The enigma of social sustainability in rural Australia

While much previous work has been done on the general concept of ecological sustainability, there is relatively little that examines the likely spatial aspects of a socially sustainable rural system. Having defined essential concepts, this study first identifies major current forces for rural change likely to influence any future sustainable system. It goes on to specify those features of modern rural social formations which I believe deserve retention. Finally, some essential requirements for a socially sustainable system are established.     

Factors Inhibiting Local Government Engagement in Environmental Sustainability: case studies from rural Australia

The literature on local government management of the environment in Australia has been limited in that it has typically focused on the urban sphere. In contrast, this paper places rurality at the centre of its inquiry. It uses data from 15 case studies of rural local governments in Australia to identify the main factors that inhibit natural resource management by rural councils. These barriers mobilise around four key themes: capacity, commitment, co-ordination and community. While many of the issues raised in this study of non-urban shires have been described in previous research, the paper argues that the geographic location of the areas under investigation aggravates barriers to engaging sustainability initiatives. It is contended that rural local governments need to be resourced accordingly to ensure that natural resource management at the local government level in Australia is not compromised.     

Evaluating consumer preferences for health care services in rural Australia

Service provision to remote rural areas is extremely costly, and only likely to be effective if the services provided are appropriate and accessible to the population. To date, little is known about the attitudes of rural residents (both townsfolk and the farming population) to various services. This study examines people's attitudes towards services generally, and health services in particular, and relates their attitudes to sociodemographic variables and geographical location. The results show the overwhelming importance attributed to health services, particularly medical services, and that attitudes differ significantly according to place of residence and by age group. These findings have major implications for those responsible for formulating policies relating to service provision for rural areas.     

Regional identity and regional migration: birth places and present dwelling places of the Finns

"Regional identity has become a popular theme in public debates in Finland, mainly due to the aim of the present government to replace the current division of 12 administrative provinces with 5 or 7 new, larger ones.... An empirical analysis of the present day Finns is then carried out...to compare where people living in various provinces were born and where they lived at the end of 1994.... Less than a half of the present day Finns live in the commune where they were born, although the differences between communes are large, being less than 25 percent in the Helsinki area whereas elsewhere in Finland it is often greater than 70 percent." (EXCERPT)     

地方节庆变迁的权力机制研究——以广东巽寮妈祖文化旅游节为例

以地方节庆作为一个可观测的指标,采用质性研究方法,在讨论妈祖文化旅游节表层景观变迁基础上,以权力中继机构——巽寮妈祖理事会的成立原因、过程及运作为主线,展演仪式组织阶段资本与地方间互动与协商,展现地方节庆变迁背后的权力机制。研究发现,资本与地方的博弈协商结果不局限于节庆重构本身,还催生新的权力主体。这个权力主体对资本既依附又抗争,对地方社区既强势又民主,特殊的成立动机、半官方的机构属性、复杂的内部关系使其成为节庆变迁中的中坚力量。这种基于资本与地方权力关系而产生,并同资本和地方一起推动节庆变迁的新型权力机构,补充了全球化背景下地方节庆变迁的微观层面权力机制研究。     

Demographic response to rural restructuring and counterurbanisation in South Australia, 1981-1991

"Using South Australia as a case study, this paper seeks to trace and demonstrate two processes (counterurbanisation and rural restructuring) whose effects overlap to differentiate and characterise the population geography of...two zones, separated by a transition along the outer fringe of Adelaide's urban field.... In the demographic core zone [rural restructuring] has been partly offset by continued counterurbanisation, resulting in demographic mixing and rural dilution. The 1981-91 population growth in rural communities is shown to be more a function of population density at the outset of the period than of initial population size. Demographic growth...is shown to conform to a simple unidimensional scale, allowing the production of a clear, easily interpretable typology of rural demographic change with few non-conforming statistical areas. At a local level within individual rural communities, demographic decline is shown to be accompanied by increased concentration of the population into small towns, while demographic growth is associated with deconcentration."     

Western Australia: the resource state

This paper examines the strength of Western Australia's claim to be ‘the resource state’. It traces the history of the state's mineral development and points to close links between the development, the growth of the economy and the spread of settlement. The crucial role of the state government in facilitating capital investment and fostering a growth ideology is also highlighted. The paper argues that while resource development and capital investment have brought tangible economic benefits to Western Australia and the nation, certain costs have also been generated. Growth has caused damage to the physical environment and the once‐numerous Aboriginal population. Moreover, given the international commodity crisis of the 1980s, mineral export strength is no sure recipe for economic success.     

