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MongoliaThe Urban Population
The city system is dominated by Ulaanbaatar--a classic
primate city far larger than the second-ranking or third-ranking
cities--in which all important political, economic, and cultural
functions are centralized. In 1986 Ulaanbaatar had 500,200
people, or nearly 25 percent of the nation's population. Its
dominant position was demonstrated by the transportation system,
which radiated out from Ulaanbaatar
(see Transportation
, ch. 3).
The industrial center of Darhan, on the main railroad line north
of Ulaanbaatar, had 74,000 people in 1986; Erdenet, founded in
1976 and built around a major copper and molybdenum mining
complex, had 45,400. Fourth place went to Choybalsan, the
industrial metropolis of eastern Mongolia in Dornod Aymag, which
had 28,600 people in 1979. Fifth through tenth places were
occupied by a set of aymag seats with populations in the
16,000-to-18,000 range in 1979. The lowest rung of the urban
hierarchy was occupied by the headquarters of state farms or
herding cooperatives, which usually featured administrative
offices, primary schools with boarding facilities, clinics,
assembly halls, fodder storage facilities, and the cooperative's
motor pool and truck maintenance centers.
During the 1980s, the pace of urban residential construction
was rapid, and an increasing proportion of the urban populace was
housed in Soviet-designed, prefabricated four-story or high-rise
apartment complexes. Such housing complexes--equipped with heat
from central plants and served by planned complexes of shops,
schools, and playgrounds as well as by bus routes--represented
the zenith of modernism and progress. Many people in cities
continued to live in the traditional Mongolian round felt tents
called
ger (see Glossary).
Mongolians do not regard
ger as backward or shameful, even in Ulaanbaatar, but
urban planners considered that the much higher population
densities afforded by high-rise housing would permit optimum use
of often-scarce flat ground and would afford the most efficient
utilization of public transportion and public utilities such as
water and sewer lines.
Data as of June 1989
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