Megadevelopment in Malaysia: From Heritage Landscapes to "Leisurescapes" in Melaka's Tourism Sector

In Malaysia, state promotion of tourism as a main component of service sector expansion and foreign exchange earnings has compelled government at all levels to facilitate leisure industry development. Even in the relatively small state of Melaka, where its historic landscapes constitute significant heritage tourism resources, development projects for theme parks and golf resorts have proliferated. This analysis examines Malaysian tourism development through an evaluation of the diverse tourism sectors in Melaka town and state – heritage, theme park, golf resort, and ecotourism – to demonstrate how the developmental contexts of national and international economic restructuring, combined with regional tourism demand for activity-oriented leisure, have rationalised large-scale, high-cost, environmentally-sensitive real estate development projects. In the process, authentic natural and historic landscapes have been rapidly forsaken for ersatz "leisurescapes" where both domestic and foreign tourists consume representations of diverse symbolic worlds.     

Pop-up landscapes: a new trigger to push up land value?

Through a qualitative analysis of pop-up landscapes on Philadelphia’s Delaware Waterfront, this paper examines how entrepreneurial urban actors, such as municipal officials, urban planning agencies, and landscape designers, strategically harness to catalyze investment. While pop-up landscapes have disrupted negative associations with the waterfront, providing a space for people to reimagine the city and playing an active role as an integrative public space, the paper argues that there are reasons to be skeptical about the long-term goals the pop-up landscapes serve, given the widespread focus on real estate-led development.     

孔子故里文化景观发展的历史层累及其机制效应

曲阜是中国历史文化名城,拥有“孔子故里”“东方圣城”“儒家文化发源地”等多个文化符号。然而,曲阜今日的景观格局是在历史发展过程中逐渐形成的。在这一过程中,为什么有些景观保留了下来,且影响日益扩大,而有的却湮没无闻？其背后的运行机制是什么？这些便是文章要探索的问题。已有关于文化景观的研究对景观的层累特性以及形成原因多有涉及,但较少分析层累过程中景观的筛选问题以及具体的机制效应。采用文献分析法,利用历史文物、历史文献和规划资料,以曲阜为例分析了城市文化景观的历史层累过程及其机制。结论如下：1）国家文化认同需要是造就曲阜文化景观历史层累及演变的主要原因。历史上,国家对儒学正统的不断强化,使曲阜与孔子和儒学有关的景观地位被不断抬高,而其他人文景观则被有意无意地忽略,导致最终消失。2）经济动机是当代曲阜文化景观维护与建设的重要标准。在当代,曲阜人文景观建设以服务旅游经济为目的,儒家文化的物质表征成为招揽游客的招牌和被消费的对象。3）鉴于曲阜在中国传统社会中的特殊地位,其人文景观被贴上了孔子与儒学的标签;但从另一方面看,这也限制了其城市景观多元化发展的可能性。     

中国海外投资项目的凑组模式研究——以中老铁路为例

“一带一路”倡议提出以来,中国海外项目投资的广度、深度及力度都在不断拓展。凑组理论将所有事物视为复杂关系的动态演变,因而从发展过程及成员关系的角度探究不同海外投资项目的凑组模式,能解构项目凑组中的复杂性并减少不确定性,对于提高项目的风险规避能力、运营能力和盈利能力具有十分重要的意义。基于凑组理论,本文构建中国海外投资项目凑组的理论框架,并以中老铁路为例解析凑组模式。研究表明：① 海外投资项目可以通过技术、产业和市场等价值关联进行凑组,因而中国企业的海外投资可以采用“以一带多,核心集聚”的方式。② 海外投资项目的类型和领域越多样越广泛,项目凑组越完整越稳定。③ 凑组所形成的空间形态取决于项目的空间分布与项目间的价值关系,中老铁路表现为“走廊”式空间形态。④ 中老铁路具备形成项目凑组的条件,但后期技术需求的不确定及相关产业下游项目投资的缺乏,使中老铁路建设带来的延伸市场缺乏项目支撑。     

全球化背景下城市的文化景观设计浅议--以兰州市为例

文化全球化产生了全球化的文化景观,城市作为这种全球化文化景观的主要体现者,应该在保持其民族地域文化的同时,大力吸取、再加工各种外来文化,向外辐射新文化。景观生态学原理具有关于运动和流动等景观格局关系的一般性意义,适用于包括城市文化在内的各种景观。文化再生功能体是城市文化景观设计的核心部分,应该具有为本民族的特色文化提供核心生境,同时为外来文化和新文化提供边缘生境的功能。以兰州市为例对文化景观特别是文化再生功能体的设计作了示意性说明。     

Geographic approaches to resolving environmental problems in search of the path to sustainability: The case of polluting plant relocation in China

