THE SHAPES OF MOSCOW OBLAST CITIES

An analysis of the shapes of cities in the Moscow region finds that the linear, elongated form tends to predominate over the compact. City layout often derives from the arrangement of the axes of development. In many Moscow Oblast cities, these axes are the transport corridors radiating out of Moscow, and the corridors, often made up of parallel railroad, highway and river, account for the pronounced elongation of city shapes. From a historical perspective, linearity developed mainly in the last 50 to 60 years as new industrial plants and housing developments sprang up along the transport corridors. The author cautions against unhindered development of linearity since it may ultimately produce continuously urbanized belts along the major transport corridors radiating out of Moscow. Such a development is viewed as undesirable from the standpoint of regional planning because it would obliterate recreational facilities, which are now situated mainly along these transport routes.     

On the Linkage Between the Demographic Processes and Economy of a Region: (with particular reference to Pskov Oblast)

A low rate of natural increase, deriving from a disrupted age-sex structure, and net out-migration combine to account for a steady depopulation of Pskov Oblast. The introduction of industries providing additional male employment is recommended in the two principal cities—Pskov and Velikiye Luki—to correct the present predominance of women in industrial towns. Several measures (modernization of the countryside, promotion of truck-produce farming around the major urban centers) are suggested to keep more young people in rural areas and thus correct the lop-sided age structure there. Economic decision-making is viewed as a key factor in improving the demographic situation of a region.     

NEW APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF POPULATION DYNAMICS IN CITIES OF MOSCOW OBLAST

Quantitative analysis of historical trends in city growth rates within Moscow Oblast (1926-1984) reveals two major components or city types: a group of cities with below-(oblast) average rates for each of five periods of analysis (1926-39, 1939-59, 1959-70, 1970-79, 1979-84) and a second category experiencing above-average growth until 1970, with subsequent reduction of rates below the oblast average. Further breakdown of the two major components reveals seven smaller groups, analysis of the spatial patterns of which can provide a basis for planning recommendations on the future development of the region (translated by H. L. Haslett, Birmingham, UK).     

宋金元时期陇西、青东黄土高原地区城镇的发展

宋金元时期是陇西、青东地区城镇发展的重要阶段。北宋为经略陇右而在陇西、青东地区大修堡寨,促使城镇数量激增,形成畸形发展之势;金元时期,城镇数量的显著下降是城镇建设回归常态的反映。这一时期城镇数量的剧烈变化主要存在于县以下的小城镇,而县及县以上城镇的变化相对稳定。特殊的政治、军事、民族形势和国防的需要,是影响这一时期城镇发展的主要因素,在此基础上,陇西、青东地区的城镇在功能上形成综合性区域中心城镇、军事性城镇和商贸型城镇三大类型。     

COTTAGE SETTLEMENTS AND GARDEN COOPERATIVES IN THE MOSCOW AREA

Spaee-time shifts are analyzed for a particular type of suburban recreational, development—the cottage, settlements and garden cooperatives around Moscow. Measurement of the appearance, stabilization and decline of this recreational function along six major rail lines radiating from Moscow shows a centrifugal shift fostefed by the development of high-speed transportation and the conversion of older recreational areas close to the city to residential and industrial uses. A characteristic feature of the expansion of the recreational zone Over time has been a leaping movement in which the centers of recreational development, after having taken shape for one or two decades, will suddenly leap outward to a more distant zone. Furthermore, suburban cities are beginning to generate their own demand for recreational space and are becoming nuclei of their own recreational zones.     

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.     

Regional Planning Problems in the Soviet Far East

A variety of approaches are being recommended in regional plans for future settlements patterns in the Soviet Far East. In Magadan Oblast, the present scattered pattern of small populated places is to be superseded by greater concentration of urban population in a set of subregional service centers. In Khabarovsk Kray, different approaches are being recommended for the future development of the Khabarovsk and Komsomol'sk areas. Because limitation of the future growth of Khabarovsk is desirable, new industrial establishments are to be located in the future in nearby small towns and urban settlements of the Khabarovsk industrial district. In the Komsomol'sk area, satellite towns are to be significantly developed, giving rise to a grouped form of urban settlement, including the tin-mining center of Solnechnyy and the paper and chemical center of Amursk. In Amur Oblast, consideration is being given to the development of an iron and steel plant in the Svobodnyy area, giving rise to a city of up to 200,000 population.     

LEAD POLLUTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT FROM AUTOMOTIVE EXHAUST GASES

The impact of lead contamination of soils and plants along highways of Novgorod Oblast (between Moscow and Leningrad) is investigated. Lead content in roadside soils and crops is compared with control plots situated at a greater distance from highways. Lead content in soils up to 100 meters from roadways is found to be up to 15 times higher than in control plots; lead content in roadside crops, up to 10 meters from roadways, is found to be up to six times higher than in control plots. It is recommended that dwellings and garden plots be moved back from highways beyond the harmful zone. In the case of Novgorod Oblast such a protective roadside zone should be 100 meters wide.     

