Abstract. The authors state that the periods of crisis development put forward an urgent necessity not only in comprehension of the reasons of the current failures and possible ways to overcome them. More importantly, we need to map out potential alternatives that may prevent new fundamental malfunctions. According to authors, the social expectations of the systemic changes in developmental management are based on comprehension of the crisis as a “choice”, “turning point”, “decision-taking point”. The most essential dimensions of such changes are discussed in the paper.