GRAPH MODELING OF THE EVOLUTION OF STRUCTURES OF TERRITORIAL-PRODUCTION COMPLEXES IN NEW PIONEERING AREAS

A graph model technique is used to analyze the pattern of urban places in the Bratsk–Ust'-Ilimsk complex on the middle Angara River in Siberia. The places, serving as vertices, are connected into tree-like structures on the basis of a data matrix that uses the founding dates of the places and the distances between them. The resulting pattern of location reveals a linear-nodal structure that is typical of areas in early stages of economic development, such as the Middle Angara district, with its large hydroelectric stations and energy-intensive industries like aluminum and woodpulp. The graph technique is suitable for analyzing patterns of location at various stages of development and to predict the future evolution of the structure of urban places.     

GEOGRAPHICAL PROBLEMS IN THE ORGANIZATION OF TOURISM AND RECREATION IN THE SAYAN TERRITORIAL-PRODUCTION COMPLEX

The Sayan hydroelectric station, now under construction, will give rise to a new industrial district in southern Siberia that is expected to attract a population of one million to the area by the year 2000. This development, together with the attractiveness of the region, is likely to spur the development of one of the Soviet Union's most important recreation zones in the southern portion of Krasnoyarsk Kray and adjoining Tuva ASSR. Careful planning of recreational uses of the region is urged within the framework of the regional geo-engineering system, which involves the interplay between the natural environment and the engineering structures generated by the impending economic development of the area.     

ECONOMIC REGIONS,ADMINISTRATIVE REGIONS AND TERRITORIAL PRODUCTION COMPLEXES

Three types of integral economic regions are distinguished in the USSR: (1) economic regions at various levels, performing strictly economic functions; (2) administrative-economic (or simply administrative regions), which perform both economic functions and the functions of government administration; (3) territorial production complexes, which combine interlinked economic activities within a particular area from the economic-geographic point of view. Because of the differences in functions, there can be no complete identity between economic and administrative regions although their boundaries often coincide. Production complexes are not a substitute for economic regions because the complexes encompass only interlinked activities while economic regions encompass all economic activities. However, production complexes are elements that give rise to both economic and administrative regions. Economic planning in the USSR proceeds along three lines: (a) within the system of economic regions; (b) within the system of administrative regions; (c) within the system of sectoral or branch administrations, which are now being replaced by corporation-type industrial associations.     

ON THE QUESTION OF THE COMPOSITION OF ECONOMIC TERRITORIAL COMPLEXES

A variety of definitions of “territorial production complex” is analyzed in terms of the factors that enter into this concept of an integrated areal production unit of the Soviet economy. The author favors a definition that would encompass the interplay of all human activities within a given territory, from a major economic region to an individual place. The theory of cycles, developed by N. N. Kolosovskiy as an analytical tool for the study of regional economies, is criticized on the ground that it considers only the technological feasibility of combining a set of related industries into a so-called cycle, but ignores the issue of economic efficiency. The proposition is illustrated by comparing the location of a water-intensive and fuel-intensive chemical complex in Belorussia and Eastern Siberia. The technological basis for such a complex is present in both regions, but the economics favors an East Siberian location.     

ECONOMIC-GEOGRAPHIC PECULIARITIES OF FORMATION OF THE INDUSTRIAL-TERRITORIAL COMPLEXES OF UNION REPUBLICS

Differences in industrial development of the Soviet union republics are found to persist, and the basic factors are analyzed. The presence of a skilled labor force is an important factor in insuring a high level of industrial output per capita and a high rate of return on capital. However, the distribution of labor-intensive industries does not always conform to the availability of labor resources. Such industries have reached a high level in the Baltic republics, where the reproduction rate is low and additional labor must be brought in from the outside, and they have not been fostered in Central Asia, where the rate of natural increase is high. The emphasis on resource-based industries that is characteristic of some republics (oil and gas in Azerbaydzhan and Turkmenia, nonferrous metals in Kazakhstan, etc.) is usually associated with a high level of fixed assets (capital intensity) and a low rate of return as well as low levels of industrial output per capita.     

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION PROBLEMS AND THE FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF TERRITORIAL PRODUCTION COMPLEXES IN DEVELOPED REGIONS: THE KMA

Present and anticipated future environmental problems associated with past and projected development of the iron ore resources of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly (KMA) (the most rapidly expanding production basin in the USSR) are outlined. The area's environmental problems recently have become a major concern, as a result of a heavy emphasis on accelerating production from surface mines in the basin, with few resources being allocated for land reclamation and pollution control activities (see Soviet Geography, November 1986, pp. 679-682 and May 1988, p. 537). Major attention is given to identifying development strategies mitigating further environmental disruption and experimentation with promising land reclamation and pollution control measures (translated by Andrew R. Bond).