This paper applies a spatial perspective to environmental problems in search for the paths to sustainability, using polluting plant relocation in China as a case study. It examines how environmental improvement in one place may lead to environmental degradation in another place, how geographic concepts such as location, distance, spread and backwash effects, and land use models can help understand such phenomenon, and what the implications are for the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) and development policies. Field research was conducted from 2006 to 2012 in Chinese cities of Beijing, Dalian, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuxi, Hangzhou, and Ningbo. It involved intensive site observations and in-depth interviews with government officials of environmental protection, economic development, and business recruitment, and grassroots environmentalists. The results indicate that environmental improvement in all these cities has led to environmental degradation in their suburbs and rural areas due to relocation of polluting plants. Environmental spread and backwash effects may help explain the severe intra-regional environmental and economic disparities and environmental injustice. The powerful and wealthy may achieve rapid economic growth and environmental recovery at the expenses of the powerless and poor, leading to environmental poverty and sustainability disparities.     

Evolution of new regional development interventions in New Zealand: An analysis of the first year of the Provincial Growth Fund

Regional development has evolved in response to shifting local and global priorities. These shifts have transformed both the way we think about regions, their role and how that shapes the outcomes and benefits that might occur from engaging in regional development. Key debates centre around the ability (or desirability) of regional development interventions to unsettle path dependence and “lock‐in” created by past approaches and to create opportunities for alternative development futures and to provide choices between sectoral‐based investments to support economic activity in contrast to a more place‐based approach to regional development. This paper overviews the dynamic nature of regional development to offer reasons for its recent resurgence by highlighting the key debates about the purpose and function of regions and what regional development can or should do. We then discuss the New Zealand context specifically and use the first year of Provincial Growth Fund investments to reflect on how the processes, objectives and goals reflect particular interpretations of the meaning and purpose of regional development. We conclude that a strong adherence to a growth imperative has the potential to reinforce path dependencies at the expense of alternative development pathways.     

我国中部地区都市经济区空间组织体系研究

区域经济发展水平的提高客观上要求生产要素和产业格局在空间上合理配置, 以形成高 效的空间组织形态。面对国内外竞争, 如何构建高效的空间结构, 使之形成富有活力的组织体系, 是“中部崛起战略”的热点问题和亟待解决的重大课题。本研究结合中部地区的社会经济基础及 发展潜力, 指出在现有人口- 产业集聚区基础上构建多层次、高效运转的都市经济区空间组织体 系是增强中部地区竞争能力的关键。文章在城市中心性和交通运输联系分析的基础上, 提出武汉 大都市经济区, 长沙、郑州中等都市区, 太原、合肥、南昌基本都市区的等级体系与划分方案。     

陆地表层综合地域系统划分的探讨--以青藏高原为例

近年来地理学研究的突出特点是,愈益与区域可持续发展这个主题密切联系起来,强调综合性。其中的关键科学问题难点是自然因素与人文因素的结合。本文从综合区域系统划分的指标体系入手,在传统的地域系统划分原则的基础上,强调了自然与社会经济因素在区划中具有同等重要性的原则,并区分了不同空间层级两者的不同作用。等级单位采用五级制, 本研究以青藏高原为例,将其划分为3个生态带,15个地-人区,22个生态经济地区,29个经济小区。研究显示,刻画这样的陆地表层综合地域系统,有助于认识我国陆地表层中的人地关系,为区域可持续发展服务。     

Local content in emerging growth poles: Local effects of multinational corporations’ use of contract strategies

The article analyses ‘local content’ in the strategies of multinational corporations (MNCs). Local content is explored as a link between MNCs and growth poles emerging through contract systems that encourage regional firms to connect with global networks entering a region. With a theoretical starting point in literature on local content and growth pole development, the analysis contributes to developing theories of growth poles by adding novel elements such as MNCs’ procurement strategies and their influence on growth poles through local content in contracts. Three aspects of MNCs’ contracts able to secure local content and thus increase contributions from extraction projects to regional development processes are analysed: (1) whether and how MNC projects are divided into subcontract modules, (2) the position and use of framework contracts, and (3) how transportation costs to sites are included in the biddings. It is concluded that further research on MNCs and local content would need to be aware of the following: factors that facilitate or maintain discrimination between bidders included and not included in global networks; reasons why advantages of geographical proximity are underexposed; and how public authorities (states) establish rules that give equality to local enterprises in their competition with firms entering from outside.     

