Rediscovering the anatomy of urban growth: The spatio-temporal evolution of building activity in a Mediterranean city

ABSTRACT

The impact of building cycles on recent expansions of Athens was assessed under the hypothesis that non-linear paths of urban growth result from sequential phases of economic growth and decline. Changes over time in building activity were examined by considering indicators derived from a local-scale analysis of building permits issued by Greek municipalities between 1990 and 2016. Relevant socioeconomic forces shaping spatio-temporal variability in building activity were identified by analyzing contextual indicators through inferential techniques and multivariate analysis. The results showed distinctive responses of real-estate local markets to economic cycles at the local scale in Athens, allowing for identification of short-term and long-term urban dynamics characteristic of expansion and recession waves. The most sensitive indicators to economic cycles in Athens were density of new buildings, average floors per new building, density of building additions, and number of building permits per inhabitant. Infrastructure-driven development, as a result of the 2004 Olympic Games, has produced relevant alterations in short-term patterns in the construction market, resulting in spatially-complex urbanization trends. The author concludes that local-scale indicators derived from building permit data provide insights into progressively complex dynamics of urban growth, with implications for regional planning and the design of sustainable development practices.     

城市政府驻地搬迁对经济增长的影响研究

城市政府驻地搬迁是政府重新配置空间资源以达到优化空间结构并推动地区经济发展的行政手段。然而,当前中央政府对城市政府搬迁的谨慎态度与地方政府热衷搬迁的现实行为产生了矛盾,增强了对该政策评估研究的强烈需求。同时,以往研究较少关注城市政府驻地搬迁对整体经济的影响,且缺乏大样本实证证据。本文选取1996—2016年城市面板数据,采用倾向得分匹配倍差法检验城市政府驻地搬迁对经济增长的影响。结果表明,城市政府驻地搬迁对城市经济增长起到了显著的促进作用,而城市发展因素会调节搬迁带来的经济增长效应,产生异质性结果。其中,搬迁距离、经济发展水平、固定资产投资率、政府干预等城市发展因素会放大搬迁产生的经济增长效应,建设用地增长率会缩减这一效应,而城市规模对搬迁带来的经济增长没有显著的调节作用。从时间效应上来看,城市政府驻地搬迁对城市经济增长具有长期促进作用,并在搬迁约7年后随时间推移逐渐增强。本研究不仅直接检验了城市政府驻地搬迁对城市整体经济增长的促进效应,为优化行政区划调整提供学术依据,也对评估地方政府驻地搬迁效果具有重要参考价值。     

广域旅游产业集群：区域旅游发展的地域分工与组织

区域旅游发展是我国区域发展总体战略的重要专题。区域旅游是同一区域范围内不同地区之间互为旅游客源地、互为旅游目的地的区内旅游活动。区内旅游供给由跨城市区划的食、住、行、游、购、娱等地方小产业集群环环相扣而成,这种分工模式在区域范围内形成一种基于地方产业集群组合的广域旅游产业集群。在这种集群形态内,存在着空间组织、产业组织及运营模式创新的空间。研究区内旅游流在城市节点间的空间演化特征和机制,以及区内旅游流所遵循的典型旅游线路在城市节点间的产业链演化特征和机制,在此基础上,探索基于广域集群组织的区域旅游发展创新,最后在理论上形成提升,形成涵盖结构与功能关系的广域旅游产业集群研究体系,对于区域旅游理论研究和发展实践而言,具有重要的价值。     

Urbanization of Capital or Capitalization on Urban Land? Land Development and Local Public Finance in Urbanizing China

This study examines the relationship between urban land development and municipal finance in a Chinese regional economy undergoing rapid urbanization. Drawing upon insights from the perspective of political economy, this study analyzes how municipalities in coastal Jiangsu Province have engaged in the land-dominated urbanization process, and the developmental landscape that has emerged from the new approach toward local public finance. Land development has not functioned simply as a passive outcome of urbanization, but has been actively pursued by local governments as a means of revenue generation to finance local economic growth. An inverse correlation is found between the growth of land conveyance income and the level of the regional economies in China's administrative hierarchy. We call for greater attention to be directed to the interrelationship between land development, local public finance, and urbanization in the ongoing transformation of the Chinese political economy.     

