Territorial Transformations Research Articles

Visual Diary: How Photos Represent the Context of Field Research

The article addresses the possibility of using visual data in field research. The article is based on the visual data obtained in the frame of the author's research projects of 2017—2019, aimed at studying everyday life of industrial workers in Yekaterinburg and the transformation of industrial territories in Moscow. The article is the additional visual material to the authors methodological manual “How to Collect Data in the Field [Qualitative] Research”. The authors have shown both the analytical significance of visual materials and their didactic potential. The article demonstrates how the research practice of photographing is organically integrated into the classical stages of fieldwork — access to the field, data collection, analysis and presentation of the results. At the same time, photographs are the relevant source of data about everyday life of citizens — material culture, spatial practices, emotions, identities. The authors make an attempt to visualize the process of field research, show the process of conducting projects through the photographs and demonstrate the genre of empirical materials as a visual diary.

История административно-территориального реформирования и преобразования системы управления архивным делом на Южном Урале в 1920-е гг.

В статье рассмотрена история становления региональных архивных учреждений на террито- рии Южного Урала, в частности в Башкирской АССР, Оренбургской, Челябинской и Уфимской губернии. Автор, впервые в историографии, предпринимает попытку комплексного и систем- ного исследования истории архивной системы на Южном Урале в контексте административно- территориальных реформ. Статья выполнена преимущественно на основе первоисточников из федеральных и региональных архивов, некоторые из которых вводятся в научный оборот впер- вые. Целью данного исследования является анализ влияния административно-территориальных реформ первых десятилетий советской власти на архивную сеть Южного Урала. На примере Архивных служб Южного Урала, доказано, что периодически проводимые административно- территориальные реформы 1920-х годов, негативно повлияли на устойчивый вектор развития региональных архивов РСФСР. Во второй половине 1920-х гг. окружные архивные бюро по- теряли прямую связь с Центральным архивным управлением РСФСР, т. к. управление ими осуществлялась через областные и краевые архивные управления.

Модернизация социально-экономического развития регионов Северо-Востока России

The purpose of the study is to determine the principles, directions, and conditions for the modernization of the economy and social sphere of the northern and Arctic regions of the North-East of the Russian Federation. As a result, the necessary directions for diversification of the basic industry were substantiated, as well as territorial, infrastructural and social transformations, linked to the long-term priorities of state policy in relation to the Far Eastern, Northern and Arctic territories

Мonodevelopment of agricultural territorial systems: their territorial structure transformation

The article reveals a retrospective analysis of the concept of «agrarian territorial system» and clarifies the essence of the concept of "mono-agrarian territorial system". The features of their formation in the theory of social geography have been presented. It has been determined that the issue of research of agrarian territorial systems was actively paid attention by scientists of different branches of knowledge. However, the study of agricultural systems was carried out in the generalization of the behavior of the studied object to the process of monodevelopment. In this case, the digital expression of the process of monodevelopment as the dynamics of absolute data of a certain type, characterizing the highest level of generalization has been presented, as a rule, as an additional characteristic of the object of study. It has been proved that in the normative legal acts of Ukraine defining the essence of the concept of «rural area» there was a disordered heterogeneous, often contradictory conceptual and terminological apparatus. It is characterized by chaos and inconsistency in the process of its use in research and management. The development of rural areas due to the peculiarities of their development as monosystems of different hierarchical level has been considered. The development itself has been outlined as monodevelopment. It has been determined that any numerical characteristic of the territory is the starting point of a specific process of monodevelopment that takes place within it. Even without dynamic data, but comparing the starting points of the various processes of monodevelopment, we can assume how they proceed in the analysed area. Of great importance is the study of monoprocesses (generalized at the regional level) related to the use of natural resources of agricultural production, in particular the analysis of indicators of the value of agricultural products; the cost of agricultural products sold by enterprises; the number of employees in Ukraine in general and in agriculture, forestry and fisheries in particular; use of agricultural products. We proved that for full coverage of the characteristics of rural development is not enough to study the course of a single monoprotsesu within it, or several processes, but it is important to study them against the background of the territorial structure of agricultural systems that will make it possible to understand the nature of their development as mono process and identify features of formation agrarian territorial formations as monosystems. For the first time the category «monoagrarian locality» has been applied and its essence has been revealed.

