Local state restructuring and urban transformation in post-apartheid Cape Town

This paper analyzes processes of state restructuring at the scale of the local state and the city, exploring the social and political relationships generated through processes of reconstruction specifically in Elsies River, a formerly segregated `coloured' neighborhood in Cape Town. While the relationship between Elsies River residents and the local state has been characterized by an obsessive focus on housing debt, I examine the ways in which antagonism over housing problems overlie a broader relational disjuncture between neighborhood and state political and social networks. The specificity of this case provides a lens onto the ways in which processes of state restructuring both contest and reinforce racial, economic, and place-based inequalities in South African cities. The paper concludes by using the complexities of local state-neighborhood relationships in the South African case to reflect on geographical theories of state-society relations on a conceptual level. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Intellectuals and geopolitics: The ‘cultural politicians’ of Central Europe

This paper investigates the role of intellectuals in the production of geopolitical discourses. It analyzes how the cultural capital of humanist credentials and artistic aura functions to authenticate and legitimate geopolitical claims. Drawing empirically from Central Europe and especially Estonia, I argue that intellectuals are central to the production of a particular ‘cultural’ concept of geopolitics - the notion that foreign policy expresses the state’s and the nation’s identity. As cultural capital gives intellectuals a special license to speak about culture, it constitutes an essential component in geopolitical discourses in Central Europe.The paper contributes to Europeanist geography by clarifying the mechanisms through which Central Europe is cast externally and internally as a place particularly imbued with culture and identity - a place whose integration with the EU and NATO represents its cultural ‘return’ to Europe. It takes us beyond the romanticized notion of intellectuals - especially the formerly dissident ones - as ‘speaking truth to power’, and offers a more subtle account of their role as producers of power discourses.Beyond Central Europe, the paper underscores the political and cultural milieu of geopolitical claims and the specific structures of legitimacy through which these claims are justified and normalized. A nuanced understanding of the role of ‘culture’ in geopolitical discourses requires that we closely examine the cultural and moral capital of intellectuals. This would also enable us to better delineate human agency in the production of geopolitics.     

Facing the challenge of shrinking cities in East Germany: The case of Leipzig

In the early 20^th century, the East German city of Leipzig seemed well on its way to become a metropolis of international importance. The city was expected to grow towards over one million inhabitants in 2000. Seventy years later, Leipzigs population has shrunk to less than 500,000 inhabitants instead. The German partition after World War II took away most of its national administrative and economic functions and much of its hinterland. The socialist GDR regime worsened the long-term development perspectives and living circumstances of the city. The German reunification brought new development chances, but like most East German cities, Leipzigs hopes soon became disappointed. The local politicians faced a difficult redevelopment task: apart from the question how to revive the local and regional economy, they also had to deal with a housing vacancy rate of 20%, a huge need for renovation in the older neighbourhoods as well as in the socialist high-rise areas, the negative effects of urban sprawl on the city core, and various environmental pollution problems. After briefly describing the development path of Leipzig until the 1990s, the paper will discuss the current attempts of the city government to give Leipzig a more positive post-industrial future. On the one hand, Leipzig is developing a strategy to downsize the citys built environment and infrastructure to adapt to a probably lastingly smaller population. On the other hand, many growth instruments well known from the international scientific and political debate are tried to put Leipzig back on the (inter)national map. The paper will discuss these development strategies in the light of the international debate on the question how to fight the shrinking city, with specific attention for post-socialist cities.     