Contesting ‘Local’ Commemoration of the Second World War: the case of the Changi Chapel and Museum in Singapore

This paper concerns the performance of national war memory at the Changi Chapel and Museum, a site honouring the many prisoners interned in Japanese-Occupied Singapore—especially at Changi—during the Second World War. In the light of the global nature of ‘the Changi story’, and the predominantly transnational nature of its present in situ memorialisation, we first examine how the Singapore state has sought to ‘localise’ the site to make it equally appealing to Singaporeans, as a place where a sense of their ‘shared history’ may be invoked. We then explore the Singaporeans' views about the site and its reconfiguration as a national icon, arguing how the state's task of ‘localising’ the site has been a vexed process due to myriad factors such as ethnic and religious plurality, and the already foreign-centric bias of prevailing knowledge about Changi. Following that, we show how this performance of national memory is also inflected by Australia's national remembrance of the same event. More broadly, we highlight the contested process of ‘localising’ such war memoryscapes as national iconography, suggesting how it may be more fruitful to conceive them as ‘international memoryscapes’, or places to which all individuals can relate regardless of race or national affiliations.     

The Development of Wildlife Community Conservancies in Kenya: A Preliminary Review

The significance of biodiversity conservation has transformed from a concern for conservation of endangered species and landscapes into an increasingly diverse yet comprehensive set of conservation, social and economic development goals. Community conservancy, a powerful extension of the PA system, has great potential to support biodiversity conservation, poverty eradication and conflict mitigation. Based on its policy environment and development characteristics, Kenya has implemented community conservation practices, and established over 160 conservancies across the country in the past decades. This paper reviews the development and experiences of community conservancies, discusses how they have been implemented in Kenya, and looks at the management paradigm, efficacy and challenges to help better understand the community conservancy approach. The development trajectory and lessons these conservancies have to offer can contribute to the sustainable utilization of natural resources and the enhancement of community wellbeing in Kenya and other countries alike.     

西辽河流域历史早期的文化景观格局

考古发现表明 ,西辽河流域自历史早期以来 ,先后演绎了多期文化 ,文明一直延续至今。本文根据大量的野外考古调查资料 ,在典型考古遗址、教来河流域、敖汉旗三个空间尺度上建立了本区历史早期文化景观的DEM模型 ,分析了赤峰全境历史早期文化遗址点的水平分布格局 ,从四个不同的空间尺度探讨了西辽河流域历史早期文化景观的演变过程 ,概括出本区历史时期文化景观垂向变迁和水平变迁两种模式 ,为进一步深入研究本区人地系统的相互作用机制提供了基础。     

On The Waterfront: Globalization and Urbanization in Singapore

Although many cities aspire to "global-city status," few have been as explicit as Singapore in its quest to create urban landscapes to project its global aspirations. This paper presents the case of the Singapore River development zone as a "hyper-symbol" of Singapore's global urbanism. By creating a world-class riverfront not unlike the acclaimed waterfronts of London, Sydney, or San Francisco, Singapore's urban planners hope to project the city as a venue worthy of world-class tourism and leisure activities, an important node in international circuits of capital, and a vibrant city for both foreign visitors and local residents. Our paper, however, also argues that local forces and influences play a significant role in the waterfront's development. The Singapore River landscape is the negotiated outcome of both globalism and localism—a dialectical landscape formed by dominant global influences on the one hand, and emerging local processes on the other. Fieldwork comprising a questionnaire survey, in-depth interviews, and on-site observations provide evidence of such global-local interactions. The paper contends that the challenges at the river are symptomatic of the broader Singapore experience as the city-state grapples with issues of national identity, local empowerment, and community rights in the midst of a global convergence of tourists, capital, people, and cultures.     

广东大峡谷河床壶穴形态的形成与发育

对广东中新世夷平面上大布河强烈下切的广东大峡谷源头河段的227 处壶穴形态特征进行详细测量并做统计分析, 结合野外观测结果从统计学的角度定量地描述壶穴的形成和发育过程。研究得出以下结论: 壶穴的形成与发育只与河床局部的地质、地貌、流水特征有关, 其形成始于河床床面薄弱处和三角(撞击) 坑; 壶穴形态受构造节理控制; 壶穴发育过程中, 深度与口径间有很强的(对数) 正相关关系; 壶穴发育过程中, 其形态和流水作用的形式不是固定的; 在下切强烈的河段, 作为河床下切的侵蚀形式之一, 壶穴形成既不需要很长时间, 也不能充分发育, 而且难以长期保留。以统计方法定量地研究河流壶穴有助于解决广东第四纪环境的有关争论。     

INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE AND PLACE IDENTITY IN SPAIN: FROM MONUMENTS TO LANDSCAPES*

In Spain, the birth of interest in the nation's industrial heritage dates from the 1980s and occurred alongside the process of deindustrialization. Policies concerning derelict industrial sites have shifted gradually from destruction to preservation, rehabilitation, and enhancement, and industrial heritage enhancement projects are now widespread in the country. However, a clear mismatching has arisen between institutional and academic initiatives and local communities, which exhibit widespread disinterest in or even rejection of industrial remains. This problematic situation can be related to the utilization of industrial heritage as an economic resource without paying much attention to its connections with memory and identity. Also, the mismatching is due to a positivist approach to industrial heritage whereby the monument and the museum are prioritized. We argue that projects which consider industrial remains as part of cultural landscapes might shorten the gap between the institutional and economic side of industrial heritage and its identity‐building and popular facets.     