Антропогенна трансформація території Старосамбірського району Львівської області

Types of man-induced impact in the territory of village councils in Staryi Sambir raion have been analyzed. The most significant changes in the raion’s territory have been caused by agricultural, forestry, pastoral, residential, industrial, and recreational impacts. Many types of impact are characterized by a rather clear landscape confinedness. Each of the types of impact causes different anthropic transformations in specific environmental components. Following P. Shyshchenko’s methodology, the factors of man-induced transformation for the territory of village councils of the raion in question have been estimated on the basis of analysis of the structure of agriculturally used lands. Five levels of territory transformation have been outlined according to the value of the man-induced transformation factor: very slightly transformed, slightly, moderately, severely and very severely transformed. It has been clarified that the territories of village councils with moderate level of transformation stand for almost a half of the raion’s area. A bit smaller is the share of very slightly transformed ones – 24.9% and slightly transformed ones – 23.1% of the territory. The territories of severely and very severely transformed village councils occupy, respectively, 1.6% and 1.5%. These are mainly the territories around the towns of Staryi Sambir, Dobromyl, and Khyriv. The overall man-induced transformation factor for the territory of Staryi Sambir raion is some 3.51.

Research of the labor resource redeployment by mathematical methods of optimal management

The problem statement of labor resource redeployment to ensure the sustainability and balance of positive territorial transformations is due to the necessary in order to study the socio-economic factors of the labor resource development in modern economic conditions. The paper presents mathematical models of the labor resource redeployment. In the dynamic model of staff resource redeployment, the speed of redeployment, the dynamics of inter-resource composition and the limitations of the dynamic characteristics of the redeployment process are studied. The model of the territorial labor resource redeployment is a solution to the problem of placing workers with their multi-agent interaction and any finite number of employers on the network with a given set of vacancies for each employee that he wants to receive.

Territorial appropriations and socio-spatial transformations of the Maritory of Chiloé

Territorial appropriations and socio-spatial transformations of the Maritory of Chiloé

Agua, tecnología y gubernamentalidad:

Historically, mega-dams have been imagined and built by hydraulic experts to govern and allocate water. Although these dams have some important benefits, their positive effects are often highly overrated while their socio-environmental and economic impacts on local populations are fairly underestimated. Despite this, in many Andean countries the construction of such projects is being resumed as indispensable and unfailing. Mega-dams are promoted by self-defined left-wing progressive governments as modern ways of water governance, closely related to development, buen vivir and wellbeing discourses. This article shows through the Chone multipurpose mega-dam in coastal Ecuador, the discursive use of technology that is involved in its construction and implementation process. It furthermore analyzes and shows that these water technologies not only inflict material changes, but also social, cultural and agro-productive territorial transformations. The article concludes that megadams should be understood as powerful governmentality tools since they are imposed not only by coercive forms of power, but also through more inclusive forms that justify and legitimize their development.

Territorial transformations of urbanized systems

Efficiency of development of the city is defined by economic, ecological and social parameters. In the course of urbanization the city develops in all specified parameters. In the course of an urbanization there is a development of the environment in noted indicators that causes the necessity of territorial transformation of the environment. One of stages of urbanization is formation of urban agglomerations, and respectively transformation of the urbanized space. Forming district settlements by the principles of the ecovillage of similar settlements within urban agglomerations will promote formation of the new “smart” town-planning environment, development of agricultural activity, formation of the new housing stock meeting the modern requirements. At the same time there will be no need for carrying out global reconstructive and modernization works within the existing urbanized environment. Design of settlements within urban agglomeration taking into account distinctive features of the ecovillages created now will allow making the effective urbanized environment both from the point of view of economy, and in the town-planning relation.

Minería a gran escala, pluralismo territorial y contención:

Over the last decade, Ecuador has become a new frontier for large-scale mining expansion and this article aims to analyze the territorial transformations and contentious politics that are induced by this new capitalist activity. It therefore presents a case-study of Ecuador’s first large-scale mining project, the Mirador copper mine in the Cordillera del Cóndor in the Amazon region. Using analytical insights from the current debates on territory, specifically the recently coined concept of “territorial pluralism”, the article shows the multiple historical territorialization processes that shaped the Cordillera del Cóndor and describes the interruptive reconfiguration introduced by the mining project. It furthermore examines the visions and strategies of local resistance group. Based on this analysis, I conclude that this particular approach to territory contributes to our comprehension of mining conflicts by revealing the distinct forms of understanding and relating to space and nature, and the power relations that constitute them. I moreover argue that territorial pluralism helps to explain how the repertoires of contention and alternatives that surge from these struggles are structured.