中国城市建设用地扩张与财政收入增长的面板格兰杰因果检验

土地开发已成为当前研究的一个焦点,但是对“土地财政”现象的研究仍集中在其形成机制方面,而很少证实土地是否及如何推动了地方财政收入的增长。为此,本文基于《城市统计年鉴》（1985-2011） 的面板数据,构建面板误差修正模型和随机效应模型,运用格兰杰因果检验探讨城市建设用地扩张与城市财政收入增长之间的因果关系,并对“土地财政”的影响机制、区域差异和开发效率进行初步探讨。结果显示,从1995 年开始,中国城市的土地开发是推动其地方财政收入增长的格兰杰原因。但是这种效应主要为即期的影响,而对房地产开发和工业增值税的长期推动效果不太显著,这暗示了土地财政在中国有过度的倾向。从区域差异来看,土地开发对地方财政收入的推动幅度在中西部地区或在100 万人口以上的超大城市更大,且随城市规模的增加其影响效果更为显著。     

城市行政中心迁移的经济效应评估与作用机制分析——以青岛市为例

城市行政中心迁移是地方政府进行空间治理的重要手段,对城市经济发展具有深远的影响。论文以青岛市为案例,选取1988—2010年城市面板数据,采用合成控制法探究城市行政中心迁移的经济效应并分析背后的作用机制。结果表明：① 城市行政中心迁移可以提高以GDP对数值为衡量单位的城市经济效益,但经济增长效应具有滞后性;② 青岛城市行政中心迁移后,城市经济在短期内仍有惯性表现,城市行政中心迁移的经济增长效应在政策实施的第6年开始显现,整个城市的经济发展阶段可分为投资建设、缓慢增长、快速增长和趋于稳定4个阶段;③ 青岛城市行政中心迁移所带来的经济增长效应可以从政府引导效应、投资驱动效应和要素驱动效应3个方面去理解。研究不仅证明了城市行政中心迁移对城市经济的促进效应,也为地方政府评估行政中心迁移方案提供了重要参考。     

Regional Inequality in China: A Case Study of Jiangsu Province

The tremendous changes in China's development philosophy and regional economies during the last two decades have carved out selectively new locations of development across the nation. While politicians heatedly debate the acceptable levels of regional inequality, most scholarly studies focus on broad aggregate trends of inequality among provinces and groups of provinces, and pay little attention to identifying and conceptualizing sources and major agents of spatial change. This paper aims at revealing detailed spatial ramifications of the reforms, and at understanding the impacts of the state, local agents, and foreign investors on regional development. To this effect, we conduct a disaggregated and empirical study of Jiangsu, a coastal province experiencing dramatic economic and spatial restructuring. We show that local agents which favor rural industrial enterprises accelerated new growth in selected rural areas, in contrast to slower growth of older cities and state‐owned enterprises, resulting in a net decline of intercounty inequality. But the coalescence of state policy, local agents, and foreign investment has widened the historical gap between northern and southern Jiangsu, and is likely to accelerate intercounty inequality in the future. Our study demonstrates the utility of the “developments from above, below and outside” framework for analyzing key forces of regional growth in socialist transitional economies.     

The Variegated Landscape of Local Immigration Policies in the United States

Hundreds of municipalities and counties across the United States have proposed or implemented immigration policies at the local level, ranging from "sanctuary" policies to those designed to exclude undocumented immigrants. Data collected on these policies are presented, and statistically analyzed at the municipal level to interrogate existing hypotheses about factors driving these policy decisions. Municipalities experiencing rapid growth of their foreign-born population and with a high percentage of owner-occupied housing are more likely to introduce exclusionary policies, whereas municipalities with better educated populations are more likely to adopt inclusionary policies. The location of municipalities in the U.S. South and outside central cities is also associated with exclusionary policies. Textual analysis of policy documents for selected municipalities provides insight into why similarly located places adopt contrasting policies. Local ordinances reflect contrasting local imaginaries of race, nation, and place.     

Labour mobility in the public sector: the impact of job opportunities

This paper investigates the mobility of highly skilled labour, using doctors in public hospitals in Denmark as an example. From the perspective of regional development, the concentration of human capital is one of the contributors to regional growth and consequently to inequality between places, being associated most often with differences in economic growth between regions. The decentralisation of highly skilled public jobs to even out the concentration of human capital could be one way to stimulate growth outside city regions. However, such initiatives are somewhat dependent upon the cooperation of the highly skilled public employees, whose preferences have been little studied thus far. Based on data from a survey of 1600 publicly employed doctors, PLUM regression modelling was applied to test the relative significance of four professional preferences influencing choice of workplace. It was found that professional preferences have different influences on doctors’ choices, depending on their place of residence measured in terms of a location’s population density. The paper concludes that opportunities in employment depend on one’s stage in life and can serve to explain choices and mobility among highly skilled public employees.     

