SUBSTITUTION OF NATURAL GAS LIQUIDS FOR PETROLEUM IN THE SOVIET PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY

This paper examines the prospects for switching the Soviet petrochemical industry from an oil to a gas base, by substituting more natural gas liquids (NGL) for the light petroleum fractions currently used. In other countries with a large domestic gas industry, such as the United States, the petrochemical industry is based largely on natural gas liquids (NGL). Thus, with the accelerating development of its own gas industry (now the largest in the world), the USSR has the potential to change its feedstock mix to take advantage of increased NGL supplies, freeing more of the light petroleum fractions for other uses, such as transportation. However, changes in feedstock usage have been in the opposite direction, with increasing reliance on refined petroleum liquids, with little of the available NGL being used for petrochemicals. This is partly because of differences in regional availability of NGL: most of the Soviet petrochemical industry is concentrated in the Volga-Urals region, while most of Soviet hydrocarbons now are produced in West Siberia. Another factor is the small size and limited capabilities of the Soviet gas processing industry.     

REGIONAL INEQUITY AND SOVIET CONCERN FOR RURAL AND SMALL-TOWN INDUSTRALIZATION

Regional inequity has been an important national issue in most industrial societies. Measures to reduce inequity usually include the location of more industries in rural and small-town areas. The USSR has always possessed a strong ideologically based concern for regional inequity, but it was not until the 1960's that the matter was given serious attention. The last three five-year plans have called for more industry in small towns and rural villages. Life in these areas is to be made more attractive, labor resources more fully utilized, local economies improved, and the out- migration of people reduced. However, there are obvious barriers to industrialization in rural and small-town areas, and as in most industrial nations, the reduction of regional inequity is a slow and difficult process.     

CONTEMPORARY URBANIZATION AND AN OPTIMAL SIZE FOR SOVIET CITIES

Three Leningrad geographers use a recent book by Yu. L. Pivovarov of Moscow as a point of departure to focus on two issues relating to urbanization in the Soviet Union: (1) the nature of the urbanization process; (2) optimal city size. The authors challenge Pivovarov's view that urbanization is a relatively independent socio-historical process in which places evolve on their own from lower forms to higher forms of settlement. They contend that urbanization is closely related to the characteristics of a given socio-economic system and that, in the Soviet Union, it involves not only city growth per se, but the relationship between urban and rural settlement and the penetration of urban life styles into the countryside. On the controversy surrounding optimal size, the writers say that the issue is not to find the ideal size for cities in general, but to set desirable limits for cities of different functional types and, most important, to insure that the infrastructure of cities keeps pace with industrial potential. If industrial development moves far ahead of infrastructure, the authors argue, it is desirable to constrain further growth, especially by keeping out industries that tend to have an agglomerative effect in attracting other industries. Once infrastructure catches up with industrial development, the constraints can be eased and the economies of size inherent in large cities can again come into play.     

RECENT DEMOGRAPHIC AND MIGRATORY TRENDS AMONG SOVIET JEWS: IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY

A prominent authority on the Jewish population of the former USSR focuses on demographic trends and migration behavior (both within the former USSR and abroad), while also addressing the effect of Soviet state policy toward the Jewish population. Among the factors whose effects on population dynamics are examined, emphasis is placed on the Jewish population's concentration in large urban areas, the effects of emigration on age structure of the remaining population, self-identification as a method in census enumeration, ethnic intermarriage and family characteristics, and the outlook and prospects for emigres in Israel and the United States.     

THE BAM: LABOR,MIGRATION AND PROSPECTS FOR SETTLEMENT

The construction of the showcase Baikal-Amur Mainline (the BAM), which spans over 2,000 miles of unsettled, desolate territory, provides an excellent opportunity to study labor management and organization in a centrally planned economy, and illustrates the interplay of central planning with the relatively unhindered migration of workers. Significantly, in the face of a shrinking labor force, the USSR attracted thousands of young people to Siberia to work on the BAM. Now that the rail line is in place, the more difficult task will be to entice workers to settle in the BAM zone. Until the Soviet Government makes a firm commitment to improving the quality of life in Siberia, prospects for settling the BAM region remain uncertain. (The author wishes to thank Holland Hunter, Gilbert Rozman and Theodore Shabad for their generous help and encouragement.)     