The Main Tasks and Trends of Geomorphological Research in the USSR

The suburban area of Moscow consists of a green belt and an outer suburban zone, containing both satellites of Moscow and “independent” urban agglomerations without direct links to the capital. The problem of limiting the population growth of Moscow should be solved by promoting the expansion of existing satellite places and by limited construction of new satellite cities. Care should be taken not to urbanize the green belt, set aside for recreation, or to reduce the forest area in the outer suburban zone.     

GEOGRAPHICAL STUDY OF THE FIXED ASSETS OF RURAL PLACES

The use of fixed assets data as a geographical research tool is illustrated with reference to a rural rayon [minor civil division] of Kaluga Oblast, southwest of Moscow. The value of fixed assets by places is correlated with population size, the position of places within the system of settlement of particular state farms or collective farms, and distance from towns. The share of productive assets (farm buildings and equipment) is found to reach a maximum in places with populations of 100 to 200. In larger places, the share of productive assets declines because of the higher value of housing and the presence of most service facilities. The share of productive assets also tends to be low in suburban places where a substantial portion of the population commutes to nearby towns.     

Regional urbanization and the selective growth of towns in North American regions

Despite the extensive discussion of urbanization in the North American past, the processes of selective growth among the various towns and cities, which comprise a regional urban system, remain obscured by the use of oversimplified explanations that neglect either functional and locational variations among the centres or the changing conditions of regional development. A generalized model of selective urban growth in newly settling regions is proposed which distinguishes three periods of development by characteristics of circulation and export activity. It emphasizes the changing implications of town locations (their nodality) as settlement expands and the bases of urban growth shift from commercial and local services to increasingly manufacturing. Discussion of the literature on regional urbanization, organized under five categories of traditional and more recent explanations of selective growth, not only points to the temporal and locational deficiencies which the model addresses, but also reveals the need for closer examination within a developmental framework of both the interdependencies of central place and mercantile bases of urban growth and the relationships between the emergence of manufacturing and city sizes.     

An Evaluation of the Territory of Moscow Oblast in Terms of Physiologic-Climatic Parameters

A regionalization of Moscow Oblast is derived from a physiologic-climatic evaluation for purposes of settlement and recreation. The evaluation is based on the frequency of occurrence of particular classes of weather through the year. The most common classes in Moscow Oblast are the 1C class (light negative heat balance), which is determined by global macrofactors and produces an undifferentiated background in the oblast, and the N class (comfortable condition of heat equilibrium) and 2C class (moderately negative heat balance), which reflect more localized factors and can be used for a differentiated evaluation of physiologic-climatic conditions. Eleven physiologic-climatic regions are delimited on the basis of the difference between the number of days with comfortable conditions (N class) and the number of moderately cold days (2C class). Optimal conditions for settlement and recreation are found south and southeast of Moscow; the most unfavorable in the low-lying swampy Dubna area, where the Moscow-Volga canal meets the Volga River.     

TECHNIQUES FOR INVESTIGATING THE ECONOMIC BASE OF CITIES

Economic-base analysis is applied to 15 small towns of Vologda Oblast in northern European Russia in an attempt to analyze the provision of services in these urban places. The employment structure of the town of Kadnikov, based on a “firm-by-firm” approach, is used as the standard to prorate total employment into basic and nonbasic components. The Kadnikov standard is then applied to the other towns and any excess in employment beyond the nonbasic Kadnikov standard is allocated to the basic sector. The higher proportion of basic employment in some of the study towns is interpreted as reflecting inadequate development of service activities. The analysis suggests that the small towns of Vologda Oblast are relatively well served by education, public health and retail trade-at any rate they are no worse off than the standard town, Kadnikov-but lag in the provision of housing and repair services. Economic-base concepts developed by J. W. Alexander and G. Alexandersson in the 1950s are used as a point of departure.     

Spatial Shifts in the Population of Moscow Region

An American geographer and senior Russian demographer/migration specialist examine spatial shifts in the distribution of population within Moscow city and Moscow Oblast in response to major social and economic changes occurring in the aftermath of the USSR's disintegration. This second installment (for the first, see Ioffe and Zayonchkovskaya, 2010) in a three-part study devoted to exploring the consequences and spatial manifestations of Russia's shrinking population is focused on the one relatively small part of that country that is expected to experience population growth over the next one and one-half decades (albeit strictly due to in-migration rather than natural increase). Particular attention is devoted to the effects of emerging real estate and land markets during the post-Soviet period, on the restructuring of the regional settlement system focused on the Russian capital, as well as the insights to be derived (based on a case study) from investigating processes of spatial population shifts at multiple scales.     

