URBANIZATION IN THE USSR: PROBLEMS OF SPATIAL DIFFERENTIATION

The process of formation of settlement systems “in the USSR is conceptualized as proceeding at eight levels of a hierarchy corresponding to the system of economic regions, from a national system down to rayon-level systems. An important element in the present process of urbanization is the formation of urban agglomerations. The fact that these urban entities still lack juridical or even statistical status deprives urban and economic planners of a valuable data base for planning purposes so that the agglomerations often evolve in undesirable, uncoordinated ways. Greater attention needs to be given to the study of the internal structure of urban entities, a field neglected by Soviet population geographers. An undesirable tendency in Soviet agglomerations is to aim at continuously built-up territory, thus converting agglomerations into traditional compact cities, instead of making provision for open spaces for use in agriculture and forestry, recreation and communications.     

THE PERIODICITY OF DROUGHTS IN THE GRAIN-GROWING AREAS OF THE USSR

On the basis of a chronology of droughts in the grain-growing regions of the USSR, compiled from historical sources and the more recent period of instrumental observations, the author shows that the occurrence of drought may be regarded as a random process characterized as a quasi-stationary Poisson series of events. Most of the grain regions in the USSR follow this regularity. In the case of simultaneous drought throughout the principal grain zone of the USSR, comprising the European part and the Midland region (West Siberia and Kazakhstan), the sequence of events assumes a nonstationary character. Statistical parameters are developed for the time series of drought years and nondrought years, and are compared with extreme values in grain-yield fluctuations. Over the last 140 years, drought occurred in 76 years in at least one of the three major grain regions of the USSR (European part, West Siberia, Kazakhstan) while 64 years had no drought and corresponding normal or higher yields. A catastrophic drought affecting all three grain regions simultaneously is virtually (95%) certain to occur at least once in 20 years.     

THE WATER ASPECT OF THE GEOGRAPHY OF AGRICULTURE IN THE USSR

The long-term grain requirements of the growing Soviet population are calculated. On the basis of the relationship between water use and grain yields by natural soil zones of the USSR, the authors show that the amount of water needed per unit of output declines with a growth of productivity, especially in the non-chernozem zone of the Soviet Union. It is therefore concluded that greater water savings might be assured by expanding grain production in zones with an adequate supply of natural moisture rather than by the use of artificial irrigation of arid lands.     

PREDICTION OF TRANSPORT-ECONOMIC LINKAGES IN THE USSR

Possible changes in production patterns of basic Soviet industries and the resulting interregional linkages and freight flows are projected over the next 25 to 30 years. Interregional energy flows are expected to be limited largely to oil and gas as well as power transmission at extra high voltages. Steam-coal movements will be restricted to the limits of particular economic regions, and coking-coal movements will be reduced as a result of technological changes in the iron and steel industry (electric steels, direct conversion, peat-based metallurgy). In general, the share of semifinished and finished goods is expected to increase and that of raw materials and fuels to decline in interregional hauls. The likely new flow patterns are examined for the Soviet Union's principal transport corridors.     

PECULIARITIES IN THE FORMATION OF POPULATED PLACES ON THE SEABOARD OF THE USSR

A number of investigators have noted a movement of Soviet population toward the seacoasts, contrasting with the nation's traditional inland development. The pull of the coast has been linked to the increasing foreign trade of the USSR and to greater involvement in ocean affairs in general. The author analyzes the recent growth of maritime urban places in terms of the nation's major maritime regions: Azov-Black Sea, Baltic, Caspian, Pacific and Arctic, compares the rates of urban population growth and discusses some of the factors that account for differences in regional development.     

ON THE INEQUALITY OF RURAL SERVICES PROVISION IN THE USSR

Results of studies of inter- and intra-regional variation of rural services provision (including retail trade, cultural-educational services, and health care) are compared. Highest levels of per capita services provision were found in the Baltic republics and RSFSR, with lower levels in the southern European USSR, Transcaucasia, and Central Asia. The differences are attributed to rural depopulation (northwestern USSR), rural development priorities in areas of severe natural conditions (Siberia), and high rates of natural population increase (Central Asia). A differential approach in services planning is recommended between areas located near oblast urban centers and those which are more remote (translated by Jay K. Mitchell; PlanEcon, Inc.; Washington, DC 20005).     

SOME ASPECTS OF THE SPATIAL ORGANIZATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE USSR

Studies of the geography of higher education have become increasingly common in the Soviet Union in view of two basic issues: (1) what some consider an excessive concentration of educational and research centers in Moscow and Leningrad, and a sparse distribution of such institutions in some other regions of the USSR; (2) the need for relating the specialization of institutions of higher learning to the basic economic activities of the regions in which they are situated. The author develops a number of measures such as indices of localization of undergraduates, graduate students and holders of academic degrees to assess the significance of higher education in various regions of the Soviet Union.     

THE PHYSICAL FACTOR IN THE SYSTEM OF CONDITIONS DETERMINING THE LOCATION OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION IN THE USSR

The generally accepted view that material-intensive industries tend to gravitate toward raw-material sources is analyzed in the case of the USSR. Primary processing is found to gravitate toward raw-material sources mainly in underdeveloped parts of the country. In the developed zone (European USSR, Urals, Transcaucasia), a significant spatial gap has developed between primary processing activities and raw-material sources as the original local resources become depleted and the industry must draw increasingly on long-haul raw materials. Several industrial groups are distinguished in terms of the pull of resource sites. In view of the current trend toward greater concentration of production (for cost-benefit reasons) and the growing volumes of production per establishment, primary processing establishments are usually dependent on more than one resource site, and this also tends to increase the length of haul. At the same time, the distribution of fuels, energy and water resources is assuming greater significance and tends to pull such industries as iron and steel, nonferrous metals, pulp and paper as well as petroleum refining toward the eastern areas of the USSR. The controversy over the location of a new integrated iron and steel plant based on ore from the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly is recalled.     

