Cartographic Constructs: A Case Study of Nantucket Island Oral Histories

The widespread adoption of neoliberal reforms during the past quarter century has had profound implications for the livelihoods of those who live and work in cities throughout Latin America. This case study of Mérida, Mexico, builds directly on recent research about the changing nature of work and the role of informality as a livelihood strategy in Latin America and attempts to explain how place-specific patterns of informal work emerge from neoliberal reforms and concomitant urban economic restructuring. Drawing on field research and a large household survey, this article reveals that general patterns of informality coincide with previous findings from Latin America: high levels of informal work; increased heterogeneity of informality; and significant mobility, with a large share of workers “opting out” of the formal sector voluntarily. However, compared with previous research in Mexico, this study shows that informal work is significantly more pervasive, particularly among women; less likely to be voluntary; and pays considerably less. In light of gender considerations and significant discrepancies between local patterns of informality and national trends, this case study casts doubt on recent World Bank encyclicals affirming the resemblance between self-employment in Mexico and microentrepreneurship in more developed countries. Moreover, the article concludes that World Bank literature conveniently overlooks the gendered nature of informal work in Latin America and the profound divergence between the express purposes of neoliberalism and its actual implications. As a result, World Bank research on informality serves to justify the neoliberal model, rather than improve the livelihoods of those who live and work in cities throughout Latin America.     

Subversive formalization: efforts to (re)form land,labor, and behavior in a carioca favela

ABSTRACT

State entities in Brazil have rolled out numerous programs to “integrate” precarious settlements into the so-called formal city of Rio de Janeiro. Two of the most visceral integration projects in Rio’s favelas have been infrastructural upgrading and public security via military police occupation. Drawing on participant observation, interviews, and policy analysis, in this paper I trace how these projects attempt to formalize land, labor, and behavior in a complex of favelas called Complexo do Alemão. Inspired by postcolonial urban approaches to formalization, I argue that formality/informality as it operates through these projects is, in part, a performative distinction deployed by the state, echoing elite and popular socio-spatial imaginaries. I add, however, that non-state actors are also involved in their own practices of formalization. Residents themselves are re-making diverse forms of property, employment, and behavior through processes of subversive formalization, informed by their geographically-embedded and historical relationships with one another.     

The informal Australian city

In recent years, a vibrant literature on urban informality has emerged in urban geography. A key claim of this literature is that informality is not only present in cities in the Global South, and that the concept can be usefully applied to understand important dimensions of urbanisation in cities in the Global North. In this paper, we apply insights from that literature to an examination of informality in Australian cities, as a means of deepening our understanding of changes currently underway in urban governance and politics. Drawing on that literature and our own research into informal practices in Australian cities, we examine the forces that help to produce informality, the diverse forms and agents of informality, the forms of authority that they enact, and their relationship to formal economies, regulations and politics. We use examples of informal housing, informal labour, do-it-yourself music venues, graffiti and its regulation, food foraging, and queer community building in Sydney to illustrate our arguments. We conclude by reflecting on the lessons learnt across these diverse cases for our understanding of urban governance and politics in Australia, and offer an agenda for further research on this issue.     

乡村“产居一体”的演进机制与空间图谱解析——以浙江碧门村为例

基于民本动力的生产模式驱动,产业集聚与人居增长在乡村地理空间上高度复合,“产居一体”成为乡村区域建设与可持续发展的重要路径。以浙江碧门村为实证,阐释乡村“产居一体”的现象特征、演进机制及影响因素,并“自下而上”地建构空间图谱,整合与评价其范式组织及空间绩效。结果表明：① 碧门村的“产居一体”演进具有明显的阶段性特征,生产调整、精英引领、配套支持、政府干预构成了主要驱动机制;② 碧门村“产居一体”微观单元范式多样,具有下产上居、前产后居、庭院工坊、产居独立四种模式,在空间上的效仿、协同与竞争,形成宏观的“产居一体”空间图谱格局;③ 青山村、中心村与黄浒沿的“产居一体”空间图谱特征差异显著,分别呈现核域式聚集、轴线式延展、散点式分布的增长与分布规律。由此,提出“产居一体”驱动下的组团协作、精明指标、级差布局的导控机制,以期为规划实践提供具有可操作性的理论支持。     

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.     

Residential Satisfaction in China's Informal Settlements: A Case Study of Beijing,Shanghai, and Guangzhou

China's informal settlements—villages inside urbanized areas—are often characterized by local governments as dirty, chaotic, and dangerous places. This negative discourse inevitably leads to recommendations for demolition. A number of criteria have been invoked in state decisions regarding the demolition of informal settlements; however, rarely are these places evaluated from the residents’ perspective. This paper, following a long tradition of residential satisfaction research in Western nations, uses a household survey to examine this topic in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. We find that local contexts not only matter, but may be the principal determinants of residential satisfaction. The residential satisfaction of village dwellers is not necessarily low, and most socioeconomic attributes are not statistically significant determinants of resident satisfaction. Migrants and low-income groups are not less satisfied than nonmigrants or middle-range income earners; the most important determinant is social attachment within the community. The perception of being excluded, or lacking neighborhood social attachment, significantly reduces residential satisfaction. No facilities can compensate for this negative exclusion factor. We conclude that demolishing informal settlements does not help to build a “harmonious society,” which is the purported goal of such programs. Removing the social and institutional barriers for migrant integration into the city is likely the most effective way to enhance residential satisfaction and neighborhood quality.     

