If you ask “where do you live,” more than half of people will answer - in such and such a city, with such and such a population. Only a few can boast that they live in a town or village.

Waste big city

Classification of cities by population

In accordance with the classification adopted in Russia, urban settlements with a population of over one million are classified as to the largest cities, with a population of 250–1000 thousand people – to large, with a population of 100–250 thousand people – to big ones, 50–100 thousand – to average, 20–50 thousand – to the small ones. Currently in Russia there are 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 Russia's urban population has increased from 52 to 73%. Large, large and largest cities (hereinafter referred to as large for brevity) differ from medium and small cities in a number of ways:

– territories occupied by various buildings;
– intensity of its development;
– anthropogenic pressure on the occupied territory;
– destruction of natural ecosystems;
– the formation of a specific urban ecosystem, significantly different 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. Urban ecosystem is an artificially created and human-maintained 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 greatest tragedies cities is that they, being a materialized level of development of civilization, become not only inconvenient, but also significantly life-threatening.

In millionaire cities, the population cannot reproduce itself; they are characterized by a predominance of elderly citizens. Population growth occurs due to mechanical growth: migration from rural areas and small towns, as well as from former Soviet republics and foreign countries.

Urban population increases due to illegal migrants

Such ugly phenomena as the growth of crime, drug addiction, and alcoholism flourish in cities. Cities are often compared to demographic “black holes”, “monsters devouring the human race”, and the death of large cities is predicted. However, the experience of mankind shows that there is no alternative to the city.

Drug addiction and alcoholism are companions of big cities

It is clear that life in rural areas 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 his dacha on weekends.

In Western countries with an excellently 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 best satisfies the basic needs of people.

– it’s comfortable to live in the city, since everything new and progressive appears here first;
- easier to get higher education;
– it’s easier to find a job you like in the city;
– the city is an incubator for creative activities that shape new directions in science, production, art, and culture.

Cities reflect the history of the development of civilization. A variety of production and service industries are 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 employment, as well as ways of spending leisure time, “outweigh” the environmental shortcomings of cities in the eyes of residents.

In a big city there is always something to do during your leisure time.

Urbanization- a progressive phenomenon. Whether we like it or not, cities and industrial zones exist and will continue to develop for a long time. It is no coincidence that the World Health Organization (WHO) several years ago organized the International Scientific 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 around the world, the population already exceeds 250 thousand people. These cities have already become largely isolated from the surrounding natural environment, both due to the large territories they occupy and due to the large energy load on the environment.

A special place in relation to 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 last years this process has become especially noticeable. To main sources urban air pollution include exhaust gases from automobiles and emissions from industrial enterprises. Along with the air it becomes polluted 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 assessed. All experts were given a taste of water from the St. Petersburg water supply, and then after purification with various filters. It turned out that to determine the quality of tap water, you only need to smell it...

"Tasting" of St. Petersburg tap and filtered water. On the left is the author of the article.

One of the big problems of cities is recycling of solid industrial and household waste. Modern waste processing technologies are not available everywhere, and standard types of waste incineration plants cannot cope with the growing volume of waste.

The problems mentioned are not insoluble. In Japan, Germany and the USA, 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 people), located in Arizona, USA, even during rush hours, you will not smell gasoline, since the country has strict requirements for the quality of vehicle emissions.

Probably, if you really want, you can turn the city into an urban oasis, convenient and safe for life.

Detailed solution to paragraph § 22 on geography for 8th grade students, authors V. P. Dronov, I. I. Barinova, V. Ya. Rom, A. A. Lobzhanidze 2014

questions and assignments

1. Determine the temperature and humidity in different parts of your city (residential and industrial areas, highway areas and recreation areas) at the same time. What patterns can you establish?

A special microclimate exists in cities. The city consists of an artificial and hard surface: asphalt, concrete, brick, stone, glass, which cannot absorb atmospheric moisture, and all precipitation is removed through drains, which leads to drying out not only the surface itself, but also the air of the city. The dryness of the urban atmosphere is confirmed by lower (absolute and relative) humidity and very rare fogs in large cities. The city is always warmer than the suburbs at any time of the year. The reason for this is the release into the atmosphere large quantity heat: heating systems, industrial and household enterprises, heated buildings, street asphalt and, of course, vehicles.

2. Based on a comparison of the climate map and the transport map, draw a conclusion about the influence of climatic conditions on the features of the development of the railway and road transport network.

Climate influences the development of the transport network as a whole. In the favorable climatic conditions of the European part of the country, all types of transport are developed and the transport network is dense. In the Asian part with a harsh climate, the transport network is poorly developed. Road transport is largely dependent on weather conditions. Therefore, the road network in unfavorable conditions is sparse. Rail transport is much more reliable for long journeys in the eastern part of the country.

