Neighborhood Activism among Homeowners as a Politics of Space

Most approaches to neighborhood activism among homeowners explain it in terms of a single social variable, such as class or race or gender. This article argues that, by focusing on one social category, these approaches fail to examine the range of variables that influence homeowner activism. The paper argues that, instead of understanding homeowner activism as a politics of class or race or gender, it should be understood as a politics of space. Such an approach allows us to understand how social variables interrelate in homeowners’ political project and provides a more effective explanation for why this agenda is translated into action.     

South Central Farmers and Shadow Hills Homeowners: Land Use Policy and Relational Racialization in Los Angeles∗

This article draws from the recent relational turn in geography to develop a model of relational racialization. It argues that racism functions through the legal and discursive production of linked, interdependent, and unequal places. By comparing two social movements in Los Angeles, the South Central Farmers and the Shadow Hills homeowners, I examine two spatial discourses through which race is relationally reproduced: unequal abilities to mobilize the entitlements of “property rights” and unequal claims to represent hegemonic forms of local heritage. When materialized and naturalized in land use policy, these discourses re-create racial disparities in wealth and poverty and reproduce the qualitative nature of the physical places on which racism depends.     

Path Dependency and Patterns of Collective Action: Space,Place, and Agency in Long Beach,California, 1900–1960

Drawing on the insights of the geography, structural, and social movement literature this study analyzes the interactive effects of structure, space, place, and agency on patterns of collective action in Long Beach, California. Long Beach and Los Angeles occupy the same regional landscape with similar economies, yet the logic of collective action varies considerably. It is argued that preceding 1960, pro-business elites in Long Beach allied with their Los Angeles counterparts to spatially restrict labor organizing and foster patterns of noncontiguous interdependencies within and among labor and community groups. Through violence, cultural references, local and extralocal political policies, and regional coalition building before 1960, the Long Beach ruling elites fragmented the labor and community sector and inhibited the emergence of an organizational infrastructure necessary to foster community-based change after 1960. The legacies of this period are reflected in a fragmented labor and community sector set against a powerful ideologically driven, business-led opposition.     

Decentralization and local institutional arrangements for wetland management in Ethiopia and Sierra Leone

In Ethiopia and Sierra Leone, recent social, political and environmental transformations have precipitated the intensification of wetland use, as local people have sought to safeguard and strengthen their livelihoods. Concurrent decentralization policies in both countries have also seen the government strengthen its position at the local level. Drawing upon recent field-based evidence from Ethiopia and Sierra Leone, this paper examines the compatibility between community-based local institutions for wetland use, and the process of decentralization. It argues that decentralization has in fact restricted the development of mature local institutional arrangements, due to its intrinsically political interventionist nature.     

Koreatown and Korean Small Firms in Los Angeles: Locating in the Ethnic Neighborhoods*

The locations of Korean firms in Los Angeles reflect spatial segmentation in markets and the provision of labor, in that the ethnic neighborhoods facilitate positive business environments for ethnic small firms. While Korean small businesses serve both community needs and broader local markets, firm locations are closely associated with the residential patterns of some ethnic populations. To address the specificity of firm locations, this paper examines Koreatown using historical sources and recent property development, identifies changes in the locational patterns of Korean firms between 1975 and 1986, and analyzes relationships between business density and density of ethnic populations for zip code areas. The findings of this study indicate that both the development of Koreatown and the presence of ethnic neighborhoods are important influences on the location of Korean businesses.     

洛杉矶时装业生产网络研究

近年来,生产网络已经成为研究热点,其对纳入网络中不同企业和地方的技术升级、价值增加和获得具有重要意义。本文以洛杉矶时装业生产网络为对象,深入分析其生产网络的运行体制,吸取成功经验。研究表明,时尚区内密集的社会网络和开放的劳工市场,快速与时尚的生产理念,地理空间聚集,各公司之间竞争、合作、信任关系以及商贸促进区对区域发展的调节与治理等都是其取得成功的重要条件。     

Slums,Ghettos, and Urban Marginality

This paper gathers potent visual images of one city, Los Angeles (L.A.), by examining three contemporary films— L.A. Story (1991), Boyz N the Hood (1991), and Grand Canyon (1991). It argues that popular culture, and in particular popular film, is an integral part of the portrayal of the cultural landscape. This paper primarily uses the assorted visual images of the urban landscape in considering how this one city has been recently depicted. The three films reveal a city shaped by rapid changes in urban America, depicting Los Angeles as an urban area composed of a fragmented landscape divided into many geographies: L.A. as a realm of simulations and void of consequences; L.A. as a city under siege, a place of epidemic violence and fear; L.A. as a place obsessed with security and control; L.A. as an increasingly ambiguous and chaotic place. Far from concluding that cities have become so fragmented that they are ageographic, these films reveal various geographies that are rooted in economic, political, and cultural contexts. Attention to the “restlessness” of cities and the postmodern focus on the instability and chaotic nature of urban experience actually challenge geographers to uncover the multitude of geographies of place. Interpreting the many geographies of Los Angeles shows that film can reveal a uniquely visual catalog of human experience of place, supplementing the ways in which we decipher place image and representation. This paper suggests that film is one way by which previously marginalized groups, such as blacks, can disseminate ideas from the margins and provide alternative experiencesof place. Geographers should add film to the cache of qualitative data that constructs an urban experience through images and representation, widening the discussion of what is place     