Управління мисливським господарством України на сільськогосподарських землях: еколого-правові обструкції

Intensive anthropogenic transformations of European territories during the last century caused a significant depletion of the indigenous fauna and led to the formation of its new agglomerations by a modern type. Actually in our country the transition to high-tech processing methods and practice of monoculture agricultural production almost completely eliminated indigenous finely mosaic landscape, which significantly worsened the living conditions for the most wild life species. The analysis findings of environmental and legal instruments of effective game management ensuring on the cultivated lands of Ukraine confirmed their imperfection. In particular, the research has established that now it makes impossible the sustainable development of domestic hunting in the market economy conditions and requires the relevant government bodies to provide timely and appropriate normative response to current challenges in basic laws and regulations, providing branch functioning. It has been found out that current arable lands of Ukrainian lowlands through much of the year become destructive with a total dominance of winter fallows (on average more than 69.8 % of the areas), mixed with rare inclusions of winter crops and low-value, in the trophic sense, stubbles of late harvested tall-stalked crops (98%), mainly corn for grain and public initiatives aimed at environmental sustainability restoration. Therefore, in our opinion, the legally regulated allocation of a part of private shares lands (up to 3-5 %) for semi-natural buffer zones (protective and feeding areas) of multifunctional purpose remains almost the only one theoretically possible legal instrument of agricultural lands ecological capacity improvement. Due to the threatening plowing of Ukraine’s territory this proposal is rather harmoniously combined with a number of legislative and recreational attractiveness of domestic cultivated lands. Despite a significant number of mainly ineffective regulations of various levels on the legal support of game exploitation protection and economic, the Law of Ukraine «On game management and hunting» remains the main regulatory document in this area. This Law regulates the social, legal and economic foundations of game management, determines the process of relations between central and local governments, users of hunting lands, hunters and landowners, as well as liability for violation of the current legislation is determined. Modern agricultural lands of Ukraine are unsuitable for the successful existence of field game, considering the four main reasons: monoculture production declaration of crop growing on critically plowed large-contour territories; lack of a sufficient number of field boundaries, biograssplots with natural grass cover, which creates a feed shortage in the non-growing season, as well as from cereals maturity stage to winter sprouting of these crops; excessive predatory pressure of not properly regulated harmful species; low zoo-sozological, not regulated legislatively farming standards generally. In turn national legislation on public relations regulations in the areas of protection and special use of cultivated lands fauna, having been at the embryonic developmental stage for a long time, remains ineffective in solving a number of socio-environmental challenges of our time, therefore requires urgent improvement and adaptation to European Union standards. Future approaches to the development and application of environmental policy instruments, namely legislation, national-level programs, developmental plans of individual economy sectors etc. should provide for maximum complementarity and synergism of effective practical legal instruments of intersectorial level to achieve environmental and agricultural goals of the state.

A “landscapes of power” framework for historical political ecology: The production of cultural hegemony in Araucanía‐Wallmapu

The region of Araucania, since its incorporation into the Republic of Chile, has been subject to significant territorial transformations. The Chilean State, supported by economic elites, the political class, and intellectuals have all contributed to the discursive positioning of, and the creation of artefacts in, this regional space. These devices for mobilising power have enabled an appropriation of nature – through natural resource exploitation – and an appropriation of land rights through property titles. The occupation of Araucania from the end of the 19th century was achieved principally through the artefacts of larger settlement consolidation, the railway network, and the building of roads. These were designed and imposed from Santiago through political and administrative channels based on an internal colonialism logic. Conflicts with indigenous Mapuche in Wallmapu (the Mapudungun name for their territory) arose as a consequence of asymmetries of power and this appropriation of space, including expulsion from their land, deforestation, increasing poverty due to restricted access to traditional resources, and epistemic violence through specific constructions of development and the subalterning of indigenous “others.” This historical political ecology not only reveals the expanding frontiers of extractivism and processes of accumulation in favour of national political and economic elites, but more importantly shows how the construction of cultural landscapes became a device for exercising power and justifying appropriation in pursuit of modernity, progress, and development. These landscapes of power evolved over time as different demands were placed on this territory: first as a wheat bowl, and second as forestry plantation. A “landscapes of power” framework is presented in order to work through these constructions of landscape, building on phenomenological and dwelling perspectives in order to focus on the role of cultural hegemony and power relations.