3. What are the unfavorable ones? climatic conditions found in your area?

The most common unfavorable climatic conditions in Russia are frosts, droughts, heavy rains, and severe frosts.

FINAL ASSIGNMENTS ON THE TOPIC

1. List all the climate-forming factors under the influence of which the climate of our country is formed. What conclusions about the unity of its nature can be drawn from this list?

The formation of the climate of any territory is influenced by the following factors: 1) geographic latitude, 2) solar radiation, 3) circulation of air masses, 4) underlying surface, 5) relief (height above sea level, direction of mountain ranges), 6) proximity of seas and oceans, 7) sea currents, 8) anthropogenic influences. All these climate-forming factors also operate on the territory of our country, forming the unique climatic conditions of a particular place (region). This all suggests that the natural conditions of a territory depend on the totality of natural components. It is their interaction that determines the appearance of the territory.

2. Name the main indicators that determine the climate characteristics of a given territory.

The main climatic indicators are: the amount of heat, the amount of precipitation and its distribution by season, evaporation, and moisture coefficient.

Influence geographical latitude on climate. The large extent of Russia from north to south determines the different amount of solar heat received by one or another territory.

3. In what climatic zones is our country located? How do the climatic conditions of each of them differ?

The territory of Russia is located in the Arctic, subarctic, temperate, subtropical climatic zones.

The Arctic climate is typical for the islands of the Arctic Ocean and its Siberian coasts. Here the surface receives very little solar heat. Cold arctic air and anticyclones dominate throughout the year. The severity of the climate is enhanced by the long polar night, when no solar radiation reaches the surface. This climate has almost two seasons: a long, cold winter and a short, cool summer. Average January temperatures are -24-30°C. Summer temperatures are low: +2-5°C. Precipitation is limited to 200-300 mm per year.

The subarctic climate is typical for territories located beyond the Arctic Circle on the East European and West Siberian Plains. Winters are long and harsh, and the severity of the climate increases as you move from west to east. Summer is short and quite cold (average July temperatures range from +4 to +12 °C). The annual precipitation is 200-400 mm, but due to low evaporation values ​​there is excessive moisture.

The temperate climate zone is the largest climate zone in Russia by area. It is characterized by significant differences in temperature and moisture as one moves from west to east and from north to south.

A moderate continental climate prevails in the European part of Russia. Its main features are: warm summers (July temperature +12-24 °C), frosty winters (average January temperatures from -4 to -20 °C), annual precipitation of more than 800 mm in the west and up to 500 mm in the center of the Russian Plain.

The continental climate of the temperate zone is characteristic of Western Siberia. Precipitation here is 600 mm per year in the north and less than 200 mm in the south. Summer is warm, even sultry in the south (average July temperatures range from +15 to +26 °C). Winter is harsh compared to temperate continental climates, with average January temperatures ranging from -15 to -25 °C.

The sharply continental climate of the temperate zone is common in Eastern Siberia. This climate is characterized by the constant dominance of continental air of temperate latitudes. There are large amplitudes (differences) in air temperatures, warm and hot summers and frosty winters with little snow. Little snow and severe frosts (average January temperature from -25 to -45 ° C) ensure deep freezing of soils and soils, and this causes the preservation of permafrost in temperate latitudes. Summer is sunny and warm (average July temperatures range from +16 to +20 °C). Annual precipitation is less than 500 mm. The humidification coefficient is close to unity.

The monsoon climate of the temperate zone is typical for the southern regions of the Far East. Average January temperatures here range from -15 to -30 °C; in summer, in July, from +10 to +20 °C. Precipitation (up to 600-800 mm per year) falls mainly in summer. If the melting of snow in the mountains coincides with heavy rainfall, floods occur.

4. What sources of information can be used to characterize the climate of any territory?

The climate characteristics of any territory can be determined using climate maps, which reflect the annual temperature range, average annual precipitation and its distribution, physical cards, maps of climate zones. Climate characteristics can also be compiled from personal observations and weather forecasts.

5. Indicate the main differences between continental and maritime climates within the temperate climate climate zone, explain the reasons for these differences, indicate for which territories of Russia such a climate is typical.

Maritime - this climate is formed over the oceans and covers coastal land areas. Winters here are mild, summers are not hot, there is a lot of rainfall and high humidity. Moving over land inland, sea air masses transform - they lose moisture and warm up. Therefore, in the interior regions the continental climate is characterized by insufficient moisture, hot summers and severe frosty winters. The sharply continental climate of the temperate zone is common in Eastern Siberia. A maritime climate is characteristic of the western coasts. In Russia, the maritime climate of temperate latitudes is characteristic of the Kaliningrad region.

6. What climatic conditions would be established in the middle zone of the Russian Plain if there were mountains along the coasts of the northern seas?

