ECONOMIC REGIONALIZATION OF THE EASTERN ZONE OF INFLUENCE OF THE BAIKAL-AMUR MAINLINE (CONCEPTUALIZATION AND METHOD)

Soviet geographers thus far have conceptualized regional development in the future BAM zone as a series of resource-based industrial complexes arrayed along the east-west mainline. An alternative regional design presented here involves a series of compensatory regional complexes in which a developed southern tier along the Trans-Siberian would be complemented by a resource-based northern tier along the BAM. A number of developed industrial centers along the Trans-Siberian that might serve as the bases for such south-north oriented regions are identified, along with transverse transportation routes linking segments of the Trans-Siberian and of the BAM within each of these proposed regional units.