold due to a lack of relevant examples for cost-benefit analysis.

The development concept for Voskresensky envisions a new construction cluster. Voskresensky underwent changes resulting from the Growth Territories competition, yet market analysis clarified areas of growth and risk for the construction industry, as well as promising market niches and an organisational structure for the cluster. The district’s main growth factors are its industrial base — for producing cement, gypsum, brick, metal structures, paints, and varnishes, by local companies such as Volma, Technonicol, and Voskresensk Mineral Fertilizers — and an urgent need to process accumulated phosphogypsum waste. This development potential is due to high demand in Moscow and the Moscow Region for production associated with renovating buildings, expanding transportation systems, and improving public spaces. It is also due to scarce local competition and plentiful industrial investment (268 billion roubles over five years: 50% in the Central Federal District and over 13% in the Moscow Region).

Risk factors include a heavy tax burden (up to 10% of revenues), expensive credit, customer insolvency and delayed payments, local subsidiaries’ dependence on parent company policies, administrative barriers, personnel problems associated with a lack of qualified workers, and the high cost of transporting products and raw materials.

To foster productive interactions between the municipal government and business community, and to realise Domodedovo’s staffing potential, the development concept laid a foundation for starting a chamber of commerce. Industrial- and technology-parks for processing phosphogypsum would be built on sites owned by the municipality, facilitating efficient land use and providing future tax revenue for local and regional budgets.