A comfortable night out? Alcohol, drunkenness and inclusive town centres

The Licensing Act (2003) was enacted in England and Wales against the backdrop of media concern about 'binge Britain' and violent town centres avoided by 'social drinkers'. This paper responds to these concerns by asking how to create more inclusive urban centres at night. Findings from focus groups found it was not alcohol consumption or a reluctance to partake in urban life that was detracting residents. Using the notion of 'comfort', the paper instead reveals a strong desire for varied late-night experiences ranging from quiet local venues, to active streets and live venues.     

Spatial evolution and determinants of new infrastructure development in China北大核心CSCD

New infrastructure has become an important support for China's economic transformation and high-quality development in the new era. In order to investigate the temporal and spatial evolution of China's new infrastructure development and its driving factors, this study first constructed a comprehensive evaluation index of the development level of new infrastructure based on the provincial panel data from 2013 to 2020. Then, it used the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) entropy method and spatial econometric model to measure the development level of new infrastructure and analyze its driving factors. The results show that: 1) The development level of China's new infrastructure has increased year by year, and there is a trend of balanced development among provinces. 2) There is great spatial heterogeneity in the development level of China's new infrastructure. The new infrastructure development level is much higher in the eastern region than the central, western, and northeastern regions. The overall temporal and spatial evolution pattern showed an east-west expansion trend, and the center of gravity continued to move to the southwest. 3) The development level of new infrastructure is affected by many factors, among which the economic development level, financial development level, innovation foundation, urbanization process, and population size are the key driving factors. By examining the evolution of the spatial pattern of China's new infrastructure development level and its influencing factors, this article may provide a decision-making reference for its optimal layout and development. © 2023, Editorial office of PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. All rights reserved.     

Searching for a new dynamic of industrialization and urbanization: anatomy of China’s characteristic town program

The characteristic town program is one of China’s latest industrialization and urbanization strategies. Originating in Zhejiang, characteristic towns are expected to serve as platforms for industrial upgrading and the promotion urbanization. This paper attempts to analyze the characteristic town program by examining the reasons behind the origination of characteristic towns, as well as elucidating the towns’ components. The paper argues that this exploratory local program has been leveraged into a national-level strategy because the primary idea underlying characteristic towns has been in accordance with several of China’s critical policies. Furthermore, the paper presents the challenges that the characteristic town program has encountered. The characteristic town program can be viewed as a new effort of entrepreneurial governments and a spatial fix for capital during the period of industrial upgrading. This paper helps us to better understand one of China’s explorations in searching for a new dynamic of industrialization and urbanization.     

Representations of utopian urbanism and the feminist geopolitics of “new city” development

Increasingly over the past few years the building of new cities “from scratch” has become a key strategy to promote development across much of the Global South. While several projects are currently under construction, many others exist primarily as proposals awaiting adequate investment or government action. This paper builds on previous literature that considers representations of such projects – promotional materials, digitally-produced video simulations, and master plans – as key components in the production of imagined urban futures. Through an exploration of the proposed Zone for Economic Development and Employment (ZEDE) in Honduras, this article demonstrates a feminist geopolitical approach focused on how such representations of utopian urbanism circulate through the local communities slated for new city development. I examine how representations of future urban spaces and future urban governance regimes become appropriated by local residents in organizing opposition or otherwise making sense of the proposed project’s potential impact on their lives.     

China’s rural revitalization and development: Theory,technology and management

Journal of Geographical Sciences - The urban-rural transformation from dichotomy to integration is a gradual process. Like rural areas in many countries, Chinese rural society is experiencing a...     

Sustainable for whom? Green urban development,environmental gentrification,and the Atlanta Beltline

Large-scale, sustainable urban development projects can transform surrounding neighborhoods. Without precautionary policies, environmental amenities produced by these projects, such as parks, trails, walkability, and higher-density development, tend to result in higher land and housing costs. This will make it harder for a low- and moderate-income households to live near the projects, and neighborhoods are likely to become increasingly affluent. The Atlanta Beltline will ultimately connect 45 Atlanta neighborhoods via a 22-mile loop of trails, parks, and eventually a streetcar, all of which follow abandoned railroad tracks. This paper examines the effect of the Beltline on housing values within one half mile. From 2011 to 2015, depending on the segment of the Beltline, values rose between 17.9 percent and 26.6 percent more for homes within a half-mile of the Beltline than elsewhere. The implications for housing affordability and neighborhood change of projects like the Beltline, and associated policy questions, are addressed.     