Changes in land use cover and its effects on hydrometeorological risk in Tuxtla Gutiérrez (Mexico)

To better understand the space-time dynamics and the effect of urban growth on the transformation of territory, this article presents the results of Iber 2D simulation tests to analyze flood events in the lower Sabinal river basin, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico. First, Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 satellite images from 1986 and 2014 years were processed to generate classified images of the land cover of the study area. From the identified coverages, the soil roughness values were defined, as well as the infiltration parameter of water in the soil. Both values were used as input data in an Iber 2D simulation model to analyze and compare the maximum flood level with different precipitation values in the two reference years. Between 1986 and 2014, the coverage of urbanizations increased considerably, while the coverage of trees, pastures and agriculture decreased. Due to this change in coverages, in 2014 rainfall caused higher values of direct runoff, increasing water heights levels and therefore the risk of overflowing the Sabinal River. With the model shown here, it is possible to calculate the depth and water heights reached and identify the points and moments of overflow of the river. This model can be used to provide feedback to flood risk warning systems and to analyze basins that lack monitoring infrastructure.

Territory, Economy, Society and Institutions in Transition

I will try to interpret the transition that confronts planning by looking at economic, social, urban and institutional change. There are abundant studies that analyse transformations of territory, ...

The territorial organization of local government in the Republic of Buryatia: problems and prospects

The article discusses the main factors influencing the process of territorial organization of local selfgovernment in the Republic of Buryatia. These are low population density, uneven resettlement, undeveloped transport infrastructure. The tendency of reduction (transformation) of the number of settlements in municipal districts of the Republic of Buryatia and the experience of territorial transformations of municipal formations in the subjects of the Russian Federation are shown. The main risks and benefits of optimizing the territorial organization of municipalities in the region through the merger and liquidation of a two-tier system of local governance are highlighted.

TERRITORIAL, ADMINISTRATIVE SPACE OF DROHOBYCHYNA IN THE 40-ies – 50-ies of the XXth CENTURY

Summary. The purpose of the research – to trace the establishment and changes in the administrative and territorial structure of Drohobychyna in the 1940-ies and 1950-ies, when the Soviet system was established, restored and approved in the region; to determine the factors and the consequences of the territorial transformations. The methodology of the research is based on the principles of historicism, systematicity, scientificity, verification, the author's objectivity, a moderate narrative constructivism, as well as the use of the general scientific (analysis, synthesis, generalization) and the special historical (historicalgenetic, historicaltypological, historicalsystemic) methods .The scientific novelty – for the first time a comprehensive study of the transformation of the administrative, territorial space of Drohobych region in the Soviet time has been investigated. It has been illustrated that the administrative, territorial space of Drohobych region was a manifestation of the socio-political systems that were established in the region. The decisive factor was the status of the Western Ukrainian lands. The entry of Drohobychyna into the UkrSSR and the USSR caused the change in the administrative, territorial structure, which wasthe Second Commonwealth and the establishment of the Soviet model. Conclusions. The administrative-territorial space of Drohobych region was the manifestation of the socio-political systems that were established in the region. The defining status of the Ukrainian lands was decisive. The entry of Drohobych region into the UkrSSR and the USSR led to the change in the administrativeterritorial structure of the region, which was during the Second Commonwealth and the establishment of the Soviet model. The administrativeterritorial transformations began in 1939–1941, when the first Sovietyzation of the region took place, and continued during the postwar years. The region lost some of its historic territory, and the local population was subject to a forced resettlement t. The local traditions, aspirations and hopes of the people were not taken into account, which not only changed the face of the border area but also caused the numerous human tragedies. The next transformations coincide with the era of M. Khrushchov's reforms. The consolidation of the individual administrative units, which lacked the sufficient scientific justification, led to the elimination of some districts initially and later of Drohobych region itself. Soviet Drohobych region became thepart of Lviv region.

