Tourism development preferences among the residents of Lake Bosomtwe Basin, Ghana

Controversy over the extent to develop tourism in tourist destinations remains unresolved. This paper examines the extent of tourism development residents are prepared to tolerate in the Lake Bosomtwe. A resident survey undertaken during January 2006 in the basin reveals that residents are more oriented to large scale tourism. The major perceived reason for this preference is that large scale tourism development will help provide for the material needs and wants of the basin’s population. It is concluded that residents of Bosomtwe basin equate large inflows of visitors with success and fame, but field observations indicate that the residents will wreck the basin’s environment if tourism development is left in their sole control.     

The trade-off between density and other objectives: A re-examination of planning norms

Residential density (dwelling units per area) affects the quality of life in urban environments in many direct and indirect ways. Determining the optimal level of density requires in each case, balancing all the relevant factors and influences, and should depend on the preferences of the potential residents and their financial resources. A residential neighborhood has many characteristics. Usually people trade off one characteristic against another. For instance: people can trade off density against cost or accessibility against space. The aim of good planning is to find the combination of characteristics that will give maximum level of satisfaction to the residents of a neighbourhood subject to the limitations of their budgets. Density standards should, therefore, be adapted to the preferences of the potential residents and their preferred compromise between the various attributes of their environment. To make things more complicated, the concept of density has many definitions, and different definitions are relevant when analysing the various effects of density. It seems that people do not perceive the gross residential density as it is measured, but are influenced by variables such as set-back distances, the percentage of building coverage and the like. Evidence is cited from an investigation in Kiryat-Gat which suggests that the perception of density is affected by other factors except the density itself. If people do not perceive the density as such but are affected by other factors, then modification of these factors is very important. If planners are to design neighborhoods according to the residents' preferences, they should have quantitative estimates of the residents' relative evaluation of these characteristics, including possible savings in the price of housing. The problems of investigating residential preferences are discussed, and examples of studies addressed to these questions are described.     

The trade-off between density and other objectives: A re-examination of planning norms

Residential density (dwelling units per area) affects the quality of life in urban environments in many direct and indirect ways. Determining the optimal level of density requires in each case, balancing all the relevant factors and influences, and should depend on the preferences of the potential residents and their financial resources.A residential neighborhood has many characteristics. Usually people trade off one characteristic against another. For instance: people can trade off density against cost or accessibility against space. The aim of good planning is to find the combination of characteristics that will give maximum level of satisfaction to the residents of a neighbourhood subject to the limitations of their budgets. Density standards should, therefore, be adapted to the preferences of the potential residents and their preferred compromise between the various attributes of their environment.To make things more complicated, the concept of density has many definitions, and different definitions are relevant when analysing the various effects of density. It seems that people do not perceive the gross residential density as it is measured, but are influenced by variables such as set-back distances, the percentage of building coverage and the like.Evidence is cited from an investigation in Kiryat-Gat which suggests that the perception of density is affected by other factors except the density itself.If people do not perceive the density as such but are affected by other factors, then modification of these factors is very important. If planners are to design neighborhoods according to the residents' preferences, they should have quantitative estimates of the residents' relative evaluation of these characteristics, including possible savings in the price of housing. The problems of investigating residential preferences are discussed, and examples of studies addressed to these questions are described.     

估计环境价值的陈述偏好技术比较分析

随着人们环境意识的提高和环境资产稀缺性的增加，在资源利用决策中，决策也逐渐考虑环境因素的作用。但是由于缺乏市场，环境物品利用决策中大多缺乏有关环境价值方面的信息，陈述偏好技术是当前解决环境物品经济价值评估的主要方法和手段．首先介绍了环境物品经济价值的分类和评估技术，从理论和应用角度系统地阐述了当前国际上广泛应用于环境物品非利用价值评估的陈述偏好技术(条件估值法，选择模型法，条件分级法，条件排队法和配对比较法)，并分析比较了各种不同的陈述偏好技术的差异，最后总结分析了陈述偏好技术的优缺点。     