The location of mountains along the coast of the northern seas would make the climate of central Russia even drier, but warmer, since cold air masses from the Arctic Ocean will not penetrate deep into the continent.

7. Describe the weather in the Asian part of Russia in winter during the passage of an anticyclone.

When an anticyclone passes over the Asian part of Russia in winter, clear, cloudless and very frosty weather is observed in the central parts of the country and Far East. Temperatures can drop to -250C in areas with a continental climate, and to -450C in a sharply continental climate.

8. What adverse events are associated with climate? Indicate their causes, name the areas of distribution, tell us about the impact on human life and activity.

Adverse climatic phenomena include droughts, hot winds, frosts, heavy rainfalls, severe frosts, hurricanes and dust storms. They are caused by the absence or abundance of precipitation, sudden changes in pressure, rapid temperature changes, or harsh climatic conditions themselves.

Droughts occur when there are prolonged high temperatures and little or no rainfall. The steppe and forest-steppe zones are most susceptible to droughts. Droughts are often accompanied by dry winds - winds exceeding 5 m/s with high temperatures and very low relative humidity. Dry winds often occur in the Caspian region, in the North Caucasus, and in recent years they have even been observed in the center of the European part of Russia. Both droughts and dry winds significantly reduce crop yields (up to 50%) and deteriorate soil quality.

Dust storms - strong and prolonged winds that blow away the top layer of soil, also cause great harm to agriculture. This is a typical phenomenon in plowed steppes. Often, due to dust storms, fields have to be replanted. Hurricanes - winds reaching enormous speeds (more than 30 m/s) - cause enormous damage to agriculture, industry, and transport. The hurricane has colossal destructive power: it upends trees and telegraph poles. The reason for the formation of hurricanes in the European part of Russia is the passage of cyclones with very low pressure in the center.

Severe frosts lead to the death of winter crops over large areas and the freezing of fruit trees and shrubs.

Late spring and early autumn frosts are also dangerous for agriculture.

Hail and ice cause a lot of trouble for agricultural workers and transport workers. These phenomena are associated with a sharp cold snap. On the fertile steppes of the Ciscaucasia, a special anti-hail service has been created, whose task is to monitor hail clouds and destroy them in a timely manner.

In order to prevent Negative consequences named adverse climatic phenomena, it is necessary to prepare a weather forecast, as well as carry out special measures (planting forest belts), use modern methods of soil cultivation, etc.

9. What is climate comfort? Tell us about the most favorable areas where the population lives.

Comfortable climatic conditions are defined as a set of conditions favorable for the life and economic activities of people. The maximum level of climate comfort in Russia is observed in a number of regions North Caucasus, it is somewhat lower in the rest of the south of European Russia, its western borders and in the Altai regions.

10. Prove that large cities are an important climate-forming factor.

Regardless of your geographical location any large city is an important climate-forming factor. The urban environment influences the formation of the properties of surface layers of air. Industrial enterprises, transport and residential areas emit heat, which increases the air temperature. The urban environment contributes to the strong heating of large air masses with appropriate weather conditions(no wind, low heat consumption for evaporation). This forms a special urban air circulation and a thermal cap, which increases air pollution in the city.

The city actively exchanges substances and energy with environment. Consuming huge amounts of energy and raw materials, the city processes them, releasing a huge amount of waste into the atmosphere. Particles suspended in the air serve as water condensation nuclei, which is why the sky over cities is often covered with clouds and precipitation occurs more often. As urban vegetation is replaced by pavements and buildings, the redistribution of rainwater that falls changes. Under natural conditions, part of the water is absorbed by the soil and evaporates gradually. In cities, water flows into sewers and evaporates less. When less water is used for evaporation, the relative humidity of the air drops and the temperature rises.

11. You already know about the existence of western transport, i.e. about the stable transfer of air masses from Western Europe to the territory of our country. These air masses have a moderating effect on the climate. Think about what environmental consequences can such movement of air masses have?

Air pollution has no national borders. Emissions released into the atmosphere in one country can cause acid rain in areas thousands of kilometers away. As a result of the action of the western transfer of air masses, all atmospheric pollution from Western Europe enters the territory of Russia. On the territory of our country, in the zone of influence of the western transport, the same thing is happening. If an industrial enterprise is built on the eastern outskirts of the city, then all emissions will move into the city under the influence of westerly winds.