An Empirical Enquiry into the Impact of Urban Planning Policy on Urban Growth

Recent research has stressed the need to evaluate the economic implications of urban planning policy. In this article, we present empirical evidence on the impact of this policy on the population growth of towns and cities. A simple theoretical model serves to highlight the mechanisms whereby this policy may affect urban growth. The model yields a reduced-form equation which we estimate for the towns and cities of Andalusia (Spain). The empirical model strongly supports the claim that urban planning policy considerably affects urban growth and thus, the distribution of population across space. Our results suggest that urban planning policy is contributing to the reduction of diseconomies of agglomeration in larger cities. On the negative side, we find that urban plans are subject to obsolescence, which slows down growth.     

THE IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON THE INCIDENCE OF LUNG CANCER AMONG RURAL RESIDENTS

Lung cancer mortality in the rural areas of Moscow Oblast is found to be virtually identical with data for urban areas. In an effort to establish a set of potential causative factors in rural areas, selected factors are correlated with lung cancer mortality by Moscow Oblast rayons. The highest positive correlation is found for the use of farm pesticides from the carcinogenic dithiocarbamate group, followed by the percentage of workers employed in agriculture, the amount of smoking per capita, the amount of dust-causing plowing, the use of farm machinery (producing exhaust gases) and the use of kerosene (producing household soot). A negative correlation is found between lung cancer and the percentage of white-collar workers employed in rural areas. The selected set of factors accounts for 45 percent of the variance in lung-cancer incidence, but no single specific factor can be isolated to explain the high mortality in rural areas, which evidently stems from a combination of causes.     

淮海经济区城市空间影响范围与城市经济区划分

运用因子分析法求取淮海经济区20个地级市的综合实力指数及等级划分。根据城市综合实力指数和等级划分,选取4个一级城市作为中心城市,然后运用断裂点公式计算中心城市与邻近城市的空间影响距离。再根据空间影响距离划分各中心城市经济影响区范围。最后以城市经济影响区为基础,综合考虑各城市的区域特征、发展潜力、现有经济规划、历史习惯和人文特征,确定城市经济区界限。研究淮海经济区城市经济区形成和划分的目的是指明各城市在整个区域内劳动地域分工中的地位,了解城市经济发展现状和主要特点。     

DEFINITION OF THE BOUNDARY OF MOSCOW'S ACTIVE ZONE OF INFLUENCE

The present boundaries of Moscow's suburban zone are tested by delineating a so-called zone of active influence of Moscow city based on demographic structure and the significance of commuting to work in the city. The most favorable age-sex structure, with a high percentage of population in the working age groups and a relatively high percentage of children, is found in a zone within 50 to 60 kilometers from the city limits. This zone generates a daily flow of more than 500,000 commuters to places of employment in Moscow, 90 percent of whom spend less than 110 to 120 minutes traveling each way. These commuters represent about 2 percent of the total working-age population in the suburban zone. On the basis of the demographic structure and commuting linkages, Moscow's zone of active influence is therefore defined as the zone within which 90 percent of the commuters reside, or within 52 kilometers of the city limits. This conforms roughly to the present definition of the suburban zone.     

Understanding Spatial Differentiation in Urban Decline Levels

The economic and demographic changes currently manifest in many Western cities—referred to as urban decline or urban shrinkage—are receiving increased attention in public and academic debates. Although the general processes driving these changes have been identified, such processes cannot explain why regions and cities which have been exposed to similar processes still differ in their economic and demographic developments. This Western European and US-based literature review attempts to answer the question of how this interregional and intraregional variation in levels of economic and demographic decline can be understood. It is argued that the degree to which wider societal forces (such as deindustrialization, changes in international and domestic migration and changing fertility levels) impact on a particular area depends on how these forces are filtered, first, through the institutional and, second, the spatial context that the region or city is located in. To understand the differences between the cities within one region (being part of the same institutional and spatial contexts), we need to descend to the city level and take account of the local (dis)amenities, comprising its physical, social and economic assets, and the influence of (the place characteristics of) other cities in the vicinity and the socio-political framework.     

以西安为中心的关中城市群的结构优化及其方略

城市群是城市化发展的新形态,也是区域经济发展中的"发展极"。以西安为中心的关中城市群已经形成了西部经济"发展极"的初始条件,成为了西部经济发展的核心地带。以西安为中心的关中城市群的基本现状是:城市群总规模较小,中等城市数量少,小城镇发展滞后。从目前提高竞争力和带动西部经济发展的目标来看,面临着完善空间结构、功能结构和时序结构的任务。在空间结构优化方面,要强化西安中心城市的作用,培育二级中心城市,完善小城镇建设体系,以西安为中心构筑四大城镇群。在功能结构完善方面,要强化城市群区的联系,进行城市群中各个城市功能和性质的重新定位;从时序结构的完善来看,要以增强中心城市的吸引力和辐射力为目标,从近期、远期和远景三个方面安排时序结构。