The Urban Geography of Subsidiary Headquarters in North America: Explorations by sector and Foreign Linkage

The complexity of the firm is a hallmark of the current economy. Corporate subsidiaries and their headquarters are a key expression of the development of businesses today. The analysis presented here extends on previous subsidiary research by analyzing the evolving headquarters location of foreign and domestic subsidiaries in the United States and Canada from 1996 to 2004. This study finds that certain U.S. and Canadian sectors are home to disproportionate numbers of subsidiaries. It also shows that different sectors in each country have seen major changes in their subsidiary communities, that foreign and domestic subsidiaries in the United States and Canada exhibit distinctive geographies, and that parent corporations from various countries follow distinctive strategies in locating their U.S. and Canadian subsidiary headquarters. The study argues that this line of research is one component in the strengthening of theory related to the location of elite corporate activities.     

CIRCULATION PATTERNS AND TEMPERATURE FIELDS ASSOCIATED WITH EXTENSIVE SNOW COVER ON THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT

Weekly snow cover areas, derived from the NOAA/NESS Northern Hemisphere Digitized Snow and Ice Cover Data Base, were correlated with weekly temperature anomalies across the United States and with weekly 700-mb geopotential heights over the North American sector. The correlations were computed for snow cover across the entire North American continent as well as the western and eastern United States for the winters 1966–67 through 1979–80. Extensive snow cover is associated with negative temperature anomalies across most of the continental United States. The strongest relationship occurs along the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains from the Canadian border to the central Great Plains and reflects the southward movement of cold arctic air masses toward the Gulf of Mexico. An anomalous trough over the western part of North America is responsible for extensive snow cover in the winter. The surface storm track is displaced southward during winters with heavy snow cover, with cyclones occurring more frequently in the southern Plains and southeastern United States. Moist Gulf of Mexico air advected northward by the southerly flow aloft is an important prerequisite condition for the occurrence of extensive snow cover in the eastern United States during the first half of winter.     

The suburban bias of American society?

Past research has characterized countries as displaying the traits of urban or rural bias. Neither concept fits the United States well. We propose, as a hypothesis for research, that it may better be understood as displaying a suburban bias vis-à-vis both urban and rural populations. Drawing on the urban and rural bias literatures, we discuss two forms that suburban bias might take, allocational and dispositional, and the ways in which they might be identified. We offer initial evidence of a prevailing suburban bias in the United States in two spheres, those of judicial interpretation and American planning history, and conclude with suggestions for further research on the hypothesis.     

Examining the Variability of Crossing Times for Canadian Trucks at the Three Major Canada–U.S. Border Crossings

Land borders connecting Canada and the United States are vital transportation facilities for the two countries. Truck crossing times at these facilities can have a significant impact on the performance of the economy. To date, knowledge about border crossing times has been limited due to lack of detailed data on the Canadian border. This article explores and models the patterns of crossing times at the three major land crossings connecting Canada to the United States: Ambassador Bridge, Blue Water Bridge, and Peace Bridge. The analysis is based on 387,775 border crossing truck trips that were generated between Canada and the United States over a course of twelve months. Seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) models are estimated to evaluate the seasonal and hourly crossing times of Canada- and U.S.-bound trips on each border crossing, controlling for traffic intensity in the models. The SUR modeling approach is chosen to control for potential cross-model correlations. The results suggest that crossing times at the border vary by season and hour of the day. Crossing times also vary by direction of traffic and by type of day (i.e., weekday vs. weekend). Traffic intensity has a significant influence on crossing times at two of the crossings but not the Blue Water Bridge. Finally, crossing times are more variable during the summer season and tend to be higher during the late evening hours and past midnight.     

