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.     

A REGIONALIZATION OF THE RURAL AREAS OF TAMBOV OBLAST BASED ON DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS

The notion of spatial development is defined as a relationship between two phenomena, in which the phenomenon that is being modified (the object of development) imposes constraints on the evolution of the modifier (the subject of development); the interaction achieves what was at first only potentially present in the object. The combination of a particular subject and object characterizes the intensity of the process of development (or the level of development). This conceptual approach is illustrated with particular reference to the development levels in the rural rayons of Tambov Oblast, where the output and fixed assets of agriculture are used as the subject of development, and the physical base and rural population as the objects. The interplay yields a number of types of development levels which have been mapped and interpreted in light of the history of settlement and the physical base of the area.     

THE PROBLEM OF DEVELOPING RURAL SERVICES IN NOVGOROD OBLAST

Novgorod Oblast, in northwestern Russia, has been distinguished by a high rate of rural outmigration and depletion of agricultural labor resources. One key factor in slowing the flight from the land is an improvement in the quality and range of rural services. The impact of adequate services is shown by available data on the distribution of rural population by distance from service centers. The rate of decline of rural population is generally found to be lower in places near service centers than in more remote places. Since most of the rural places are too small to support service establishments, it is recommended that services be expanded in about 200 central places that show promise of future growth.     

An Approach to the Mapping of Changes in the Settling Process

A variety of mapping techniques are used to establish regional differences in the settling process in Irkutsk Oblast and to measure the process in general terms. The most dynamic area, with urban and rural population growth, is the Middle Angara valley, where industrialization has been combined with the development of rural nonfarm places based on resource development and construction. Both urban and rural decline is typical of old mining districts, such as the coal district of Cheremkhovo and the gold area of Bodaybo. In most of Irkutsk Oblast, urban growth has been associated with rural decline. An important factor in the rural settling process has been a reduction of the number of places and an increase of the mean size of places, with remarkable stability in the 200–300 population class of rural places. Analysis of the settling process yields a map that distinguishes population growth, decline or stability in combination with a predominance of particular population size classes among rural places. A previous paper by the author on the mapping of the settling process appeared in Soviet Geography, December 1969.     

A TECHNIQUE FOR CLASSIFYING URBAN PLACES IN TERMS OF DEVELOPMENT REQUISITES (with particular reference to Smolensk Oblast)

On the basis of a number of socio-economic and physical requisites, the prospects of future development are examined for all 28 urban places of Smolensk Oblast as of early 1973. The requisites are the economic-geographic (transport) situation, availability of water resources, labor resources, economic base, industrial terrain and housing. The urban places are assigned point scales combining these factors and are assigned to three categories (with very favorable, favorable and unfavorable prospects of development). The allocation of places to particular development classes is then tested statistically by association with two additional variables: population size and functional characteristics, and the corrections introduced by the procedure are analyzed. The prospects for further development are found to be most favorable for the six largest towns—Smolensk, Roslavl', Vyaz'ma, Safonovo, Yartsevo and Gagarin. (The study was completed before the founding in 1973–74 of two new urban places that are associated with major power stations under construction and are thus endowed with growth prospects: Desnogorsk, on the site of the Smolensk nuclear power station, and Ozernyy, on the site of the Smolensk peat-fired power station.)     

COMMUTING LINKS AT LOWER LEVELS OF RURAL SETTLEMENT

The study of commuting links in rural areas of the Non-Chernozem Zone offers a useful approach to the redesign of settlement patterns. Commuting to work is analyzed in 80 primary settlement systems (farm systems) in five rayons of Vologda Oblast. Most of the commuting streams are found to occur toward the central farm settlements within systems and also between adjacent systems, with rural nonfarm places (both industry-based and transport based) offering the principal opportunities for employment. Commuting is analyzed in terms of two indices: a labor-balance index (relating resident population and employment opportunities) and a commuting intensity index (relating the number of commuters to resident population).     

PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL NONFARM PLACES IN THE USSR

According to the 1970 census, the Soviet Union had 37,800 rural nonfarm places with a combined population of 6.1 million, or 5.8 percent of the rural population. The census data are believed to understate the number and population of nonfarm places because they assigned rural places to the nonfarm category purely on the basis of their generic designation. Many multifunctional nonfarm places and rural places that serve as administrative centers and have little relation to agriculture were not categorized as nonfarm in the census. Although many of the smaller nonfarm places are likely to be eliminated over time, others will continue to perform clearly defined functions in industry, construction, transportation, and services. The situation is illustrated with particular reference to Novosibirsk Oblast.     

