Spatial Glocalization in Asia-Pacific Hub Port Cities: A Comparison of Hong Kong and Singapore

Port competition at both the regional and global scales results in port concentration and deconcentration, respectively. Whereas a number of recent studies interpret such phenomena as the effects of global forces such as containerization, few researchers have investigated local forces, such as the evolving relationships between urban policy and port growth. This study compares how two global hub port cities in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong and Singapore, have sustained their port functions while transforming into major economic centers. Entropy indexes are calculated by district based on service industries related to port activities between 1993 and 2004. The results show the influences of port competition, lack of space, and congestion on changes in port-related activities. We conclude that cross-border integration is a main differentiating factor in the evolution of these hub port cities.     

On The Potential of Local Political Projects: A Response To Lake,Martin, and Wilson

Gentrification in the form of "neighborhood revitalization" is increasingly touted as one way of decreasing the social exclusion of residents of poor inner-city neighborhoods and of increasing levels of social mix and social interaction between different classes and ethnic groups. Yet the gentrification literature also suggests that the process may lead to increased social conflict, displacement of poorer residents to lower quality housing elsewhere, and, ultimately, social polarization. Much of this hinges on whether gentrifying neighborhoods can remain socially mixed, and whether neighborhood compositional changes result in more or less of a polarized class and ethnic structure. However, the impact of revitalization and gentrification on levels of social mix, income polarization, or ethnic diversity within neighborhoods remains unclear and under-explored. This study addresses this gap by examining the relationship between the timing of gentrification, changes in the income structure, and shifts in immigrant concentration and ethnic diversity, using census tract data for each decade from 1971 to 2001 in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. This research demonstrates that gentrification is followed by declining, rather than improving, levels of social mix, ethnic diversity, and immigrant concentration within affected neighborhoods. At the same time, gentrification is implicated in the growth of neighborhood income polarization and inequality.     

回归后香港城市发展的尺度重组：以广深港高速铁路香港段项目的规划过程为例

全球化时代城市问题越来越多的以尺度问题的形式出现,尺度理论为分析城市发展背后的各种动力及其影响提供了新的视角。回归后,特区政府如何与位于不同尺度上的地域组织相互作用,进行尺度重组,是探究香港城市发展与管治的关键问题。本文考察广深港高速铁路香港段从项目构想、方案设计,到咨询及申请拨款的全过程,识别这个过程所涉及的不同尺度的作用者,分析他们的作用方式及作用结果。研究表明,回归后,特区政府主动向上尺度重组以拓展香港发展的腹地,政府间的制度性合作是其尺度重组的重要方式。同时,香港逐渐成长的市民社会是参与城市发展尺度重组的重要力量,地方行动者运用尺度政治从多个尺度建构话语和采取行动,对特区政府的方案进行抗议并引发整个社会的讨论。对香港的案例分析可加深对体制转型背景下地域组织尺度重组的认识,丰富尺度重组的理论内涵;也有助于国家客观地了解香港,为制定合理的政策提供科学依据。此外,内地市民社会逐步萌芽成长,案例中特区政府与香港市民社会互动的经验与教训可为内地政府提供借鉴。     

《香港、澳门和珠江三角洲——地理概述》书评(英文)

<正>Koon-kwai WONG(Ed·):Hong Kong,Macao and the Pearl River Delta:A Geographical Survey.Pp·386,Hong Kong(Hong Kong Educational Publishing Co.),E-mail:sales@hkep.com;2009.ISBN 978-988-200-475-7