Why in the 20th century in Russia
new cities were created

G.M. LAPPO
Doctor of Geography 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 city status before 1900. Thus, approximately 2/3 of Russian cities can be called new. Their numerical dominance led critics of the recent past to lecture: “Instead of creating hundreds of new cities, it was necessary to develop the old ones.”
To answer the question of whether new cities were needed, a geographical approach is required. First of all, it is necessary to evaluate the processes taking place in old cities. Then identify the development of settlements that did not have the official status of a city, but were already involved in the performance of city functions. Some of them could be considered true cities, as V.P. did. Semenov-Tian-Shansky in his work “City and Village in European Russia”, part of it is considered as “embryos” of future cities. It is also necessary to find out why a significant part of old cities during periods of economic surges of the 20th century. in economic development it 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 Domus Finance Real Estate Agency. 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 ones
cities of Russia 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. 1 000	Total
Provincial and regional	–	1	2	4	20	14	4	2	47
County	20	110	99	63	27	2	1	–	332
Unregistered	2	2	3	3	–	1	–	–	11
Supernumerary	19	10	6	3	–	–	–	–	38
Total	50	123	110	73	47	17	5	2	428

Obviously, for huge Russia, 428 cities were clearly not enough, and by the 20th century. The country came up with a large deficit of cities. Small and very small cities predominated sharply. Using modern criteria, it turns out that late XIX V. only 24 cities on the territory of the present Russian Federation were not small. Cities that are now classified as small by statistics accounted for 94.4% of the total number of cities, with 173 cities having less than 5 thousand inhabitants. With their sparse population, they reflected more than limited opportunities for change for the better and subsequently 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 - town; 5-10 thousand - small town; 10-40 thousand - average city; 40-100 thousand - big city; over 100 thousand inhabitants - a large city, then in this case towns and small towns (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 settlement cities with at least 20 thousand inhabitants. With this approach, only 71 official Russian city 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 poor cities, transformed them into villages, and turned into cities settlements that had earned urban status by their activities and population. Back in the summer of 1917, by order of the Provisional Government, 41 settlements became cities, among which were Orekhovo-Zuevo, Nizhny Tagil, Kimry, Kotlas, etc. 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 preconditions of socio-economic growth also predetermined the sharp divergence of their destinies in Soviet times. 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 Buinaksk) became large, largest and millionaires, strengthening and expanding their city-forming base.
Medium-sized cities that 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 actually 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 development and, on its basis, in integrated development was quite widespread. But cities with limited opportunities have not changed significantly. And now, after significant shifts in the territorial structure caused by railway construction, 85 old Russian cities are located railway at a distance of 20 or more kilometers, 49 of them are more than 50 km away, and 19 are 100 km or more away.
This does not mean that such cities were not affected by changes at all. Simply due to the mediocrity of their situation, they remained in the role of local centers, using the modest resources of the surrounding area and serving the needs of their areas. However, only 14 cities lost their population over the century.

Young cities - old centers

This is a large and diverse group of modern cities in genesis and functions. Only with a certain stretch can most of them be called new, that is, arose out of nowhere. And it is completely inappropriate to call new cities that received city status before 1926. For, with a few exceptions, these were true cities, in their potential and number of inhabitants, sometimes surpassing not only district, but also some provincial cities. Nizhny Tagil, which became a city in 1917, had 30 thousand inhabitants in 1897, while the center of the Olonets province of Petrozavodsk - 12 thousand. The centers that received city status in the first quarter of the 20th century had already become cities by that time de facto, they have now become cities and de jure. But this was only part of the centers that began to appear in large numbers in Russia starting from the era of Peter I. The remaining “embryos” continued their development and, as they matured, joined the ranks of official cities.

Originally semi-rural and semi-urban settlements, they turned into cities as a result of qualitative changes. Dozens of cities developed from settlements that arose at railway, iron foundries, and copper smelters in the Urals, Siberia, and the Center.
V.N. Tatishchev called their settlements “mountain cities.” In official publications they were called “factories”. According to the 1897 census, among the settlements numbering over 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 "factory city", which became entrenched in historical and geographical literature.
87 modern Russian cities began their lives as “factory cities”. 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 Chrysostom joined them in 1917-1926. - 10 more cities, including Nizhny Tagil, Izhevsk, Nevyansk, Miass, etc. The use of “factories” as a reserve for urbanization did not stop during the Great Patriotic War. The last city to be founded was Gornozavodsk in the Perm region (1965).
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 18th and 19th centuries. some of these factory villages became cities (during the administrative reform of 1775-1785 - Vyazniki, Kineshma, Yegoryevsk, Sudogda, etc.). Ivanovo-Voznesensk (now Ivanovo) in 1871 received the rank of a city without a district. The oldest of this galaxy is Shuya. It arose from a village that belonged to the Shuisky princes, and in historical acts already in 1539 it was mentioned as a city.