Facing the challenge of shrinking cities in East Germany: The case of Leipzig

In the early 20^th century, the East German city of Leipzig seemed well on its way to become a metropolis of international importance. The city was expected to grow towards over one million inhabitants in 2000. Seventy years later, Leipzigs population has shrunk to less than 500,000 inhabitants instead. The German partition after World War II took away most of its national administrative and economic functions and much of its hinterland. The socialist GDR regime worsened the long-term development perspectives and living circumstances of the city. The German reunification brought new development chances, but like most East German cities, Leipzigs hopes soon became disappointed. The local politicians faced a difficult redevelopment task: apart from the question how to revive the local and regional economy, they also had to deal with a housing vacancy rate of 20%, a huge need for renovation in the older neighbourhoods as well as in the socialist high-rise areas, the negative effects of urban sprawl on the city core, and various environmental pollution problems. After briefly describing the development path of Leipzig until the 1990s, the paper will discuss the current attempts of the city government to give Leipzig a more positive post-industrial future. On the one hand, Leipzig is developing a strategy to downsize the citys built environment and infrastructure to adapt to a probably lastingly smaller population. On the other hand, many growth instruments well known from the international scientific and political debate are tried to put Leipzig back on the (inter)national map. The paper will discuss these development strategies in the light of the international debate on the question how to fight the shrinking city, with specific attention for post-socialist cities.     

Tripartite climate reversal in Central Europe 5600-5300 years ago

The history of variations in water level of Lake Constance, as reconstructed from sediment and pollen analysis of a sediment sequence from the archaeological site of Arbon-Bleiche 3, shows an abrupt rise in lake level dendrochronologically dated to 5375 yr ago (5320 yr relative to AD 1950). This event, paralleled by the destruction of the Neolithic village by fire, provoked the abandonment of this prehistoric lake-shore location established in the former shallow bay of Arbon-Bleiche, and was the last of a series of three episodes of successively higher lake level, the first occurring at 5600-5500 cal yr B.P. The dendrochronologically dated rise event was synchronous with an abrupt increase in atmospheric ¹⁴C. This supports the hypothesis of an abrupt climate change forced by varying solar activity. Moreover, the three successive episodes of higher lake level between 5600 and 5300 cal yr B.P. at Arbon-Bleiche 3 coincided with climatic cooling and/or changes in moisture conditions in various regions of both hemispheres. This period corresponds to the mid-Holocene climate transition (onset of the Neoglaciation) and suggests inter-hemispheric linkages for the climate variations recorded at Arbon-Bleiche 3. This mid-Holocene climate reversal may have resulted from complex interactions between changes in orbital forcing, ocean circulation and solar activity. Finally, despite different seasonal hydrological regimes, the similarities between lake-level records from Lake Constance and from Jurassian lakes over the mid-Holocene period point to time scale as a crucial factor in considering the possible impact of climate change on environments.     

Heretical geopolitics of Central Europe. Dissidents intellectuals and an alternative European order

This paper analyses the emergence, spread and demise of a coherent program of radical geopolitical revision developed in East European dissident circles in the 1980s. Its foundation was the insistence on the need to completely overthrow the post-Yalta, bipolar division of Europe, combined with an emphasis on the priority of human rights in political and peace issues, as well as the belief in the value of the CSCE process. It was also marked by explicit consent for the reunification of Germany as well as the insistence on the need for a democratic Russia to be part of a wider European setup. Through seminal documents, such as the Prague Appeal of 1985 intellectuals, like Jaroslav Šabata, as well as his Czechoslovak, Polish and Hungarian counterparts, were able to convince large parts of the western peace movement and some political circles to adopt the “heretic” perspective. The paper also shows how a seemingly “cultural” discourse of Central Europe, put forth by intellectuals and artists can, together with the “Yalta debate” of the mid-1980s, be read as a specific (critical) geopolitical project. Finally, the post-communist foreign policies of the dissident-led governments are investigated in an attempt to explain the partial demise of “heretical geopolitics”.     

Environmental problems and policies in East Central Europe: A changing agenda

Considerable environmental damage occurred during the socialist era as a consequence of the rapid rate of economic growth with low priority for the quality of life. High levels of air and water pollution impacted negatively on human health as well as the physical environment. The rural areas did not escape because of soil and forest degradation, while open pit mining and associated tipping devastated large areas of countryside especially in former Czechoslovakia and East Germany. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster proved to be a turning point since public opinion was mobilised to the point that underground movements began to lobby for improvements and environmental quality became a factor in system change in 1989. Much has been achieved over the past decade, thanks in part to expertise and financial help from abroad, and the priority currently being given to membership of the European Union means that all the requirements of the environmental 'acquis' must be met over the medium term. However, the 1990s have also introduced the sustainability agenda and current challenges are much more extensive that those of the past. While many obligations now carry the full force of law, it is also evident that sustainability is a matter for interpretation nationally and locally in the light of economic pressures and cultural values, moderated through the education process and negotiation with both statutory bodies and environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs). This paper therefore serves as a context for the more local studies that follow. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Shortage in the midst of plenty: Labour strategies in four Central and Eastern European cities

