The weather features of individual regions, for which observations of one meteorological station are sufficient, are called the local climate.
The local climate is determined by the air currents of the atmosphere; it is influenced by the features of the relief of the territory and the nature of the surface (breezes, mountain-valley winds); it can be determined by the local influence of the earth's surface on atmospheric currents (foehn, bora); it is also formed as a result of human activities (climates of cities).
Along the coasts of the seas and large lakes, there are winds that change their direction during the day. These are the breezes. During the day, the sea breeze blows from the sea to the shore, at night, the coastal breeze blows from the shore to the sea. During the day, land warms up more than water, and the air above it is warmer and lighter. Cold, heavy air from the sea begins to displace the less dense air over land, and the heat of the day begins. At night, the surface of the land cools faster. The air above it, cooling down, begins to push the air above the water. A night breeze forms.
In the warm season, the breeze captures a layer of air up to 1 km. You can feel it by visiting the shores of the Black, Azov, Caspian Seas of the island of Cuba, as well as on the shores of other seas of low latitudes. The daytime breeze blowing from the sea brings coolness to the strongly warmed land and increases humidity. In Madras (India), the sea breeze lowers the air temperature by 2–8 C and increases the humidity by 10–20%, and in West Africa, the breeze reduces the temperature by even 10 C.
Mountain valley winds
Similar diurnal wind changes often occur in the mountains. During the daytime it blows up from the valley to the mountain slopes. At night, the direction of the wind changes, and the air is already rushing down - along the mountain slopes to the valley.
The cause of mountain-valley winds is the same as that of breezes. During the day, warm air over the strongly heated slopes begins to rise, dragging the valley air with it. And at night, on the contrary, the slopes cool down, and the cold air around them begins to flow down.
Mountain-valley winds are clearly visible in the summer in the Alps, the Caucasus and the Pamirs, and in other mountainous regions of low latitudes. The wind speed can reach 10 m/s.
In the mountains, "foehns" are often observed - warm, dry, gusty winds blowing from the mountains to the valleys at times (in America such a wind is called "chinook"). They increase the air temperature in mountain valleys and can greatly dry out the soil and plants.
In May 1935, in the northern foothills of the Caucasus, the southern foehn from the Armenian Highlands raised the air temperature in Nalchik to +32 C. In the USA, in the state of Montana, the temperature in December once rose from -40 to +4.
Intense and prolonged foehn leads to strong melting (even evaporation) of snow, increases the water level in rivers and can cause floods.
Hair dryers are a frequent occurrence in the Alps and the Caucasus, they collapse like a wall on the southern coast of Crimea, they are also found in the mountains of Altai, Central Asia, Yakutia and in the west of Greenland.
In some areas, where low mountain ranges approach the sea coast, a strong cold wind - bora - sometimes reaches hurricane strength, and its speed is 20 m / s. Falling on the coast through low mountain passes, it causes strong waves at sea and is able to lower the air temperature by 20 C. Bora is observed on the Black Sea in the Novorossiysk region, on Novaya Zemlya (and the wind speed here can reach 70 - 80 m / s), on the Adriatic coast of Yugoslavia. In some areas, such winds have local names: nord - in the Baku region, mistral - on the Mediterranean coast of France, sarma - on Baikal.
The city is an island of heat
Within large cities, special local climatic conditions are formed. This is due to the fact that the territory of the city always warms up more than its surroundings. And therefore it is customary to say that the city is an island of heat. So, in London, the average annual air temperature is + 12.5 C, and in rural areas - +9.5 C. A local atmospheric front with strong winds appears on the outskirts of the city.
Interestingly, cities also have a breeze, which is called "urban". It appears in calm and hot weather, when a colder wind from the suburbs blows along the streets towards the city center.
The peculiarities of the climate of large cities include smog - the accumulation of poisonous smoke and gas near the earth's surface. Smog hangs over the city like a dirty foggy cloud, bringing illness and even death.
Why in the XX century in Russia
new cities were created
G.M. LAPPO
doctor geogr. Sciences
Chief Researcher
Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Of the Russian cities that existed at the time of the 2002 census, 385, or 35.1%, received urban status before 1900. Thus, approximately 2/3 of Russian cities can be called new. Their numerical superiority has prompted critics of the recent past to preach: "Instead of creating hundreds of new cities, the old ones should have been developed."
To answer the question of whether new cities were needed, a geographical approach is needed. First of all, it is necessary to evaluate the processes that took place in the old cities. Then to identify the development of settlements that did not have the official status of a city, but had already joined the performance of city functions. Some of them could be considered true cities, as V.P. did. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky in his work "City and Village in European Russia", part of them are considered as "embryos" of future cities. It is also necessary to find out why a significant part of the old cities during periods of economic leaps in the 20th century. in economic development, practically did not budge or moved extremely slowly. And finally, consider the reasons for the emergence of new cities.
The article was published with the support of the Real Estate Agency "Domus Finance". The company offers projects for new buildings in Moscow and the Moscow region, including new buildings in Dolgoprudny. A large database of profitable and interesting offers, high professionalism of employees, reliable partners - developers, major banks and insurance companies - all these are the components of the Agency's success in the real estate market. You can get acquainted with the database of offers, information about the services offered by Domus Finance, and their prices on the website domus-finance.ru.
What happened to the old
Russian cities in the 20th century?
According to the All-Russian population census of 1897, the urban structure within the current Russian Federation looked as follows (table on p. 6).
Distribution of Russian cities in 1897
by administrative status and population
| Administrative rank |
Population, thousand people | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| up to 2 | 2–5 | 5–10 | 10–20 | 20–50 | 50–100 | 100–200 | St. 1000 | Total | |
| Provincial and regional | – | 1 | 2 | 4 | 20 | 14 | 4 | 2 | 47 |
| county | 20 | 110 | 99 | 63 | 27 | 2 | 1 | – | 332 |
| Countyless | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | – | 1 | – | – | 11 |
| Freelance | 19 | 10 | 6 | 3 | – | – | – | – | 38 |
| Total | 50 | 123 | 110 | 73 | 47 | 17 | 5 | 2 | 428 |
It is obvious that 428 cities were clearly not enough for huge Russia, and by the 20th century. the country came up with a large deficit of cities. Small and very small towns predominated sharply. Using modern criteria, it turns out that at the end of the 19th century. only 24 cities on the territory of the current Russian Federation were not small. Cities, which are now classified as small according to statistics, accounted for 94.4% of the total number of cities, and 173 cities had less than 5 thousand inhabitants. With their small population, they reflected more than limited opportunities for change for the better and later turned out to be unclaimed.
And if we are guided by the classification of cities proposed a hundred years ago by V.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky: up to 5 thousand inhabitants - a small town; 5-10 thousand - a small town; 10-40 thousand - an average city; 40-100 thousand - a big city; more than 100 thousand inhabitants - a large city, then in this case, towns and small towns (there are 283 of them) accounted for 66.1% of the total number of Russian cities of that time.
A.I. Voeikov, based on world statistical practice, proposed to consider settlements with at least 20 thousand inhabitants as cities. With this approach, only 71 official Russian cities at the end of the 19th century. could be recognized as a city in essence.