Water environmental planning for new zone of economic-technological development in China

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Africa’s middle class: building houses and constructing identities in the small town of Buea,Cameroon

Across Africa households are commissioning new domestic buildings for their own use or to rent out rather than waiting for governments to supply urban shelter. We conceptualize this as two interwoven processes: building houses for a new middle class and the building of a new middle class identity. We draw particular attention to the impact of international migration on these processes. The paper uses quantitative data from building permits and qualitative data from 29 interviews and walk-round tours with homeowners and government officials in Buea, Cameroon. Despite some significant caveats (related to housing the urban poor, regulating building standards, and lost local government revenue), we argue that these individually initiated building projects do a reasonable job of meeting local demand for shelter. However, from the perspective of identity-building these buildings are less successful. Whilst homeowners take considerable pride in their building projects, the statements that these structures make about their identities are not always “read” by their neighbours in the way owners hope. New housing is the lens through which Buea’s residents interpret growing levels of inequality and its associated social tensions.     

Pastures of plenty?: Land rights and community-based agriculture in Peddie,a former homeland town in South Africa

The post-apartheid South African government has emphasized land reallocation in key national policy documents as a means to address apartheid-era legacies of poverty and inequality in the former homelands (black reserves). In this paper, a case study of the Masizame Community Garden Project in Peddie, a small former homeland town, explores the issue of group ownership rights of commonage for poverty alleviation purposes. Poor communication, commitment to gender empowerment and limited transparency of land application processes at different levels of government emerged as key issues that continue to frustrate attempts by local people to secure ownership rights of vacant municipal commonage to earn a livelihood.     

Geographical features and development models of estuarine cities

Cities are the key areas for human beings to achieve sustainable development goals in the future. Estuarine cities are a special type of coastal city in urgent need of a clear definition. This paper proposed that estuarine cities are cities developed on the coast where rivers and oceans meet and defined four connotations, including the intersection of rivers and marine water systems, the coordinated development of land and oceans, the location advantages of connecting rivers and seas, and the im...     

China’s metropolises in transformation: neoliberalizing politics,land commodification,and uneven development in Beijing

ABSTRACT

Existing theory of urban transformation under neoliberalization describes cities as the institutional arena in and through which neoliberal strategies of urbanism emanate and are contested. Emphasis is placed on the interaction between state and market without paying adequate attention to their internal dynamics. This study of urban transformation in the Beijing metropolis identifies a distinct trajectory whereby commodification of urban land has been actively pursued in response to the decentralization of developmental responsibilities and recentralization of tax revenue collection instituted by the central state. An urban development strategy is practiced whereby land commodification, city planning, and mega event hosting are integrated and mutually reinforcing. The research shows a pattern of land commodification and development dominated by newly developed construction land in the near suburbs, and reveals a picture of increased spatial inequality and intensified social discontent as a consequence of city-centered land development. Contrary to popular perception of the state and market as diametrically opposed principles of political organization, the Chinese state is found to have transformed and reshuffled itself to embrace and take advantage of the market for its developmental agenda.     