Incremental infrastructures: material improvisation and social collaboration across post-colonial Accra

Approaching the informal construction and extension of infrastructures through the terrain of what I term “the incremental” opens up new platforms of analysis for post-colonial urban systems. This refers to ad hoc actions on the part of slum dwellers to connect to energy networks or carve out informal living spaces. I argue that incrementalism is produced and subsequently secured and scaled through material configurations that seek to test and prefigure new forms of infrastructure and accompanying resource flows. I use a case study of energy and housing systems in a low-income neighborhood in Accra to define and examine these incremental infrastructures. I examine shifts in the Accra energy network as urban dwellers rework connections to flows of electricity. I also consider the material adjustment of housing and the role of cooperation in responding to threats of demolition and displacement. Together, incremental infrastructures and the ways that they are constituted articulate a prefigurative politics in which residents seek to generate access to new infrastructural worlds.     

改革开放以来珠江三角洲基层非正规土地利用实践与制度创新——以东莞市长安镇为例

21世纪初,在对非正规经济研究的二元主义、新马克思主义和新自由主义理论解释基础上,出现了批判管治主义理论,重点关注国家权力与制度对非正规性产生的影响。基于该视角,以东莞市长安镇为例,运用质性研究方法,分析了改革开放先行区的珠江三角洲,其基层非正规土地利用实践的产生、表现及其与制度创新之间的关系。研究发现：改革开放以来,在国家土地制度缺失、正规土地管理制度颁布和实施阶段,以及省级政府主导的土地制度创新阶段,非正规土地利用实践经历了被政府鼓励、包容和默许及正规化的过程。部分非正规土地利用实践成为制度创新的根源。土地制度的演变经历了由乡村基层“自下而上”式向地方政府“自上而下”式推动的转变,在演变过程中具有非正规性特征,并服务于各个时期的城市与经济发展需求。未来的研究中,应更多的关注“自下而上”的制度创新和地方实践。     

‘The law is not for the poor’: Land,law and eviction in Luanda

This article investigates how an existing two‐tiered land tenure system creates a hybrid space that blurs, and essentially questions and problematizes the boundaries of the formal/informal divide as presented within Angolan political and legal discourses. It showcases how urban formality and informality exist alongside each other in Luanda and how people take recourse to both formal and informal channels in attempts to secure housing, land tenure and livelihoods in the city. Through case studies, the article describes how small‐scale farmers in Luanda's northern municipality of Cacuaco lost their lands to urban development in 2009–10 and the ensuing circumstances in which formal rights and informal land tenure became intermeshed and ambiguous. As the case studies illustrate, a gap exists between the legal code and practice on the ground. This gap is represented in how Angola's postconflict land strategy, with its forced evictions and demolitions of houses and neighbourhoods, often with little or no compensation, is at odds with the Angolan Land Law, which states that land may only be expropriated by the state or local authorities for specific public use and must be justly compensated.     

The broken promises of social mix: the case of the Cabrini Green/Near North area in Chicago

Public policies of social mixing have been enacted as the reversal of what segregation and concentrated poverty are presumed to have produced: intensified social problems (i.e., “neighborhood effects”). In addition, the pervasive discourses of diversity have provided more support for the idea of social mixing. Studies on planned and unplanned diverse neighborhoods have shown how certain diverse patterns can emerge and endure over time. Yet these studies have failed to explain how such demographic diversity becomes integration. In this article, I draw on a multidimensional perspective of socio-spatial integration to present a qualitative case study of the Cabrini Green/Near North area in Chicago—a neighborhood with a long history of segregation and recent socially engineered diversity. The case shows how contentious this new coexistence has been, and how segregation has been shifting its mechanisms of enforcement from housing to other spheres of life. I conclude with reflections on four dimensions of socio-spatial integration, and on the troubling policy and theoretical implications of the “social mix” paradigm.     