THE ROLE OF KUZNETSK COALS IN THE FUEL SUPPLY OF ELECTRIC POWER PLANTS IN THE EUROPEAN USSR

Arguments for the expanded use of Kuznetsk coal in electric power generation within the European USSR are presented within the context of the goals of the Energy Program of the USSR and current efforts at overall economic restructuring: fuel substitution as a means of conserving oil and gas resources, replacement of difficult-to-mine and increasingly finite Donets coals by the more abundant, surface-mined Kuznetsk variety, and elimination of an irrational pattern of energy flows generated by the present fuel balance in electric power stations. A three-stage model is described which incorporates a wide variety of alternative assumptions about the fuel mix at power plants for projections of the future role of Kuznetsk coals in the region (translation by Andrew R. Bond).     

THE CHLOR-ALKALI INDUSTRIES IN THE USSR

Spatial patterns in the production of chlor-alkali chemicals (soda ash, caustic soda, and chlorine) in the USSR are examined. The opening of large new salt deposits in the Volga region in the 1950s not only increased output of soda ash considerably, but also dramatically shifted production because of soda ash's raw material orientation. In contrast, because caustic-chlorine production tends to be market oriented, it was mainly the development of chlor-organic synthesis in the 1960s and 1970s that resulted in much greater spatial dispersion of production. Overall, the industry is now in a slow-growth phase, following the rapid gains made during the postwar period. Soda ash production is actually declining, while the wide array of applications for chlorine, especially chlorinated hydrocarbons, promises continued growth for the caustic-chlorine sector.     

THE PRESENT STATE AND TASKS OF COMPLEX MAPPING IN THE USSR

Recent developments in the Soviet Union's program of national thematic mapping and regional complex mapping are reviewed. A comprehensive mapping program along these lines, formulated in 1969 by GUGK, the government planning agency, has not been implemented. National thematic maps in the Soviet Union continue to be compiled by individual government agencies without coordination and without uniformity in legend and design, so that comparability is made difficult. The only thematic GUGK maps now being prepared are concerned with two long-term regional development programs in the Soviet Union–the rural development plan for the Nonchernozem zone of the European RSFSR and the construction of the Baykal-Amur Mainline (BAM) railroad in the Soviet Far East. The need for a comprehensive and coordinated program of national thematic maps and regional atlases or map series is once again stressed in connection with economic planning and environmental problems, and a program of continuously updated regional atlases, based on digital data banks, is proposed. Suggestions are also made for the coordination of thematic maps at the international level.     

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].     

REGIONAL PLANNING IN THE USSR

The theory and practice of drawing up and implementing regional plans, or “territorial plans,” as they are known in the Soviet Union, has been a matter of considerable debate in the Soviet literature, a debate that has been complicated by differences in terminology. The author discusses various Soviet definitions of “territorial planning” and points out disagreement concerning its nature and scope. The major forms of territorial planning as now practiced in the USSR are reviewed, and two forms in particular—regional economic planning and regional physical planning—are distinguished. It is concluded that territorial planning continues to have a somewhat uncertain status in the USSR, with inadequate official support, although the issue remains a matter of considerable interest to the leadership under the Gorbachev administration.     

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY IN THE USSR

Development of the field of political geography in the USSR is surveyed, beginning with its early roots in the late 19th Century and early Soviet period and ties to foreign area studies and historical geography in the 1950s. Activities of the 1980s are described in terms of university-level course offerings, research at universities and research institutes, and theoretical and methodological publications. Concluding sections survey current research trends (electoral geography, developing countries, the ocean, reassessment of geopolitics) and outline general theoretical issues and major questions for future research. An extensive bibliography follows (translated by Jay K. Mitchell, PlanEcon, Inc., Washington, DC 20005).     

越国货币形态再探

关于越国货币,近年来已引起钱币学界的较多关注。越国的货币形态具有多元的特性,为此,有必要对越国的货币形态再作进一步的探索。     

GEOGRAPHICAL ASPECTS OF A TERRITORIAL REDISTRIBUTION OF WATER RESOURCES IN THE USSR

A set of principles for a geographical research program relating to the future impact of major interbasin water transfers is outlined. Such a program, evaluating the impact of proposed tranfers both in the European USSR and in the Midland Region of Western Siberia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia, should be based on the following considerations. Noneconomic criteria, such as the environmental impact of water transfers, must be given as much attention as economic and engineering criteria. Experience suggests that any measures designed to protect or ameliorate the environment, for example, inland fisheries, should precede actual water-project construction by at least 15 to 20 years. North-south transfers should be so designed as to benefit both the northern region, from which water is to be withdrawn, and the southern region, where water resources are to be enhanced. The problem of interbasin transfers should be accompanied by a program of intensification of water use, measured by a reduction of water input into the economy per unit of output. Water use can be intensified by such measures as shifting grain production from south to north and building irrigation reservoirs in Central Asian mountains to regulate runoff.     

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.     

中国古钱版别研究刍议--兼论宋钱的版别

钱币版别是钱币学研究的主要内容,钱币的真伪和珍稀级别鉴定、鉴赏分类、铸行时代、流通区域的断定等,在一定程度上均以版别为基础。钱币的版别以钱币的形制、钱文、图案、金属成分、铸造技术工艺等为     

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.