Systems Of Urban Places

A method of “structural chains” is proposed for the analysis of regional urban systems. Each chain is made up of a sequence of numerical elements representing the average population of places at various levels of urban development, from small mining or forestry settlements to large polyfunctional cities of regional or national rank. The absence of a particular category in a region is marked in the chain by a zero. The structural chains of local urban systems can be grouped into tables reflecting the structure of a regional urban system and its local variations. The key characteristics of urban systems reflected by these chains are: the number of elements or levels of development; the number of zeros and their position in the chain, reflecting the degree of development of the urban hierarchy; and the height of the regional tables (number of horizontal rows), representing the number of local urban structures. The method is tested and illustrated by the urban systems of the Dnieper-Donets and Black Sea regions of the Ukraine, the Upper Volga region, and the urban system of the Tatar ASSR.     

The System of Urban Places of the Donets Territorial-Production Complex

The system of urban places of the Donets Basin is analyzed in terms of economic functions. Seven types are distinguished ranging from small, narrowly specialized coal-mining settlements to major cities with a polyfunctional structure of industry. Four charts that accompany the original article have been dropped in the translation because of reproduction problems.     

Mathematical Method for Determining Levels of Development of Urban Places within a System

A matrix technique is used to determine levels of development of urban places within a system. This classification of places is based on two criteria: (1) the degree of development of the city's production complex; (2) its role in the geographical division of labor, based on the extent of its external relations (local, regional, national, foreign). The city's production complex is analyzed in terms of energy-and-production cycles, which are groups of technologically interrelated industries (as defined by N. N. Kolosovskiy). Points are assigned to individual production cycles within a city on the basis of the level of development of the particular cycle and the extent of its external relations. The points assigned to each cycle are then added up for a total number of points for the city. The urban places are then arranged in increasing order of points. Threshold values are determined to separate the set of places into levels of development, ranging from rudimentary producers of raw materials to fully integrated polyfunctional cities with wide-flung external relations. A condensed explanation of the technique appeared parenthetically in Soviet Geography, September 1969, pp. 375–377     

Archaeological Survey and the Study of Mesopotamian Urban Systems

Abstract

The current understanding of Mesopotamian urban systems has been substantially enhanced by a series of wide-ranging archaeological surveys during the past three decades. The study of Mesopotamian society, as with most historical civilizations, offers special challenges to the survey archaeologist. A long tradition of philological inquiry has contributed to the current state of knowledge and must not be overlooked in future work.

For Mesopotamia, probably the greatest achievements in survey archaeology are the works of Robert McC. Adams. They serve here as the reference point for a discussion of the current state of surveying in Mesopotamia. The first part of this article addresses several general issues confronting the survey archaeologist. Questions of the scale of the research project, the intensity of covering the landscape, and the adequate identification of the materials that are discovered all must be carefully evaluated in planning a survey. In the second half of the article three general recommendations are made that I believe must be incorporated into the next “generation” of archaeological surveys.     

Urban Food Systems and the Poor in Developing Countries

In many cities in developing countries, hunger and malnutrition are common amongst the poor, even when food is relatively abundant. Over the past two decades, a considerable literature has accumulated on the problems associated with rapid urbanization in developing countries – a literature that for the most part has neglected the important dimension of urban food systems and how these link production and consumption networks at local, regional and global levels. Similarly, whilst there is a newly burgeoning literature on global food systems, the contextual role of the urbanization process is rarely addressed. This paper attempts to fuse these two major areas of geographical investigation to highlight the issues that need to be addressed in future research programmes so that improved diets become accessible to all urban dwellers.     

意大利访古

<正>意大利是个多姿多彩、令人神往的国家。看欧洲地图,意大利的版图形状像一只女人的高筒高跟皮靴伸向地中海。人们对这个国度的兴趣会因各自的偏爱而不同:热衷体育的人欣赏意大利的足球——他们曾三次夺得大力神杯。国家队的21号皮尔洛是钢铁大亨的儿子,他踢球的工资全部捐给非洲难民基金会。这个国家,尤其到了大的赛季,各种色彩都不足以渲染人们的热情。艺术爱好者则推崇意大利的绘画、雕塑和建筑艺术,认为意大利的歌剧名扬四     

The Spatial Structuring of Central Places

The spatial structuring of “classical” central place systems is the primary concern of this research. Emphasizing the development of such systems from basic spatial relations between centers and hinterland locations (rather than as a result of an underlying geometry of regions), this paper takes an optimization approach to the siting of central places in a single-good system. The objective function is shown to be one that maximizes both market coverage of demand and market overlap. Access to this objective is given through the natural slack covering model.     

Patent Places: Size Matters

In this paper I investigate the United States urban system of technical advance by analysis of metropolitan patent data. Residents of metropolitan areas obtain most of the patents awarded to Americans and the largest areas predominate, signifying that urbanization externalities facilitate invention. The advantages of large areas arise from lopsided concentrations of technologically intensive manufacturing and an uneven distribution of well-educated people. Location with respect to the traditional manufacturing belt also plays a role. Metropolitan residents in the manufacturing belt remain the most industrious inventors. The contribution of leading educational and research institutions to technical advance is manifest in small urban centers and outside the traditional manufacturing belt.     

The Formation of Leningrad's Satellite Places

The development of Leningrad's suburban zone began mainly in the Soviet period with the growth of “dormitory” satellites of the central city. Many of the city's satellites perform the same industrial and cultural functions as Leningrad itself. The distribution of commuter areas is analyzed on the basis of winter commutation tickets. In addition to satellites, Leningrad has “associate” cities and towns that supply the central city with electric power and fuels but lack the commuting ties that differentiate true satellites. Further planning of the Leningrad suburban zone should take care not to saturate the suburbs with industry. It is more desirable to locate new plants in small and medium-size cities outside the suburban zone.