Descriptions of many cities in the multi-volume Russia. A complete geographical description of our fatherland ”(the first volumes began to appear at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries) - truly lamentations about their plight. The adjustment of the composition of cities in the first decade after the revolution cut off some of the skinny cities, transformed them into villages, and made cities settlements that deserved urban status by their activity and population. Back in the summer of 1917, 41 settlements became cities by order of the Provisional Government, among which were Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Nizhny Tagil, Kimry, Kotlas, and others. However, even after the adjustment, many cities remained with very limited development opportunities, which was recorded by the All-Union Population Census of 1926 Suffice it to say that 35% of the total number of Russian cities were located outside the railways, and this could not but restrain their activation.
The strong stratification of cities according to the prerequisites for socio-economic growth also predetermined the sharp divergence of their destinies in the Soviet era. Those cities that had such prerequisites developed, sometimes making a giant leap (Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk, Tyumen, Kurgan, Cherepovets and many others).
All former provincial and regional cities (with the exception of Vyborg, which was part of Finland in 1918-1940, Tobolsk and Buynaksk) became large, largest and millionaires, having strengthened and expanded their city-forming base.
Medium cities, which were not large administrative centers (there were only 4 of them), became large (Ivanovo, Taganrog) and millionaires (Volgograd, Yekaterinburg). Of the 27 so-called welterweights (a term introduced by L.L. Trube), 3 developed into the largest (Barnaul, Lipetsk, Tyumen), 2 - into large ones (Belgorod, Bryansk), 8 - into large ones; moved to the middle 10 cities.
Of the small (up to 20 thousand inhabitants) old cities (in 1926 there were 334 of them), 17 became large, 29 - medium, 71 - semi-medium.
In general, the involvement of old cities in industrial and, on its basis, in complex development was quite wide. But cities with disabilities have not changed significantly. And now, after significant shifts in the territorial structure caused by railway construction, 85 old Russian cities are 20 or more kilometers away from the railway, 49 of them are more than 50 kilometers away, and 19 - 100 kilometers or more.
This does not mean that such cities were not at all affected by the changes. Simply due to the mediocrity of the situation, they have remained in the role of local centers, using the modest resources of the nearby district and serving the needs of their districts. Nevertheless, only 14 cities have reduced the number of inhabitants over the century.
Young cities - old centers
This is a large and diverse group of modern cities in terms of genesis and functions. Only with a certain stretch, most of them can be called new, that is, they have arisen in a clean place. And it is completely wrong to call new cities that received city status before 1926. For with a few exceptions, these were true cities, in terms of their potential and the number of inhabitants sometimes surpassed not only county, but also some provincial cities. Nizhny Tagil, which became a city in 1917, had 30,000 inhabitants in 1897, while Petrozavodsk, the center of the Olonets province, had 12,000. The centers that received city status in the first quarter of the 20th century had already become cities by that time de facto, now they have become cities and de jure. But this was only a part of the centers that began to appear in Russia in large quantities starting from the era of Peter I. The rest of the "embryos" continued their further development and, as they matured, joined the ranks of official cities.
Initially semi-rural-semi-urban settlements, as a result of qualitative changes, they turned into cities. Dozens of cities have developed from settlements that arose at the railway, iron foundries, copper smelters in the Urals, Siberia, and the Center.
V.N. Tatishchev called the settlements under them "mountain cities". In official publications, they were called "factories". According to the 1897 census, among the settlements with more than 2 thousand inhabitants, there were 105 "factories", including 85 in the Urals. In the 20s of the twentieth century. A.V. Lunacharsky suggested a good name "city-factory", which was fixed in the historical and geographical literature.
87 modern cities of Russia began their life as "cities-factories". And only 8 of them received city status before the 20th century. Naturally, the largest group was formed in the Urals (54 cities). Yekaterinburg, Perm and Alapaevsk became cities in the 18th century. In the 19th century Zlatoust joined them, in 1917-1926. - 10 more cities, including Nizhny Tagil, Izhevsk, Nevyansk, Miass and others. The use of "factories" as a reserve of urbanization was not interrupted during the Great Patriotic War. Gornozavodsk in the Perm Region (1965) was the last to be formed.
There are also numerous cities that developed from factory villages, especially characteristic of the Center, and above all for the Moscow, Ivanovo and Vladimir regions. In the XVIII and XIX centuries. some of these factory villages became cities (during the administrative reform of 1775-1785 - Vyazniki, Kineshma, Yegorievsk, Sudogda, etc.). Ivanovo-Voznesensk (now Ivanovo) in 1871 received the rank of a city without a county. The oldest of this galaxy is Shuya. It arose from a village that belonged to the Shuisky princes, and in historical records already in 1539 it was mentioned as a city.
Among the modern cities of Russia - 70 former factory villages, in the Moscow region - 28. Some of them have profoundly transformed the functional structure and left the ranks of textile cities, which they were at birth. In others, the parent industry, which was previously leading, has been preserved, but pushed into the background (Ramenskoye, Shchelkovo, Balashikha, Reutov, etc.).
One of the lines of self-development of settlement was the improvement of the hierarchical system of territorial service centers. Related to this is the transformation into cities rural regional centers. This practice of converting villages into cities, which were entrusted with central (that is, essentially urban) functions, began long before the Soviet era. In 1775-1785. Thus, 165 cities - county centers were established. In Soviet times, rural settlements vested with administrative power expanded their economic base, increased their population, acquired urban features in their appearance and communal services. As a rule, at first they received the status of an urban-type settlement, and then, as if having passed the “candidate experience”, they became cities. This was an expressive manifestation (one might say, in its purest form) of “rural urbanization,” as the well-known demographer A.G. aptly put it. Vishnevsky.
Cities-factories, former factory and handicraft villages, rural regional centers, station settlements (we will talk about them below) are the most massive categories of “embryos”, which, consistently developing, replenished the ranks of Russian cities in the 20th century. In terms of total population, economic and cultural potential, they, of course, were significantly inferior to the old cities, but not in number. It should be noted that the share of small towns was higher among them than among old towns.
"Embryos" were used as a reserve of urbanization and for solving sectoral problems, when they were chosen as growth points for certain industries that were important for the whole country and for arranging the territory that needed to be equipped with service centers for the population and the economy.
The activation of "embryos" meant the promotion of the natural process of self-development of settlement, which was expressed in the gradual maturation of urban settlements from rural ones. Investing in their development, also criticized (“they developed everything and everything”), was due not only to purely economic, but also to social tasks, which, in relation to both small old towns and “embryos”, should be considered a priority.
Reasons for the creation of new cities
and their role in the development of Russia
The use of old cities and the formation of young cities on the basis of the additional development of "embryos" could not solve the problems of modernizing the country, and the creation of new cities became a necessity.
This was clearly manifested in the creation of its own raw material base for the developing industry. Relying on one's own resources under the then conditions was an indisputable fact and had no alternative. Only in rare cases have mineral deposits been discovered near existing cities. Much more often this happened in underdeveloped areas, devoid of cities in general. Involvement in the use of resources has given rise to a large number resource cities-producers, including in areas with extreme natural conditions, which increased the cost of development and doomed the cities created near the deposits to monofunctionality.
Raw-material cities, being necessary in the conditions of Soviet industrialization, by no means expressed the raw-material orientation of our economy. They formed the primary layer of centers that supplied raw materials and fuel to the leading industries that determined the economic face of the country. Among the cities with raw materials, small, mostly highly specialized centers prevailed. However, along with them, very large centers of integrated development have also emerged. Their multifunctional structure developed from the leading extractive industries and included related training, science and engineering. Such cities - Novokuznetsk, Almetyevsk, Norilsk, Ukhta, Surgut, Novomoskovsk - were the nuclei of important industrial regions.