Aquatic macrophyte vegetation development in Kråkenes Lake, western Norway, during the late-glacial and early-Holocene

Macrofossil analyses were carried out on the late-glacial and early-Holocene sediments of the radiocarbon-dated master core at Kråkenes Lake, western Norway, to investigate the aquatic vegetation changes. Ranunculus sect. Batrachium and Nitella were the earliest pioneers after deglaciation ca. 12,300 ¹⁴C yr BP. The Allerød vegetational succession was very slow during ca. 1000 ¹⁴C yrs in a cool climate and conditions that were similar to those above tree-line in Norway today. The rapid cooling at the start of the Younger Dryas stadial caused extensive disturbance, and with the development of an active cirque glacier in the catchment, plants and animals were almost exterminated from the lake by inflow of permanently cold and turbid water. Rising temperatures caused the glacier to melt at the end of the Younger Dryas. The biotic response to the rapid warming was immediate, with pioneer Ranunculus sect. Batrachium and Nitella expanding within 1-3 decades, closely followed by other elodeids. The lake witnessed a remarkable isoetid succession, with phases dominated by Limosella aquatica, Subularia aquatica, Elatine hydropiper, Isoetes echinospora, and, later, I. lacustris. About 800 yrs into the Holocene most of the macrophytes declined. The short-lived isoetids became extinct, but other taxa probably survived vegetatively. The reasons for this decline are unknown, but are probably related to nutrient depletion in combination with other factors. About 550 yrs later, I. lacustris and Nymphaea colonised, and a stable flora and vegetation developed. This study illustrates the large and rapid changes that occurred over the first 1400 yrs of the Holocene in the macrophyte flora and vegetation in Kråkenes Lake before stability was attained, pointing to the value of a palaeoecological study in tracing aquatic successions over time, and highlighting our lack of knowledge of the underlying ecological factors responsible for such rapid and marked changes.     

Employment growth,human capital and educational levels: uneven urban and regional development in Denmark 2002–2012

Contemporary studies in urban and regional development stress the importance of large city-regions as key places in modern capitalism taking the form of agglomerations of economic activities by industries, firms and highly skilled people. In this article, we challenge the strong focus on academic human capital in understanding regional growth. We examine to what extent different labour competences and capabilities relate to municipal employment growth using nine stratified, educational categories as proxies for different levels of human capital. Dividing municipalities into four spatial categories ranging from the urban to the peripheral, we conclude that there is a strong spatial distinction of educational structures with an urban bias, and that educational categories other than academic human capital can make an important contribution to our understanding of what drives employment growth on the municipal level.     

Simulating,adjusting and testing regional sustainable development──a case study of Jiangxi Province

IntroductionRegional sustainable development refers to a Synthehc System of coordinated growth of populationsresources, economy and environmental protechon. The most Anpoltant thing in regional suStainabledeVelopment is to establish a SyStemic cycle between socio-economic activihes, resources, environmentand POpulation.Each region is an open and complex System[']. And every regional System has its own deVelopmentpattern However, it should be noted that there is one major difference in re…     

Landscape,development, technology and drivers: The geography of drownings associated with automobiles in Texas floods, 1950–2004

More than 200 people have died in automobiles that have encountered flooded roadways in Texas from 1950 to 2004. This study examines the geographical processes that create flood hazards associated with automobile travel to discern the most important factors in their genesis. A database of drowning cases caused by motorists' interactions with flooded roadways in Texas was compiled for the study period. We examine the circumstances and spatial patterns of these events by addressing the following questions: where have motorists drowned? How did rates and spatial patterns of accidents change over the study period? To the extent that we can determine, what were the characteristics of the roads, the drivers, and the landscapes when and where deaths occurred? What factors appear to explain the temporal and spatial distributions of hazard? We conclude that roadway familiarity might have emboldened drivers to attempt to surmount water rushing across a road, that time of day was clearly an important characteristic of the accidents, and that roadway characteristics and sex and age of the drivers seem not to be key contributing factors. The most important factors, however, are associated with growth: increases in population and increased automobile registrations drive the propensity for increased automobile-flood hazards.     

Mobility Patterns of Overseas Human Capital in Australia: the role of a ‘new’ graduate visa scheme and rural development policy

In 2007, the Australian federal government introduced a ‘new’ graduate visa scheme, the 485 visa sub-class. This visa facilitates the transition from student to worker for overseas graduates from Australian higher education institutions, with the potential to significantly increase their numbers in the country. At the same time, local governments have introduced various policies designed to attract and retain human capital in rural areas to address the shortfall of highly skilled individuals. This paper redresses the current lack of research into the spatial dynamics of overseas human capital in Australia and their relation to the new visa scheme in combination with shifts in rural development policies. Drawing on survey data of graduates describing the ‘before’ (2005) and ‘after’ (2008) periods of the introduction of the 485 visa scheme, this paper shows that the propensity of overseas graduates to move between Australia's regions has increased substantially. In particular, there have been an increasing proportion of overseas graduates moving to major cities despite rural development policy efforts to attract human capital to rural areas. However, these policy efforts appear to have attracted overseas graduates with particular qualifications (education and health) to work in such locales.     