试析安哥拉卡宾达飞地的跨界族群问题及治理困境

跨界族群以及由此造成的分离主义运动一直是民族学、社会学与国际关系等学科研究的重点议题。本研究对安哥拉卡宾达飞地分离主义运动的研究着重探讨特殊地理位置为安哥拉政府带来的治理困境。对卡宾达分离主义运动的发展历史进行回顾,发现跨界族群问题是卡宾达分离主义运动产生的根源,而飞地属性则从不同角度增加了安哥拉在治理该问题上的难度,主要表现为未能使当地人产生对安哥拉的国家认同,大幅降低了外部干涉难度以及难以满足该地居民的发展诉求。本研究还认为跨界族群的分离主义思潮看似合理,但其文化特殊性并不一定能转化为分离主义运动的政治合理性。虽然非洲国家很多现有边界存在不合理之处,但对它的改变未必能让跨界族群获得更好的社会经济发展。另外,边界对分离主义组织运行模式的影响也是一个值得深入研究的议题。     

Ethnography, space and politics: interrogating the process of protest in the Tibetan Freedom Movement

This paper examines the ability of ethnographic research methods to effectively study spatially extensive political activity. It argues that traditional ethnographic methods of sustained engagement with spatially bounded sites are not adequately suited to dealing with contemporary spatially extensive political movements. It argues that contemporary attempts to bridge this impasse have emphasised a dichotomy between global and local that ignores the connections, disconnections and process that occur between places. The paper argues for a critical ethnography that is based on a relational understanding of space emphasising Gillian Hart's conception of the interconnected nature of the 'site'. Taking a single demonstration against the Beijing 2008 Olympics conducted by UK-based Tibet supporters, it examines how the site of protest was closely linked to a variety of other places. Interrogating the processes of connection and disconnection brought about through the protest creates an ethnographic account that, while partial, develops an engagement with the heterogeneity of contemporary political action.     

The Regionalization of Chinese Business Networks: A Study of Singaporean Firms in Hainan,China

This paper examines the central role of social and political institutions behind motivations and strategies of ethnic Chinese Singaporean investment in Hainan, China. Drawing upon 22 case studies of Singaporean firms in Hainan, we show that Singaporean investment in Hainan is embedded in Chinese business networks and their associated institutions. At the personal level, direct investments are largely motivated by the cultural attachments of Singaporean Hainanese to Hainan. Their small‐ and medium‐sized joint ventures largely reflect the characteristics of ethnically‐based Chinese business networks that stress connections, or guanxi. Similarly, the influence of social organizations (e.g., clan associations) and government institutions (e.g., public and quasi‐public agencies) on Singaporean investment strategies in Hainan reveals the significance of ongoing social relations institutionalized at the broader societal level.     

Linked and Independent African American Migration from Los Angeles

This paper examines African American migration from Los Angeles County, 1985–1990, utilizing Census Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) data to identify linkages between Los Angeles migrants and others in destination households. Increased migration to suburban counties and to regions outside of the South, since 1975–1980, suggests an overall diversification of African American migration. The majority of outmigrants were “independent” because they moved into 1990 destination households that contained only migrants from the same origin, Los Angeles County. Others were linked either to nonmovers or to migrants from other places in destination households. A discriminant analysis suggests that many migrants linked to nonmigrants were moving for assistance, depending on others at the destination for housing and financial resources. In contrast, independent migrants have the personal resources to set up their own destination households.     

洛杉矶工业产业升级的主要经验及启示

随着世界进入全球化时代以及信息技术的广泛应用,工业发展的自身特点和外部环境都发生了变化,转型升级成为新的主题。本文通过研究洛杉矶从西部边缘小城市最终成长为全球经济中心的工业升级历程并深入探讨其成功经验。结果表明,选择发展具有前瞻性和潜力的新兴行业,并始终把握价值链的最高环节是洛杉矶实现产业优势的核心,而洛杉矶广阔的地域使得其产业选择具有多样性。同时经济行为背后的社会、制度关系也非常重要,洛杉矶宽容多元、创新进取的文化氛围以及有利于企业经营模式和产业结构变革的制度环境,共同帮助其实现地区产业升级。     

Nonprofits and park equity in Los Angeles: a promising way forward for environmental justice

Disparities in park provision raise environmental and health justice concerns. With public agencies stepping back from providing environmental amenities in increasingly neoliberal urban regimes, nonprofits in the U.S. have assumed a prominent role in the parks and recreation sector. But very few studies have comprehensively assessed whether and how park nonprofits contribute to increasing or closing the equity gap in park provision. Focusing on Los Angeles, I analyze how park nonprofits operate and which demographic groups benefit from new and improved parks supported by nonprofits. Based on interviews with local practitioners and geospatial analyses, I find that nonprofits are leading a park equity movement in Los Angeles and helped address park disparities. To do so, nonprofits built diverse coalitions, leveraged complementary strengths, coalesced with public agencies, and helped generate public funds for parks. These findings show that equity-oriented nonprofits can successfully challenge the unjust outcomes of neoliberal governance.     

