THE BAYKAL-AMUR MAINLINE AND THE INTEGRATED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE EASTERN REGIONS OF THE USSR

The construction of the BAM is viewed as serving two purposes: one, the development of new resource sites for export through Soviet Pacific ports, particularly to Japan; second, the accelerated development of new parts of East Siberia and the Far East, serving ultimately as a bridgehead for further advance toward the Northeast. Key resource areas to be given priority in development are the Neryungri coking-coal basin of South Yakutia, for export to Japan; the Udokan copper deposit, and the Molodezhnoye asbestos deposit. Because of the harsh environment, it is unlikely that any processing activities beyond mineral concentration and forest products industries will be located in the BAM zone, at least in the early stages of development. Food supply for the growing population will be largely dependent on hauls of bread and feed grains from southern portions of West Siberia and vegetables from as far away as Central Asia. Future territorial production complexes along the BAM are tentatively outlined.     

BASIC PROBLEMS IN THE STAGE-BY-STAGE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TRANSPORT NET IN THE ZONE OF THE BAIKAL-AMUR MAINLINE

The evolution of the transport net within the BAM zone is examined in terms of three development stages. The first stage will involve the construction of the initial framework of the future transport net; aside from the BAM itself, it is recommended that consideration be given to the construction of a permanent motor road instead of the temporary construction road now envisaged. The second stage, in the author's view, should include the start of an extension of the Little BAM northward toward Yakutsk, as well as an oil pipeline (the author does not agree with the view that the BAM would replace earlier plans for a Trans-Siberian pipeline). The third stage would include a gas pipeline from the Yakutian fields to the coast; it is recommended that the gas line follow the alignment of the new railroads. No specific time frame is attached to the proposed three development stages.     

PROBLEMS IN APPLIED GEOGRAPHY IN CONNECTION WITH THE BAYKAL-AMUR MAINLINE RAIL PROJECT

A discussion of the various environmental impacts of the BAM and of the role of geographers in anticipating and preventing them. Intermontane basins offer relatively favorable areas for settlement, but lack of ventilation rules out the location of polluting industries. Avalanches, ground ice and snow drifting pose particular problems along the route, requiring special-purpose investigations and control measures. A mapping program is proposed to identify farming areas with the most favorable heat supply. A system of geographical field stations is needed to study environmental modification on the ground. Recommendations are made for optimal approaches to settling the BAM zone, distinguishing three categories of population groups: railroad workers, miners and lumbering personnel. Preservation of the indigenous hunting and reindeer economy is urged because of the importance of furs for exports and the use of reindeer as pack animals. Portions of the natural landscape are to be preserved for scientific purposes and, ultimately, for tourism as natural monuments.     

THE BAYKAL-AMUR MAINLINE RAILROAD: ITS AREA OF INFLUENCE AND ITS PROJECTED FREIGHT FLOWS

The idea of building the Baykal-Amur Mainline, running through East Siberia to the north of, and parallel to, the Trans-Siberian Railroad, first arose in 1932. Initial surveys of an alignment were completed in 1944, and the western and eastern extremities of the BAM were completed by the early 1950s. Surveys along the BAM route resumed in 1967 with renewed interest in a railroad that would open up new Siberian resource sites for export through Pacific seaports. After completion of the BAM, scheduled for 1983, freight traffic will consist mainly of West Siberian crude oil moving to refineries and ports of the Soviet Far East (70 to 75 percent of freight movements in ton-kilometers) followed by timber (10 to 18 percent). Coking coal from southern Yakutia to the Pacific coast for export to Japan will also be significant freight item. Eastbound freight movements will greatly exceed westbound traffic. [A previous article on the BAM appeared in Soviet Geography, April 1975.]     

PRINCIPAL TRENDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF URBAN PLACES IN THE KARA KUM

The development of mineral resources in the Kara Kum desert and irrigation projects along the Kara Kum Canal have fostered the growth of urban population in Turkmenia at a more rapid rate than rural population. In general, established cities in the republic tend to grow more slowly than some of the new workers' settlements established on the basis of gas extraction and other mineral developments. The urban places of Turkmenia are classified by size classes, functional types and growth rates.     

TERRITORIAL STRUCTURE OF TOURIST SERVICES IN THE USSR AND TRENDS IN ITS DEVELOPMENT

Differences in the support structure for tourism in various parts of the USSR are analyzed as a consequence of such factors as natural conditions, proximity to major population centers and tourist attractions, route connectivity, and the variable shares of private (e.g., dacha) and rental accommodations. Elements of both dynamism and stability in the current spatial pattern are identified and comparisons of tourism infrastructure for 1976, 1980, and 1986 are used to analyze changes occurring in subregions within four broad macrozones. Tourism infrastructure and interregional tourist travel both are concentrated in the central and southern parts of the European USSR. Translated by H. L. Haslett, Leamington Spa, UK from: Izvestiya Vsesoyuznogo Geograficheskogo Obshchestva, 1990, No. 1, pp. 86-94.     