THE GREEN ECONOMY AND POST‐GROWTH REGIMES: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

While mainstream economic geography is doing increasing research on green manufacturing and services, with a few notable exceptions, its predominant conceptual approaches to emerging modes of economic orientation continue to examine economic transitions somewhat unreflexively within the context of traditional growth paradigms. The aim of this article is to explore and critically examine neoliberal discourses on the green economy and smart growth by exploring contributions to debates on green economics proposed by ideas linked to post‐growth economies. Based on studies by scholars such as Tim Jackson and Serge Latouche, the article examines the contours of debates on post‐growth, décroissance (de‐growth) and prosperity without growth. We begin by examining growth debates and existing contributions by economic and other geographers to the exploration of alternatives to conventional growth‐centred economics. We then identify some emergent spatial facets of post‐growth transitions and utilize these to explore potential research topics and opportunities for empirical and conceptual contributions by economic geographers to academic and societal debates on economic transitions and post‐growth paradigms. Particular attention is paid to approaches currently discussed in economic geography, such as socio‐technical transition studies.     

THE LENINGRAD REGIONAL SOCIOECONOMIC COMPLEX: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS FOR ITS DEVELOPMENT

The evolving settlement network of Leningrad city and Leningrad Oblast, considered as a single planning region, is described, as are a number of changes anticipated by the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (stabilization and eventual reduction in the size of the local labor force, structural economic change toward “nonproductive” activities, closer attention to the balance between the region's economic profile and local resources and infrastructure). Of particular interest are recommendations for restricting further development in some machine-building sectors to renovation and retooling, for growing more perishable agricultural commodities locally, and for recognizing the Leningrad agglomeration as an official planning entity (translated by Jay K. Mitchell; PlanEcon, Inc.; Washington, DC 20005).     

COEVOLUTIONARY CONTRADICTIONS: PROSPECTS FOR A RESEARCH PROGRAMME ON SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE

Insights from social system–environmental system coevolutionary thought experiments are abstract, mind opening, and can only be conveyed by leading readers through the experiment themselves. Undertaking applied coevolutionary analyses requires one to bound processes and fix some of the categories, contrary to the nature of the broad, opening nature of coevolution itself. Being conscious of these contradictions makes it difficult to engage in a sustained research programme or form a community of coevolutionary scholars. In this article we engage with the epistemological tensions of conducting coevolutionary research and put forward tentative strategies for managing them.     

SOVIET ASIAN-PACIFIC TRADE AND THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOVIET FAR EAST

During the 1970s and early 1980s it was generally accepted, by both Soviet and Western specialists, that in the Soviet Far East the expansion of exports to the nations of the Pacific Basin offered a solution to the region's economic problems. However, recent policy statements suggest the rejection of this export-led development strategy. This study examines the changing structure and dynamics of Soviet trade with the Asian-Pacific region. At present, for a combination of economic and political reasons, Soviet trade with the Asian-Pacific region is dominated by exports of machinery and equipment and petroleum to the socialist nations of the region, inasmuch as Japanese demand for Soviet natural resources is stagnant. Therefore, because of the resource orientation of the Far Eastern economy, contemporary trade relations do not favor the expansion of the Soviet Far Eastern export base. Consequently, the future role of the region in the national economic system will be determined largely by the availability of domestic capital investment funds.     

THE VALAAM ARCHIPELAGO: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

The authors describe a complex of social, economic, and environmental problems on the Valaam Archipelago, associated with pollution of Lake Ladoga, heavy tourist pressure, and deteriorating residential/economic infrastructure for the small permanent population. The islands are known as the site of the architecturally and historically unique Monastery of the Transfiguration, situated on the main island of Valaam—now in disrepair from negligence, heavy visitor pressure, and use as residential quarters for all but a few permanent island residents. The option of resettling this population to the mainland is weighed against its comprehensive development as a historical and tourist center. translated by H. L. Haslett, Leamington Spa, UK from: Izvestiya Vsesoyuznogo Geograficheskogo Obshchestva, 1991, No. 1, pp. 98-103.     

旅游污名：研究进展及展望

近年来,层出不穷的旅游乱象给整个旅游行业带来了极其负面的影响,使我国旅游行业遭受到了社会公众强加的污名。因此,如何避免旅游污名化现象的加剧以及如何对已被污名的旅游业进行去污名化,已成为我国旅游界亟待解决的课题。当前学术界关于旅游污名的重视远远不够,研究十分匮乏。本文对旅游污名研究进展进行了系统述评,将旅游污名划分为基于人地关系的旅游地方污名、基于群体关系的旅游者污名以及基于人际关系的旅游职业污名。在此基础上,指出应加强旅游污名的形成机制与综合治理研究、使用流动性方式开展旅游污名研究等方向。本文为理解及解决旅游污名问题提供可行的理论指导,对旅游研究及旅游发展均大有裨益。     

时空间行为调查的回顾与未来展望

随着理论与方法体系不断完善,时空间行为研究近年来越来越重视实践应用导向,同时也面临构建解释时空间行为的一般理论的使命,对研究数据提出了新的要求.本文回顾时空间行为调查的进展,认为时空间行为调查在方法上与移动定位技术的结合日益密切,数据质量得到较大提升;在内容上越来越重视个体行为的能动性以及行为的社会、环境意义.在此基础...