Raw cities marked a movement to the North and East, where their share was higher than in the old developed part of the country (Zheleznogorsk in the Kursk region, Gubkin in Belgorod, the coal cities of Mosbass and the oil cities of the Volga region). Critics believe that it was not necessary to go to the North. But they completely neglect the fact that Russia in the post-Soviet era survives precisely thanks to the earlier campaign for resources to the North and East.
According to rough estimates, there are about 160-170 resource centers among Russian cities. In them, the extractive industry - coal, mining, oil and gas production - is the leading one, and in many cases, especially in the cities of the North, the only one.
Nearly three-quarters of the total number of cities with raw materials are new buildings. By specialization, resource cities are distributed as follows:
mining towns - 56 (new buildings - 32), including small - 38, medium - 15,
large - 8;
mining (extraction of ores and non-metallic minerals) - 63 (38), small - 48,
medium - 12, large - 3;
oil cities - 47 (41), small - 27, medium - 13, large - 7.
Significant costs of urbanization and its shadow sides are associated with the creation of raw-material cities. Evidence of this is the difficult environmental situation: waste rock dumps, soil failures caused by underground workings, pollution of watercourses by mine waters, etc. Coal towns are characterized by conglomeration: even a small mining town usually consists of several settlements. Monofunctionality is widespread. The future is unclear after the reserves of developed fields are exhausted.
If we add to the centers of extraction of minerals the centers of the forest and wood processing industries, centers of hydropower, then the total number of cities engaged in the extraction and partly processing of natural resources at the place of their extraction will reach approximately 250-260, that is, it will be almost a quarter of all Russian cities. Apparently, if our country could use the raw material resources of the world more widely, there would be no need to create such a large number of raw material cities. But in conditions of international isolation, this had to be done. Without raw material cities, there would be no high-tech industries that ensured the implementation of such important programs as space, nuclear, the creation of modern weapons, and so on.
The emergence and development of cities
as a result of the formation
nationwide systems
infrastructure
For our country, the transport frame is of particular importance. The mainline of roads contributed to overcoming the spatial friction, which is so significant in the vast expanses. For Russia - a continental country - the railways play a paramount role in the implementation of the interaction of regions. Their construction, which unfolded at a rapid pace starting from the second half of the 19th century, radically affected the urban and territorial-urban situation, placed the accents of urbanization in a different way, and influenced the stratification of cities according to the prerequisites for development.
Transport highways acted as the axes of urbanization, created favorable conditions for linear trends in settlement. Station settlements arose along the highways, gradually becoming the focus of local socio-economic ties. They intercepted the functions of the centers from the old cities that were outside the railway, used the possibilities of transit communications. The development of near-station settlements, which gradually turned into cities, is the response of the territory and settlement to the emergence of a highway - the axis of development.
The total number of cities that grew out of station settlements reaches 170. It is characteristic that almost all cities of this category received official city status in the 20th century. (a few - Armavir, Bogotol, Lyuban - before the revolution). The participation of station cities in the formation of a network of central places vested with administrative functions is evidenced by the fact that 135 cities, or 80% of the total number of cities in this group, head administrative districts.
Growing up in rural areas, mostly outside the agglomerations, station cities formed in the image and likeness of rural settlements. They are characterized by the predominance of low-rise estate buildings, orchards and orchards, and outbuildings for keeping livestock.
In the most successful cities, the transport function has played the role of a foundation on which a complex combination of functions has developed. These are Armavir, Mineralnye Vody, Kotlas, Ruzaevka, Kanash, Svobodny. At the other extreme are highly specialized small towns with enterprises servicing rail transport. Among them are Necklace, Babushkin (former Mysovsk), Mikun, Agryz, Dno, Novosokolniki.
The most famous city born of the railway construction is Novosibirsk. He went through the "embryo" stage quickly. It took him ten years to get the status of a city in 1903, and another three decades to get ahead of all the cities beyond the Urals in terms of the number of inhabitants.
Contradictory mystery in the fact that they remained medium, and even small cities, large railway junctions - Bologoe, Sukhinichi, Ruzaevka, Povorino, Liski, Gryazi, Kotlas, Tynda, which deserved the obligatory name of the capital of BAM. There are too many similar cases to consider them accidental. What a strange pattern!
The Unified Energy System (UES) is one of the most important achievements in improving the territorial structure of the country. The UES increases the efficient use of generated electricity, ensures rational maneuvering of its flows during the day, which is of great economic importance for our country, which is spread over 11 time zones, and guarantees reliable energy supply to all regions.
A galaxy has formed within the framework of the EEC energy cities- another new type of city in the 20th century. They are divided into three main groups: cities with thermal power plants operating on coal, gas, peat; at hydroelectric power stations; at nuclear power plants. Thermal power plants are located more freely. A significant part of them settled in already existing cities, primarily in large centers - consumers of electricity. The other is in the areas of fuel extraction. Hydroelectric and nuclear power plants, as a rule, gave rise to new cities.
The choice of a place for the construction of a dam was determined by hydrological and geological conditions, and only in some cases it turned out to be within the boundaries of existing cities (Perm, Irkutsk, Rybinsk, Uglich, Zeya). Nuclear power plants, due to technical and psychological factors, were built outside the cities.
The formation of the UES was initiated by the famous GOELRO plan, and in the course of its implementation, the first large power plants arose. The settlements under them eventually became cities. Volkhov, Ternovsk (renamed Shatura) - milestones in the development of the domestic electric power industry. Among them is Elektrogorsk, which received the rights of the city in 1946, 34 years after the launch of the first large power plant in Russia on peat "Elektroperedacha".
Emerged as specialized industry centers - "electricity factories" - they had different prerequisites for integrated development. There were ample opportunities for hydropower centers built on large rivers. The construction of a high-capacity hydroelectric power station creates a set of conditions that favor the concentration of production and population: a reservoir is a powerful source of water supply, the basis for the development of recreation and fisheries; transport crossing on the dam; The “legacy” of the construction site is a large construction organization, building materials enterprises, repair and mechanical plants. A powerful source of cheap electricity attracted energy-intensive industries - non-ferrous metallurgy, the chemical industry, pulp and paper production. The combination of various industries served as the foundation for the formation of multifunctional centers.
Their prototype was a city of more than modest size, which arose at the Volkhov hydroelectric station. Volkhovstroy (the original name of the village) received a city rank in 1933. It became a pioneer not only in hydropower, but also in the domestic aluminum industry. The hydroelectric power plants themselves are recognized as an important milestone in the development of industrial architecture. The production of building materials also retained its place in the complex, the chemical industry, also attracted by the electric power industry, was developed.
A special group of energy cities is formed by cities at nuclear power plants. Their significance is very great for areas deprived of fuel and hydropower resources. The choice of a point for the location of a nuclear power plant was determined by the requirements of the Unified Energy System. Nuclear power plants - fastening nodes of the energy frame - are located where the possibilities for the construction of power plants of a different type are constrained or absent.