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.     

Changes in the Distribution of Rural Settlement in Northern Kazakhstan from 1959 to 1963

After the first great population movement to northern Kazakhstan in the period 1953–1958 in conjunction with the start of the virgin-lands cultivation program, a period of reordering and restructuring of rural settlement within the region set in during 1959–1963. Three types of settlement areas are distinguished: (1) in areas of predominantly old settlement (preceding the virgin-lands program), the increase of rural population during this five-year period was below the average rate of natural increase for northern Kazakhstan as a whole; there was a net-outmigration from rural to urban areas and to other parts of northern Kazakhstan, (2) in areas of combined old and new settlement, population increase was more significant and there was a noticeable reduction of small populated places and increase in the number of larger places, (3) in areas of predominantly new settlement, where the density of population is lowest, the rate of population increase is highest, and settlement is mainly in widely spaced larger places.     

FROM GERMANY'S EAST PRUSSIA TO THE SOVIET UNION'S KALININGRAD OBLAST: A CASE OF SEQUENT OCCUPANCE

East Prussia, historically a German region, was divided between Poland and the Soviet Union at the end of World War II, with the northern, Soviet portion becoming Kaliningrad Oblast of the RSFSR. The author, who has long studied the transformation of the region as part of the Soviet Union, assesses the changes in administration, population and economy that have occurred.     

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.     

The Conception of a Unified System of Settlement and the Planned Regulation of city Growth in the USSR

A unified system of settlement, defined as an interrelated network of places that is regulated for the benefit of society, is viewed as the most effective approach to overcoming socio-economic differences between town and countryside. Such a settlement system is viewed as ultimately replacing the present settlement patterns ranging from large urban agglomerations at one extreme to small rural places without adequate services at the other extreme. The unified settlement system is expected to insure roughly equivalent living and working conditions for all people within such a system. Some of the recent changes in Soviet settlement patterns are viewed as steps in that direction: an expansion of the network of large cities in connection with the economic development of new regions; the policy of industrializing small towns bypassed by the previous development of industry; the growing practice of establishing research organizations and branch plants in small towns to foster their development; the mechanization and industrialization of animal husbandry; the improvement of rural bus lines, providing access to service centers.     

DYNAMICS OF POPULATION IN THE UKRAINIAN SSR (1959-1984)

Analysis of change in the spatial distribution of population in the Ukrainian SSR demonstrates a pronounced shift toward the east and south, and toward the major metropolitan area of Kiev and Kiev Oblast. An upsurge in city growth in the least urbanized, western Ukraine, coupled with steady, above-average urban growth in other locations, has contributed to gradual erosion of the Donets-Dnieper Region's dominance in urban population. Accelerated rates of rural population decline in western areas of highest rural population concentration has promoted a gradual equalization of the distribution of rural population (translated by H. L. Haslett, Birmingham, UK).     

URBAN‐TO‐RURAL POPULATION GROWTH LINKAGES: EVIDENCE FROM OECD TL3 REGIONS*

The objective of this paper is to understand, from an international comparative perspective, how population growth in rural regions is affected by the relationship with their nearby urban centers. By means of a cross‐sectional analysis on OECD small regions (Territorial Level 3), the paper distinguishes spread effects—positive spillovers arising from urban growth—from the net effect of distance to nonrural places. The results show that spread effects outweigh backwash effects, so that rural regions benefit from growth in urban places. A rural region's distance from urban and intermediate regions has a negative effect on its population growth rate. Nevertheless, both the strength of this effect and the growth spillovers decline with distance, and this occurs relatively faster in Europe. The results further suggest that proximity to large urban areas has a higher positive influence than proximity to intermediate areas, but only outside Europe.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE LOCATION OF SERVICES AND RURAL SETTLEMENT

Soviet planners are advised to consider the linkage between rural settlement patterns and the provision of services, an issue that is assuming particular significance in connection with the present development program in the Nonchernozem Zone of the RSFSR. The number of service establishments per 1,000 population is not considered a useful indicator because it tends to be high in areas with widely dispersed settlement in small inhabited places, and yet does not reflect a high level of services because of the small size of the establishments. It is desirable to cluster sets of services in central places; the presence of a single kind of service (store, school, etc.) in a small place is found tantamount to having no service whatever. Adequate provision of services is found to reduce, or even reverse, rural out-migration.     

