Prominent Soviet and American geographers provide a comparative survey of current methods and goals in the field of urban geography as it exists in the United States and the Soviet Union. The contributors examine the historical development of urban geography in both countries and offer an illuminating exploration of its contemporary issues, research techniques, achievements, and future directions.
| List of Tables and Figures | ||
| Transliteration Table | ||
| Foreword | ||
| Preface | ||
| Introduction From the Editorial Board | ||
| Pt. I | Urban Geography in the USSR: Basic Achievements and Directions of Research | 1 |
| 1 | Introduction: The Content of Urban Geography | 3 |
| 2 | Soviet Urban Geography Before 1970 | 7 |
| 3 | Soviet Urban Geography 1970-85 | 27 |
| Urbanization | 33 | |
| Patterns of National and Regional Settlement Systems | 41 | |
| Local Settlement Systems and Urban Agglomerations | 72 | |
| The City | 85 | |
| Regulation of Urban Settlement | 136 | |
| Pt. II | Urban Geography in the United States: Current Questions and Directions of Research | 153 |
| 4 | Introduction | 155 |
| American Urban Geography before 1950 | 155 | |
| Urban Geography 1950-70 | 158 | |
| 5 | Systems of Urban Places | 161 |
| How Do Urban Places Arise and Support Themselves Economically? | 162 | |
| Historical Development of the U.S. Urban System | 170 | |
| City Size Distributions and Economic Growth | 174 | |
| Urban-Based Production, Functional Town Classification, and Quality of Life in Cities | 175 | |
| Defining the Basic Dimensions of Urban Systems: Going Beyond Production and Consumption Approaches | 177 | |
| Why Do Natural Resource-Based Activities and Goods Processing Locate Where They Do? | 178 | |
| Why Do Central Places Develop to Different Sizes and Distribute Themselves As They Do? | 180 | |
| How Do Urban Patterns Developed in One Era Become Modified Later? | 182 | |
| 6 | Inside the Urban Areas | 183 |
| Population and Housing: Distance and Density | 183 | |
| Residential Patterns Within Cities | 184 | |
| Neighborhoods Based on Socioeconomic Class, Race, Ethnicity, and Territoriality | 187 | |
| Housing Stocks and Patterns of Housing Use | 188 | |
| Social Organization and Social Space in Cities | 191 | |
| Commercial, Industrial, and Other Nonresidential Land Uses | 192 | |
| Land Use Policy, Zoning, and Development Controls | 193 | |
| 7 | Human-Environment Relations: Learning and Behavior in Cities | 197 |
| Perception, Cognition, and Attitudes Toward Urban Environments | 197 | |
| Making Trips Inside the City | 198 | |
| Residential Mobility | 199 | |
| Ghetto Structure and Movement | 199 | |
| Structuralism, Structuration, Human Activity, and the Physical Environment of Cities | 200 | |
| Historic Preservation: How the Present Shapes the Meaning of the Past | 202 | |
| Pt. III | Epilogue | 203 |
| 8 | Soviet Urban Geography Since the Time of Perestroyka | 205 |
| Fundamental Research | 207 | |
| Political Geography | 209 | |
| New Technology for Geographic Research | 210 | |
| Bibliography | 213 | |
| Author Index | 287 | |
| Subject Index | 293 | |
| About the Contributors | 315 |
Overview
Prominent Soviet and American geographers provide a comparative survey of current methods and goals in the field of urban geography as it exists in the United States and the Soviet Union. The contributors examine the historical development of urban geography in both countries and offer an illuminating exploration of its contemporary issues, research techniques, achievements, and future directions.