Soviet Economic Geography Research Articles

A century of integrated research on the human-environment system in Chinese human geography

Research on the integration of the human-environment system has been an important part of Chinese human geography for over a century, constituting the distinctive academic nature of the field. Human geography has been established as an interdiscipline of natural science and social science, highlighting the combination of academic inquiry and decision application, and exploring the interaction mechanisms and sustainable development model between the human sphere and natural sphere at different spatial scales. The development of the discipline is in line with the basic concepts advocated by the global research platform “Future Earth”, which has promoted the strong development of human geography in China, and has produced important societal influences. By selecting some of the most influential academic achievements, this paper briefly describes theoretical methods and social contributions to reflect the development process of human geography in the study of integrated human and environment systems in different stages in China. It also demonstrates the influence of the following elements on the adherence of Chinese human geography to the integration of human and environment systems: classical Chinese philosophical thinking on harmony between people and land, western theories of the human-environment relationship, Soviet economic geography research methods, the science of sustainability, the social demands of the construction of contemporary Chinese ecological civilization, ever-improving mathematical models and big data methods for studying enormous and complex systems, and management system reform and special scientific research system and background in China.

НЕРАВНОСТОРОННИЙ ТРЕУГОЛЬНИК: Ю.Г. САУШКИН МЕЖДУ Л.С. БЕРГОМ И Н.Н. БАРАНСКИМ

Four decades after the death of Yu.G. Saushkin as the organizer of Soviet economic geography demand a reassessment of his scientific biography and the role that senior colleagues had played in his creative maturation. First of all, the role of L.S. Berg and the entire school of Russian naturalists, of which he was a representative, in the first period of Saushkin's formation as an encyclopedic geographer should be totally reconsidered. It seems that the ideas and achievements of this stage of the «early» Saushkin, as well as the whole concept of anthropogeography, cultural landscape, «landscape» evolution, etc., may be of significant interest for the modern development of Russian economic geography, in response to the challenges facing our science. The departure of Yu.G. Saushkin from a landscape integration paradigm to a rayon-type one, and a radical change in the creative credo at the second stage of his scientific biography was absolutely inevitable and objective. But this does not mean that we do not need to look for a constructive potential for the development of our science, which is contained in his early works and the works of L.S. Berg as his main teacher of the first period of his scientific life.

Soviet Economic Geography in the 1970's

Major changes have occurred in Soviet economic geography during the 1970's. This field, which was once concerned almost solely with the distribution of production, considered in light of the concepts of socio-economic geography, has now enlarged its field of study to include developing trends in problems of economy, socialization and ecology.A recent trend in Soviet geography in general, including physical geography, has been to place a great deal of emphasis upon constructive geography, or geography of prediction. This view has tended to accelerate the unification of Soviet physical and socio-economic geography.

THE 1929 MEETING OF SOVIET GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS: A KEY EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF SOVIET ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

A Soviet economic geographer who participated in a 1929 conference of geography teachers describes the antecedents, the atmosphere and the proceedings of this crucial meeting in a stormy period of the discipline. It was a landmark in the history of Soviet economic geography in marking the beginning of the end of the old sectoral-statistical approach and inaugurating the new regional school led by N. N. Baranskiy.

The Role of Economic Sectors in the Formation of Regional Production Complexes

A variety of approaches used in Soviet economic geography to define and measure the productive specialization of an economic region are reviewed. In the author's view, a regional activity qualifies as regional specialization if it helps shape the basic character of the regional economy. It is not sufficient for a regional activity merely to represent a major portion of a particular national sector of the economy. For example, the asbestos industry in the Urals represents the major portion of Soviet asbestos output, but asbestos does not shape the basic character of the Urals economy and is therefore not a principal specialization sector. Regional specialization derives from relationships among the various sectors of the regional economy, not from the significance of any particular commodity. A classification of economic sectors is proposed as an aid in analyzing the functioning of a regional economy: (1) the principal specialization sectors; (2) basic raw-material sectors; (3) associated sectors using the wastes and by-products of the principal sectors; (4) complementary specialization sectors, such as asbestos in the Urals; (5) auxiliary sectors, such as metallurgical fluxes for the iron and steel industry; (6) service sectors, including utilities, transportation, construction, trade; (7) local sectors, working for local consumption.

On new Directions in the Development of Soviet Economic Geography

AbstractA review of new research areas in Soviet economic geography distinguishes three categories of topics in terms of the level of advance and the volume of research being done. The most viable new areas, with a large number of studies, include the resource-oriented approach to economic geography and the systems approach to settlement geography. In other research areas, such as the geography of services and the geography of land use, only the first steps are being made. The lag in land-use studies behind the West is explained in terms of the large territory of the USSR, which is said to have made this type of research unnecessary until recently. The potentialities of some research areas are only just beginning to be perceived, notably in the case of studies on spatial value relationships, involving regional accounts and balance of payments.

Geographical Approaches to the Study of Extractive Industries

AbstractThe locational patterns of development of extractive industry in the USSR have been neglected as an object of study in Soviet economic geography. The geography of resource-based industry is determined by two groups of factors: natural and economic. Research is needed to establish the quantitative parameters of the effect of natural factors on location. The most significant economic factor of location is technical progress. A basic problem in the development of extractive industry in the Soviet Union has been the areal disparity between availability of resources and resource use. The disparity is most evident between the western and eastern zones of the country. Soviet economic regions can be grouped according to their share in the gross output of all extractive industry. Within groups, regions can be distinguished according to the extent to which available resources are being used. Resource-based industries tend to form the core of industrial complexes, particularly in pioneering regions where the...

Application of Mathematical Methodology in Soviet Economic Geography

Application of Mathematical Methodology in Soviet Economic Geography

A Selected Bibliography of Mathematical Articles in Soviet Economic Geography (1960–1968)

A Selected Bibliography of Mathematical Articles in Soviet Economic Geography (1960–1968)

Economic Geography in the USSR on the 50th Anniversary of Soviet Power

Economic geography has, since the inception of the Soviet state, played an important utilitarian role in the planning and development of the national economy. The basic research of economic geographers in the preplanning stage should, however, be distinguished from the actual selection of an industrial site or of a railroad alignment, which must be the province of government design and planning agencies. Two approaches can now be noted in Soviet economic geography. One, closely related to economics, deals with the economic factors of economic location; the other, closely related to physical geography, emphasizes the regional approach to the man-environment system.

A History of Soviet Economic Geography

A History of Soviet Economic Geography

Publication of Soviet Economic-Geography Research in Foreign Publications

Publication of Soviet Economic-Geography Research in Foreign Publications

Application of Mathematical Methods and Computer Techniques in Economic-Geographic Research

AbstractA review of the use of mathematical methods in Soviet economic geography, discussing areas of application and methods used.

Book reviews

Soviet economic geography Economic Geography of the USSR. Edited by S. S. Balzak, V. F. Vasyutin, and Ya. G. Feigin; vii+620 pp; 83 maps, 54 tables. The Macmillan Company. New York. Price 75s. (Issued under the auspices of the Russian Translation Project of the American Council of Learned Societies.) Geography of the USSR, a Regional Survey. Theodore Shabad; xxxii+583 pp.; 57 maps and 4 tables. London: Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press. 1951.

Soviet economic geography and the economic geography of the U.S.S.R.

Soviet economic geography and the economic geography of the U.S.S.R.