Australia and international treaties: population

"The separation of environmental and population issues globally is reflected in the fact that the setting of international agendas to tackle them was for all intents and purposes undertaken at separate international meetings--the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and the International Population Conference in Cairo in 1994. This paper presents an overview of Australia's international involvement in population issues and suggests that until recently Australia had played a minor political role in international population initiatives primarily, and perhaps ironically, because it has been a world leader in demographic research and teaching for several decades."     

Defining Regions: the making of places in the New Zealand wine industry

As a product, wine is closely associated with place. The industry has devised various strategies in order to delimit space and create places that are marketable as brands. Although demarcated by supposedly ‘natural’ features, these spaces are socially constructed in order to maximise accumulation. This article reports on the use of place-making strategies in the case of the New Zealand wine sector and the role of capital and agency in their production. Two case studies—Martinborough and Gimblett Gravels—are offered where contrasting geographical strategies have been employed. The work concludes that the employment of flexible delimitation is a strategy that allows contestation in creatively destructive ways. Such an approach allows for specialised identity construction within the framework of semi-porous boundaries. This calls for local economic policy that sits between the two extremes of open-ended neoliberal capital accumulation and arbitrary regional planning.     

From green spaces to vital places: connection and expression in urban greening

ABSTRACT

Urban greening, the improvement or increase of green spaces in cities, has purported environmental, individual, social and cultural benefits. The extent and qualities of urban green spaces, and our opportunities to engage with them, reflect and shape human responses to those spaces. Planning scholars recognise the traditional role and obligation of planning to help reduce social problems and see the potential for the public to be leaders in defining responses. However, use of technical, scientific and economic approaches by urban land managers can limit recognition of diverse connections to urban green and advance narrow conceptions of nature. We sample people’s responses to different forms of urban green and greening in three case studies from Melbourne, Australia. We show that modern connections and expressions are personal, social and dynamic. Human experiences are embedded in nature and connections develop from interactions with and about nature, in formal and informal spaces. Diverse connections prompt responses to nature, and actions affecting nature itself. Accordingly, we propose ways to develop more receptive, responsive, inclusive and connected forms of urban greening. These include recognising diverse connections and expressions, encouraging dynamic relationships with nature, and providing varied ways of engaging with urban green spaces that foster stewardship.     

中国农村人口老龄化的时空演化及乡村振兴对策

社会经济发展过程中农村青壮年劳动力外流、预期寿命延长以及生育率下降使得乡村人口老龄化形势愈发严峻,因此科学认知农村人口老龄化的发展演化及其机理对于推进乡村振兴战略的实施具有重要意义。基于2000年和2010年人口普查数据,采用标准差椭圆、空间自相关、多元线性回归等分析方法,本文揭示了中国县域农村人口老龄化的时空格局及其形成机制,探讨人口老龄化背景下的乡村振兴对策。结果显示：① 2000—2010年,中国农村老龄人口主要分布在胡焕庸线东南一侧,在空间分布上保持“东北-西南”格局。② 2000年全国有48.26%的区县农村尚未步入老龄化,主要分布在西部、东北地区和中部的江西和湖北东部;到2010年,仅有17.54%的区县农村未进入老龄化,主要分布在胡焕庸线西北一侧及大兴安岭地区。③ 植被覆盖指数、死亡率、每千人卫生机构床位数、受教育水平、农民人均可支配收入与农村人口老龄化水平呈现正相关关系,人口净流出率、出生率、城镇化率、少数民族人口占比、海拔、人均GDP则呈现负相关关系。老龄化背景下,应积极推动新型城镇化和县域经济发展,构建城乡融合发展的体制机制和可持续发展的内生机制,同时逐步放开生育限制,降低人口的风险暴露,进而减缓人口老龄化发展,推动乡村振兴战略的实施。     

乡村振兴下的聚落研究——来自经济地理学视角

论文首先从人地关系视角分析了乡村问题的背景及乡村振兴的内容逻辑,提出乡村衰退是人地关系调整滞后于社会经济发展进程的结果,乡村振兴最终目的就是调整人地关系以适应社会经济发展新阶段的生产要素价值变化。对乡村振兴地理研究的评述发现,多数关注其战略内容的实施,而对乡村人口重要载体的乡村聚落重视不够。事实上,乡村聚落与乡村振兴的关系密切,乡村聚落是乡村地区人类社会经济活动的集中场所,是乡村人地关系调整的核心和关键抓手,在乡村振兴中起关键作用。而已有的乡村聚落地理研究多聚焦空间变化,并且重实证轻机理,尤其是与乡村振兴相关联的聚落演变机理研究尚无成果问世。最后,基于乡村聚落在乡村振兴中关键作用,提出从人地关系协调出发,加强乡村聚落演变理论、乡村聚落空间结构变化趋势、乡村聚落专业化转型、乡村聚落整治优化及乡村聚落风貌景观等5个方面的研究。