On Physical-Geographic Regionalization and the Regionalization of Natural Resources

The author finds conventional physical-geographic regionalization inadequate for economic-geographic purposes, and proposes instead a “natural regionalization” or regionalization of natural resources. Such a regionalization would reflect the economic assessment of the natural environment of a given area and would be more appropriate in economic-geographic research. The principles underlying natural-resource regionalization are illustrated with a regional scheme for the Sudan, an area to which the author has devoted special study.     

Man-Induced Differentiation of Natural Conditions as a Factor in Physical-Geographic Regionalization

The author analyzes the significance of man-induced changes in the natural environment at various levels of the hierarchy of physical-geographic regionalization, and proposes a classification of man-altered landscapes that can be applied to existing systems of physical-geographic regions.     

Intra-Oblast Regionalization

The author develops a system of indices to measure the level and economic effectiveness of regional specialization of major economic regions of the USSR. These indices express the degree of intensity of the specialization of a given region in a certain type of product and the relative cost advantage of such a region over other regions or the country as a whole.     

Agricultural Regionalization

The authors explain the methodology used in compiling a small-scale map of agricultural regions of the USSR under a joint inter-university project. The boundaries of these farming-type regions are found to coincide in some cases with natural boundaries, but such coincidence cannot always be explained in terms of simple causal relationships. These authors make recommendations for improving the locational pattern of agriculture by shifting the agricultural center of gravity from the less humid to the more humid zone and for increasing the role of animal production in the more humid zones. For previous articles on agricultural regionalization, see Soviet Geography, November and December 1960.     

Principles Of Geomorphic Regionalization

The author proposes a scheme of regional units to be used in geomorphic regionalization. Each rank in the regional scheme is defined in terms of geomorphic processes, with endogenous processes predominating in the case of the higher ranks and exogenous factors prevailing in the lower units.     

Cartographic Techniques of Agricultural Regionalization

The use of a series of correlated maps is proposed as an approach to agricultural regionalization. Because of the dynamic character of farm production, two stages in the regionalization process are distinguished: a delimitation of existing agricultural regions and a delimitation of future regions. The basic principle underlying the compilation of agricultural regionalization maps IS to combine the resource base of agriculture with the actual types of farming. Maps of existing regions would also show the volume and structure of farm production, population and farm employment. In the delimitation of long-term future agricultural regions, the emphasis is on determining the potential biological productivity (climate and soils) of regions and the expected volume of production, based on food needs, industrial processing of farm products and the prospects of interregional trade in farm products.     

A Natural-Resource Regionalization of the USSR

A regionalization of natural resources is treated as a particular case of economic regionalization, in the sense that it makes an economic interpretation of the physical base of an area from the point of view of its capacity to generate an economic region of appropriate rank. The resource regionalization is based on two particular regionalizations of bioclimatic and mineral resources, yielding a set of 86 regions that combine both types of resources. A typology of resource regions distinguishes seven basic types of regions in which bioclimatic resources are dominant and four basic types in which mineral resources are dominant. Combinations of bioclimatic and mineral resources yield 24 groups of integral resource regions.     

Economic Regionalization in the People's Democracies

The author traces the development of administrative-economic regionalization in Eastern Europe from the initial phase of centralized economic planning and management to the present stage in which central control in combined with greater local autonomy and coordination of economic development. Economic regions are considered effective only if they embody actual agencies for economic coordination within their territory.     

Economic Regionalization of the Ukrainian SSR

The author, in a field trip through the Western Pamir, was struck by the paradox of widespread well-preserved traces of Pleistocene glaciation and the relative absence of glacial drift. He advances a hypothesis of the paleogeographic development of the Pamir, assigning an important role to direct evaporation of the ice and firn of the glacial mantle. The paper was read by the author in the form of an illustrated lecture at the International Geographic Congress in London.     

An Economic Regionalization of North Vietnam

A North Vietnamese graduate student at Moscow University offers a division of North Vietnam into four economic regions and assesses their future development in terms of energy-and-production cycles (groups of technologically interrelated activities proposed by N. N. Kolosovskiy). In a second paper, the author conceptualizes economic regions as consisting of a core or center, accounting for most of the production; an inner shell dependent on the core, and an outer shell that may gravitate to any of a number of adjoining core areas depending on the purpose of the study. The original boundaries of the four-region system of North Vietnam are reviewed in light of the “outer shell” concept. The four-region system is essentially confirmed, but the allocation of some provinces in the “outer shell” is found to be disputable, and regional boundaries have been adjusted.     

Biogeographical Regionalization,its Stages and Criteria

A historical approach to biogeographical regionalization is proposed. The approach is based on the assumption that the highest ranking hierarchical units in such a regionalization represent the oldest biogeographical regions, with the more detailed taxonomic units formed in subsequent historical periods. The regionalization process involves three stages: (a) faunistic-floristic investigation of the study area; (b) the identification of habitats of species that more or less coincide; (c) a determination whether the distribution of these characteristic species displays a cause-and-effect relationship with the geographical environment. The historical criterion is emphasized throughout, the regions are viewed as the product of the historical differentiation of a physical-geographic territory.     

Problems in the Economic Regionalization of India

The authors propose a framework of a system of economic regions based on economic production principles. This principle is designed, on the one hand, to promote a regional economic specialization, and, on the other hand, to ensure integrated development of the regional economy. The Soviet geographers find that some major economic regions are already evident, for example, Western India (including West Bengal, Bihar and possibly Orissa), but that large parts of the country, especially in the north, lack sufficiently clear characteristics to make possible an economic regionalization without further detailed study.     

On the Lower Units of a Zoogeographical Regionalization

A lower-level zoogeographical regionalization of Northern Europe is proposed on the basis of the distribution of 50 species and subspecies of typical freshwater fishes and anadromous fishes native to the region. European species are found to give way gradually to Siberian species from west to east. A detailed zoogeographical regionalization for freshwater fishes has practical use because it meets the planning needs of inland fisheries, which are greatly dependent on the distributional patterns of the ichthyofauna. In general, lower-level zoogeographical regional units can be established only for organisms distinguished by a relatively low level of vagility, the capacity to move freely about. For highly vagile species, only more generalized regional units can be established.     

The Problem of Economic Regionalization of Developing Countries

In contrast to developed capitalist countries, where economic regions generally evolve on the basis of manufacturing complexes, the predominant region-forming factors in developing countries are usually mining and agriculture. Also, while internal economic relations play an important function in the economic regionalization of advanced countries, in developing countries it is foreign trade that is more significant since much of the output of mining and commercial agriculture is generally destined for export.