The city shaped through the railway line: Albergaria-a-Velha, Portugal (1908-2018)

The construction of the railway lines in the cities has led to relevant territorial transformations and instigated the first urban planning operations all over the world. In Portugal, the deployment of the railway line — even though late in the second half of the 19th century — had a crucial role in the transformation of the territory. This article analyses the relationships between the implementation of the railways and the urban development. This is clarified with the case study of the city of Albergaria-a-Velha, in Portugal, which takes part in the largest railway system named “Vale do Vouga” line. The article is organized into three main moments. First, the implementation of the railways in the cities, in general, is addressed. Then, in a second moment, the implementation of the railways in Portugal is studied. Finally, the article focuses on the case of Albergaria-a-Velha and the way the railways relate to the urban development in this territory. It was found that, initially, the deployment of the train line in Albergaria-a-Velha was not too invasive in the territory, occupying predominantly agricultural lands. Also, it is noticed that Albergaria-a-Velha suffered its greatest urban growth during the early 70s of the 20th century. This came about abruptly and unregulated, similarly to what occurred in several other cities during this period. In the current urban structure, the railway line is an element that clearly divides the city. But still, over time, the railway line was responsible for moments in which the city was redesigned and adapted to it, through the new buildings and streets. In fact, the railway line had an important role in the regulation of the urban fabric, shaping and defining the urban growth in Albergaria-a-Velha. We conclude that the railway line produces two opposite effects in the urban design of Albergaria-a-Velha. It regulates the space, but acts simultaneously as a barrier. Not only it conditions the roads that it crosses, but also conditions the limits on the development of urban form, while not preventing the urban growth.

Agua y Estado como ejes estructurantes de los procesos de transformación del hábitat rural en el árido de Mendoza (Argentina)

Its consider that the rural habitat of the not irrigated dry land of Mendoza (Argentina) with a dispersed pattern of land occupation and linked mainly to the breeding of goats. But the territorial transformation linked with scarcity of superficial water in addition to the public policies in services and infrastructure have influences the habitat configuration, detecting diverse villages. From the use of qualitative methods, two villages are characterized as case studies. The institutional and ecological aspects that affect its configuration- transformation are investigated in relation to its historical trajectory. The results show that these villages have their own characteristics and that they are different from the dispersed habitat, where their consideration would enrich the enunciation of public policies in order to visualize the dynamics present in the territory and the heterogeneity of its configuration.

La paz narcotizada: decisiones, presiones y diseño institucional del Programa Nacional Integral de Sustitución de Cultivos de Uso Ilícito

Como parte de la solución al problema de las drogas, el Acuerdo de Paz entre el gobierno colombiano y la guerrilla de las Farc contempló la creación de una política para la sustitución de cultivos de uso ilícito en su punto 4. En este artículo hacemos un rastreo detallado del proceso de toma de decisiones y los debates políticos que condujeron al diseño de esta política. Argumentamos que el contenido del punto 4 del acuerdo fue contradictorio porque pretendió hacer compatibles dos estrategias distintas para afrontar el problema: construcción de Estado y transformación de territorios cocaleros, y “guerra contra las drogas”. Más tarde, con el incremento de las presiones políticas internas y externas por el aumento de cultivos ilícitos, el gobierno y las Farc redefinieron la política. Con el afán de mostrar resultados en la reducción del área sembrada con coca, optaron por dejar de lado la apuesta de largo aliento de la transformación territorial y privilegiar la inmediatez en la disminución de cultivos ilícitos. Así, la política se tornó insostenible.

Confronting extractivism – the role of local struggles in the (un)making of place

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the politics involved in local struggles against forestry extractivism. The forestry sector is dependent on vast areas of land for tree plantations. This creates deep-rooted conflicts between global corporations that seek access to natural resources and locals whose way of life requires the use of the same land.Design/methodology/approachThis study draws on a political ontology frame of reference and storytelling methodology to build on testimonies of three small-scale farmers who actively seek to resist forestry plantations next to their land in rural Uruguay. The stories reveal the impossibilities they face when raising claims in the public political sphere and how they lack the means to organise strong collective resistance.FindingsOne of the testimonies reveals how the farmers engage in a form of “politics of place” (Escobar, 2001, 2008) to counter the power of the proponents of forestry and the further expansion of plantations. This form of politics strengthens and politicises the ontological difference between extractive and non-extractive worlds. The farmers seek to build new imaginations of rural living and sustainable futures without the presence of extractive corporations. They fulfil this aim by designing community projects that aim to revitalise ancient indigenous legends, set up agro-ecological farms, and teach schoolchildren about the environment.Originality/valueThe struggles of the farmers indicate the territorial transformations involved in (un)making (non)extractive places and the need to expand the analysis of the politics involved in struggles against extractivism beyond social struggles.