Among the energy cities, there are often satellites of large leading centers: Elektrogorsk, Shatura, Kashira (Kashira-2 ***) and Konakovo in the Moscow region, Komsomolsk near Ivanovo, Kurchatov near Kursk, Novovoronezh near Voronezh, Zarechny and Sredneuralsk near Yekaterinburg, Kirovsk and Sosnovy Bor near St. Petersburg, etc.
The construction of hydroelectric power stations, which required, due to the huge amount of construction work, the creation of powerful construction organizations and the building materials industry on the spot, opened the way for the organization of new large-scale construction nearby. The "legacy" of the previous, already completed construction became a factor in the location of industry and the development of settlement. This is how the well-known industrial centers of Tolyatti, Angarsk, Shelekhov, Volgodonsk, Nizhnekamsk and similar cities arose, which can be called by-products of hydropower construction.
The emergence of small towns on the wave
centripetal processes in settlement.
The era of satellite cities
Very strong in the 20th century. the agglomeration factor manifested itself in the settlement. The unprecedented scale of territorial concentration caused a gigantic growth of large centers - industry and regional leaders - and the need to effectively use their outstanding potential. This predetermined the transition of settlement to the agglomeration stage of development, which was inevitable for all developed countries of the world and was of increased importance for Russia due to the peculiarities of its geographical conditions. For several decades, our country has been covered with agglomerations - the key forms of modern settlement.
The transition from a point form of territorial concentration to an areal (agglomeration) one increased the contrast of settlement. It was especially striking, since in the past the leading cities of Russia did not surround themselves with satellites. In general, it was as if the cities were charged with the obligation to keep a distance between themselves and not to approach the leader city in order to have their own zone of influence. The relatively even distribution of cities across the territory was due to the very logic of administrative-territorial division and the administrative function that was leading for cities in the past. The only exception was St. Petersburg, which was created simultaneously with the surrounding satellites for various purposes - residences, fortresses, industrial centers.
The creation of satellites fully corresponded to the logic of the evolution of settlement. This new category of cities, born in mass numbers in the 20th century, occupied a special place in the settlement. Satellites were a means of using the potential of the leading centers and solving their more complicated socio-economic and urban problems. Satellites are a diverse and necessary addition to a big city, a kind of "spray" of it. Together with the city that gave birth to them, satellites serve as engines of progress.
The economic profile of satellites is very different. What they have in common is companionship, due to proximity to the city center. Companionship is a kind of stamp on the life of a satellite city and its population. Orientation towards the city-center is expressed in intensive and diverse ties, labor and educational commuting, in systematic cultural and everyday trips of residents.
The creation of satellite towns is the response of settlement to the challenge of urbanization in the 20th century. In geo-urbanism, satellites are understood to mean all cities that exist in the zone of direct influence of the city center, and not just those that city planners built according to projects specially developed specifically for the satellite city. These are, so to speak, town-planning and official satellites, "legitimate" from the point of view of architects. There is only one such satellite near Moscow - Zelenograd, which is also the administrative district of the capital. But in reality, the cohort of satellite towns near Moscow includes cities not only in the Moscow region, but also in adjacent regions located near its borders: Obninsk, Balabanovo, Zhukov, Tarusa, Borovsk, Kaluga region; Konakovo Tverskaya; Alexandrov from the towns of Strunino and Karabanovo, as well as Petushki from the towns of Kosterevo and Pokrov Vladimirskaya.
To determine the scale of satellites, a rigorous study of intra-agglomeration relationships is necessary. So far, this work has not been carried out due to its laboriousness and complexity of obtaining initial information. Approximate calculations will give an idea of the scale of the phenomenon. About 350 cities are concentrated in the zones of direct influence of large cities of all ranks, of which there were 168 **** in 2002. Old cities in these zones are relatively few in number, young ones predominate. And among them there is a very significant proportion of newly built cities, although numerically they are inferior to cities that have developed from semi-urban-semi-rural settlements through a gradual increase in urban functions and urban features in appearance, population composition, and functional structure.
Thus, about 1/3 of all Russian cities are located in the zones of influence of large centers. This is a very impressive phenomenon, expressing a strong agglomeration accent in settlement. Relatively few large cities do not resort to the services of satellites, as if not trusting them to perform part of their duties. Among them are such significant centers as Omsk, Khabarovsk, Tyumen, Kurgan, Ulan-Ude, Syktyvkar, Yoshkar-Ola.
There are about 100 new-build cities among the satellites. The emergence and purposeful creation of cities surrounded by large centers is dictated by the evolution of settlement, corresponds to its natural course.
Great role science cities developing on the wave of the scientific and technological revolution. Science cities became the result of the scientific and technological revolution and a factor in its further development. They are based on a triad of functions: "science - science-intensive production - education", closely and organically interconnected. Science cities are a new type of city distinguished by its unique intellectual potential. The vast majority of them prefer to be companions. Near the leading city, which gave birth to them in the literal sense of the word, they have the most favorable conditions for their activities.
The Union of Science Cities existing in the Russian Federation unites about 70 centers. Of these, 46 official cities, 6 "numbered" (status unknown), 4 Academgorodok of Siberian centers, 7 urban-type settlements, two urban areas (in Balashikha and Balakhna). Old cities - Biysk, Michurinsk, Istra, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Melenki. Young cities, but old centers - Reutov, Klimovsk, Krasnoarmeysk, Primorsk, the Ural city-factories of Miass, Nizhnyaya Salda, Ust-Katav. New buildings prevail. The largest family of science cities is located near Moscow. The capital stimulated the development in its surroundings of almost half of Russia's science cities. These are celebrities - Obninsk, Dubna, Korolev, Fryazino, Chernogolovka, Protvino, Pushchino, Zhukovsky and others.
conclusions
Russia at all stages of its history constantly created and established new cities, but also constantly lacked cities. The creation of new cities was largely determined by the constant expansion of the state territory, its consolidation, economic development, and equipping with service centers.
Russia in the 20th century continued to form a network of cities, in some areas doing it from scratch, while the Western European countries completed this process centuries ago. In the 20th century, without missing a single decade, Russia actively created new cities, including cities of a new type.
The emphasis on the development of old cities is quite obvious. All the old cities that had the prerequisites for development were used as points of growth. They radically transformed their functional structure, increased the number of inhabitants many times over, and rapidly moved up the rungs of the hierarchical ladder. Cities with modest development opportunities remained local centers. The growth of a significant group of old cities was hindered by an unfavorable transport and geographical position (remoteness from railways).
They were widely used to build up the composition and network of cities "embryos" - city-factories, factory and handicraft villages, rural district centers, etc.
The creation of new towns became necessary, as the old centers were not enough to modernize the country. New cities arose where it was not possible to rely on the old cities or they simply did not exist.
The main factors in the construction of new cities were the need of an industrializing country for raw materials and fuel, the formation of unified transport and energy systems, the transition to the agglomeration stage of settlement, and the arrangement of the territory with a hierarchically constructed network of central places.
The creation of new cities corresponded to the leading trends in the evolution of settlement - centripetal (development of satellites in agglomeration areas) and linear (emergence of cities on the axes of urbanization - transport routes). The "maturing" of cities from numerous and typologically diverse "embryos", as well as the emergence of cities on the basis of centrifugal and linear processes, expressed the self-development of settlement.
An assessment of the feasibility of creating a particular new city must be based on a geographical analysis, answering the question posed by N.N. Baransky: "Why did the city arise and arise in this particular place?". The denial of the policy and practice of city building, devoid of evidence obtained by geographical analysis, is unfounded.