Labour shortage was an integral feature of the communist system of economic management and one that seemed most unlikely to persist in the face of systemic transformation. A casual examination of the unemployment rates that have emerged throughout most of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) during the course of the past decade might suggest that this early assumption was correct. However, within the region the aggregate rate of joblessness, as well as the behaviour of national output, mask the fact that certain, major urban centres appear to have weathered well the storms caused by exposure to western markets and stringent fiscal and monetary policies. In these centres transformation has meant, to a greater or lesser degree, industrial modernisation and this begs the question of whether the human capital portfolios of the inherited labour force match up to the requirements of the new environment. This paper examines the meaning of the concept of labour shortage and presents the findings from a survey of employers in four leading cities of three major CEE economies designed to elicit if, and how, manpower requirements are being met in the present climate. The results indicate that, somewhat paradoxically, labour shortage persists in the more flexible markets of the post-communist era and that firms do not expect the situation to change radically in the near future. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Analyzing CO2 emissions mitigation by technology improvement in Central and Eastern Europe

As a legacy of the centrally planned economy, the economies in transition of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have a unique potential to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions through the improvement in their high energy intensities. Since much of this `low-hanging fruit' in energy-efficiency improvements can be highly cost-effective, many developed countries facing difficulties in meeting their greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets domestically are eager to find such opportunities in the CEE region. Therefore, studies analysing the potentials and costs of carbon dioxide reduction through technology improvement in the region have come into the limelight. While there are a few excellent studies in the region aimed at analysing climate change abatement potentials, they all embark on different assumptions, methodologies and boundary conditions. It is hence difficult, if not impossible, to compare and analyse the results of these studies across different authors, countries or time horizons. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to place four leading studies on GHG mitigation through technology improvement from the CEE region into an internationally comparable framework. Four studies were selected from three countries, Poland, Hungary and Estonia, which are all the results of major national and international efforts to assess costs and potentials of GHG reduction. The paper places their assumptions, methods and final results into a framework which enables policy-makers and project designers to compare these across geographical and technological boundaries. Since other studies from around the globe have been analysed in this framework in the literature, this paper provides a vehicle for the findings of these four studies to be compared to others worldwide. In addition, the paper highlights a few areas where similar studies to be completed in the future in the region may be enhanced by incorporating features used in GHG mitigation research in other parts of the world. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Central Granites-Gneiss-Migmatite Belt (CGGMB) of Madagascar: the Eastern Neoproterozoic Suture of the East African Orogen

The northeastern part of Madagascar is characterized by Archaean to early Proterozoic rocks composed principally of Archaean granite and greenstone/amphibolite as well as reworked migmatite with subordinate Proterozoic paragneisses. The southern part is mostly occupied by Proterozoic rocks, composed mostly of Meso to Neo-Proterozoic and less metamorphic metasediments (Itremo Group) in the northwest, para- and ortho-gneisses in most other areas, with minor granitic gneisses with some Archaean components in the southeast. The north-northwest trending Central Granite-Gneiss-Migmatite Belt (CGGMB) is situated at the western margin of the Archaean-early Proterozoic terrain. The CGGMB is composed of granite, gneiss and migmatite with distinct lithologies and structures. They are: i) many types of granites including alkaline to mildly alkaline granites, and calc-alkaline granites; ii) batholitic granites, migmatitic granites and granite dyke swarm, iii) eclogite, and iv) the Ankazobe-Antananarivo-Fianarantsoa Virgation.

