Geographia Polonica (1972) vol. 24

Kazimierz Dziewoński, Instytut Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania PAN ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 30, 00-927 Warszawa

Marek Jerczyński, Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland

Piotr Korcelli [korcelli@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakowskie Przedmieście 30, 00-927 Warszawa, Poland

Abstract

The present paper is based on the results of research work carried out bythe Department of Social Geography at Wrocław University under the directionof Professor Stefan Golachowski, whoae works, together with those of BohdanJałowiecki and of the present author, have been utilised here.

Among the various processes at present occurring in the socio-economicfield, the phenomenon of semi-urbanization is worthy of attention. Accordingto Golachowski this concept cf semi-urbanization is to be understood as SDcioeconomicand morphological changes in the countryside which do not always,or necessarily, lead to complete urbanization in the sense of a village eitherbeing annexed to an existing town or being transformed into a fullydevelopedtown. A settlement form which is neither a town nor a traditionalpeasant village will occur as a result. It may be considered as a "semi-villagesemi-town", i.e., something similar to the form called, in American English,a "rurban community".1 It appears, however, that there may be circumstanceswhen the processes do not lead to the development of a single, larger, fullyurbanized settlement, but to the creation of groups of morphologically separateyet fully integrated settlements associated with each other by various kinds ofrelationships. Such groups of settlements — which may be called "systems"or "complexes" — are similar only in some respects to the traditionallyconceivedtown as a compactly built-up area. Some analogies between a settlementcomplex and a town are perhaps a little difficult to grasp in view of thelack of topographical links between the elements of the agglomeration settlements,which, in fact, are reminiscent of the "dispersed cities" known fromthe literature.

Antoni Zagożdżon, Wrocław Universit y

Elżbieta Iwanicka-Lyra, Institute of Geography Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw

Abstract

As a result of the work of urbanists over the last thirty years we nowknow a great deal more than we did about the development, form and functioningof non-traditional towns and cities. We cannot yet say with assurancethat we always understand more, but we do have a clearer impression of thescale of the scholarly problems involved, and we certainly have better descriptiveand analytical tools available for the eventual solution of the problems.But the recent surge of activity in urban geography should not beallowed to disguise the fact that many of the fundamental ideas are net new,and that quite a few were first outlined in the 1920s and 1930s, and for a whilelargely ignored.

David Thomas, Saint David's University College, Lampeter

H. Patrick White, University of Salford
Garth D. S. Goddard, University of Salford

Abstract

Throughout history cities have been surrounded by a zone of varyingdimensions within which the intensity of urbanisation tends to decrease withdistance out from the city, while rural land-uses correspondingly increase.Apart possibly from the medieval period, when the city wall acted as anartificial restraint, city growth has progressed unhindered within the limitationsimposed by such factors as physical features, transport potential andbuilding technology, to name but a few. In Great Britain this element of freedom was effectively ended with the passing of the Town and CountryPlanning Act, in 1947. Under this Act all local authorities were to preparea Development Plan of the area under their ccntrol; this work was to bea two-part document, comprising a volume of maps and one of text, that wouldoutline the actual and proposed use to which every parcel of land would beput. In this way it was hoped to rationalise land use in order to make themost efficient use of the limited land resources of the United Kingdom. In anattempt to evaluate the effects of twenty years of planning control a studywas made of the social and economic interaction that has developed betweenEdinburgh and the surrounding rural area.

Alan J. Strachan, University of Leicester

Anothony G. Champion, Oxford University

Brian G. Clarke, University of East Anglia

John A. Dawson, Department of Geography. University of Wales. Lampeter. Dyfed. UK

John A. Giggs, University of Nottingham

Philip T. Kivell, University of Keele

Andrzej Samuel Kostrowicki, Institut de Géographie et d'Aménagement du Territoire. Académie Polonaise des Sciences, Varsovie

John M. Hall, Queen Mary College, University of London

Abstract

The heathlands of south-east England may be grouped into those associatedwith certain high-level areas of Chalk outcrop, and those associated with sandysoils. The first group, found on soils that, though developed on the Chalk, havebeen largely decalcified, is now limited in extent since the plough-up campaignof the Second World War. An example of this so-called chalk heath at Lullington,Sussex, is now a nature reserve: the example described by A. G. Tansley 1is now wooded and part of the Queen Elizabeth Forest, Hampshire. Thesecond group is much more considerable in extent, occupying soils formedon a great variety of sandy formations, such as the Aptian Hythe Beds andFolkestone Beds, the Ypresian Bagshot Beds, and Pleistocene sands andgravels. Such heaths were used by agricultural communities for rough grazingand as a source of fuel for hundreds of years: their plant cover shows theimpact of these long-continued practices. These forms of usage as part of anagricultural system are now considerably reduced or have totally disappeared,and the thousands of hectares of surviving heathland in south-east Englandare of greatest value as an amenity, forming the majority of those parts of thecountryside to which the public have complete access. The cessation of managementfor agricultural purposes and the increased use for amenity havecombined to initiate considerable changes in the vegetation and to raise newproblems of management. The changes may have been a little accelerated bythe destruction of the rabbit population by myxomatosis, but were in progresslong before.

Edward M. Yates, King's College, University of London

Halina Szulc, Institute of Geography PAN, Warsaw