国外乡村地理关系研究范式进展与启示

随着区域一体化政策和信息、交通等设施的推进,乡村地区被纳入更为广泛的要素流通与经济过程中,乡村地区被内、外经济社会多重联系重新定义。论文通过回顾西方发达国家乡村地理关系范式研究进展,重点探讨了乡村地区能否通过加强外向联系来削弱其地理区位边缘性这一核心问题,同时探讨了关系研究范式在中国乡村地理研究中的适用性,并试图构建起适应中国国情的乡村关系地理研究框架。西方乡村地理学者提出了关系的研究范式以适应乡村地区新的发展背景,在关系视角的研究语境中,社会经济活动中的参与主体被当作真正的研究对象,关注参与主体间各类“流”要素及其关系;同时,距离的概念被重新定义,地理空间呈现虚、实交互的特征,关系距离是对基于位空间的乡村研究的补充;此外,关系资本、弱关系和嵌入性等“关系”概念重新定义了乡村社会经济的作用过程。研究发现,地理区位与地方性特征仍然是乡村产业发展及参与外部竞争最重要的资本,但以通信、交通等设施为代表的“硬”环境的改善对弥补乡村区位劣势的边际效益逐渐降低。因而现阶段乡村振兴战略的推进需要从制度空间、学习空间、“非正式”社交网络等“软”环境的建设着手,促进信息、技术和资本等“流”要素的移动,进而推动乡村产业和功能的发展。

Progress of international rural network geographic research and implications for China

With the development of rural-urban integration, rural areas are included in a wider circulation of socioeconomic processes and redefined by multiple internal and external connections. Correspondingly, the marginality of rural geographical location is gradually weakened. The relationship turn in economic geography research provides a new way of dealing with the current situation, where participants in social and economic activities are regarded as the real research objects. It also focuses on virtual space consisted of all kinds of socioeconomic flows, which can be a supplement to geographic space research. However, it is not appropriate to simply apply the research framework of economic geography, which are mainly based on urban context, to rural geography studies. In this article, the necessity and feasibility of the network paradigm application in rural geography were discussed based on an international research review. The core issue of the rural network paradigm discussion is whether people living in rural areas can get rid of the limitations of marginal geographical location by the construction of outward connections. It is found that geographical location and local characteristics can still be the key factors for the development of rural industries and their participation in external competition. There is a limited marginal revenue of more investment in physical infrastructure, such as transportation and communication facilities, to make up for the disadvantages of rural remote locations. The improvement of social environment, such as institutional space, learning space, and informal social network, is important for promoting information, technology, and economic capital flows from urban areas to rural areas more efficiently, so as to accelerate the development of rural areas.