TERRITORIAL-PRODUCTION COMPLEXES

In light of the renewed stress on the creation of territorial-production complexes during the current five-year plan (1976–80), a prominent economic geographer reviews the Soviet approach to such complexes, with particular emphasis on lower-level intraregional entities, combining a series of interrelated productive and service activities as well as population (as the source of labor) into an integrated whole. The cost benefits that can be derived from common engineering communications, transport lines and support industries are discussed in detail. A simple classification distinguishes industrial complexes, combined agricultural-industrial and industrial-agricultural complexes (depending on the predominant activity), combined industrial-transport complexes, and service complexes (in which research and development, education, and other service functions predominate). [The author died in February 1976 at the age of 72.]     

A NEW ESTIMATE OF THE ADVISABILITY OF PARTITIONING OFF THE NORTHEASTERN SHOALS OF THE CASPIAN SEA

On the basis of new calculations of the loss of water through evaporation from the temporarily flooded litteral zone of the northeast Caspian and the possible savings in the water budget that might be achieved by partitioning off the northeast shoals, the authors conclude that little would be gained by any project designed to reduce the water area of the northern Caspian.     

ALMA-ATA CONFERENCE ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF A DROP IN THE LEVEL OF THE ARAL SEA

A large body of empirical data on the dynamics of local travel in the USSR is surveyed to illustrate the influence of commuter movement on the formation and spatial interaction of settlement systems. Correlations are established between commuting patterns and the population levels of cities of different size cateogries. (Translated by Marcia Levenson, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.)     

LEAD POLLUTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT FROM AUTOMOTIVE EXHAUST GASES

The impact of lead contamination of soils and plants along highways of Novgorod Oblast (between Moscow and Leningrad) is investigated. Lead content in roadside soils and crops is compared with control plots situated at a greater distance from highways. Lead content in soils up to 100 meters from roadways is found to be up to 15 times higher than in control plots; lead content in roadside crops, up to 10 meters from roadways, is found to be up to six times higher than in control plots. It is recommended that dwellings and garden plots be moved back from highways beyond the harmful zone. In the case of Novgorod Oblast such a protective roadside zone should be 100 meters wide.     

The Natural Resources of the Ukrainian SSR and Ways of using them Rationally

A review of Cuba's physical environment from the point of view of agriculture, the results of the land reform and the government's policy of seeking a diversification of agriculture through further expansion of sugarcane production.     

Geographical Principles of Regional Planning

A plea for greater geographer participation in the field of regional and urban planning, which is concerned with selection of building sites for industry, urban and rural settlements, resorts, and tourist centers, the provision of means of transportation, water supply, and other utilities, and other local planning problems. Regional planning is said to offer an ideal field of application for geographic thinking and methods.     

On Interrelationships Between Natural and Social Laws

The author takes issue with those geographers who argue that a unified geography is ruled out by the fact that natural laws and social laws cannot be blended and there are no general laws operating in the geographical environment. He seeks to demonstrate in philosophical terms that laws of nature operate in society by speeding or slowing the rate of social development and that, on the other hand, social laws affect the end result of the operation of natural laws.     

The Practical Significance of the Economic-Geographic Study of Industrial Nodes (illustrated by the Syzran'-Oktyabr'sk node)

An investigation of one of the principal industrial nodes of Kuybyshev Oblast, with particular emphasis on the problems of the oil-shale industry and its uses in power generation and chemical processing. A set of practical recommendations for the future of the shale industry is offered.