THE URBAN LABOR MARKET IN MEXICO: GLOBAL CHANGE,INFORMALITY, AND SOCIAL POLARIZATION

In this study I argue that Mexico's integration into the global economy has increased the dependent nature of its capitalist development and has resulted in the weakening of organized labor and growth of the informal sector. Neoliberal policies in Mexico have accentuated the disparities between the formal and informal sectors and between highly paid skilled workers and those working in unskilled and poorly paid occupations. New forms of geographic dispersion and agglomeration of economic activities contribute to the reproduction of differentiated labor markets in various regions and cities. This is particularly true in those areas most affected by the global economy, such as the major metropolitan areas and the northern regions of the country.

The main changes in the urban labor market associated with economic restructuring in Mexico during the 1980s are analyzed. The paper makes three main points: (1) the ability of the formal sector and especially industry to absorb labor has declined, and there is a clear trend toward a tertiarization of the economy; (2) the informal sector has experienced rapid growth, particularly in small firms and other less productive economic activities; and (3) the occupational structure displays more marginal employment and signs of polarization between the proportions of jobs with the highest and lowest levels of skill.     

THE POOR IN THE INNER CITY: STABILITY AND CHANGE IN TWO PARISIAN NEIGHBORHOODS

Gentrification causes area upgrading and population displacement, but also has wider effects. This article examines processes of planning blight and the labeling processes which create and maintain images of certain areas as being "unimprovable" by capital. A typology of poor neighborhoods in gentrifying cities is proposed with the suggestion that each type will contain populations with different and contrasted characteristics. These ideas are tested through a comparison of two neighborhoods in inner Paris. An understanding of the changing status of such districts can only be gained through a recognition of the importance of images and marketing and of the interests of capital.     

THE EXPERT WITNESS IN UNITARY HEARINGS: THE SIX GREEN FACTORS AND SPATIAL-DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE

Brown v. Board of Education was conceived in a time of judicial activism and a demographic context that reflected two nations, one white and one black. Forty years after Brown, the legal climate and the demographic composition of the United States are quite different. The 1990s are judicially conservative and the cities in particular are more diverse demographically. The intersection of a restrained court and fundamental demographic shifts has changed the agenda and raised issues of how to proceed toward the continuing objective of societal integration. Recent court decisions about unitary status and the return to local control have directed attention to the clash between spatial demographic change and legal intervention. Geography and demography have modified the effect of Brown and the potential for future judicial intervention in school systems. Whatever our ideological perspective, the intersection of geography and demography, and individual responses to legal action, clearly have limited the possibilities of change through legal intervention.     

内蒙古土默特平原北部全新世古环境变迁

内蒙古土默特平原北部地区全新世以来气候变迁主要经历了由琼－温－暖－温－凉的序列，可以划分为五个主要阶段：９１００ａＢＰ－７４００ａＢＰ，气候偏干偏冷；７４００ａＢＰ－５０００ａＢＰ，气候波动剧烈，属过渡期，前期气候温和偏干旱，后期温和偏湿润；５０００ａＢＰ－４１００ａＢＰ，气候温暖湿润，４１００ａＢＰ－１３５０ａＢＰ，属气候过渡期，气候逐渐趋向干旱，人类影响增大；     

SPATIAL PATTERNS OF FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN CHINA'S CITIES, 1980-1989

In the 1980s, foreign investment in China's cities experienced a northeastward movement from the southern coast to the central coast, and began to penetrate into inland cities, Foreign investment clustered in coastal delta areas and along the Changliang and Huanghe rivers. To understand these spatial patterns, a linear regression model is established. Cities with better power supplies, seaports, water transportation, communication, and investment incentives provided more favorable locations for foreign investment. Agglomerated cities had a better chance of attracting foreign investment than widely separated cities, with larger cities not necessarily attracting more foreign investment. Regression residuals also are analyzed for insights into spatial trends of foreign investment. Urban foreign investment in the near future probably will continue to accumulate in the coastal delta areas. Provincial capitals likely will be favorable locations for foreign investment that will further penetrate from the coastal areas into interior regions.     

NEIGHBORHOOD GENTRIFICATION: A DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS OF A HISTORIC DISTRICT IN CLEVELAND,OHIO

This study examines one gentrifying neighborhood, Ohio City, in Cleveland, Ohio. It utilizes block group-level data and discriminant analysis to identify key variables associated with the gentrification process. Two discriminant functions resulted from the analysis. One function is highly associated with the percentage of college-educated residents and the other associated with a high proportion of white population, aged 25 to 40, with high median incomes. The discriminant power accounted for by the two discriminant functions is 89%. The results of this study argue for increased use of block group data to examine gentrification, since these data allow more accurate analysis of gentrification borders, neighborhood change, and gentrification modeling.     