A Review of “The Middle East Today: Political,Geographical and Cultural Perspectives”

The tremendous changes in China's development philosophy and regional economies during the last two decades have carved out selectively new locations of development across the nation. While politicians heatedly debate the acceptable levels of regional inequality, most scholarly studies focus on broad aggregate trends of inequality among provinces and groups of provinces, and pay little attention to identifying and conceptualizing sources and major agents of spatial change. This paper aims at revealing detailed spatial ramifications of the reforms, and at understanding the impacts of the state, local agents, and foreign investors on regional development. To this effect, we conduct a disaggregated and empirical study of Jiangsu, a coastal province experiencing dramatic economic and spatial restructuring. We show that local agents which favor rural industrial enterprises accelerated new growth in selected rural areas, in contrast to slower growth of older cities and state-owned enterprises, resulting in a net decline of intercounty inequality. But the coalescence of state policy, local agents, and foreign investment has widened the historical gap between northern and southern Jiangsu, and is likely to accelerate intercounty inequality in the future. Our study demonstrates the utility of the “developments from above, below and outside” framework for analyzing key forces of regional growth in socialist transitional economies.     

非首都功能疏解背景下批发市场商户的搬迁意愿及区位再选择因素——以北京市动物园服装批发市场为例

城市转型发展背景下,通过疏解超大城市的非核心功能从而控制城市规模的过快增长已成为城市地理学研究的重要课题。北京作为首都,不仅承担着一般意义上的城市功能,同时也由于其特殊的政治地位还承担着首都的特有功能,在一定程度上北京所提的非首都功能实质上也属于非核心功能的范畴。通过对北京的研究,能够为其他超大城市的功能疏解提供借鉴。以北京市动物园服装批发市场为例,借助问卷调查、深度访谈数据和资料,利用有序Probit模型探究了批发市场内商户的搬迁意愿及影响因素,结果表明：① 从非首都功能疏解的影响来看,66.38%的商户认为疏解对商铺经营影响很大;② 批发市场商户的搬迁意愿极低,仅有12.07%的商户同意搬迁,不愿意和非常不愿意搬迁的商户分别占样本总量的37.07%和31.03%;③ 从批发市场商户搬迁意愿的影响因素来看,物流、品牌效应、搬迁消息的影响、学历、搬迁计划、员工数和租金等7个因素都显著影响商户的搬迁意愿,物流条件与集聚品牌效应是影响批发市场商户搬迁意愿最重要的因素;④ 从搬迁商户区位再选择的迁入地来看,商户选择意愿最高的迁入地为北京市其他大型批发市场,交通物流条件、租金等经营成本是商户新区位选择的主要考量因素,对迁入地优惠政策的关注度并不高。     

THE VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL EXPANSIONS OF CHINA'S CITY SYSTEM

Most studies of the size, growth, and distribution of cities have been based on Western economies and have identified economic factors such as scale and agglomeration economies and level of economic development as major determinants of urban growth. It is unclear whether these generalizations are applicable in socialist economies. In this paper, I argue that institutional factors have played key roles in shaping China's city system, which is characterized by declining population concentration across cities and by tremendous vertical (population growth of cities) and horizontal (addition of new cities) expansions. The empirical analysis focuses on describing the size distribution of cities, estimating a multivariate model predicting the population growth of cities, and performing a logistic regression analysis of new and existing cities. The findings underscore the effects of urban and regional development policies, socialist institutions, changes in the urban administrative system, and state and local government interests, and suggest that they as a whole are more important than economic factors in explaining the attributes and changes of China's city system. [Key words: urban growth, city system, institutional factors, China.]     

环境规制、地方保护与中国污染密集型产业布局

污染密集型产业在促进区域经济增长的同时会对区域生态环境带来巨大威胁,其发展布局会受到地方保护和环境规制的双重影响。1980-2014年中国污染密集型产业的发展经历了缓慢增长、快速扩张和结构转型3个阶段,总体呈现“分散—集中—分散”的空间特征,中部省份是现阶段承接污染密集型产业转移的主要地区。通过建立区域属性模型、区域—产业交互项模型,定量分析环境规制、地方保护对污染密集型产业布局空间变化的影响,检验“污染避难所假说”和“波特假说”,发现环境规制和地方保护已成为污染密集型产业布局的重要影响因素,但存在显著的产业异质性和区域差异性;污染程度高的产业易受到环境规制的影响;相比高税收产业,高国有比重的产业更易受到地方的保护;环境规制和地方保护作为两种相反的力量,彼此之间相互抑制;环境规制的作用在东部地区比较突出,而中、西部地区地方保护的作用更为明显。为防止中西部地区成为污染密集型产业的“避难所”,应因地因时制宜制定差异化政策,促进经济与环境保护的协调发展。     

Cultural heritage management and local development in a South Sámi and Norse mountainous borderland

