Urban Studies in the Scientific Heritage of V.V. Pokshishevsky

The paper examines the place of urban geography in the scientific legacy of V.V. Pokshishevsky (1905–1984) and the main areas of urban studies that interested him for more than half a century from the late 1920s to the 1980s. The dynamics of publications devoted to urban topics, the evolution of the scientist’s approaches and views on the city and, subsequently, on urbanization processes are shown. Among main areas of V.V. Pokshishevsky’s urban research, the article examines in more detail the early (pre-war) period of his interest in cities, even before the emergence of urban geography as a separate field of science. During this period, the author worked in various urban planning research organizations and interacted with architects, so his publications were devoted to issues of urban planning and architectural appearance of cities. At this time various researchers consider V.V. Pokshishevsky’s works devoted to individual cities as his contribution to the development of urban geography as an independent field of human geography. These works were completed by the scholar during his active period in geography (the late 1940s–1980s). They addressed both theoretical, methodological, and applied aspects of the emerging field of urban geography, and regularly analyzed research conducted by other scholars (reviews of other authors’ works, overviews of monographs and dissertations on cities, etc.). Attention is drawn to the scholar’s research related to the interaction of the city with its environment (including the development of satellite towns), the role of cities in forming the supporting framework of settlement, the process of urbanization, and the development of cities and urban settlement systems in foreign countries (including their relationship with ethnic issues in individual countries). An important contribution of V.V. Pokshishevsky to urban studies is his publications on the popularization of knowledge about the cities of the Soviet Union. Such publications were published both in popular scientific journals and encyclopedic editions, as well as in national newspapers and magazines. V.V. Pokshishevsky’s books and numerous articles on urban topics not only reflect the development of geographical studies of cities in Soviet geography, but also remain highly sought after by contemporary researchers decades later.

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9. Lappo G.M. Goroda Rossii. Vzglyad geografa [Russian Cities. A Geographer’s View]. Moscow: Novyi Khronograf Publ., 2012. 504 p.

10. Ozerova G.N., Pokshishevsky V.V. Geografiya mirovogo protsessa urbanizatsii [Geography of the World Urbanization Process]. Moscow: Prosveshchenie Publ., 1981. 190 p.

11. Pokshishevsky S.N. Promyshlennyi gorod, ego raschet i proektirovanie [Industrial City, Its Calculation and Design]. Leningrad, Moscow: Gos. Nauch.-Tekh. Izd-vo Stroit. Indust. i Sudostroeniya, 1932. 112 p.

12. Pokshishevsky S., Pokshishevsky V. Architectural notes. Zvezda, 1933, no. 8, pp. 148–160. (In Russ.).

13. Pokshishevsky V.V. Polozhenie bakinskogo proletariata nakanune revolyutsii (1914–1917 gg.) [The Situation of the Baku Proletariat on the Eve of the Revolution (1914–1917)]. Baku, 1927. 78 p.

14. Pokshishevsky V.V. On the problem of intracity economic geography. Kommun. Delo, 1929, no. 7, pp. 35–39. (In Russ.).

15. Pokshishevsky V.V. Suburban zone in the planning system. Planirov. Stroit. Gorod., 1934, no. 4, pp. 21–24. (In Russ.).

16. Pokshishevsky V.V. Arkhangelsk (economic and geographical essay). Izv. VGO, 1941a, no. 1, pp. 73–87. (In Russ.).

17. Pokshishevsky V.V. Territorial conditions for the formation of the industrial complex of St. Petersburg–Leningrad. Cand. Sci. (Geogr.) Dissertation. Leningrad, 1941b.

18. Pokshishevsky V.V. On some tasks of complex physicalgeographical studies of cities (notes on “urban landscape science”). In Voprosy georgii. Sb. 28: Problemy fizicheskoi geografii v svyazi s velikimi stroikami kommunizma [Problems of Geography. Vol. 28: The Tasks of Physical Geography in Connection with the Great Construction Projects of Communism]. Moscow: Geografgiz Publ., 1952, pp. 177–191. (In Russ.).

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20. Pokshishevsky V.V. Brasilia — the new capital in South America. Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Ser. Geogr., 1959a, no. 6, pp. 113–121. (In Russ.).

21. Pokshishevsky V.V. The recent development of Brazilian cities and their economic-geographical types. In Voprosy geografii. Sb. 45: Geografiya gorodskikh i sel’skikh poselenii [Problems of Geography. Vol. 45: Geography of Urban and Rural Settlements]. Moscow: Geografgiz Publ., 1959b, pp. 150–177. (In Russ.).

22. Pokshishevsky V.V. Urban Geography. In Kratkaya geograficheskaya entsiklopediya. T. 1. [Brief Geographical Encyclopedia. Vol. 1]. Moscow: Sov. Entsiklopediya Publ., 1960. 428 p. (In Russ.).

23. Pokshishevsky V.V. Satellite towns in the USA. In Gorodasputniki. Sbornik statei [Satellite Towns. Collection of Articles]. Moscow: Geografgiz Publ., 1961, pp. 126–136. (In Russ.).

24. Pokshishevsky V.V. Ob izuchenii urbanizatsii razvivayushchikhsya stran i svyazannykh s neyu enticheskikh protsessov [On the Study of Urbanization and Associated Ethnic Processes in Developing Countries]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1964. 15 p.

25. Pokshishevsky V.V. Dissertations on geography of population and cities (for 1958–62 and partially 1963/64). In Materialy I Mezhduvedomstvennogo soveshchaniya po geografii naseleniya. Vyp. 7 [Proc. of the 1st Interdepartmental Conf. on Population Geography. Vol. 7]. Leningrad, 1965, pp. 182–189. (In Russ.).

26. Pokshishevsky V.V. Years, cities, and population. Nauka Zhizn’, 1967, no. 3, pp. 67–71. (In Russ.).

27. Pokshishevsky V.V. What should a city be like. Liter. Gazeta, 1969, no. 46, 11 p. (In Russ.).

28. Pokshishevsky V.V. Geografiya naseleniya zarubezhnykh stran [Geography of Population in Foreign Countries]. Moscow: Prosveshchenie Publ., 1971a. 176 p.

29. Pokshishevsky V.V. Geografiya naseleniya SSSR [Geography of Population of the USSR]. Moscow: Prosveshchenie Publ., 1971b. 174 p.

30. Pokshishevsky V.V. Satellite Town. In Bol’shaya Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya. T. 7 [Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Vol. 7]. Moscow, 1972a, 373 p. (In Russ.).

31. Pokshishevsky V.V. Urbanization in the USSR. Geoforum, 1972b, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 23–32.

32. Pokshishevsky V.V. Geography of the Soviet Union. Physical background, population, economy. Moscow: Progress Publ., 1974. 278 p.

33. Pokshishevsky V.V. Dissertations on population geography defended in recent years. In Geograficheskii sbornik. Vyp 5. [Geographical Collection. Vol. 5]. Moscow: VINITI Publ., 1975, pp. 370–388. (In Russ.).

34. Pokshishevsky V.V. The dynamics of geourbanistic situations and evolution of townbuilding conceptions. In Voprosy geografii. Sb. 129: Dinamika rasseleniya v SSSR [Problems of Geography. Vol. 129: Dynamics of Settlement Pattern in the USSR]. Moscow: Mysl’ Publ., 1986, pp. 94–101. (In Russ.).

35. Pokshishevsky V.V. Promyshlennaya geografiya Peterburga [Industrial Geography of St. Petersburg]. St. Petersburg, 2024. 464 p.