Planning is particularly important in the Soviet Union since not only most spatial change but all economic planning is the product of a systematic socio-political ideology. Planning is therefore the key to understanding the Soviet economy, Soviet
society and spatial change in the Soviet Union. Indeed, this is the first study in which the focus has been directed specifically at spatial planning in the Soviet Union in any systematic way. Based on the authors'own research, the book provides
a comprehensive review of planning in the Soviet Union for both geography students and Soviet specialists.
The contributions of Chauncy Harris to geographical studies of the Soviet Union| an appreciation in Geographical studies on the Soviet Union. Essays in Honor of Chauncy D. Harris.
The text illustrates the harshness of the physical environment for the Soviet people and the vast distances which separate them. The author explains the historical evolution of the state and its territorial and administrative organisation
and considers its current problems of population and ethnic and national relations. Considerable space is devoted to the resource base and the organisation, distribution and capacity of Soviet industry. The particular problems of agriculture in an essentially
hostile environment and of transport in a virtually unlimited space are also considered at length together with the broader geopolitical questions of the Soviet Union's present and future relations with the rest of the world. This publication is made
particularly timely by the increasing reluctance of the Soviet authorities to divulge information on their country's achievements and shortcomings.
In a special issue of Soviet Geography in May 1970, Chauncy D. Harris published a time series (1897-1967) for the population of cities of the Soviet Union. A number of events since then suggest the need for an updating of Soviet city population
trends in easily accessible form. Since the publication of the Harris material, the Soviet Union has held two additional censuses, in 1970 and in 1979. The results of the 1970 count were published in substantial detail, including population for all urban
ceased altogether in 1976 as part of a general tightening up of statistical secrecy. Because of these developments, the mid-1980s seem an appropriate time to take stock of the available information on Soviet city populations by building on, and generally
following the scheme of, the statistical urban population tables originated by Chauncy Harris in the May 1970 issue of Soviet Geography.