The article discusses how municipal planning and management can enable South Sámi and Norse cultural history to contribute to local development in two sparsely populated mountain municipalities in south-east Norway. The authors’ methods comprised document studies of relevant planning documents and treatment of single cases, and interviews with actors at different levels, who were responsible for cultural heritage, land use planning, industrial development and reindeer husbandry. The findings revealed that the organization of cultural heritage management was extremely fragmented in terms of responsibilities, activities and localization. Responsibility for managing Norse and Sámi cultural heritage is divided between counties and the Sámi Parliament, and the municipalities have no legal responsibilities. This fragmentation contributes to the neglect and marginalization of cultural heritage management in general, and especially the management of Sámi cultural heritage. The discourse of attractiveness based on competing for in-migration from other municipalities holds a hegemonic position in both municipal master planning and regional planning. The authors conclude that a different approach based on local community development, namely the residential place, should be prioritized, whereby cultural heritage is used to strengthen the inhabitants’ knowledge, identity and ‘sense of place’.     

区域可持续发展评估的公众参与视角--以地方21世纪议程南阳试点为例

公众参与区域可持续发展评估是公众参与可持续发展的重要途径之一,由公众参与的评估结果更切合区域实际并易于公众认可。从公众参与视角出发,依据大众性、科学性、简明性与动态性原则,设计了由18个指标构成的区域可持续发展指标体系框架及调查问卷,并分析了可持续发展趋势与等级确定方法。以地方21世纪议程南阳试点为例,研究了公众参与的区域可持续发展评估的方法,研制了可持续发展“晴雨表”。     

外资企业集聚对本土企业国有占股比例的影响——基于区域禀赋差异分析

旨在研究企业所在地的地区禀赋差异如何通过外资企业集聚影响本土企业国有占股比例的调整。因变量为企业国有占股比例,关键自变量为通过地区自然及人文禀赋差异作为工具变量代理的外资企业集聚程度,以及企业所在的地理区位特征,包括交通和经济区位。基于世界银行工业调查数据库企业调查数据并运用IV-Tobit估计方法,研究发现:① 较高的外资企业集聚程度将降低同行业内本土企业国有股份占股比例;② 主要矿产资源越丰富的地区,外资企业集聚程度相对较低,而人文科技教育越发达的地区,外资企业集聚程度越高;③ 传统的沿海沿江及经济特区等区位特点对企业所有制结构的影响逐渐减弱,而当地交通货运发达程度对混合所有制经济发展的作用正日益显现。最后,在此基础上提出关于发展混合所有制经济的政策建议。     

基于“政策-潜力-意愿”整合视角的村庄分类研究

村庄分类作为乡村地区制定差异化发展政策的科学手段,是认识和明晰区域乡村振兴路径的重要抓手。论文基于乡村地域系统演化规律,综合考虑地方主观发展意愿,构建了一套基于“政策-潜力-意愿”整合视角的村庄分类框架,按照“政策影响?发展潜力+在地发展意愿”的逻辑思路逐级识别村庄类型,并以西峰区100个行政村作为案例区进行实证分析。结果表明：(1)通过梳理现有政策文件,识别出54个村庄的类型,这部分村庄特征相对显著;其余部分村庄通过“发展潜力-在地发展意愿”耦合分析,确定其发展类型;(2)村庄发展潜力与在地发展意愿不完全耦合,其中“高潜力-低意愿”及“低潜力-高意愿”各占39.13%和6.52%;(3)西峰区村庄最终分为就地城镇化类、集聚提升类、城郊融合类、特色保护类、整治改善类及搬迁撤并类等六种类型,论文据此提出相应的乡村振兴途径及措施建议。     

Finnskogene I Norge

Recently, increased attention has been paid to the importance of everyday landscapes in the Western world, and a stronger political will to involve local participation in planning processes has emerged. The authors discuss the implementation of the political will to engage the Norwegian public in local heritage planning and whether or not this new role can have a mobilising effect on heritage protection. In Norway, cultural heritage managers have established methods for identifying valuable heritage assets in cultural historic landscapes. As increased responsibility for cultural heritage management is given to municipalities, more municipalities are making their own heritage plans to improve local heritage management. The article investigates how cultural heritage management in everyday landscapes is taking place, how heritage plans are developed, how local knowledge is involved, and what assets local residents appreciate in their environment, based on an in-depth study of two medium-sized Norwegian regional towns. The results show that local stakeholders were often invited to participate in planning processes, but that their contributions were largely kept out of official plans at the final stage. Further, the study revealed that memories and personal histories related to heritage appreciations are important elements in building identity, both at a personal level and at a local level.