Reflections on the iconography of environmental justice activism

The United States environmental justice movement has grown in the last 20 years from tactical cooperation between civil rights and environmental activists on hazardous waste issues into a broad-based movement for social change. As dozens of organizations invest resources in an environmental justice agenda, it is important to examine how such organizations portray their stance toward the goals of the larger movement in order to better understand tensions within the movement between social justice and environmental protection, diversity and commonality, and localized and broader movement agendas. This paper explores what contemporary environmental justice imagery tells us about this social movement through a critical discourse analysis of environmental justice organizations' logos. The conceptual approach used here links a tradition of critical discourse analysis of textual materials with elements of a critical visual methodology. The paper examines how the social grievance of environmental injustice is constructed in relation to the social and natural world, and considers what these images tell us about the identities, relationships and modes of authority that constitute the contemporary environmental justice movement.     

Some economic implications of population dispersion in Canada

In New Brunswick, as in the rest of Atlantic Canada, the quality of life is highly prized, and for many inhabitants this means a rural life style. New Brunswick (with the exception of Prince Edward Island) is the most rural of the Canadian provinces. In addition, over time it is becoming more rural. This paper examines some of the economic implications arising from the rural life style. The provincial government also has expressed concern over rural dispersion in New Brunswick, hence this paper is predominantly policy-oriented. It argues that social costs are considerable, and advocates increased emphasis on user-pay pricing. The intention is not to prohibit rural non-farm residence, but merely to charge rural dwellers a portion of the social costs they impose. The political feasibility of such a policy is open to question, but the alternatives may be increased tax rates or a reduced level of service, and these may be even more politically unpopular.     

Towards inclusion: Local government, public space and homelessness in New Zealand

Abstract:  This paper considers the political and normative dimensions of local government responses to homelessness in New Zealand. It outlines the context for local government action, the approaches adopted by three case study cities, and arguments for rejecting anti-homeless regulations in favour of supportive policies conducive to forging inclusive public space. It contributes to debates over homelessness policy by articulating an approach that integrates regulatory, funding and leadership roles. It argues that in addressing antisocial behaviour in public spaces, policy-makers must eschew approaches which effectively criminalize the sight, and status, of poverty.     

“A world in a grain of sand”: towards a reconceptualisation of geographical scale

Difficulties in relating local scale change to broader dynamics of social and economic restructuring continue to be reflected in much geographical research. This paper argues that inadequate conceptualisations of geographical scale restrict the relevance of much research to the agenda of an applied peoples' geography. A framework which conceptualises geographical scale as dialectically and internally related to the totality of social relations, is proposed and discussed with examples from remote mining regions in Australia.     

Residential adjustment and gentrification in Los Angeles, 2000–2015: theoretical arguments and empirical evidence

Knowledge-intensive economic resurgence and social restratification are evidently reshaping the intra-urban space of Los Angeles .In particular, the expansion of white-collar employment is inducing marked readjustments in the geography of housing for these workers, and is promoting significant gentrification of inner-city neighborhoods. Existing accounts of gentrification in the United States are briefly adjudged in relation to (a) the recent historical record of urban change and (b) the theory of land redevelopment. A cartographic and statistical analysis of white-collar residential change in Los Angeles County is then undertaken. The analysis points to the evolving spatial structure of pertinent job opportunities together with related land redevelopment dynamics as the dominant factors underlying recent shifts in white-collar residential activity in the County. Further investigation suggests that gentrification trends in Los Angeles represent a special and problematical case of this broad process of white-collar residential change. .     

Local Labor Market Restructuring and the Employment of Welfare Recipients in Los Angeles County

Although welfare rolls have dropped considerably in recent years, most welfare recipients who find work are employed in low-wage, insecure jobs. The problem of "working poverty" is especially acute in large city-regions such as Los Angeles, where local labor market restructuring has created an expanding, low-wage economy, increasingly dependent on immigrant labor. This paper analyzes the employment outcomes of 6,931 women who completed the county's welfare-to-work program in 1996. I evaluate their earnings, labor market segmentation, and job stability. The results show that women were highly concentrated in low-wage service jobs and experienced high levels of turnover and unemployment. Many were unable to obtain employment in the formal labor market. I argue that the struggles of the working poor in a growing regional economy are explained not solely by human capital limitations, but by processes of local labor market restructuring that have contributed to widespread economic insecurity in Los Angeles County.     

EDITORIAL: MAKING SPACE FOR LAW

Using data from a multi-city survey of urban inequality, we assess the effects of bridging social networks—ties that connect individuals to different worlds of information, resources, and opportunities—on Black, Hispanic, and White female labor-force participation in metropolitan Los Angeles. Our findings indicate that these types of networks are far more important in explaining the labor-market experiences of females in Los Angeles than the kinds of cultural forces that serve as the foundation of much contemporary conservative social policy making in the United States. Implications for current efforts to transition women from welfare to work are discussed.