The CGGMB was formed by the collision of the palaeo-Dharwar Craton to the east and the East African Orogen to the west at ca. 820-720 Ma and suffered indentation by a part of the western part of the East African Orogen at ca. 530 Ma that produced the Ankazobe-Antananarivo-Fianarantsoa Virgation at the centre of the CGGMB. Thus, the CGGMB is proposed to be the continuation of the eastern suture between the palaeo Dharwar Craton and the East African Orogen, and carries the main feature of the Pan-African collisional event in Madagascar.     

中国中、东部典型样区土壤和水体多样性关联分析

分别选取中国中、东部不同尺度典型样区为研究区域,将多样性理论与方法应用于水体空间分布多样性和土壤构成组分多样性评价中。计算了各研究区及其分区域内,以土属为基本单元的土壤构成组分多样性和2km×2km网格尺度下的水体空间分布多样性,并探索了两者之间的内在联系。研究结果表明:将多样性理论与研究方法应用于区域水资源的空间分布离散性评价具有可操作性;区域水体总面积变化与区域水体空间分布多样性变化之间具有一定的正相关关系,70%以上数据支持这一推断;区域水体比例与水体空间分布多样性之间并无绝对联系;水体和土壤研究数据均体现出分形特征及结构;区域土壤构成组分多样性与水体空间分布多样性之间存在负相关关系,大尺度区域下的相关系数R²约0.8。     

Late Caledonian Ductile Thrusting Deformation in the Central East Kunlun Belt, Qinghal, China and Its Significance： Evidence from Geochronology

Abstract A high‐angle ductile thrusting deformation with top‐to‐the‐north movement penetratively developed in the Proterozoic‐Early Paleozoic metamorphic rocks along the Central East Kunlun belt. The deformed rocks suffered epidote‐amphibolite facies metamorphism. On the basis of our previous study, we present more data in this paper to further support that the ductile thrust deformation occurred in the later Caledonian and more detailed information about the deformation. A zircon U‐Pb concordant age of 446±2.2 Ma of a deformed granodiorite in the ductile thrust zone was obtained and can be interpreted as the lower limit of the deformation. A syntectonically crystallized and also strongly deformed hornblende Ar/Ar dating gives an Ar/Ar plateau age of 426.5±3.8 Ma, which represents the deformation age. A strongly orientated muscovite gives an Ar/Ar plateau age of 408±1.6 Ma, representing the cooling age after the peak temperature, constraining the upper limit of the ductile thrust deformation. This ductile thrust deformation can be interpreted as the result of the closing of the Central East Kunlun archipelago ocean. To the north, Ar/Ar plateau ages of 382.9±0.2 Ma and 386.8±0.8 Ma of muscovite in the deformed Xiaomiao Group represent the uplift cooling ages of deeper rocks after the thrusting movement. The original thrusting foliation has a low angle. A rotation model was put forward to explain the development of the foliation from the original low‐angle to present high‐angle dipping.     

Late Caledonian Ductile Thrusting Deformation in the Central East Kunlun Belt, Qinghai, China and Its Significance: Evidence from Geochronology

A high-angle ductile thrusting deformation with top-to-the-north movement penetratively developed in the Proterozoic-Early Paleozoic metamorphic rocks along the Central East Kunlun belt. The deformed rocks suffered epidote-amphibolite facies metamorphism. On the basis of our previous study, we present more data in this paper to further support that the ducdle thrust deformation occurred in the later Caledonian and more detailed information about the deformation. A zircon U-Pb concordant age of 446±2.2 Ma of a deformed granodiorite in the ductile thrust zone was obtained and can be interpreted as the lower limit of the deformation. A syntectonically crystallized and also strongly deformed hornblende Ar/ Ar dating gives an Ar/Ar plateau age of 426.5±3.8 Ma, which represents the deformation age. A strongly orientated muscovite gives an Ar/Ar plateau age of 408±1.6Ma, representing the cooling age after the peak temperature, constraining the upper limit of the ductile thrust deformation. This ductile thru     

东秦岭虎豹河砾岩砾石的地球化学特征及其构造意义

东秦岭虎豹河砾岩为复成分砾岩层。砾岩中火成央砾石显示了ＬＩＬＥ中等富集，丰富变化不大，Ｂｂ（Ｔａ）有一定亏损，Ｔｈ－Ｔａ比值高，并具有来自岛弧演化不同阶段的两个岩浆源区的地球化学特征，反映它们主要受消减物质影响，且地壳物贡献不大的岛弧钙碱性岩浆的成因特征。     