Among the modern cities of Russia there are 70 former factory villages, in the Moscow region - 28. Some of them have deeply transformed the functional structure and left the ranks of textile cities, which they were at birth. In others, the parent industry, previously leading, has been preserved, but has been relegated to the background (Ramenskoye, Shchelkovo, Balashikha, Reutov, etc.).
One of the lines of self-development of settlement was the improvement of the hierarchical system of territory service centers. Related to this is the transformation into cities rural district centers. This practice of transforming villages into cities, which were entrusted with central (that is, essentially urban) functions, began long before Soviet times. In 1775-1785 Thus, 165 towns and district centers were established. In Soviet times, rural settlements vested with administrative power expanded their economic base, increased their population, and acquired urban features in their appearance and public utilities. As a rule, they first received the status of an urban-type settlement, and then, as if having completed a “candidate’s internship,” they became cities. This was an expressive manifestation (one might say, in its purest form) of “rural urbanization,” as the famous demographer A.G. aptly put it. Vishnevsky.
Factory towns, former factory and handicraft villages, rural district centers, station villages (we will talk about them below) are the most widespread categories of “embryos”, which, consistently developing, joined the ranks of Russian cities in the 20th century. In terms of total population, economic and cultural potential, they were, of course, 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 cities.
“Embryos” were used as a reserve for urbanization and for solving industry problems, when they were chosen as growth points for certain industries that were important for the entire country and for the development of territories that needed to be equipped with service centers for the population and economy.

Activation of “embryos” meant assistance natural process self-development of settlement, which was expressed in the gradual maturation of urban settlements from rural ones. The investment of funds in their development, also criticized (“they developed everything and everyone”), was due not only to purely economic, but also social objectives, which should be considered a priority in relation to both small old cities and “embryos”.

Reasons for creating new cities
and their role in the development of Russia

Using old cities and forming young cities based on 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 demonstrated when creating our own raw material base for the developing industry. Reliance on one's own resources in the conditions of that time was an immutable fact and had no alternative. Only in rare cases were mineral deposits discovered near existing cities. This happened much more often in underdeveloped areas, devoid of cities at all. Involvement in the use of resources has generated a large number raw material cities-miners, including in areas with extreme natural conditions, which increased the cost of development and doomed the cities created near the deposits to monofunctionality.
Raw materials cities, being necessary under the conditions of Soviet industrialization, did not at all express 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 raw materials cities, small, mostly highly specialized centers predominated. However, along with them, very large centers of integrated development have emerged. Their multifunctional structure developed on the basis of the leading extractive industries and included related training, science and design. Such cities - Novokuznetsk, Almetyevsk, Norilsk, Ukhta, Surgut, Novomoskovsk - were the cores of important industrial regions.

Raw materials 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 the Belgorod region, coal cities in Mosbass and oil cities in the Volga region). Critics believe that there was no need to go to the North. But they completely neglect the fact that Russia survives in post-Soviet times precisely thanks to the earlier campaign for resources in the North and East.
According to rough estimates, there are about 160-170 raw materials 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.
Almost three quarters of the total number of raw materials cities are new buildings. By specialization, raw materials 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.
The creation of raw materials cities is associated with significant costs of urbanization and its shadow sides. Evidence of this is the difficult environmental situation: waste rock dumps, ground failures caused by underground workings, pollution of watercourses with mine waters, etc. Coal towns are characterized by conglomeration: even a small mining town usually consists of several villages. Monofunctionality is common. The future is unclear after the reserves of the developed fields are exhausted.
If we add to the centers of mineral extraction the centers of the forestry and wood processing industries, the centers of hydropower, then the total number of cities engaged in the extraction and partly processing of natural resources at the site of their extraction will reach approximately 250-260, that is, almost a quarter of all Russian cities. Apparently, if our country could make wider use of the world’s raw materials, there would be no need to create such a large number of raw materials cities. But in conditions of international isolation this had to be done. Without raw materials cities, there would be no high-tech industries that ensured the implementation of such important programs as space, nuclear, the creation of modern weapons, etc.

The emergence and development of cities
as a result of the formation
national systems
infrastructure

For our country, the transport framework is of particular importance. The arterialization of roads helped to overcome spatial friction, which was so significant in vast spaces. For Russia, a continental country, railways play a primary role in the interaction of regions. Their construction, which developed at a rapid pace starting from the second half of the 19th century, radically affected the urban and territorial-urban situation, placed the emphasis of urbanization differently, and influenced the stratification of cities according to the prerequisites for development.
Transport highways acted as axes of urbanization and created favorable conditions for linearly rapid trends in settlement. Station villages arose along the highways, gradually becoming focal points of local socio-economic ties. They took over the functions of centers from old cities that found themselves outside the railway, and used the possibilities of transit connections. The development of station villages, which gradually turned into cities, is the response of the territory and settlement to the emergence of the highway - the axis of development.
The total number of cities that grew out of station villages reaches 170. It is characteristic that almost all cities in 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, are headed by administrative districts.