“精明增长”及其对我国城市规划管理的启示

以"精明增长"是否适用于中国的城市规划管理为基本出发点,在理清"精明增长"概念的基础上,分析中国与美国城市发展差异,探讨"精明增长"理念对我国城市规划管理的启示。介绍了"精明增长"产生的背景及内涵,阐述了美国"精明增长"发展计划的实践并对此作出评价。基于中美差异的思考对"精明增长"在我国的应用意义和可行性进行了论述,结合中国国情思考其对我国城市规划管理的启示,提出了从理论实践和技术手法上用"精明增长"的理念来为科学合理的城市规划管理进行理念更新的建议。     

The Impact of U.S. Government Antiterrorism Policies on Canada‐U.S. Cross‐Border Commerce: An Exploratory Study from Western New York and Southern Ontario

This article examines the extant and potential impact of U.S. antiterrorism policies on Canada‐U.S. cross‐border commerce. Particular attention is focused on the cross‐border trade that takes place between southern Ontario (Canada) and western New York (United States). Evidence from a survey of Canadian and U.S. exporters suggests that U.S. antiterrorism measures have inflated the business costs of exporters on both sides of the border. These measures have also created shipment delays that ultimately imply lost revenues for producers, as well as higher prices for consumers. Security‐related initiatives motivated by a genuine concern for the well‐being of U.S. citizens may nevertheless act as nontariff barriers to bilateral trade. We argue that a potential long‐run consequence of these additional costs is trade diversion. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of the empirical findings for the geography of Canada‐U.S. bilateral trade.     

NODAL HETEROLOCALISM AND TRANSNATIONALISM AT THE UNITED STATES‐CANADIAN BORDER*

ABSTRACT. Since the late 1990s Wilbur Zelinsky's theory of “heterolocalism’ has provided human geographers and other social scientists with a new approach to analyzing the spatial patterns and ethnic identities of recent immigrants in the United States. Zelinsky's heterolocal model suggests that, to a degree unknown in the past, new migrants in North American cities may choose to settle in widely dispersed places, rather than in more concentrated ethnic enclaves, while maintaining their ethnic identities. This article expands on and critiques prior work on heterolocalism in Oregon by examining the spatial patterns, ethnic and religious identities, and transnational relationships of two recent refugee groups in three urban areas in the Pacific Northwest. Using data from U.S. and Canadian census records, refugee resettlement agency files, survey questionnaires, structured and unstructured interviews, and participant observation with post‐Soviet Russians and Ukrainians in the Vancouver, British Columbia, Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon metropolitan areas, I analyze the spatial patterns and related social networks that define the identities and residential and religious spaces of these groups to test the efficacy of relating heterolocalism and transnationalism across an international boundary.     

Social Attitudes Predict Biases in Geographic Knowledge*

Three principal components were found to underlie Texas university students' experiences with and attitudes toward Canada, the United States, and Mexico: diversity orientation, Mexican experiences, and Canadian experiences. Diversity orientation included positive attitudes toward Hispanics, Canadians, minorities, interethnic friendships, and dating and was negatively correlated with natio‐centrism (e.g., believing U.S. citizens receive the world's best education). Diversity orientation and natio‐centrism were not related to experiences with Mexico or Canada. Students estimated the locations of Canadian cities too far north and Mexican cities too far south. Biased estimates for Mexican cities were negatively correlated with diversity orientation, not experience with Mexico.     

The Economic Impact of War: the Case of the U.S. Civil War

Abstract

American geographers have tended to ignore the effects of war upon the economic development of the United States. Using the values of real and personal property given in the U.S. Censuses between 1850 and 1890, the impact of the Civil War and the duration of that impact can be measured relatively. The Civil War not only destroyed the capital resources of the South, but also appears to have led to the predominance of New York City in American economic life.     