The declining importance of agricultural employment in East Germany

Agriculture has ceased to be the major employer in the rural areas of East Germany. Far-reaching structural change has resulted in a sharp decrease in employment and the mono-structural character of villages has been lost. Unemployment is now a major problem and women are worst affected. New jobs have been created in construction and elsewhere in the tertiary sector but most people who have found new jobs have to commute to the towns or migrate permanently to the urban areas. A north-south contrast has developed because the more developed network of towns in the latter, combined with a relatively good infrastructure, has enabled many villages to survive as viable communities. An example is Fuchshain near Leipzig where employment with the farming company (the former cooperative with 4200 ha of land) has declined but the population has grown through new housing built for commuters. In the north there has been much depopulation and many houses are used as second homes. Either way there is more conflict occurring now within rural communities because of tensions between the employed and the unemployed and between old and new residents. It is therefore important that land use planning should take into account the changed economic and social profiles and measures should be adopted to ensure that the countryside remains visually attractive and socially cohesive. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The working class, minorities and housing in Paris, the rise of fragmentations

Which places are left to minorities in the housing and labour markets in metropolitan Paris? Over the last two decades, job structures have evolved dramatically, eroding the formerly prominent Paris working-class, shaking the social and political roots of its identity. These indicators would lead one to diagnose a growing fragmentation of metropolitan society. In the political debate, the burning issue of the crisis of suburbs has replaced outdated debate of the class struggle. This paper aims first to re-examine the interactions between social status and national origins, then analyses the housing conditions of different social strata, and finally demonstrates the pre-eminence of social status over national origins in the pattern of residential segregation.     

东秦岭造山带钠长岩的特征,成因及时代

经１／５万区调填图,作者在东秦岭造山带夹持于竹林关－青山断裂带和山阳－豆腐尖断裂带之间的原划“九里坪组”地层中解体出了一系列规模不大的钠长岩体。通过野外宏观调查和室内测试分析,对这些钠长岩的产状、地质背景、岩石化学和地球化学特征进行了综合研究。提出了这些钠长岩是由深部钠质熔浆沿断裂带上侵到地壳浅部发生侵入－交代作用而形成的观点。其成因模式为：侵入－隐爆－充填交代。这与前人在研究西秦岭造山带钠长岩时     

试论黔东及邻区大地构造相特征

根据黔东地区不同的发展演化阶段和造山性质,建立了该区三个发展演化阶段大地构造相特征。首次提出了洋陆转换造山性质和板内造山性质的大地构造相划分方案,即在洋陆转换的造山进程中,划分为离散背景下的大地构造相系、汇聚背景下的大地构造相系、碰撞背景下的大地构造相系和陆内造山背景下的大地构造相系;而在板内造山进程中,划分为裂陷背景下的大地构造相系、挤压背景下的大地构造相系和隆升背景下的大地构造相系,使之能更清晰地反映出本区不同造山性质的构造演化历程。     

东昆仑造山带花岗岩类Pb-Sr-Nd-O 同位素特征

本文报道了东昆仑造山带三叠纪辉长岩、花岗岩类及其包裹体的Pb、Sr、Nd和O同位素组成.东昆仑造山带花岗质岩石全岩和长石Pb同位素组成相差不大,具明显的造山带Pb同位素特征;Sr同位素初始值(ISr)变化于0.70144~0.70972之间,暗示幔源成因;εNd值变化于-4.49939~-9.19258之间,具壳源成因特点;Nd同位素模式年龄(tDM)在1.38~1.761Ga之间,与中元古代变质岩相当;O同位素组成变化范围7.8~9.5,表明花岗岩类成岩物质主要来自地壳.综合岩石的同位素组成,结合矿物学、岩石地球化学的研究,表明花岗岩浆主要起源于地壳,但与来自地幔的基性岩浆曾发生过混合作用,从而导致同位素组成趋于一致.