"In the future, megacities will not be needed": Vladimir Sedov at SPIEF 2025

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The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), one of the leading events dedicated to the global economy, is taking place in St. Petersburg from June 18 to 21.

The business program of the forum was opened on June 18 by the session "Shaping a new platform for Global Growth", at which the final report on the results of the international Open dialogue of the National Centre RUSSIA was presented.

The session was devoted to the current challenges of our time: economic and political fragmentation, demographic changes, the consequences of the introduction of breakthrough technologies, as well as the social and technological gap both within and between countries.

The author of the Dobrograd project, Vladimir Sedov, raised the issue of deurbanization. He believes that megacities will no longer be needed in the future.

"A modern city is not a storage room for human resources, but an environment for human life. Megacities have created a very high-quality life for people - comfortable and convenient. But at the same time, expanding, they began to form a negative. Recently, micropolises began to develop rapidly in the world — small towns of a new type numbering from 35 to 150 thousand people. Today, they can create a very comfortable living environment for a family through digital services and platforms," Vladimir Sedov believes.

The speaker stressed that not only work is moving online, but also education, traditional retail, and even security.

There was a lot of talk about Africa at the session. Vladimir Sedov noted that this continent, for example, skipped plastic cards in the development stages of payments and immediately switched to the digital format.

"I'm wondering what the planet will look like if the African continent skips the era of cities for industry and megacities and immediately moves from today's rural lifestyle to micropolises. They will not lose in demography, but will further increase their population," Vladimir Sedov shared his opinion.

The session was moderated by Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation. He stressed that this year the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is taking place against the backdrop of tumultuous events in the world.

"We must not forget which long-term trends and challenges have led to the current situation, which trends are basic and decisive. It is important to have an open dialogue about how we can build the world of the future and how to create a new platform for global growth. In which countries will this global growth take place, on what technologies will it be built, on what principles and cultural code. Our task is to move forward for the benefit of people in all countries that, like Russia, are working on the future. It is through open dialogue that our future and our understanding of it are built," Maxim Oreshkin said.

At the session organized by the National Centre RUSSIA, the speakers, among other things, discussed the report on the results of the Open Dialogue prepared by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Expertise "Third Rome". The results of the session "Shaping a new platform for Global Growth" became the basis for the subsequent SPIEF 2025 business program.

A recording of the broadcast of the session "Shaping a new platform for global growth" can be viewed on the website of the National Centre RUSSIA.