The Development of Geography in the Soviet Republics of Transcaucasia

A review of geographic research in Transcaucasia during the 50 years of Soviet rule. A great diversity of natural conditions within a relatively limited area has made the region a miniature laboratory and testing ground for a variety of geographic concepts, especially in climatology and hydrology.     

Principles of a Territorial Differentiation of Retail Prices

A system of territorial differentials in retail prices for consumer goods in the Soviet Union is considered essential as long as regional physical and other geographic differences produce cost differentials in production and transportation. It is suggested that the present system of three price zones be revised for individual food products to take fuller account of distance between producing and consuming areas.     

The Present State of Medical Geography in the USSR

A review of the present state of Soviet medical geography based on an analysis of papers presented at the Second National Medical Geography Conference held in Leningrad in November, 1965. The authors, representing four departments of the Geography Faculty of Moscow University, stress geophysical and geochemical causative factors of human disease and the contributions being made by medical landscape science in relating environmental prerequisites to particular diseases.     

On the Fundamental Differences between Capitalist and Socialist Regional Territorial-Production Complexes

The authors content that, contrary to the views of other Soviet geographers, territorial-production complexes can arise under capitalism [for example, in the Ruhr], but that the growth of such regional complexes is slowed by what Marxist philosophy regards as “contradictions” and “antagonisms” in the capitalist system.     

Zones of Influence of Middle-Size Cities,Their Boundaries and Passenger Flows

A modified gravity model is used to describe the flows of commuters between a central city and concentric zones around it. A multiplier-type model of a central-place system (after Christaller) is then used to calculate the number of residents for service centers at each level of the hierarchy within the system. The rank-size rule (Zipf's formula) is also considered as a criterion of a true system of urban places. Results are presented for the urban network of the Ukraine.     

Systems Of Urban Places

A method of “structural chains” is proposed for the analysis of regional urban systems. Each chain is made up of a sequence of numerical elements representing the average population of places at various levels of urban development, from small mining or forestry settlements to large polyfunctional cities of regional or national rank. The absence of a particular category in a region is marked in the chain by a zero. The structural chains of local urban systems can be grouped into tables reflecting the structure of a regional urban system and its local variations. The key characteristics of urban systems reflected by these chains are: the number of elements or levels of development; the number of zeros and their position in the chain, reflecting the degree of development of the urban hierarchy; and the height of the regional tables (number of horizontal rows), representing the number of local urban structures. The method is tested and illustrated by the urban systems of the Dnieper-Donets and Black Sea regions of the Ukraine, the Upper Volga region, and the urban system of the Tatar ASSR.     

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.     

The Function of Place and its Changes

The function of place, though a significant concept in geographic research, has not received much attention in the Soviet literature. Functions are defined as activities performed to satisfy particular needs of society. These functions are generally performed by engineering systems, which may range from simple pasture management or cropping systems to such highly complex systems as a city or a major iron and steel plant. The authors polemicize against the view that the function of place is preordained by its natural potential and argue that a dynamic sequence of functions through time is much more relevant to the needs of a rapidly evolving society. Several types of functional sequences are distinguished: they may be “revolutionary,” in the sense of replacing one function by another, or “evolutionary,” involving change within the framework of a particular type of function. They may be “progressive,” by involving increasingly complex engineering systems and growing intensity of use, or “regressive,” in the sense of reverting from a cultivated to a natural state. Reversibility of function declines with increasing complexity and cost of engineering systems. Functional stability depends on the degree to which a function evolves naturally out of the given economic-geographic setting and on the level of inputs.     

COTTAGE SETTLEMENTS AND GARDEN COOPERATIVES IN THE MOSCOW AREA

Spaee-time shifts are analyzed for a particular type of suburban recreational, development—the cottage, settlements and garden cooperatives around Moscow. Measurement of the appearance, stabilization and decline of this recreational function along six major rail lines radiating from Moscow shows a centrifugal shift fostefed by the development of high-speed transportation and the conversion of older recreational areas close to the city to residential and industrial uses. A characteristic feature of the expansion of the recreational zone Over time has been a leaping movement in which the centers of recreational development, after having taken shape for one or two decades, will suddenly leap outward to a more distant zone. Furthermore, suburban cities are beginning to generate their own demand for recreational space and are becoming nuclei of their own recreational zones.     

THE SOCIAL EVALUATION OF A TERRITORY UNDER CONDITIONS OF THE SCIENTIFIC-TECHNICAL REVOLUTION

The present practice of economic and technological evaluation of a territory for development purposes is found to be inadequate because the evaluation made by Soviet planning and design agencies does not always coincide with the perception of particular places by individual citizens. As a result, the outflow from rural areas has been particularly heavy in areas where agricultural labor is especially short, and the predominant direction of interregional migration has been southward rather than to the east, where it is most needed. It is therefore suggested that spatial planning is based on a social evaluation of territory that would eliminate the present conflicts in perception and bring the interests of society more into line with the interests of individual citizens. Social evaluation is based on two value indicators: (1) the uniqueness of the creative process localized in a particular place, tending to make that place attractive; (2) accessibility of the place from surrounding areas. One possible approach to measuring the social attractiveness of a place is the extent to which individuals strive to establish direct contact (visits, direct dealings) or indirect contacts (eliciting of information) with that place.