Tree planting, local knowledge and species preference in the South Tongu District of Ghana: Some perspectives

This paper explores the link between local knowledge and tree specie preference in the South Tongu District of Ghana. It is based on a field study that observed, inter alia, that even though Neem is not commonly promoted in Ghanaian afforestation programmes, it is highly popular in the area. Local farmers' preferences for tree species are governed by several factors –; suitability to local climate, availability and access to markets, perceived economic value and availability of wood fuel dependent enterprises. The survey further demonstrates that local knowledge is incorporated into decision-making regarding adaptation of farming practices to changing rainfall patterns; and also plays a role in influencing specie preference. Some likely implications, which these may have on conservation policy and planning in the study area, are also explained. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Habitat partitioning of fishes in an urban,estuarine Bayou

The physiochemical variability inherent to estuaries makes it difficult to identify those variables of importance to habitat selection by fishes. We used factor analysis to investigate habitat partitioning of fishes in Contraband Bayou, an oligohaline creek within the City of Lake Charles, in southwestern Louisiana. This bayou receives runoff and organic wastes from the City of Lake Charles and adjacent farmland (adding levels of complexity to an analysis of fish habitat preferences). Fishes were sampled from locations within the Contraband drainage in winter and summer of 1983 and 1984. At each location, 14 environmental variables were measured. Distribution of each common species in a season relative to these variables was characterized by calculating means of individuals for each environmental variable. A species' mean for a variable (the state of the variable where individuals of the species are most likely to be found) was interpreted as the species' “preference” for the variable. Factor analysis was used to identify trends in habitat partitioning among species, based on their preferences for all environmental variables. In all seasons, habitat partitioning separated typically freshwater forms from estuarine fishes, and separated forms more tolerant of organic pollution from less tolerant species. Some species entered the bayou only in summer, and in this season, additional factors were related to the preference of some of these species for areas with little cover that were normally shunned by resident species.     

Residential preferences in the city of Warsaw,Poland

Warsaw was heavily damaged during World War II. Post-War socialist reconstruction emphasized public multi-family housing. A 1987 survey revealed that about one-third of Warsaw residents lived in single-family units, though most expressed their preferences to live in single family houses free from noise pollution and in an aesthetically acceptable environment. In two areas, the CBD and the Praga North, a large proportion of residents preferred to live in existing multi-family units, though such preference was much greater among the blue collar workers than white collar.     

The hydrologic effects of intense groundwater pumpage in east-central Hillsborough County,Florida, U.S.A.

Well problems, water shortages, local flooding, and induced sinkholes have been periodic problems for residents in east-central Hillsborough County, Florida. This agricultural area has experienced dramatic short-term water-level declines in the Floridan aquifer from seasonal groundwater withdrawals. The sudden declines in the potentiometric surface have been caused from intense irrigation pumpage, primarily for frost and freeze protection and fruit setting. Citrus and strawberry crops are protected from occasional freezes by the application of warm groundwater to maintain minimum soil temperatures of 32°F(0°C). Local residents with inadequately constructed wells lose their source of water when the potentiometric surface is lowered to depths where their wells do not function. Some residents have lost their water supply for a week or more, and many have incurred damage to their pumps. The drawdown of the potentiometric surface in some areas has induced sinkholes causing property damage for some residents and concern for others. In addition, the high application rates for frost and freeze irrigation have created run-off problems resulting in local flooding to some residents. Fortunately, there has been no damage to resident homes from the flooding or sinkholes. This report summarizes the area's hydrogeology, and the consequences of heavy freeze irrigation. A finite-difference, numerical model is used to quantify the regional impacts to the potentiometric surface of the Floridan aquifer from estimated irrigation pumpage. Management recommendations for alleviating the problems are also discussed in the report.     