North American Natural Gas: Data Show Supply Problems

Natural gas is increasingly the fuel of choice for domestic and industrial use and for electric power generation. With pipelines in all 50 states, gas now fuels more than one-half of United States homes. Demand for all uses is projected to rise. United States production peaked in 1971, and is in decline. The United States in 2002 imported 15% of its gas from Canada, which amount was 56% of Canada's production. However, Canada's production now also is in decline. Mexico's production declined from 1999 to 2002 against rising demand. Mexico is increasingly a net gas importer from the United States. In both the United States and Canada, intensive drilling is being offset by high depletion rates. Frontiers for more production include deep basin drilling, improved exploration and reservoir development technology, increased coalbed methane exploitation, and access to lands not now accessible because of environmental and other restrictions. Stranded gas in Arctic regions of the United States and Canada offer some potential for additional supplies, but pipeline access is at least five years to ten years or more away. Additional LNG landing facilities are needed, and are planned, but these are several years away in significant numbers. For the immediate future, rationing of available gas by the market mechanism of higher prices seems the only option. In the longer term, it seems North America will be increasingly dependent on LNG.     

The Hilliness of U.S. Cities

What is a hilly city, and which cities are hilliest? This study outlines a basket of methods for quantifying the differential hilliness of U.S. cities. We rank the 100 largest cities in the contiguous United States, using a selection of eight methods to evaluate their comparative hilliness. We then reflect on how four key “modes of encounter” with terrain shape human perceptions of urban hilliness: visual, pedestrian, automotive, and imagined/conceptual. Varying priorities among these different modes of encounter shape which of our indices may best correlate with lay understandings of urban hilliness or particular policy problems. We conclude with implications of this work for contemporary geographic scholarship and suggestions for further research, particularly with regard to the political and economic effects of hilliness.     

Environment,Culture, and The Great Lakes Fisheries

The commercial fisheries of the United States and Canadian Great Lakes are in a long period of decline. Detailed statistics kept for well over a century document a fluctuating pattern of harvests of the major commercial species. In the 1940s, sea lamprey began to devastate the fisheries, an effect that has not been fully countered. Overfishing, nonnative species, declining nutrient levels, and chemical pollution have contributed to reduced catches. Court decisions in the United States and Canada during the past thirty years have awarded a sizable share of commercial fishing rights to Native North Americans for their own support and sustenance. The Lake Erie yellow perch and walleye fishery, based mainly in Ontario, is the most successful commercial fishing operation in the region. Despite the many environmental and cultural challenges, the Great Lakes fisheries live on.     

国内外城市规划实施管理比较研究

通过对比分析美国、英国、德国和我国的城市规划实施管理制度,了解到西方发达国家城市规划具有规划设计可实施性和法律权威性强、实施管理程序简洁高效、城市规划调整程序严谨等优点,但在充分发挥建筑师的创造性、引导和促进城市开发建设等方面存在一定的局限性.我们应该认真吸取他们的成功经验,以期为推进我国规划实施管理制度改革与创新提供有益的借鉴.     

IDENTITY,BANAL NATIONALISM,CONTESTATION, AND NORTH AMERICAN LICENSE PLATES*

In the early 1900s, U.S. state and Canadian provincial governments began to register automobiles and issue license plates to their owners. Within several decades of the first issuance of license plates, state and provincial governments began to use these plates for advertising purposes, such as promoting local economies and tourism. In recent decades, however, governments have used license plates to promote national identities and nationalist ideals. Using examples from the United States and Canada, I examine how governments have used such banal signifiers of place as license plates to craft and promote these identities and how drivers have contested that usage.     

THE GRAVESTONE INDEX: TRACKING PERSONAL RELIGIOSITY ACROSS NATIONS,REGIONS, AND PERIODS*

ABSTRACT. Given shortcomings in traditional methods of gauging levels of religious sentiment in national or local communities—affiliation with a congregation, church attendance, responses to opinion polls—this exploratory article proposes a novel, arguably more sensitive measure of personal religiosity, the Gravestone Index; that is, the incidence of religious symbols, iconography, or text on permanent memorials. Its application to 58,490 grave markers observed in 111 community, or nondenominational, cemeteries in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain yielded substantial findings, some expected but others violently at odds with the conventional wisdom. Seemingly reflecting the secularization of society, the Gravestone Index declines throughout the early twentieth century but, contrariwise, has rebounded strongly since the 1960s, indicating some sort of ongoing religious revival in all three lands. However, it fails to show any of the anticipated regional variation within the United States, notably that between South and non‐South. Even more surprisingly, it records a level of British and Canadian religiosity persistently far above the U.S. value.     

