Ю.Г. Липец и отечественная социально-экономическая география

Abstract

Scientific works and ideas of Yu.G. Lipets (1931–2006) had a great impact on the development of the Soviet and Russian human geography in the last third of the 20th – early 21st century. Lipets began his scientific career in the early 1960s as an expert in the geography of African countries. He has left a rich scientific legacy in geographical African studies. Lipets was the author of pioneering economic and geographical works on the countries of Southeast Africa, economic regionalization of Africa, urbanization, population migration, labor resources, formation of labor markets in African countries. Later, over the years of his work at the Central Economic Mathematical Institute and the Institute of Geography (within the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union and Russian Academy of Sciences), Lipets became a prominent scientist in the field of system modeling and implementation of quantitative methods in human geography. The spectrum of his scientific studies ranged from the key issues of theoretical geography to the theory of equilibrium prices. Lipets has initiated the “geography of world development” as an interdisciplinary research area in contemporary Russian human geography. This research direction has become the pinnacle of the scientific activity of Lipets. It has integrated the previously separate scientific disciplines such as “geography of world economy,” “problematic country studies” and “geographical global studies.” Lipets formulated the concept of three aporias of modern geography – the key methodological difficulties of its development. These three aporias dealt with issues of the unity of geography, the role of spatial analysis in the study of nature and society, as well as uniqueness and typicality in geography. The article also discusses the activities of Lipets as a scientific manager and organizer. He played an important role in establishing a seminar on new methods in human geography in Moscow, in the Russian Geographical Society, organized scientific conferences, led scientific research of the Economic and Geographical Section of the International Academy of Regional Development and Cooperation.