Globalisation,contest and paradox in a continuing cultural landscape: Land reform in the New Zealand High Country

Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 109(2):161–179, 2009

A key feature of globalization is the way that local landscapes are progressively opened up to the influence of global markets, consumers and capital. The transformations that result are frequently politically contested, and can profoundly and quickly affect cultural landscapes that have evolved slowly over long periods. The contests over policy direction may draw upon long established ideals of occupancy and ownership, and such ‘policy myths’ may paradoxically serve to undermine the very landscapes from which they are drawn. The New Zealand South Island High Country is a distinctive continuing cultural landscape that is currently undergoing radical change as a result of land tenure reform. The unarticle demonstrates the way that cultural and political narratives and ideals are critical factors in mediating the relationship between globalization and local landscape change in this iconic landscape.     

Forgotten Roots of the Green City: Subsistence Gardening in Columbus,Ohio, 1900-1940

Subsistence gardens were a significant land use in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area from 1900 to 1940. Their existence, however, was materially erased from the city and discursively erased from its history after that period. This paper investigates the processes of that erasure, particularly in the American Addition neighborhood of Columbus, concentrating on the articulation of an urban normative that made such land uses appear contrary to "modern" urban development. At the same time, the existence of such practices and landscapes in the city was explained away by a crisis narrative of the garden that helped to support the idea that such practices did not produce "normal" urban spaces. The simultaneous material and discursive colonization of subsistence gardens as "relief" measures during the Great Depression left these landscapes and areas dependent on the City of Columbus, under whose control they were transformed into more "appropriate" cityscapes.     

Changes in morphology and soil nutrient patterns of nebkhas in arid regions along a precipitation gradient

Nebkhas, discrete mounds of sand and vegetation, are a common landscape feature critical to the stability of desert ecosystems and supported by limited precipitation. Nebkha morphology and spatial pattern vary in landscapes, but it is unclear how they change along precipitation gradients in arid and semi-arid regions. In this study we determined morphology and soil nutrient patterns of nebkha from different regions of northwestern China. The objective of this study was to understand zonal differences among nebkhas and how morphological characteristics and soil nutrient patterns of nebkha change along a precipitation gradient in northwestern China. Our results shows that mean annual precipitation(MAP) had significant effects on morphological characteristics of nebkhas such as height, area, and volume which significantly decreased with an increase in MAP. MAP had significant positive effects on shrub cover and species richness of nebkha. Soil nutrients such as soil organic matter(SOM), total carbon(TC), total nitrogen(TN), and total phosphorus(TP) in the 0-10 cm layer increased with an increase of MAP, and soil nutrient content within nebkhas was higher than in inter-nebkha areas.We concluded that nebkhas are "fertile islands" with an important role in ecosystem dynamics in study regions. Further,MAP is a key factor which determined zonal differences, morphological, and soil nutrients patterns of nebkhas. However,disturbance, such as animal grazing, and planted sand-stabilizing vegetation accelerated the degeneration of nebkha landscapes. We recommend implementation of protective measures for nebkhas in arid and semi-arid areas of China.     

商业化背景下古村落旅游景观生产 ——以安徽宏村为例

以安徽省古村落宏村为例,采用参与式观察和半结构访谈的方法对其旅游景观的生产方式与机制进行研究。结果发现,随着商业化发展,宏村旅游景观生产由原来单一的文物古建保护向更趋复杂化转变,针对3种不同类型的旅游景观采取相应的生产方式。宏村旅游景观生产背后是多种力量参与的生产机制：政府与开发商强强联合,是旅游景观生产的主导力量;当地居民依然扎根宏村,是旅游景观生产的核心灵魂;景区商家热衷于打造“店铺景观”,是旅游景观生产的积极分子;外来游客提出的改进建议则是宏村旅游景观生产的重要参考。4种力量集团本着对各自利益的谋求,彼此间相互合作,影响宏村旅游景观生产的最终结果。最后提出,古村落旅游景观生产需要还原原住居民生活化场景,借旅游商业化发展之势,建立均衡、可持续的景观生产机制与合理的利益分配体系或许是古村落旅游景观生产的正解。