Urbanization takes place in a constantly and objectively changing environment. The deep geographic reasons for the emergence of new cities lie in the constant transformation of the territorial structure of the economy. New centers and lines emerge. Their use as growth points and development axes meets the economic, social and military-political interests of the country.
Until 1922 Temir-Khan-Shura.
According to the well-known researcher of mining settlements in Russia R.M. Lotareva, more than 260 plants were built in the Urals, and about 40 in Siberia.
*** Former Novokashirsk.
**** The radius of the zone of direct influence was assumed: 50 km for cities from 100 thousand inhabitants to 1 million inhabitants, 70 km for millionaire cities, 100 km for Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Special microclimatic conditions are formed in the city. Microclimate of the city- this is the climate of the surface air layer of individual sections of the urban area. The ground layer of air occupies an air space of two meters above ground level.
The formation of the microclimate of the city, in addition to natural conditions, is influenced by the conditions created by urban development, as well as the functioning of vehicles, thermal power plants, industrial and other enterprises. Urban development changes the natural relief: it increases the roughness of the underlying surface (for example, it forms hollow conditions against the background of a flat relief), includes many vertical surfaces, and creates rugged terrain. In addition, the thermophysical properties (heat capacity and reflectivity) of urban building elements (walls of buildings, roofs, roads, pavements) differ from the thermophysical properties of elements of the natural environment. The soil of the city is hidden under buildings and road (asphalt) surfaces. Under natural conditions, some of the moisture goes into the soil. In the city, a significant part of the precipitation does not fall into it. Urban sewage runoff is diverted to stormwater or city sewers. During the operation of vehicles, city heating, and the operation of enterprises, heat flows enter the atmospheric air, gaseous pollutants, liquid and solid suspended particles are emitted.
The listed features of the urban area determine the factors of formation of the microclimate of the city:
change in relief due to urban development;
· the difference in the thermophysical properties of the surfaces of the elements of urban development and the natural environment;
· the difference in the albedo of the underlying surfaces of the city and its environs;
· artificial heat flows;
· air pollution;
· reduced evaporation due to asphalt pavement and regulation of rainfall runoff;
a sharp decrease in the surface area with vegetation cover and natural soil, etc.
These factors affect the microclimate of the city at the same time, but their contribution at different times of the year and under different climatic conditions is very different. They cause a change in the natural radiation balance, the conditions of heat and mass transfer, and a violation of the natural moisture cycle. All this determines the microclimatic variability of general climatic regimes in certain areas of a large city.
The radiation regime of the microclimate of the city . Due to the pollution of atmospheric air with solid and liquid suspended particles (aerosols), its transparency decreases. Therefore, part of the solar radiation does not penetrate the city. Depending on the degree of air pollution, time of year and day, there is a decrease in its intensity up to 20%.
In urban planning, a decisive role is played by direct solar radiation, which is estimated by the insolation regime. Insolation mode- the mode of irradiation of urban areas and premises of buildings with direct sunlight. Insolation of urban areas is reduced by cloudiness and air pollution. Solar radiation is essential for life. It has a healing and positive psychological effect on a person. The duration of insolation is regulated by sanitary standards and the relevant paragraphs of SNiP. The norms of insolation depend on the climatic zone of the urban area. In accordance with SanPiN 2.2.1 / 2.1.1.1076-01 on the territories of playgrounds, sports grounds of residential buildings, group playgrounds of preschool institutions, sports zones, recreation areas of secondary schools and boarding schools; recreation areas of medical and preventive institutions of a stationary type, the duration of insolation should be at least 3 hours for 50% of the site area, regardless of geographic latitude.
SanPiN also defines hygienic requirements to limit the excessive thermal effects of insolation. On the territory of residential development of III and IV climatic regions, protection against overheating should be provided for at least half of the playgrounds, places for placing game and sports equipment and devices, and places for recreation of the population.
The temperature regime of the microclimate of the city . The air temperature in a large city is 1…4 degrees higher than in its surroundings, sometimes this difference reaches 8 degrees.
The increase in temperature is explained by the heating of building elements due to the absorption of solar radiation by them and the reflection of radiation by urban surfaces, as well as a decrease in the effective heat radiation over the city. The amount of reflected radiation depends on the slope and orientation of surfaces, as well as on the albedo of building and road materials. In this case, mutual irradiation of building elements can occur, and the air temperature can significantly increase near the insolated surfaces of the urban environment. Due to atmospheric air pollution, as well as inhomogeneities of the underlying surface due to development, the effective radiation over the city is weakened and, accordingly, its nighttime cooling decreases. In addition, much less energy is spent on the evaporation of moisture from asphalt pavement and other urban surfaces, compared to the energy required to evaporate moisture from vegetation. Therefore, in the surface air layer of the urban area, due to the low energy consumption for the evaporation of moisture, much more heat remains compared to the surrounding area.
Additional heat input into the atmospheric air occurs when fuel is burned. Thermal emissions from vehicles, industrial and energy enterprises can cause a local increase in air temperature over certain sections of the urban area - a highway, an industrial zone, a thermal power plant. Thus, according to space monitoring data (infra-red radiation surveys), thermal anomalies occupy a quarter of the territory of Moscow (March 1997).
An increase in air temperature inside the city compared to the temperature of the surrounding area leads to the formation of the so-called "heat island" above the city - an area of elevated air temperature, which looks like a dome. The size of the "heat island" and its other indicators depend on meteorological conditions and the characteristics of the city. "Island of heat" is destroyed by wind or other atmospheric precipitation, but is stable in calm. At a height of up to several hundred meters along the boundaries of the "island" there is a circulation of masses of warm and cold air. The vertical speed of air flows is relatively small. For example, near an "island" with a diameter of 10 km at a wind speed of 1 m/s in a layer 500 m thick, it is about 10 cm/s. In the "heat island" atmospheric air pressure is lowered. This contributes to the attraction of clouds in the upper atmosphere. Therefore, the clouds over the city are located much lower than over the open area. Updrafts of air form cumulus clouds. The formation of a "heat island" causes a decrease in the influx of solar radiation into the territory of a large city, an increase in the amount of precipitation, and an increase in the frequency of fogs.
Wind regime of the microclimate of the city . Elements of urban development and green spaces change the speed of the wind and its direction. Usually the wind speed in the city is less than outside it. Strengthening the wind is possible when the city is located on the hills or when the direction of the wind coincides with the direction of the streets. For cities where wind speeds are insignificant, local air circulation is typical. The reason for their occurrence may be a different temperature or illumination of individual sections of the urban area. The movement of air, called thermal ventilation, occurs between the city and its environs, between the green area and the building area, between the sun-warmed and shaded part of the streets. The presence of water bodies contributes to the formation of local circulation, similar to breezes. Air moves from reservoirs to buildings.
The wind regime of the surface layer of air in the conditions of urban development is commonly called aeration regime. The aeration mode is considered comfortable if the wind speeds in the building area are in the range from 1 to 5 m/s. Sections of the urban area, where the wind speed is less than 1 m/s, are classified as unventilated, and more than 5 m/s - to blowing zones. In the training manual, a comfortable aeration regime (wind speed from 1 to 3 m/s) and an aeration regime close to comfortable (wind speed from 3 to 5 m/s) are separately distinguished. Unventilated areas of urban areas, or areas of stagnant air, create an unsanitary condition. Blowing zones are uncomfortable for a person.