CONTROL OF RESOURCES AND THE RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF THE PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY IN ALBERTA

Recent petrochemical developments in Alberta are part of a global redistribution of the industry toward raw material locations. A small group of companies has secured control of these raw materials within Alberta and, as a consequence, the power to determine the future pattern of petrochemical development within the province. This pattern will reflect the requirements of the companies rather than the economic policy objectives of the Alberta government.
Les développements récents dans ľindustrie de la pétrochimie en Alberta font partie ďune redistribution globale de ľindustrie vers ses sources de matières premières. Un petit groupe de sociétés a réussi à prendre le contrle de ces matières premières en Alberta, et, par conséquent, le pouvoir de déterminer les directions dans lesquelles ľindustrie pétrochimique évoluera dans cette province. Dans une telle situation, la politique économique du gouvernement de ľAlberta cèdra la place aux besoins prioritaires déterminés par les sociétés elles-měmes.     

黄河沿岸人地关系与发展

文明的产生与扩散是人地相互作用的反映,不同的文明与不同的地理环境密切相关,不同发展阶段的文明又反映了不同类别的地理要素的组合及其共同作用。产生古文明的区域,在新的发展阶段由于地理环境优势的变化,又面临着严峻的发展挑战。本文分析了黄河文明的起源、扩散与地理环境的关系,黄河特殊的"曲流"形式以及中国特殊的地形阶梯及气候带与晋商的形成,黄河沿岸东西、南北经济的相互作用及其现代发展滞后的地理因素的影响,得出了一些新的观点。在此观点的基础上,本文认为黄河沿岸的现代发展应该考虑:由河流治理为主转变为发展为主,重新认识黄河流域特殊的地理要素和社会文化要素的优势,充分利用黄河沿岸的上下互动、两岸腹地的左右互动,系统地考虑和反思黄河对国家和沿岸地区发展的综合作用,综合谋划黄河沿岸地区的发展。     

ECOLOGICAL PROTECTION AND FOREST INDUSTRY IN TIBET

EDITOR'S NOTE: I recently interviewed Ngabu, Directorof the Forest Bureau of the Tibet Autonomous Region.The following are highlights of the interview.Question: Mr. Director, could you pleasetell me something about efforts Tibetwill make to build up its forestry management?Answer: Surely. According to the 10-yearprogram our Bureau worked out in 2000,Tibet will spend some 500 million Yuan to protect natural forests in the three counties ofMamkang, Gongjor and Gyangda on the upperrea…     

BASIC PRINCIPLES FOR A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF DEVELOPMENT AND LOCATION OF PRODUCTIVE FORCES IN THE NONCHERNOZEM ZONE OF THE RSFSR

A development strategy is proposed for the Nonchernozem zone of the European RSFSR, which is now the object of a major program of rural modernization (see S.G., March, April 1975). The principal factors affecting future strategy are geographical situation and physical setting, resource potential, level of economic development and settlement, availability of skilled labor and technical progress. The proposed strategy calls for focusing northern development on resource exploitation, fostering manufacturing development in the central oblasts outside the major industrial nodes, where industrial expansion should be restricted, and limiting industrial construction in the southern grain-growing oblasts to avoid diverting valuable agricultural land to nonfarm uses. The Nonchernozem zone will continue to be the nation's research and development center and aim at economic growth through intensive methods in view of a labor shortage.     

吉林省旅游创意产业发展研究

文化创意为旅游产业注入观念、感情和品位等新的要素,旅游创意产业基于创意元素与旅游元素的完美融合。旅游创意产业依托于旅游元素的感知度、服务性和创意元素的新奇度、体验性,并在双方相互渗透的基础上,通过创意理念为旅游业搭建桥梁,从而促进旅游业的发展。通过对创意产业的特点、旅游创意产业的作用和生命周期等的分析,探讨了吉林省旅游创意产业发展状况和发展重点。     

论桂澳旅游业的联动发展

本文论述了广西与澳门旅游业联动发展的客观依据和可能、必要性及重要意义,进而探讨了两地旅游业联动发展的主要途径。     

THE TWILIGHT OF ADVERSARINESS: TRENDS IN CIVIL JUSTICE

The author evaluates changes in the form of civil adjudication that have occurred since the adoption of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in 1938. The evidence reveals a. paradoxical situation–the system has become both less and more adversarial. After identifying the causes of these opposing trends, the author concludes that the forces undermining adversariness are more powerful than those supporting the traditional model. Finally, the implications of this retreat from customary procedure are explored.     

ISSUES IN THE REGIONALIZATION OF INDUSTRY IN THE SOCIALIST COUNTRIES OF EASTERN EUROPE

A hierarchy of industrial areas in Eastern Europe is described, consisting of 40 industrial regions, about 200 industrial nodes, and numerous industrial centers and ordinary industrial places. Evidence of the formation of a higher-ranking industrial macroregion covering the border area of East Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia is adduced. Six other entities of industrial macroregion rank are identified in the rest of Europe (including the European USSR east to the Urals).     

