USING THE OPPORTUNITIES OF TERRITORIAL MARKETING IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED CITIES
Urbanization is a global process that overtook the society during the transition to an industrial type of development and that was intensifi ed in the era of new industrialization. Large cities spontaneously or in a controlled manner turn into megacities and multi-million metropolitan areas. However, the issues of "survival" of medium and small cities in the modern digital era are not so unequivocal. The purpose of this article is to study the main tools of territorial marketing, used today abroad and in the Russian Federation for the development of small and medium-sized cities. The methodological basis of the publication was a systematic approach, an institutional approach and theories of social change, social stratifi cation and inequality, territorial marketing, territorial branding and strategic management. The analysis of documents, analysis of statistical data and mass sociological survey were used as research methods. The main empirical base of the study was the materials and resources of the Internet, reference and statistical materials of Federal state statistics service and open data of the authorities and local governments, the results of a sociological study. The article identifi es the features of social inequality of the population on a settlement basis in the context of social development, considers domestic and foreign practice of using marketing tools for the development of the territory. The study concluded that the potential of using the tools of territorial marketing for the social development of medium and small cities of Russia does exist.