A model of a heterogeneous neighborhood

Tel Aviv is a highly ethnic city in which ethnicity is deeply embedded in people’s perceptions of their social milieus. Shapira, as one of the most heterogeneous neighborhoods in Tel Aviv, supplies a unique demonstration of the inadequacy of the Chicago model, which assumes the emergence of homogeneous neighborhoods. The study shows that ethnicity is exercised as a major force in determining social life in Shapira. Interactive segregation indices reveal that residents of Shapira tend to prefer intra-ethnic social networks although two-thirds of them maintain inter-ethnic networks as well. Despite this, residential and activity spaces are highly heterogeneous. Residential spaces are heterogeneous on all scales from residents’ immediate surroundings to the block and the neighborhood as a whole. In most buildings one may find neighbors from two or three different ethnic groups with only non-Jewish residents excluded from publicly owned buildings. Most residents perform large part of their everyday life outside the neighborhoods in ethnically heterogeneous surroundings, but nonetheless in choosing their more meaningful partners for social networks they choose them from their ethnic groups. The fact that residents tend to perform a large part of their activities out of their neighborhood, and to live in heterogeneous surroundings in social categories that are perceived by them salient to their daily life, does not undermine the relevance of the neighborhood as a socially constituted entity in the urban field. People organize and act in order to improve life conditions in the neighborhood, they feel sense of attachment to the neighborhood and they develop some local social networks in the neighborhood.     

Adjustment preferences to groundwater depletion in the American high plains

This paper explores the adjustments that residents in one part of the High Plains prefer in coping with the depletion of the Ogallala aquifer. The authors identify 31 possible adjustment policies and report on public preferences, examining differences among socioeconomic groups and also the preferred governmental agencies to administer specific programs. Adjustments involving improved water use efficiency were most favored; those entailing financial incentives were least liked. The local groundwater management district was the preferred agency overall. Most significant differences in preference were between those in agribusiness and those outside agriculture.     

Mechanisms of polytype stabilization during the wurtzite-sphalerite transition

Two mechanisms of solid-state formation of polytypes are suggested. The first is structural-kinetic by nature, the stabilization of short-period polytype (for example, 4H) being due to the fact that there are two possible structural types of nuclei in the wurtzite structure: when new phase growth takes place by means of two-dimensional nucleation, these short-period polytypes become kinetically stable although they do not correspond to the minimum of free energy, and appear as transitional phases. The second mechanism of polytype formation below the transition temperature is influenced by impurities which stabilize the hexagonal modification, in which case polytypes may arise as states that are stable with respect to a diffusionless structural wurtzite-sphalerite transformation and metastable relative to small fluctuations of impurity concentration.     

Isotopic Ratios Reveal Mixed Seasonal Variation Among Fishes from Two Subtropical Estuarine Systems

Characterizing dietary resources and species interactions in estuaries is challenging, particularly when considering the dynamic nature of these ecosystems, the ranges in body sizes of species, and the potential for trophic roles to vary with ontogeny. We examined the influence of season and location on relationships between body size and δ¹⁵N, δ¹³C, and δ³⁴S values across a range of fishes from two subtropical estuaries. The results suggest that isotopic values of estuarine fishes are independent of body size. However, seasonal variation propagated throughout the assemblage as the majority of fishes integrated different δ¹⁵N, δ¹³C, or δ³⁴S values. The absence of δ¹⁵N–, δ¹³C–, and δ³⁴S–body size relationships suggests that either (1) dietary preference of these fishes do not shift within the range of body sizes sampled, (2) these fishes shift to an alternate diet that is not isotopically distinct, or (3) that spatial and temporal variation in isotopic signatures of prey negate any size-based relationships. Seasonal variability in the isotopic values of these fishes suggests either movement to an alternative habitat or a shift in organic matter source associated with the transition of dry to wet seasons. Moreover, variance distributions of the best-fit models indicate that seasonal dietary preferences of conspecifics do not vary over moderate spatial scales. Seasonal variability among fishes in these estuaries suggests plasticity in feeding strategies that may afford greater adaptive flexibility to these species in response to changes in food availability resulting from variable environmental conditions.     

