Yanitsky O.N. Russian Megapolises Under New Socio-Ecological Challenges: The Aims of the Project and the Methods Applied. Coevolution and noosphere: research, analytics, forecasting, 2019, Issue 2(8), pp. 5-24. Yanitsky O.N. Russian Megapolises Under New Socio-Ecological Challenges: The Aims of the Project and the Methods Applied. Coevolution and noosphere: research, analytics, forecasting, 2019, Issue 2(8), pp. 5-24.DOI НетРИНЦ: https://elibrary.ru/title_about.asp?id=64769Posted on site: 13.03.19Текст статьи/выпуска на сайте журнала URL: http://biosphere-sib.ru/scientific-practical-journals/coevolution-and-noosphere.php (дата обращения 13.03.2019)AbstractThe article analysis the theoretical, methodological and governmental issues that are emerging in the process of development of the research project titled ‘Russian Megalopolises under new socio-ecological challenges: a building of a complex interdisciplinary model of it and the strategies of shaping of the “green” cities of Russia.’ The author came to conclusion that: (1) the main source of the above challenges is a process of mode of production change, that is a transition from the Third Industrial Revolution to the Fourth one (hereafter the STR-4); (2) this transition period has its own specific regularities; (3) an issue of modern megalopolises has to be analyzed in the light on ongoing global processes; (4) the resource, informational and social networks are their common ground; (5) we have to distinguish the challenges as potential threats, an estimation of their potential harm, and the actual threats; (6) a material, virtual,social and other processes and transformations are integrated by informational and other flows; (7) recently the megalopolises being transformed into the girds at the crossroads of numerous geopolitical and resource interests are losing their social importance; (8) these girds and generated by them the flows of a matter, energy, and people represent the cores of multisided metabolic transformations that may have a cascade character; (9) simultaneously these girds are the critical ‘points’ in a global material and virtual space; (10) the announced transition of Russia to an information economy means an overall transformation of a system of a natural and social governance; (11) this governance has to be as dynamic as the sociobiotechnical milieu;and (12) in the above conditions the principles of a system dynamics and interdisciplinary approach are the key theoretical and methodological instruments both to the scientific researches and to the practice of governance.