Humidity regime of the microclimate of the city. Humidity in large cities is lower compared to the surrounding area. This is due to elevated atmospheric air temperatures and lower moisture content in it due to a decrease in the amount of evaporation. The greatest difference in air humidity between the city and its environs during the year is observed in summer, and during the day - in the evening. In winter, the city's air can be more moistened due to steam emissions from industrial sources. The city receives less snow in winter, while more rain falls in summer.
The formation of cloudiness in the city at high humidity is facilitated by increased convective instability and pollution of air masses. The formation of clouds with insufficient humidity is also facilitated by convective currents over the city. They prevent the horizontal movement of air masses coming from the windward side, involve them in the upward air flow. As a result, clouds form and precipitation falls.
With significant air pollution and a weakening wind speed, there may be more fog in the city. As the temperature rises and the relative humidity decreases, there is less fog in the city than outside it.
Bioclimatic conditions of the city. Weather conditions can have a negative impact on a person's well-being, they can cause a feeling of comfort. Weather is the state of the atmosphere in a given place at a certain moment or for a limited period of time (day, month). The weather is determined by the physical processes that occur during the interaction of the atmosphere with space and the earth's surface. The weather is characterized by meteorological indicators: atmospheric pressure, air temperature and humidity, wind speed and direction.
Specialists in medical climatology have developed a number of bioclimatic indicators for human perception of weather conditions. These indicators are obtained on the basis of parallel physiological and meteorological observations. The indicators reflecting the thermal state of a person have received the greatest use.
The thermal state of a person is determined by his physiological parameters, physical activity, heat-shielding properties of clothing, but primarily by a complex of meteorological factors: air temperature and humidity, solar radiation and wind speed. It has been established that a person experiences thermal comfort in the case when his heat-regulatory system is in the state of the least stress. Thus, low air temperature causes a feeling of cold discomfort, which increases with an increase in wind speed and an increase in humidity. In hot climates, when the air temperature is close to body temperature or higher, even the wind does not always bring a feeling of freshness. The combination of high temperature and high humidity causes a state of closeness.
Bioclimatic indicators reflecting the thermal state of a person include: equivalent effective temperature, thermal load on the human body, physiological type of weather, etc. Based on these indicators, methods for assessing the bioclimatic conditions of the territory have been developed. Consider the method of temperature scales, the method of heat balance of the human body and methods based on the classification of weather types.
Method of temperature scales. Two types of temperature scales are mainly used: equivalent effective temperatures (EET) and radiation equivalent effective temperatures (REET). EET take into account the complex effect of temperature, air humidity and wind speed on human heat perception. REET additionally take into account solar radiation. The complex effect on a person of air temperature, wind speed and relative humidity causes such an effect of heat sensation, which corresponds to the effect of motionless air completely saturated with moisture at a certain temperature, called equivalent effective temperature. To assess the bioclimate of cities located in different climatic regions, the following recommendations are given on the use of a system of temperature scales. The EET interval is taken as the comfort zone:
For southern cities - 17 ... 21 0 С;
For cities in the middle zone, Siberia and Primorye - 13.5 ... 18 0 С.
EET below these limits characterize the state of cooling, and above - overheating. When calculating the EET, in addition to long-term averages, daily meteorological data should also be used. Man adapts to average climatic conditions. Extreme conditions (their frequency, intensity, duration) can cause a negative reaction of the body, and especially in people with poor health.
EET and REET data make it possible to assess the bioclimatic resources of a particular city: to determine the average duration of comfortable and uncomfortable periods during the year; calculate the frequency of weather conditions that provide a state of overheating, comfort and cooling, and consider the distribution of their degree of discomfort in abnormally hot and cold years (Fig. 3.1).
With the help of EET and REET, it is possible to determine the features of the formation of the bioclimate depending on the features of development, heterogeneity of the relief, the presence of forests, the proximity of water bodies and, as a result, to identify zones with varying degrees of comfort for living and recreation of citizens. The EET and REET methods can be used in any climatic regions and provide comparable results.
Method for calculating the heat balance of the human body is based on an equation expressing the equality of heat gains and heat losses:
R k + M = R q + P + LE + B ,
where Rk- the arrival of short-wave radiation to the surface of the body, M- body heat production Rq- long-wave radiation, R– convection, LE- heat consumption for evaporation of sweat, L is the latent heat of vaporization, E- the amount of moisture loss by evaporation of sweat, V- heat consumption for heating the exhaled air and saturating it with water vapor during evaporation from the surface of the lungs.
Rice. 3.1. Repeatability of comfortable and uncomfortable weather
by equivalent effective temperatures (Chita):
1) EET< 18,6 0 С (охлаждение); 2) ЭЭТ = 13,6 - 18 0 С (комфорт);
3) EET > 18 0 C (overheating)
This method is used in assessing the bioclimate of cities with a hot climate and is unsuitable for cities with a temperate and cold climate. As an indicator of the degree of thermal load on the human body in a hot climate, the value of moisture loss by evaporation of sweat is taken. The intensity indicator of the thermoregulatory system is also used, which is the ratio of the actual heat load to the maximum possible under the same meteorological conditions. The comfortable state of an adult (the value of the body area is taken equal to 1.5 m 2) corresponds to the values of moisture loss by sweat evaporation of 50 ... Clothing can reduce perspiration by 33-45%.
Weather Type Classification Methods, consist in the fact that the bioclimatic characteristic of the territory is given in terms of the totality and sequence of the frequency of weather types (methods of integrated climatology). In turn, the types of weather are defined in the corresponding weather classifications.
Climatic weather classification It is based on combining into types and classes of weather the whole variety of meteorological conditions of the warm and cold periods of the year. Each type (class) of weather is determined by strictly limited intervals of air temperature and humidity, wind speed and cloudiness (the latter is considered as an indirect indicator of the radiation regime). Allocate overheating, hot, warm, comfortable, cool, cold and severe weather. The bioclimate assessment method based on this classification makes it possible to obtain a background picture of the distribution of weather conditions in relation to the thermal state of a person. The method is clear, convenient, and is often used for the bioclimatic characterization of cities. At the same time, the method is not sufficiently reliable for assessing the bioclimate depending on the microclimatic features of small areas.
Physiological weather classification is based on various types of human thermal state and the thermoregulatory load caused by it. There are four classes of cold weather of varying degrees of hypothermia (1X, 2X, 3X, 4X), four classes of warm weather of varying degrees of overheating (1T, 2T, 3T, 4T) and comfortable weather (H) (Table 3.2). The bioclimate assessment method based on physiological classification consists in taking into account the frequency of uncomfortable weather types (2X, 3X, 4X, 2T, 3T, 4T). The evaluation results are expressed graphically, in the form of climatograms.
Climato-physiological classification is based on the physiological types of weather and their meteorological characteristics (combination of different values of air temperature, wind speed and total cloud cover) (Fig. 3.2, Table 3.3). The classification is intended for conditions with a relative humidity of 30 ... 60%, which is optimal for humans. This weather classification is used to assess the recreational potential of the suburban area and use it for summer holidays.
All existing methods for assessing the impact of climate and weather on the human body cannot be considered universal. This is connected, first of all, with the complexity of the objects under study - man and the atmosphere, as well as with the different abilities of the human body to adapt to local climatic conditions and with the individual characteristics of a person (age, gender, health status, level of physical activity).