Application of Quantitative Methods of Settlement Analysis to a Lower-Level (Intra—Oblast) Economic Regionalization

Two quantitative techniques—the mean center of population of the old centrography school, and the potential of population—are applied to settlement analysis in Eastern Siberia for purposes of lower economic regionalization. The migrations of the mean center of population of Yakut ASSR and Irkutsk Oblast are interpreted in terms of regional development trends from the 1920s to the 1960s. Analyses of the potential of population for different dates suggest the formation of areal production nodes that can be used in delimiting lower economic regions. The boundaries between such lower-order regions tend to pass through undeveloped and sparsely settled areas that show up as low values on maps of the potential of population.     

国外乡村聚落地理研究进展及近今趋势

乡村聚落地理的研究是乡村地理学的重要研究领域。本文通过对大量的文献资料分析,系统梳理了国外乡村聚落地理的研究动态,将其研究历程划分为:萌芽起步、初步发展、拓展变革、转型重构四个阶段。对乡村聚落地理的研究内容体系进行归纳总结,主要集中在聚落布局、聚落形态与分类、聚落景观、聚落用地、聚落生态等方面。在此基础上对近今乡村聚落地理的研究趋势及发展方向进行了分析,发现乡村聚落的人文社会化和乡村重构的研究趋势。以期能对国内乡村聚落地理的研究提供借鉴和参考。     

晋中平原地区农村聚落扩展分析

在实地考察的基础上，章从规模、速度、形态和类型等方面分析了晋中平原地区农村聚落扩展的特点，并深入探讨了影响农村聚落扩展的因素，认为聚落扩展主要是人口增长和家庭规模变化、社会经济发展与收入增加、交通条件改善、农村地区工业化及其他因素共同作用的结果。最后指出了由于聚落扩展而带来的许多难以解决的问题。     

A STRATEGY FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF SETTLEMENT BSf THE USSR; AIMS,PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

A General Program of Settlement in the USSR, worked out by the Central Urban Planning Institute, envisages a long-term evolution of settlement that would help ameliorate the quality of life, insure industrial development of small and middle-size towns and help protect the environment. Two alternative strategies are envisaged: (1) an extrapolative strategy that projects long-term trends on the basis of past experiences and would enhance agglomerative processes in Soviet settlement; (2) a normative, goal-directed strategy that would seek to foster the evolution of planned and regulated systems of interconnected urban and rural places, and would gradually transform the present agglomerations along the lines of such normative systems. The prospective distribution of settlement under both strategies is mapped. Under the extrapolative strategy, the urban population share in areas with agglomerated forms of settlement would reach nearly 70 percent over the forecast period compared with 44 percent in 1970. The normative, goal-directed strategy would yield 60 large interconnected urban-rural systems, centered on the country's largest cities and accounting for 53 percent of the total population; 170 middle-size systems, centered on moderately large cities and including 26 percent of the population; and 325 small systems, centered on small and middle-size towns and including 14 percent of the population. About 7 percent of the population would remain outside the systemic structure.     

东北地区资源型城市资源诅咒效应及传导机制研究

通过面板数据固定效应模型,利用东北地区23个资源型地级城市1999-2012年的数据,分析了东北地区资源型城市资源诅咒效应的存在性与主要传导机制。结论显示东北地区资源型城市存在资源诅咒效应;物质资本投资对经济发展起到最为明显的促进作用,制造业投入和教育业投入也具有一定的促进作用,但作用不够显著。城市开放程度与经济发展之间呈现负相关关系,而城市类型与经济发展不存在明显相关关系。传导机制方面,资源诅咒效应主要通过抑制制造业发展、物质资本投入和教育业投入来阻碍经济增长,其中对制造业的负面影响是主要传导因素。煤炭和石油型城市体现出较为明显的人力资本挤出,而其他类城市传导机制作用则比较平均。