PRINCIPAL TRENDS AND PROSPECTS OF THE USE OF WATER RESOURCES IN THE USSR

The increasing demand on water in the Soviet Union and the problem of assuring water quality require the construction of long-term water-management balances by drainage basins. These balances, based on predicted demand and water availability, would suggest the need for water-management projects within basins and interbasin transfers. Water needs would be evaluated both in terms of water requirements by categories of users and in terms of water quality. The most crucial regional problems involve the increasing shortage of water in Central Asia (with the prospect of interbasin transfer from Siberia) and in southern regions of the European USSR (with the problem of diverting water southward from the northern runoff slope). The Caspian Sea is expected to require a supplementary inflow of 80 to 100 cubic kilometers a year by the end of the century if the decline of its waterlevel is to be arrested. But southward diversion of northern waters is not expected to add more than 50 to 70 km³ at best, with a possible saving of an additional 10 to 20 km³ through decline of evaporation from a reduced Caspian Sea surface. The preservation of conditions in the Sea of Azov, the Aral Sea and Lake Balkhash pose additional water problems. [The senior author died in October, 1974].     

THE DEVELOPMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS IN TIBET

In the past, a letter sent from Tibet to inland China often took almost half a year to arrive. In Tibet, people had to walk a long way, and then waited in a long queue for access to a fixed phone. Because of the poor state of telecommunications in Tibet in those early days, people in Tibet heard and saw little of the wonderful world outside. This in turn created an even greater apparent distance between Tibet and that outside world.     

CONCEPTS OF THE INNER CITY AND RECENT TRENDS IN CANADA

This essay evaluates the explanatory power of two current models - ‘centrifugal’ and ‘centripetal’ - of the evolution of inner cities. This in done in the light of data on socioeconomic trends that affect residential areas in the cores of the nine major Canadian metropolitan regions. The centrifugal model focuses on the attraction of suburbs on central city residents; the centripetal concentrates on the lure of some inner-city neighbourhoods for certain middle- and upper-income households. While the Canadian trends support some propositions of the models, they seriously challenge others, us models seem unsuitable for explaining Canadian urban reality. They fail to account for the relative socioeconomic stability of core neighourboods in major Canadian cities and the dissociation between trends in their residents' incomes and in housing values. Cet article évalue le pouvoir d'explication démontré par les ébauches théoriques qui visent à faire comprendre l'évolution des quartiers situés à l'interieur des centres urbains. Cette évaluation se sert de données relatives aux tendances socio-économiques qui marquent les secteurs résidentiels situés au coeur des neuf plus grandes zones métropolitaines du Canada. Deux modèles dominent ce champ d'étude: il y a d'abord le modèle ‘centrifuge,’ qui postule une attraction des banlieues exercée sur les résidents de la ville centrale; puis le modèle ‘centripète,’ qui explique l'attrait qu'exercent ces quartiers sur certains manages a moyens et hauls revenus. Alors que les tendances observées dans les agglomérations canadiennes viennent donner du poids à certaines propositions de ces modèles, elles présentent également un défi de taille à certaines autres. Les difficultés ressenties dans l'application de ces deux modèles paraissent relever de l'inadaptation de modèles conçus aux Etats-Unis à la réalité urbaine canadienne. Ces modèles sont considérés particulièrement inaptes à expliquer la relative stabilité socio-économique des quartiers des grandes agglomérations canadiennes et à rendre compte d'un écart grandissant entre lesrevenus de leurs résidents et la valeur des unités de logement qui s'y trouvent.     

THE NATURE OF THE MANPOWER PROBLEM IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SIBERIA

The traditional picture of the economic development in Siberia presents a formidable obstacle in the form of a manpower deficit and high labor turnover. The official policy to combat this problem has been to give priority to the development of social and cultural amenities. Substantial changes in wage differentials and other economic and non-economic benefits seem to be a measure of the past. This article presents an overview of the situation and suggests that if any public policy is to be effective, it has to combine accelerated development in the social and cultural spheres and economic and noneconomic benefits as well. Furthermore, these measures have to be more differentiated regionally and among worker categories. Any such policy would require massive investment. The question is whether Soviet society can bear this huge burden in view of more immediate needs. Another question is whether the additional investment required would be compensated by a comparable increase in the productivity of labor. In view of substantial cost increases, capital productivity is likely to decline if not compensated by a change in the calculated prices on Siberian products, especially oil and gas, which seems doubtful in view of the present international situation.     

RECENT POPULATION TRENDS IN THE USSR

Pending the publication of new Soviet population data based on the 1979 census, to be hald next January, the author reviews population trends in the 1970's. After a steady decline through much of the Soviet period, birth rates and death rates have stabilized for the country as a whole, although marked regional differences continue. An unexplained rise in infant mortality and an apparent reduction of life expectancy have led to the suppression of data in these areas. No ready explanation is found for a recent increase in female fertility and age-specific death rates. Abnormalities in the age-sex structure, resulting from past population catastrophes, continue to persist and indicate future labor shortages. Geographical differences in population growth rates, resulting from differential rates of natural increase and migration, are analyzed. Urbanization, a typical phenomenon of the Soviet period, continues apace, with the biggest increases in large cities despite a policy designed to discourage big-city growth. A crucial question is the optimal disposition of the growing labor pool in the Central Asian region-whether to foster local employment or encourage migration from Central Asia to labor deficit areas elsewhere in the Soviet Union.