THE CAREER OF L. S. BERG

The following appraisal is by Eduard M. Murzayev, physical geographer and toponymist, with interests in Mongolia and Central Asia, who was a student of Berg at Leningrad University, and since this graduation in 1930 has been associated with the Institute of Geography of the Academy of Sciences USSR, first in Leningrad and after 1936 in Moscow. This article is based on a talk given by Murzayev in March 1976 at a memorial session of the Geographical Society USSR in Leningrad.     

Interurban Development and Economic Disparities in a Russian Province

The paper explores the relationship among factors believed to influence the economic development potential of Russian cities in the post-Soviet period, based on a detailed case study of small and medium-sized urban places in Leningrad Oblast. Relying on rarely utilized statistical data (including local town censuses) collected during on-site research and interviews, the author constructs an economic development index that provides a reference for inter-urban comparisons and analysis. The significance of accessibility for post-Soviet urban development is statistically demonstrated and the role of inherited spatial economic structures (economic-geographical endowment) is discussed along with other factors influencing urban performance. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O11, O18, R11. 3 figures, 4 tables, 30 references.     

Pressures on Urban Water Resources in Russia: The Case of St. Petersburg

An American geographer evaluates the process of water resources planning and management in the city of St. Petersburg, Russia, based on regional government documents, interviews with local water management officials, and follow-up field observations in 2007. St. Petersburg is a microcosm for challenges to assessing and managing water resources in urban environments in transition economies more broadly, and thus the present study yields insights into obstacles confronting water planners in many large cities in the post-Soviet realm, and augments the body of empirical data on the impacts of economic transition on environmental management. 3 figures, 46 references.     

Challenges to Western Participation in Shaping the Urban Landscape of Post-Socialist St. Petersburg: The Failure of International Competitions for Iconic Architectural Projects

The paper, based on a series of interviews in St. Petersburg conducted in 2009 and 2010 by an American geographer, discusses the failure of major iconic architectural projects awarded to Western firms through international architectural competitions. The projects, sought by Russian government and business leaders to enhance the city's re-emerging global status, are viewed as likely examples of diminished Western participation in the shaping of St. Petersburg's iconic urban landscape. The author attributes the failure to financial setbacks, and primarily also to a recalcitrant bureaucracy, red tape, overly strict building codes and regulations, corruption as well as negative reaction by local residents and media outlets.     

An Informational Right to the City? Code,Content, Control,and the Urbanization of Information

Henri Lefebvre talked of the “right to the city” alongside a right to information. As the urban environment becomes increasingly layered by abstract digital representation, Lefebvre's broader theory warrants application to the digital age. Through considering what is entailed by the urbanization of information, this paper examines the problems and implications of any “informational right to the city”. In directing Tony Benn's five questions of power towards Google, arguably the world's most powerful mediator of information, this paper exposes processes that occur when geographic information is mediated by powerful digital monopolies. We argue that Google currently occupies a dominant share of any informational right to the city. In the spirit of Benn's final question—“How do we get rid of you?”—the paper seeks to apply post‐political theory in exploring a path to the possibility of more just information geographies.     

我国城市化进程中的城市空间拓展策略

城市空间拓展规划受到多方面因素的影响。要适应我国城市化发展的现实需要和长远要求,实现城市空间拓展的科学性、合理性和前瞻性,确保城市空间拓展的经济性、高效性和实用性,必须高度重视城市空间拓展策略。从我国城市化发展的实际情况来看,这些策略应包括:主体社会化策略、城建立体化策略、城市信息化策略、城乡一体化策略、城际协作化策略。各城市可以根据自身的不同情况具体选用相应的策略。     

有关"社会主义转型国家"城市社会空间的研究述评

1990年代西方学者对于“社会主义转型国家”城市社会空间进行了大量研究。尽管中东欧社会主义转型国家与中国城市社会空间演进有某些共同点,如郊区化、内城区衰落、居住隔离等,但两者的分异机制迥然不同,前者为“社会主义向资本主义的彻底的急速转型”,后者为“社会主义前提”的渐进转型。这对中国城市社会空间的深入研究具有较大的指导意义。     

Social distance in Bosnia‐Herzegovina and the North Caucasus region of Russia: Inter and intra‐ethnic attitudes and identities*

ABSTRACT. This article examines attitudinal differences and similarities among ethnic groups in conflict‐affected societies. Conventional wisdom tells us that societies that have experienced violent struggles in which individuals of different ethnic groups have (been) mobilized against each other are likely to become polarized along ethnic lines. Indeed, both policy‐makers and scholars often assume that such divisions are some of the main challenges that must be overcome to restore peace after war. We comparatively examine this conventional wisdom by mapping dimensions of social distance among 4,000 survey respondents in Bosnia‐Herzegovina and the North Caucasus region of Russia. The surveys were carried out in December 2005. Using multidimensional scaling methods, we do not find patterns of clear attitudinal cleavages among members of different ethnic groups in Bosnia‐Herzegovina. Nor do we find patterns of clear ethnic division in the North Caucasus, although our social distance matrices reveal a difference between Russians and ethnic minority groups.     

Emerging Chinese Role in Shaping St. Petersburg's Urban Landscape: Interscalar Investment Strategies in the Development of a Residential Megaproject

The paper, by an American geographer, discusses the origin and development of a Chinese-financed residential megaproject (Baltic Pearl) located southwest of St. Petersburg's historical district. Viewing Baltic Pearl as reportedly the largest investment project undertaken outside China by a government-sponsored Chinese consortium, the author places it in the context of state-level Sino-Russian relations and Russian unease over the influx of Chinese migrants and culture. Reflecting the author's extensive field work in St. Petersburg and Shanghai, the focus of the paper is on the way the consortium was forced to adopt interscalar (i.e., both state and municipal/urban) strategies responsive to local conditions, providing a potentially useful precedent and model for Chinese and other investors seeking to penetrate Russia's urban markets.