Growing up in rural areas, mostly outside metropolitan areas, station cities were formed in the image and likeness of rural settlements. They are characterized by the predominance of low-rise estate buildings, gardens and vegetable gardens, and outbuildings for keeping livestock.
In the most successful cities, the transport function played the role of the foundation on which a complex combination of functions developed. These are Armavir, Mineralnye Vody, Kotlas, Ruzaevka, Kanash, Svobodny. At the other pole are highly specialized small towns with enterprises serving railway transport. Among them are Ozherelye, Babushkin (formerly Mysovsk), Mikun, Agryz, Dno, Novosokolniki.
The most famous city born of railway construction is Novosibirsk. He passed through the “embryo” stage quickly. It took him ten years to receive city status in 1903, and another three decades to get ahead of all the cities beyond the Urals in terms of the number of inhabitants.
The contradictory mystery is that the large railway junctions - Bologoye, Sukhinichi, Ruzaevka, Povorino, Liski, Gryazi, Kotlas, Tynda, which have earned the obligatory name of the capital of the BAM - have remained medium-sized, or even small towns. There are too many similar cases to consider them an accident. Some 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 throughout the day, which is of great economic importance for our country, spread over 11 time zones, and guarantees the reliability of energy supply to all regions.
Within the framework of the EEC, a constellation of energy cities- another new type of city of the 20th century. They are divided into three main groups: cities near thermal power plants operating on coal, gas, and 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 fuel production areas. Hydroelectric power stations and nuclear power plants, as a rule, gave birth to new cities.
The choice of location for the construction of the 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). Due to technical and psychological factors, nuclear power plants were built outside cities.
The formation of the UES began with the famous GOELRO plan, and during its implementation the first large power plants arose. Their villages eventually became cities. Volkhov, Ternovsk (renamed Shatura) - milestones in the development of the domestic electric power industry. Among them is Elektrogorsk, which received city rights in 1946, 34 years after the launch of Russia’s first large peat power plant, Elektroperedacha.

Having emerged as specialized industry centers - “electricity factories” - they had various prerequisites for comprehensive development. Hydropower centers built on large rivers had ample opportunities. The construction of a high-power hydroelectric power station gives rise to a set of conditions favorable to the concentration of production and population: the reservoir is powerful source of water supply, the basis for the development of recreation and fisheries; transport crossing over the dam; The “legacy” of the construction site is a large construction organization, construction materials enterprises, mechanical repair plants. A powerful source of cheap electricity attracted energy-intensive industries - non-ferrous metallurgy, 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 that arose at the Volkhov hydroelectric station. Volkhovstroy (the original name of the village) received city rank in 1933. It became a pioneer not only of hydropower, but also of the domestic aluminum industry. The hydroelectric power station structures 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, and the chemical industry, also attracted by the electric power industry, developed.
A special group of energy cities is formed by cities near nuclear power plants. Their significance is very great for areas deprived of fuel and hydropower resources. The choice of location for the nuclear power plant was determined by the requirements of the Unified Energy System. Nuclear power plants - the fastening units of the energy framework - are located where opportunities for the construction of power plants of a different type are limited or absent.
Among energy cities, satellites of large leading centers are not uncommon: 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 enormous volume construction work the creation of powerful construction organizations and the construction materials industry on site 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 famous industrial centers of Togliatti, Angarsk, Shelekhov, Volgodonsk, Nizhnekamsk and similar cities arose, which can be called by-products of hydropower construction.

The emergence of small towns in the wake of
centripetal processes in settlement.
The era of satellite cities

Very much in the 20th century. The agglomeration factor manifested itself in the settlement. The previously unprecedented scale of territorial concentration has caused the 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 agglomeration stages 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. Over the course of several decades, our country has become covered with agglomerations - the key forms of modern settlement.
The transition from a point form of territorial concentration to an areal (agglomeration) form 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, cities were supposed to keep a distance from each other and not get close to the leading city in order to have their own zone of influence. The relatively even distribution of cities across the territory was determined by 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 its 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 large numbers in the 20th century, occupied a special place in settlement. Satellites were a means of using the potential of leading centers and solving their increasingly complex socio-economic and urban planning problems. Satellites are a diverse and necessary addition to a big city, a kind of “splash” of it. Together with the city that gave birth to them, satellites act as engines of progress.
The national economic profile of satellites is very different. What they have in common is a companionship due to their proximity to the city center. Satelliteness is a kind of stamp on the life of the satellite city and its population. Orientation towards the city center is expressed in intensive and diverse connections, labor and educational pendulum migration, and systematic cultural and everyday trips of residents.

