Geographia Polonica (1968) vol. 15

Brian J. L. Berry, Center For Urban Studies The University of Chicago

Abstract

The aim of this article is to demonstrate how the basic concepts of mathematics are reflected in the theory of regionalization and what importance various branches of mathematics may have for regionalistics.

Barclay G. Jones, New York State College of Agriculture
William W. Goldsmith, New York State College of Agriculture

Teresa Czyż [tczyz@amu.edu.pl], Institute of Socio-Economic Geography and Space Economy, Adam Mickiewicz University, Fredry 10, 61-701 Poznań, Poland

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to describe a procedure for ordering and grouping cities by the magnitude and direction of the flows of goods, people, and communications between them. Current theories of nodal regions and central place hierarchies provide the bases for the recogni-tion of regionwide organization of cities into networks. These two the-ories were developed by students who recognized that the direction and magnitude of flows associated with social processes are indicators of spatial order in the regional structure of urban society. Whether the flow is local and to the city's hinterland, or regional and to the rank ordering of cities, the notion of central or nodal point is dependent upon the levels of strongest associations within the total flow.

Abstract

The social nad economic problems of declining and underdeveloped areas in the U.S. have led to a complex of policies and programs designed to deal with these issues. Because of the structure of American gouvern-ment, these programs have had to be applied at the state or local level. Many of the problems have a regional dimension, however, which extends beyond established government boundaries.

This need not necessarily create difficulties. Similar programs can be and have been established simultaneously in contiguous states or counties in both the ARA and Appalachian programs. But it is not clear that the replication of similar programs 'in several different contiguous jurisdictions is either the most efficient use of federal resources or the most effective way to generate economic frowth.

Benjamin H. Stevens, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

Abstract

For several recent years, we have been witnessing an increasing application of taxonomic methods in regionalization. In particular, the method of factor analysis and the "linkage tree" method described by B. J. L. Berry are well known.This paper describes the Polish taxonomic method called the "Wro-claw taxonomy". It seems that this method has several advantages in comparison to the linkage tree method, such as, e.g., the simplicity and inexpensiveness of the calculations and the suggestiveness of the picture obtained, and it deserves to be presented to a wider public.

Stanisław Lewiński, Institute of Town Planning and Architecture Warszawa

Abstract

Urban growth is dependent upon the number and types of goods and services provided for functional regions and is related to the size and population of the functional regions served. The usual cliche is that cities do not thrive where people merely take in one another's washing. "Cities do not grow up of themselves. Countrysides set them up to do tasks that must be performed in central place" 1. The tasks set reflect geogra-phic location. There is, therefore, a sequential relationship between geographic location, urban functions, functional regions and urban growth. The form of the sequential relationship is traced in this biblio-graphic essay by examining the nature and type of urban functions and functional regions, and by reviewing the contribution of location theories to understanding the size and spacing of urban functions and urban places. The relationship is then illustrated by focusing attention on one area, Eastern Ontario, where urban growth has been retarded by the slow expansion of manufacturing industry and is dependent largely upon the central-place functions performed.

D. Michael Ray, State University of New York, Buffalo