Dispersion of pollutants in the atmospheric air affects the environment in the city. Solid particles of pollutants larger than 0.1 mm settle on the underlying surface under the influence of gravitational forces. Fine, solid and liquid particles, as well as gaseous substances, spread in the atmospheric air due to diffusion.
Table 3.2
Types of weather according to physiological (FC) and climatic-physiological classification (CFC)
Rice. 3.2. Evaluation scale for determining the degree of favorable weather for humans:
1 - cold uncomfortable; 2 - cool subcomfortable; 3 - comfortable; 4 - hot subcomfortable; 5 - hot uncomfortable; a) wind speed 0 ... 0.2 m / s; b) 2.1… 4.0 m/s; c) 4.1 ... 6.0 m / s; T- air temperature, P- cloudiness Q- total radiation
The degree of dispersion of pollutants depends on meteorological conditions and is primarily determined by the wind regime and temperature stratification of the lower layer of the atmosphere. Weather conditions can contribute to:
· accumulation of pollutants during inversions, calms and fogs;
· decomposition of pollutants under favorable radiation conditions, temperature conditions and the presence of thunderstorms;
· the removal of pollutants during strong winds and heavy rainfall.
That is, the scattering power of the atmosphere (SAR) is determined by the characteristics of meteorological conditions. When assessing air pollution by emissions from motor vehicles and industrial enterprises, the concept of " atmospheric pollution potential"(PZA). PZA is a combination of meteorological conditions that determine the possible level of atmospheric pollution for given emissions of pollutants (see Table 3.3). The characteristic of the atmospheric pollution potential is opposite to the scattering power of the atmosphere: the higher the SAR, the lower the PSA.
Hazardous atmospheric phenomena. The phenomena dangerous for the city include temperature inversions and smog.
Temperature inversions create air barriers. Surface inversions cause a lack of aeration in residential areas and thus contribute to the accumulation of pollutants in the surface layer. Low raised inversions, like a "roof", close the city and prevent the dispersion of harmful impurities. Inversions in cities cause an increase in the concentration of pollutants in the air and contribute to the formation of an unfavorable environmental situation.
In case of manifestations of temperature inversion, building plots on a hilly terrain are located above the upper boundary of the inversion layer, on the middle and upper parts of a slope or plateau. At the same time, territories located in a hollow or valley are unsuitable for residential development.
Smog (from the English smoke - smoke and fog - fog) - toxic fog. It occurs under adverse meteorological conditions and high concentrations of harmful substances in the surface air layer. Smog phenomena were observed in different years in London, Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo. There are three types of smog - restorative (London-type smog), oxidative or photochemical, and ice-type smog.
Recovery smog is typical for large industrial centers. It is an air mixture of soot particles and oxides of sulfur and nitrogen. Oxides, when interacting with atmospheric water, form aerosols of sulfuric and nitric acids. Due to the irritating effect of acids on the bronchi and respiratory tract, smog has a negative impact on human health. In 1952 and 1962 this smog caused the death of several thousand people in London.
Photochemical smog is observed in cities with high solar radiation intensity. It is formed by the interaction of sunlight with nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons contained in vehicle exhaust gases and industrial emissions. photochemical smog is a complex air mixture consisting of oxidants, mainly ozone, mixed with other oxidizing agents, including tear gas, peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN).
The initial reaction of smog formation:
NO 2 + hu® NO + O.
Atomic oxygen interacts with oxygen O 2 and inactive substance M (for example, nitrogen):
O + O 2 + M ® O 3 + M, NO + O 3 ® NO 2 + O 2.
“The February series of seminars, hosted by the Laboratory of Market Theory and Spatial Economics, will bring together very experienced specialists for an in-depth discussion of narrow topics. These kinds of meetings are very productive. Unlike large congresses, where no more than 20 minutes are allocated to each speaker, at the workshop there is an opportunity to make detailed hourly reports, and the topics are selected more narrowly - for people conducting research in related fields of science, so communication is deeper.
The theoretical questions to be discussed are related to international trade and agglomerations. For example, why is economic activity concentrated in certain regions, cities, countries? How does this happen? The main working idea is that the agglomeration effect is associated with "increasing returns to scale". In particular, fixed investments in the creation and maintenance of a company pay off from replication better in a large market than in a small one. Firms are more likely to form in large cities, create jobs, those who want to be hired go there, the city grows, and so on. Supply and demand go to demand. In addition, firms need each other, have positive externalities, so they accumulate next to each other. This is how agglomerative, centripetal forces arise. But if they were not opposed by some centrifugal ones, then only one city would remain in each country. In reality, the approximate regularity is often as follows: 1 largest city, 2 half the size, 4 four times the size, etc., this is called “Zipf’s law” (in Russia, however, only St. Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod - noticeably less). Why is that? Why are big cities still growing while small towns are shrinking? By the way, this state of affairs is typical both for our country and for other states.
For example, in Russia, cities with a million-plus population and larger ones are growing, cities with a half-million population have froze in size, and small towns are losing weight. This is what happens in countries like ours. But here in Belgium, Holland - the agglomeration process unfolds differently. Such a country is so densely populated and the transport network is so developed that it can be considered as one market, one city. In Holland, with a population of 16,000,000, which occupies less space than the Leningrad Region, there is no need for cities to grow larger, the population is continuous. Its entire territory is a sales market for any company. This is another pattern of agglomeration.
Russia is still following the path of urban growth, as is continental China. But its coastal part is developing as a zone of dense settlement. Our task is to develop the theory of economic geography and try to put it into practice, and this meeting will touch upon several special issues.
Listing by personalities, for example, Sergei Afontsev will talk about the effects of removing trade barriers within the framework of trade unions. He is a leading researcher at the Institute of World Economy and (ME&MO RAS), specialist in trade unions and trade policy. Not so long ago, the newspapers reported on the triple?? growth in trade between Belarus and Russia, but if you subtract the change in gas policy and other similar factors from this gigantic figure, then the net numbers will not look so significant. And Sergei Afontsev is one of the few specialists who, with figures in hand, is able to competently single out, using econometric techniques, the effects of lowering trade barriers on the total volume of trade and on individual industries.
NES Professor Natalya Volchkova works on similar topics. Perhaps she will develop the theme that she reported to us last time. These are econometric estimates of how significant the visa regime is among trade barriers. The visa itself is inexpensive, but the regime complicates the escort of goods abroad. It turned out that the visa regime is capable of reducing the volume of trade between countries by several percent. Volchkova's colleague, Natalya Turdyeva from CEFIR, at the last report at the Laboratory presented modifications of the “computable general equilibrium model”. Similar models, created and combined with a real figure for more than one year, exist in the USA, Australia and Europe. They serve to evaluate the consequences of major government decisions, such as accession to the WTO, or Germany's phasing out of nuclear power. Forecasters predict smoother changes, as a rule, by extrapolation: what is growing is predicted to grow, but with large shifts this is not possible, and I will not offer anything other than CGE. Natalia works according to the methodology of the "European" model of Tarr and Rutherford, according to which scenario calculations were made for Ukraine's accession to the WTO, and then Russia. Today, Natalya Turdyeva is a key specialist in Russia on CGE and will tell you how the multi-regional version of this model works. From empiricists, our long-time Ukrainian colleagues Oleksandr Shepotila and Volodymyr Vakhitov will come to us, who assessed Ukraine's accession to the WTO, and are now working on assessing the effects of foreign trade and interregional relations in Ukraine.