Place,identity and stigma: blocks and the ‘blockies’ of Tara,Queensland, Australia

This article explores the role of geographical context in generating a stigmatised identity among residents of Tara rural subdivisions in the coal seam gas fields in Queensland’s Western Downs. The research was based on qualitative interviews with Tara ‘Blockies’, as these residents are commonly referred to, that revealed how their existence in the middle of an agrarian region resulted in the assignation of a stigma that has marked them as different, and subsequently devalued their status. We explain that this distinction and category division of the normals, referring to Tara’s Agrarian residents, from the ‘stigmatised’ led to an antagonistic relationship that prevented successful socio-cultural assimilation. We demonstrate how an immoral place becomes disadvantaged, resulting in poor well-being, and how imposed labels threaten the self-esteem of its occupants.     

Gated communities of the Moscow green belt: newly segregated landscapes and the suburban Russian environment

The transition from the Soviet to the post-Soviet period in and near Moscow manifested itself in increasing production of segregated space both in the urban core and suburban areas outside of the beltway to accommodate the preferences of the new Russian business and governmental elite. This paper focuses on the residential single-family housing inside old and new settlements, which are frequently gated. Approximately 260 of such suburban communities have been developed within 30 km of the beltway during the past few years, of which a majority have some form of exclusion mechanism in place, typically tall solid fences, gates, closed-circuit video surveillance and guarded entry checkpoints. The difference in exclusivity varies from the most exclusive older communities inside Moscow Serebryany Bor enclave and Rublevskoe highway mansions to less exclusive new developments along Novorizkhskoe and Dmitrovskoe highways. Despite high rates of construction, based on sociological surveys in 2003, only about 11% of Russia’s upper class claimed to live in such new “cottages,” with the rest owning condos and luxury apartments in the inner city or older detached homes in villages and small towns. Therefore, not all the needs have been accommodated and more development is certain to take place. The environmental impact of such developments is profound. Based on preliminary LANDSAT image analysis, almost 22% of suburban “green belt” forested land within 30 km zone has been converted to new construction from 1991 to 2001. New construction is now focusing on the remaining fragments of natural vegetation, which will likely lower air quality and water quality available for the city. Ironically, the new developments advertise themselves as “clean and green” with massive investments in unnatural landscaping (seeded lawns, exotic shrubs, river and lake shore “improvements”). This investment highlights the well-known paradox of development in which people move out of town to live near nature, while destroying the wild nature they come to enjoy. “We left city for the weekend It was raining, saw no stars There were fences everywhere Our chiefs behind the bars.” Gennady Shpalikov     

Flood hazard in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka: Individual attitudes vs collective action

In Ratnapura monsoonal flooding is a chronic problem of which the residents are acutely aware. Responses to structured interviews indicated that a wide range of actions are employed to reduce flood impact, although these actions are not perceived as specific adjustments to flooding. The only widely acknowledged means of mitigating the flood threat is government action. Dependency on government action reflects the government's role in dispensing aid to flood victims. While relief programmes do reduce personal, short-term losses, they simultaneously encourage resettlement in high-risk areas. In seeking a viable, long-term management policy, the Sri Lankan government recently adopted a plan to move the municipality of Ratnapura to invulnerable high ground. In making the decision to relocate, however, the attitudes of the residents were not evaluated, and government officials seemed unconcerned that residents viewed relocation as an unacceptable solution to the problem. Although individual attitudes concerning residential satisfaction in the context of the flood hazard varied with factors such as income, length of residency and land tenure, an overwhelming number of residents adamantly maintained that they would not move to the new town.     