The creation of satellite cities is a settlement response to the challenge of urbanization in the 20th century. In geo-urbanism, satellites mean all cities that exist in the zone of direct influence of the center city, and not just those that city planners built according to projects specially developed specifically for the satellite city. These are, so to speak, urban planning and official satellites, “legal” from the point of view of architects. There is only one such satellite near Moscow - Zelenograd, which is also an administrative district of the capital. But in reality, the cohort of satellite cities near Moscow includes cities not only of the Moscow region, but also of districts of adjacent regions located at its borders: Obninsk, Balabanovo, Zhukov, Tarusa, Borovsk of the Kaluga region; Konakovo Tverskaya; Alexandrov from the towns of Strunino and Karabanovo, as well as Petushki from the town of Kosterevo and Pokrov Vladimirskaya.
To determine the scale of the partnership, a thorough study of intra-agglomeration relationships is necessary. So far, such work has not been completed due to its laboriousness and difficulty in 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 new-build cities, although numerically they are inferior to cities that developed from semi-urban-semi-rural settlements through the gradual increase in urban functions and urban features in appearance, composition of the population, 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 emphasis in settlement. Relatively few large cities do not resort to the services of satellites, as if they do not trust 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 approximately 100 new cities among the satellites. The emergence and purposeful creation of cities surrounded by large centers is dictated by the evolution of settlement and corresponds to its natural course.
Great role science cities, developing in the wake of the scientific and technological revolution. Science cities became the result of scientific and technological revolution and a factor in its further development. They are based on a triad of functions: “science - knowledge-intensive production - education”, closely and organically interrelated. 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 literally gave birth to them, 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 are official cities, 6 “numbered” (status unknown), 4 Academic Towns of Siberian centers, 7 urban-type settlements, two urban districts (in Balashikha and Balakhna). Old towns - Biysk, Michurinsk, Istra, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Melenki. Young cities, but old centers - Reutov, Klimovsk, Krasnoarmeysk, Primorsk, the Ural factory cities of Miass, Nizhnyaya Salda, Ust-Katav. New buildings predominate. The largest family of science cities is located near Moscow. The capital stimulated the development of almost half of Russia's science cities in its surroundings. These are celebrities - Obninsk, Dubna, Korolev, Fryazino, Chernogolovka, Protvino, Pushchino, Zhukovsky, etc.

conclusions

Russia, at all stages of its history, constantly created and established new cities, but also constantly experienced a shortage of cities. The creation of new cities was largely determined by the constant expansion of 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 Western European countries completed this process centuries ago. In the 20th century, without skipping 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 old cities that had the prerequisites for development were used as growth points. They radically transformed their functional structure, increased the number of residents many times over, and rapidly moved up the steps of the hierarchical ladder. Cities with modest development opportunities remained local centers. The growth of a significant group of old cities was hampered by an unfavorable transport and geographical position (distance from railways).
“Embryos” - factory towns, factory and handicraft villages, rural regional centers, etc. - were widely used to expand the composition and network of cities.
The creation of new cities became necessary, since the old centers were not enough to modernize the country. New cities arose where there was no way to rely on 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 (the development of satellites in agglomeration areas) and linear (the emergence of cities on the axes of urbanization - transport routes). The “maturation” of cities from numerous and typologically diverse “embryos,” as well as the emergence of cities based on 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 emerge in this particular place?” Denial of city building policies and practices, devoid of evidence obtained by geographical analysis, is unfounded.
Urbanization occurs in constantly and objectively changing conditions. The deep geographical 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 points of growth and axes of development meets the economic, social and military-political interests of the country.

Until 1922 Temir-Khan-Shura.
According to the famous researcher of mining settlements in Russia R.M. Lotareva, more than 260 factories were built in the Urals, and about 40 in Siberia.
*** Former Novokashirsk.
**** The radius of the zone of direct influence was accepted: 50 km for cities from 100 thousand inhabitants to 1 million inhabitants, 70 km for millionaire cities, 100 km for Moscow and St. Petersburg.

A special climate is formed in cities, which on hot summer days is close to the climate of a semi-desert or even a rocky desert. It’s not for nothing that cities are called stone deserts with green oases of squares, gardens and parks. In summer, the temperature on the asphalt surface reaches 45-55°C in the afternoon.

The temperature of the red brick wall is 41°.

White wall – 38°C.

And the lawn is 25°C.

All these differences are caused by the unequal absorption capacity of surfaces and the evaporation of moisture by plants (transpiration), which results in a decrease in air temperature.
On windless days, a temperature inversion layer can form above cities at an altitude of 100-150 m, which traps polluted air masses over the city territory. This, along with significant thermal emissions and intense heating of stone, brick and reinforced concrete structures, leads to heating of the central areas of the city. Trees and shrubs in the city center bloom 7-10 days earlier than on the outskirts.

As a result of thermal pollution, heat zones (islands) are formed over cities, over which a kind of local circulation of air masses is established, called urban breezes. On hot summer windless days, the air in the center heats up and rises, which leads to its inflow from the outskirts, both from forested areas and from industrial zones, regardless of their location in relation to the wind rose. If city breezes blow from the outskirts, they bring relatively clean air to the center. But such winds do not always appear. With a powerful anticyclone and high air pressure, city breezes may not occur.