加拿大入境美国旅游流的地域对接分析

加拿大游客入境美国旅游是北美最大的国际旅游流。依据2006～2007年的有关统计资料,采用游客到访率、市场占有率和二维矩阵模型等,分析了加拿大10个省到美国22个州旅游流的0-D对接关系。结果发现:加拿大游客入境美国旅游,多以北部边界、五大湖区,沿环美高速铁路分东西两线流向美国南部;从加拿大各省到美国各州旅游流,遵循以"三择原理"为特征的0-D对接关系。其中,东部各省游客主要分布在五大湖区和东部沿海,中部各省游客分布在相邻的边界各州,西部各省游客主要分布在美国西部沿海,受趋"阳光性"影响沿环美高铁可抵达南部的佛罗里达。加拿大各省游客在美国各州的分布,主要受距离衰减原理、沿高铁和航空线分布、以及顶极旅游资源吸引的控制。这个研究拓展了旅游流0-D对接中的多源对多汇,为我国沿边省区与周边国家开展跨国旅游合作提供借鉴。     

Population and employment in selected countries bordering the Pacific

This study is concerned with the dynamics of labor force composition in selected countries bordering the Pacific. The estimates presented are based on national definitions of urban and rural places and of the labor force and are derived primarily from published U.N. data. Variations in labor force composition and in urbanization levels by country are discussed. Countries considered include Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Peru, the Philippines, and the United States.     

Immigration,local policy,and national identity in the suburban United States

Since 2000, the American suburb has emerged as a principal destination for new immigrants to the United States, both documented and undocumented. Whereas some suburban communities have responded to perceived undocumented immigrants with hostility in the form of exclusionary local immigration policies, others have introduced policies designed to welcome immigrants independent of federal legal status. In this article, I employ a qualitative comparative case study analysis of four local immigration policies in the Chicago and Washington DC metropolitan areas to explain how suburbs justify their policy positions. I find that these suburban communities relied on conceptions of American identity and the ‘American Dream’ in support of their policies, but leveraged these tropes in vastly different ways depending on the broader strategic purposes of the policies. These divergent suburban immigration policies both challenge traditional notions of suburban political and cultural homogeneity and reveal how such heterogeneity has produced a distinct unevenness in contemporary local policy responses to undocumented immigration within metropolitan regions.     

“空间-主题”框架下中美城市旅游研究对比——以2008—2017年城市旅游博士论文为例

城市旅游的发展带动了相关研究的热潮,论文以2008—2017年间中美城市旅游相关的377篇博士论文为对象,分析在城市旅游研究领域中,中美两国的研究结构和研究内容。建立相关的“空间-主题”的城市旅游研究矩阵,借鉴产业结构的研究方法,通过对比分析发现,近10 a年来,中美城市旅游博士论文的发文量差异不大,而美国论文的学科构成、来源学校高于中国相关研究;在研究结构上,中美两国较为相似,在不同空间尺度上中国研究集中度较高也相对均衡;对于城市旅游6大主题的内容分析,中美两国学者研究成果各有所偏重,但也具有一定相似性。最后,通过中美对比,在研究结构、研究空间、研究内容和研究方法上进行总结和展望。     

Food Deserts in the Prairies? Supermarket Accessibility and Neighborhood Need in Edmonton,Canada*

The U.S. and U.K. literatures have discussed “food deserts,” reflecting populated, typically urban, low‐income areas with limited access to full‐service supermarkets. Less is known about supermarket accessibility within Canadian cities. This article uses the minimum distance and coverage methods to determine supermarket accessibility within the city of Edmonton, Canada, with a focus on high‐need and inner‐city neighborhoods. The results show that for 1999 both of these areas generally had higher accessibility than the remainder of the city, but six high‐need neighborhoods had poor supermarket accessibility. We conclude by examining potential reasons for differences in supermarket accessibility between Canadian, U.S., and U.K. cities.