Tornado shelter-seeking behavior and tornado shelter options among mobile home residents in the United States

Residents of 401 mobile homes in Georgia, Mississippi, Illinois, and Oklahoma were surveyed after they heard a tornado warning. Most residents (69%) did not seek shelter during the warning. Half of those who sought shelter went to the frame house of a friend, neighbor, or relative, and 25% of those sought shelter in a basement or underground shelter. Some of the places where residents sought shelter were of dubious quality, such as their own mobile home, another mobile home, or in an out-building. Twenty-one percent of mobile home residents believed that they had a basement or underground shelter available as shelter during a tornado warning, and about half of those said they would drive to the shelter. Residents said they would drive if the shelter was more than 200 m away. Fifteen percent actually had a basement or underground shelter suitable as shelter within 200 m of their mobile home, but only 43% of the residents would use those shelters. The most common reason cited for not using the shelters was that they did not know the people who lived there. Likewise, a frame house or other sturdy building was within 200 m of 58% of the mobile homes, but only 35% of the residents stated they would use those houses for shelter. Thirty-one percent of mobile home residents had a ditch that was at least 0.5 m deep within 200 m of the mobile home. However, 44% of these ditches had utility lines overhead, 23% had water in them, and 20% had trees overhead. The limited tornado shelter options among mobile home residents in the United States needs to be incorporated into safety instructions so that residents without nearby shelter are allowed to drive to safer shelter.     

Whose neighbourhood is it? Ethnic diversity in urban spaces in Germany

This article focuses on the reciprocal effects that exist between the physical environment and the social interactions between ethno-cultural groups in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Biographical narrative interviews and mental map analyses were carried out with German and Turkish residents in two disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Germany to define the resident's own experience of their physical surroundings.The findings of the research verify that the changes in the environment were not only physical and structural changes: they also led to changing identities having a symbolic meaning for the established German residents. As the Turkish residents work to create a sense of identity, the established residents view these changes more as a threat than as an enrichment. They do not so much feel threatened by the cultural differences between the groups, but they sense that their own `old-time' German socio-cultural position could be affected by the establishment of Turkisch residences and institutions in `their' neighbourhood. The empirical research revealed differences in the ethno-cultural perceptions between Duisburgh-Marxloh where there is a pronounced small-scale segregation between the groups, whereas there is a small-scale mix of different ethnic groups even at the block level in the other area investigated in Wuppertal-Osterbaum. Although both areas have a high percentage of ethnic minorities the small-scale mix in Wuppertal-Ostersbaum seems to have prevented a polarisation in the population.     

A qualitative study of mobile home resident perspectives on tornadoes and tornado protective actions in South Carolina,USA

Occupants of mobile or manufactured homes in the United States of America (USA) are highly exposed and susceptible to injury or death from tornado hazards. This problem is most pronounced in the southern and eastern USA, where tornadoes are frequent and mobile homes comprise upwards of 15 % of the housing stock. Recognizing this vulnerability, emergency management entities and the USA National Weather Service often recommend that mobile home residents evacuate to a nearby sturdy building or a specially-built tornado shelter when tornadoes threaten their communities. Previous research suggests, however, that only 30 % of residents follow this recommendation. In this research I aim to provide insight as to why many mobile home residents seldom undertake the suggested course of action for tornadoes. Using excerpts from twenty semi-structured interviews conducted during 2013 in South Carolina, I show that some individuals understand physical characteristics of tornadoes very differently than experts do. In addition, mobile home residents may also hold views that differ from experts about the ability of their homes to withstand tornadic winds and debris. Even if mobile home occupants pay close attention to thunderstorm hazards and might be willing to evacuate, they may prioritize protective actions for lightning or flash flooding over those recommended for tornadoes. Finally, the interviews reveal that there is much confusion over where to go, when to leave, and which route to take to arrive safely at a sheltering place for tornado hazards. I discuss some of the potential ramifications of the findings for theory and practice and suggest how future research might build on this work.