In the theoretical block of reports, Christian Behrens will talk about his model of urbanization with co-authors: how a system of cities arises in the country, say, the above-mentioned Zipf's law, and what restrains agglomeration. As we have said, the overcrowding of people and economic activity, the overcrowding of cities, is resisted by certain dispersive forces. First of all, this is the high cost of land (and therefore buildings) and the overload of the transport network - they are felt in St. Petersburg and are very strongly felt in Moscow. Therefore, those industries that are not very sensitive to the forces of "gravity" are taken out of the city. Today, most of the industrial sectors have long been located in the suburbs, outside the city. It is not advisable to keep material production in the city, and cities have turned into a cluster of offices, medicine, education, in general, they are turning into producers of an exclusively information product.
Behrens' work is interesting in that he included all the main elements discussed: the price of land, the cost of transport in the city, the economic equilibrium between consumers and firms, the migration of both. Moreover, he was able to calibrate all the important regularities and factors, both agglomerating and dispersing. This means, using real data, to evaluate the strength of regularities - this is new in the theory of urban agglomeration. And in the theory of general equilibrium at the level of regions, sooner or later we will also live up to calibrability, we will evaluate how strong the patterns are. It is an intellectual challenge for economists to learn how to make quantitative forecasts. For example, to predict whether the population of Russia will continue to grow from behind the Urals to the European part, or stop.
In this area, Tatyana Mikhailova told us about the economic history of Russia and the determinants of population distribution. Now she will talk about a new study commissioned by Russian Railways, an empirical assessment of the bottlenecks of Russian railways, and how debottlenecking can contribute to economic growth. Bottlenecks are those junction stations where the flow of wagons and goods is slowed down. Also now she is engaged in forecasting passenger suburban traffic in Moscow, since there is a project for the development of suburban electric trains, which can be sufficiently taken over by the passenger flow of the outskirts.
Vera Ivanova and Evgenia Kolomak will present their empirical study of the convergence of Russian regions. They explore the question: are Russian regions converging in terms of economic indicators, and what factors influence convergence? In fact, this project is an empirical survey of regions with an attempt to calculate correlations between indicators of regions and identify factors that affect the increase in economic activity and productivity of regions. In a generalized sense, all our research serves as an attempt at long-term forecasting. I would like to understand how our and the world economy will develop in the next 10, 20, 30 years.”
Prepared by Tatyana Chernova, Maria Zharkova. NRU HSE - St. Petersburg.
If you ask "where do you live", then more than half of the people will answer - in a city such and such, with a population of such and such. Only a few can boast that they live in a village or in a village.
Waste of the big city
Classification of cities by population
In accordance with the classification adopted in Russia, urban settlements with a population of more than one million are classified as to major cities, with a population of 250-1000 thousand people - to large, with a population of 100-250 thousand people - to big, 50-100 thousand - to middle, 20-50 thousand - to the little ones. Currently, Russia has about a thousand cities and more than two thousand urban-type settlements, in which approximately 70% of the country's population lives.
St. Petersburg is one of the largest cities in Russia
Over the past 50 years, the share of the urban population in Russia has increased from 52 to 73%. Large, large and largest cities (hereinafter, for brevity - large) differ from medium and small cities in a number of ways:
- territories occupied by various buildings;
- the intensity of its development;
- anthropogenic pressure on the occupied territory;
– destruction of natural ecosystems;
– the formation of a specific urban ecosystem, which differs significantly from the natural ecosystem.
Under ecosystem we understand a biological system, which includes living organisms, their habitat and a system of connections that ensures the exchange of matter and energy between them. Urboecosystem is an artificially created and maintained by man environment. This includes cities and urban-type settlements.
Problems of life in big cities
The general trend in the development and growth of cities is the progressive deterioration of living conditions in them. One of the greatest tragedies of cities is that, being a materialized level of civilization, they become not only inconvenient, but also largely life-threatening.
In millionaire cities, the population cannot reproduce itself; they are characterized by the predominance of elderly citizens. Population growth is due to mechanical growth: migration from rural areas and small towns, as well as from the former Soviet republics and far abroad.
Population of cities increases due to illegal migrants
In cities, such ugly phenomena as the growth of crime, drug addiction, and alcoholism flourish. Cities are often compared to demographic "black holes", "monsters devouring the human race", predicting the death of big cities. Nevertheless, the experience of mankind shows that there is no alternative to the city.
Drug addiction and alcoholism are satellites of big cities
It is clear that life in the countryside is generally healthier than in the city. Nevertheless, the "average" Russian has no desire to move to the countryside, although he is not averse to going to the country on weekends.
In Western countries with a superbly developed road and information infrastructure, as well as the availability of personal vehicles, the outflow of the middle class from cities to the suburbs has been replaced by a return to the cities.
Why are cities attractive to live in?
The vitality of the city is explained by the fact that this type of settlement most satisfies the basic needs of people.
- it is comfortable to live in the city, since everything new and progressive appears here first of all;
- easier to get higher education;
- in the city it is easier to find a job to your liking;
- the city is an incubator for creative activity, which forms new directions in science, production, art, and culture.
Cities reflect the history of the development of civilization. A variety of industries and services is concentrated in large cities, their developed infrastructure contributes to the modernization of old and the development of new industries and jobs. The diversity and high concentration of places of application of labor, as well as ways of spending leisure time, “outweighs” the environmental disadvantages of cities in the eyes of residents.
In a big city there is always something to do during your leisure time.
Urbanization is a progressive phenomenon. Whether we like it or not, cities and industrial zones exist and will continue to develop for a long time to come. It is no coincidence that the World Health Organization (WHO) several years ago organized the International Research Center for Development in the Japanese city of Kobe and included the problems of urbanization and the study of the current situation in the largest cities of the world among its main areas of activity.
In many cities of the world, the population already now exceeds 250 thousand people. These cities have already largely isolated themselves from the natural environment, both due to the large territories occupied by them, and due to the large energy load on the environment.
A special place in relation to the environmental load is occupied by industrial zones, where, as a rule, large energy capacities and intensive industrial production are concentrated.
The city is a powerful source of pollution
First of all, megacities pollute the atmosphere. In recent years, this process has become especially noticeable. To the main sources urban air pollution include vehicle exhaust and industrial emissions. Polluted along with the air soil and water. In many cities, drinking tap water is life-threatening.
Once I was invited to a television program where the quality of various water filters was evaluated. All experts were given a taste of water from the St. Petersburg water supply, and then after cleaning with various filters. It turned out that in order to determine the quality of tap water, you only need to smell it ...
"Tasting" St. Petersburg tap and filtered water. Left - the author of the article
One of the big problems in cities is recycling of solid industrial and household waste. Modern waste recycling technologies are far from being available everywhere, and standard types of waste incineration plants cannot cope with the growing volume of garbage.
The problems mentioned are not insurmountable. In Japan, Germany and the United States, a lot of work is being done to improve the environmental situation in large cities. For example, walking along the streets of Tucson (a city with a million inhabitants), located in Arizona, USA, even during peak hours, you will not smell gasoline, because the country has strict requirements for the quality of car emissions.
Probably, if you really want to, you can turn the city into an urbanized oasis, comfortable and safe for life.