Toronto’s condo-builders: development approaches and spatial preferences

The City of Toronto has undergone a number of dramatic transformations in the last several decades morphing from an industrial-driven metropolis into a thriving real estate and consumer amenities market. Over these decades, the development of condominiums has significantly transformed Toronto’s cityscape surpassing by far other types of real estate development. Based chiefly on a series of interviews with property developers and local politicians, this article explores development from the perspective of condo developers. The article identifies the key condo developers and categorizes them according to their development approaches and spatial preferences. Findings reiterate the need to consider property developers as highly diverse and flexible place entrepreneurs. Differences play out not merely in preferred development location and size, but also in target population, tenure mix, corporate structure, and the extent to which capitalism and economic gain are mixed with more idealistic motivations such as social benefits.     

On coordinated development of oasis and environment in arid area

1 Formation and evolution of oasisBoth physical environment and human activities influence the formation and evolution of oasis. Natural oasis is a kind of ecological landscape formed mainly by water without human intervention. Its prosperity and adversity primarily depends on the flow direction and discharge of a river. With the increment of intensity of human activities, however, great changes have taken place in oasis in arid area. The evolution of oasis has been transformed from the contr…     

Periglacial nivation cirques and local glaciations in the rock canyons of Söderåsen,Scania, Sweden. A discussion and new interpretation

Rapp, Anders: Periglacial nivation cirques and local glaciations in the rock canyons of Söderåsen, Scania, Sweden. A discussion and new interpretation. Geografisk Tidsskrift 82: 95–99, Copenhagen, October 15, 1982.

Present opinions about the genesis of the rock canyons OdensjOn, Skäralid and Klöva Hallar of Söderåsen, Sweden are reviewed, and a new theory is presented. It is proposed, that during periglacial tundra periods large amounts of drifting snow collected in valleys of north-south directions. Small glaciers were created, which caused local overdeepening and removal of loose material. These processes were active in tundra periods before and after the main Quaternary glaciations.

SUMMARY

Odensjön, Skäralid and Klöva Hallar are three valleys of canyon type, deeply cut (60–100 m) into the horst block of Söderåsen, of fractured Precambrian gneiss rock. It has been shown by other authors that the cold periods after the Weichselian deglaciation were characterized by permafrost and ice wedges on sandy plains in south Sweden. Strong winds caused widespread wind-polishing of stones and bedrock, predominantly from easterly and westerly directions. Based on this evidence, the author presents the theory that large deposits of wind-blown snow were trapped in the canyon valleys of Söderåsen, except for the valleys of east-west directions. The snow was metamorphosed to firn and local, small glaciers, which filled the valleys. The rims of the canyon valleys have in many cases well developed nivation hollows, either steep nivation funnels or gently sloping, semicircular nivation cirques. Odensjøn is a closed, semicircular rock basin, which has been much discussed by scientists earlier, and which seems to fit the theory of creation by nivation from mainly west, but also east, and a local cirque glacier flow northwards causing the overdeepening and removal of loose material. The three valleys mentioned were problably widened and deepened into a series of nivation basins in tundra periods before and after each major continental glaciation. The nivation hollows and the deep canyon valleys were not destroyed by glacial erosion during the Weichselian and earlier Quaternary major ice advances, because the valleys were filled with densely packed snow and ice from snow drifting before the main glacier front moved over them from NE directions. The theory will be further checked by a team of scientists from the Department of Physical Geography in Lund. A comparison is made with cirque forms in present-day mountain tundra conditions in the area of Kärkevagge in northern Lappland, investigated by the author during the 1950's and later.