GENTRIFICATION IN KNOXVILLE,TENNESSEE: A STUDY OF THE FOURTH AND GILL NEIGHBORHOOD

The gentrification process is the movement of middle- and upper-class people into central-city working-class residential neighborhoods. Two important questions about the gentrification process are the origin of the new residents and their reasons for moving into these central-city neighborhoods. The study traces residents through two previous moves. It was found that the last move was generally intracity, but the preceding move was intercity. The cost of housing played a major role in the decision to move to the central city.     

THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW: FORTY YEARS OF SOCIAL & ECONOMIC CHANGE IN THE TROPICAL THIRD WORLD

Although the last 40 years have witnessed enormous changes within the Third World, many of these have been uneven in their intensity and impact. Indeed, the widening differences between developing countries beg the question as to whether they constitute a cohesive collectivity. This essay makes a comparison between the tropical Third World of the 1950s and that of the 1990s. In many ways the former was much more set and predictable in its relationships and structure than today. However, the changes which have taken place over the last 40 years have not always been to the advantage or lasting benefit of the majority of people in the Third World. A realistic appraisal of future problems and how these might be addressed is thus a central theme of this discussion.     

中国耕地数量下降之剖析:1986～1995年

本文从不同的数据来源对比和分析了１９８６至１９９５年之间中国耕地资源数量下降的状况,并对其构成进行了详尽的剖析。指出农业结构调整（指耕地改为园地、林地、牧地、鱼塘）占地是耕地减少的主要原因,达到总量的６２％;其次是三项建设（国家建设、集体建设和农村建房）,占总量的２１％;第三是灾害毁地,占总量的１７％。针对存在的问题,本文提出了加强土地用途管制等对策。     

BUSINESS CYCLE AND HOMOGENEITY IN THE RESIDENTIAL BUILT ENVIRONMENT: CANADA, 1986-1996

Today, many of us find ourselves housed within large tracts that are homogeneous in that the dwellings around them are similar to our own. On the other hand, heterogeneity in built environments is often an outcome of redevelopment. Because they are often done one-off, conversions and reconstruction can gradually reduce the homogeneity of an environment. Miron (1999) presented a method (termed “EA Circles”) of measuring the homogeneity of the residential built environment. This paper extends that analysis to show how, and explore why, homogeneity changed from 1986 to 1996. I present estimates that show a substantial increase in the incidence of homogeneous residential built environments in Canada during this period. These estimates show how the pace of redevelopment differed between the boom years of the late 1980s and the hesitant economic recovery in the first half of the 1990s. Furthermore, case studies are presented to illustrate how the EA Circle method helps to identify pathways of change in the residential built environment and to tie these to the business cycle. [Key words: homogeneity, built form, business cycle.]     

UNDERURBANIZATION POLICIES ASSESSED: CHINA, 1949-1986

Underurbanization may be defined as the extent to which the actual rate of urban growth falls short of the rate that would have occurred if there had been perfect and instantaneous adjustments of the population to urban-industrial productivity advantages. Eastern European scholars argue that underurbanization has been sought and achieved as an explicit policy objective by socialist governments. In this paper, the Tolley model is used to estimate productivity-based urban growth rates. These, in turn, permit an examination of whether, and to what extent, underurbanization may have been characteristic of China since 1949. Underurbanization was found throughout the Maoist period with three explainable contrary episodes. However, pent-up demand for urbanward migration has been released during Deng's Four Modernizations, and China now appears to be overurbanizing.     

THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN GEOGRAPHY: THINGS CHANGE,THINGS REMAIN THE SAME

Numbers of women in permanent academic ranks in US geography departments have increased since the 1970s but still constitute only eight percent of geography faculty. Women comprise a quarter of the new doctorates and low-ranking professors, but only 10% of the associate and three percent of full professors, both in large and small departments. One female faculty member in five holds a temporary line. Causes of and solutions to this imbalance are addressed.     

SOCIAL RELATIONS SPATIALLY FIXED: CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN SAN ANTONIO,TEXAS

ABSTRACT. More than 140 court cases filed in the United States between 1970 and 2003 argued that unacceptable and unconstitutional funding disparities exist among school districts in most states. In those arguments, stories, statistics, and maps are used to compare various school districts to prove that conditions are indeed unequal. Both sides—plaintiff and defendant—use such information to disprove each other's contentions. In so doing, each assumes that the political spaces of the school districts are absolute, timeless, and independent. Failure to recognize that these spaces—the school districts—are not objective but, in fact, constitutive of the class and race relations actually being argued and debated in court further legitimates local geographies of privilege and deprivation. I examine the formation of the school districts around San Antonio, Texas to illustrate that these districts are far from independent of one another and were formed to isolate privileged communities from the rest of the city. A relational view of space‐time allows such spaces as school districts to assume a political role, as opposed to the absolute, independent spaces they now represent.