Increased convection and technogenic dust in the air over the city leads to an increase in the frequency of thunderstorms and, in general, to an increase in the intensity and total amount of precipitation.

Dust emitted by air transport, industrial enterprises, and the thermal power complex sharply increases the content in the atmosphere of condensation nuclei (dust particles, sulfur and nitrogen compounds) absorbed by water droplets, forming aerosols. Therefore, there are more cloudy, cloudy days.

Due to smoke, dust and gas pollution, the city receives 15% less solar radiation, smog is observed 65% more often, and relativeI air humidity is 6%, wind speed is 25% less than in rural areas.

Throughout the world, in large cities, solar radiation has decreased by 10-30% over the last century. The intake of ultraviolet radiation has especially significantly decreased, which leads to an increase in the content of pathogenic bacteria in the air. This has a negative impact on the health of urban residents, because... with reduced insolation, the elimination of a number of toxic substances from the body, in particular heavy metals and their compounds, slows down, as well as the synthesis of important enzymes in the body.

The thermal regime of the soil in cities is non-standard. In the hot summer, asphalt pavements, heating up, give off heat not only to the ground layer of air, but also deep into the soil. At an air temperature of 26-27°C, the soil temperature at a depth of 20 cm reaches 34-37°C, and at a depth of 40 cm - 29-32°C. These are real hot horizons - exactly those in which the ends of the root system of plants are usually located. Therefore, the uppermost layers of urban soils contain practically no living roots. This creates an unusual thermal situation for outdoor plants; The temperature of underground plant organs is often higher than aboveground ones. Under normal natural conditions, the life processes of most plants in temperate latitudes occur with reverse temperature stratification.

In winter, due to the removal of fallen leaves in autumn and snow in winter, urban soils become very cold and freeze deeper. On city streets where snow is regularly removed and the asphalt layer has high thermal conductivity (i.e. the ability to lose heat), the soils cool to 10-15°C, this can lead to damage to underground communications, as well as dangerous freezing of roots. It has been established that the annual temperature difference in the root layer of urban soils reaches 40-50°C, while at the same time in natural conditions (for middle latitudes) it does not exceed 20-25°C.

But not only the microclimate worsens the life of plants in big city. The most important environmental factor in plant life is moisture. However, in an urban environment, plants often lack soil moisture due to it draining into the sewer system. At the same time, during rain or heavy watering, stagnation of water is possible, which stops the access of air to the roots. Due to the flow of water “past the soil”, the amount of moisture evaporating from the surface of the earth decreases, which leads to a decrease in air humidity up to the so-called “atmospheric drought”.

The weather features of individual areas, for which the observations of one meteorological station are sufficient to characterize, are called local climate.

The local climate is determined by atmospheric air currents; it is influenced by the terrain features 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 (hair dryer, boron); it is also formed as a result of human activity (urban climates).

Along the coasts of 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 less dense air over land, and the heat of the day begins. At night, the land surface cools faster. The air above it, cooling, begins to push out 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, and Caspian seas on 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 highly heated land and increases humidity. In Madras (India), a sea breeze lowers the air temperature by 2 - 8 C and increases humidity by 10 - 20%, and in West Africa the breeze reduces the temperature by even 10 C.

Mountain-valley winds

Similar daily wind changes often occur in the mountains. During the daytime it blows upward from the valley to the mountain slopes. At night, the direction of the wind changes, and the air already tends downwards - 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 above the highly heated slopes begins to rise, carrying 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 Pamirs, and in other mountainous regions of low latitudes. Wind speed can reach 10 m/s.

In the mountains, “fen” are often observed - warm, dry, gusty winds that sometimes blow from the mountains to the valleys (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, a southern foehn from the Armenian Highlands increased 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.

An intense and prolonged hair dryer leads to strong melting (even evaporation) of snow, increases the water level in rivers and can cause floods.

Hair dryers are a common occurrence in the Alps and the Caucasus, they hit the southern coast of Crimea like a wall, and are also found in the Altai mountains, Central Asia, Yakutia and western Greenland.

In some areas where low mountain ranges approach the sea coast, a strong cold wind - bora - sometimes reaches hurricane force, and its speed is 20 m/s. Falling onto the coast through low mountain passes, it causes strong waves at sea and is capable of lowering the air temperature by 20 C. Bora is observed on the Black Sea in the region of Novorossiysk, 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 Lake 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 city’s territory always warms up more than its surroundings. And therefore it is customary to say that the city is an island of heat. Thus, in London the average annual air temperature is + 12.5 C, and in rural areas - +9.5 C. On the outskirts of the city, a local atmospheric front with strong winds arises.

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.

To the climate features major cities refers to smog - the accumulation of toxic smoke and gas near the earth's surface. Smog hangs over the city like a dirty, foggy cloud, bringing illness and even death.