发展中国家的城市非正规住房供给研究：述评与启示

快速城市化下的发展中国家城市住房供需矛盾突出,非正规住房在城市住房供给体系中的作用逐渐凸显。国际城市研究学者已经开始关注发展中国家的城市非正规现象。论文综述了发展中国家城市住房供给模式及特征,发展中国家的城市非正规住房供给包括非法占住、非法再分和非正规租赁等不同类型,非正规住房在发展中国家城市住房供应体系中的地位显著,但也引发了居住环境的恶化和贫民窟的形成,政府对非正规住房的态度正逐渐转化。我国正处于快速城市化和社会经济转型时期,城市非正规住房现象逐渐凸显,发展中国家的相关经验为我国城市住房制度建设和非正规住房管治提供了有益的参考。     

中国非正规经济发展格局及与城镇化的关系——基于多指标多原因(MIMIC)模型的研究北大核心CSCDCSSCI

非正规经济是世界城市化过程的普遍现象,关于它的发展态势及与城市化的关系是学界长期关注的重要问题。本文引入多指标多原因(MIMIC)模型估算中国非正规经济规模,在分析其发展空间格局的基础上,运用计量模型揭示了非正规经济与城镇化的动态关系。研究表明,2000年以来中国非正规经济不断增长,2008年后出现较快增长态势,2017年占GDP比例达到20.55%,非正规就业人员达1.59亿人。非正规经济的空间分布呈现西北-东南高、西南-东北低的不平衡特点。模型显示,中国非正规经济与人口城镇化水平存在倒U型关系,即非正规经济占整体经济的份额随城镇化水平的提高呈现先上升、后下降的变化过程,发生这一变化的城镇化水平临界值为72.48%。由此推断中国非正规经济占比还将伴随城镇化进程而继续上升,由于城镇化发展阶段的差异,不同地区的非正规经济发展态势将不同。非正规经济还受到经济发展阶段、产业结构、流动人口、国有经济和政府管制等因素的影响。本文有助于加深认识非正规经济的发展规律,为制定基于城镇化发展阶段差异的非正规经济政策提供理论依据。     

“规土融合”的技术体系、管理模式创新及发展展望——以武汉市为例

在"多规合一"发展的背景下,以武汉为例,聚焦城市规划与土地利用规划融合("规土融合")在地方层面的实施路径与发展目标。系统梳理了其在体系结构、技术语言、信息平台等方面的技术革新策略,同时概括出管理模式创新中协调成本内部化、转变政府角色、倡导交往理性、加快接轨市场等有益尝试。此外,强调武汉实践中"两规"与"规-土"的内涵差异,丰富对规划融合发展目标的认识,以期为相关地方实践带来有益启示,也为宏观规划体系改革提供自下而上的思考视角。     

OpenStreetMap and Food Security: A Case Study in the City of Philadelphia

OpenStreetMap (OSM) is an online public access database that allows for the collaborative collection of local geographic information. We employ this mapping technology to discuss a new social theory of poverty that moves away from income poverty to an economy that directly produces individuals' basic needs. Focusing on urban farming in Philadelphia as an example, we use OSM to support the argument that money, land, labor, and capital do not limit food production in the city. OSM is a type of “commons” that allows community members to depict features of interest to them that might otherwise be underrepresented in official or commercially produced maps such as Google Maps. Using the concept of facilitated volunteered geographic information (VGI) we developed an open framework for combining residents' local knowledge of food resources with expert guidance in data input. We believe this helps overcome problems with ad hoc data submission efforts to which collaborative online projects are susceptible. The program for “tagging” food resources in OSM was deployed in a public “map-a-thon” event we organized in Philadelphia, bringing together technical experts and food enthusiasts. To share the results, we present the Philly Fresh Food Map as an interactive online Web map that can be used and updated by the public.     

Governing a city of unicorns: technology capital and the urban politics of San Francisco

San Francisco is now widely considered to be the most important city in the world for the location of new technology start-up firms, especially high valuation “unicorns,” and is increasingly seen as both a locational and metaphorical extension of Silicon Valley. In this paper, I trace some of the political strategies and tensions that have accompanied the city’s prominence in this area, and in particular the distinctive role of technology and venture capital in the political economy of urban development. The paper has four empirical sections. It describes (1) the political machinations surrounding the 2011 and 2015 municipal elections, which saw the election of Ed Lee as Mayor with significant support from individual technology investors such as Ron Conway and Marc Benioff, and accompanied by various “tech-friendly” policy shifts; (2) the foundation of the “tech chamber of commerce” sf.citi as a means of enhancing the policy influence of the tech industry in San Francisco; (3) the introduction of a low taxation regime in the city’s Central Market area that has attracted technology companies such as Twitter as tenants; and (4) the urban policy tensions associated with the evolution of new “sharing economy” firms such as Uber and Airbnb, which have aggressively challenged municipal regulations in the taxi and property rental fields. Throughout these machinations, we can see a reshaping of capital fractions, with venture and angel capital increasingly involved in reengineering the labor, housing, and public transport markets of the city in order to circumvent the accumulation problems that tech investors had suffered in the earlier dot.com failures.     

行政区划调整与管理体制改革对经济强县经济发展的影响——以广东省佛山市顺德区为例

以顺德为案例,对基于区域一体化的“撤县（市）设区”以及基于地方积极性的“省直管县”2个阶段中行政区划体制和管理自主权变化、经济发展变化及其相互关系进行分析,探讨行政区划体制变化对顺德经济发展的影响,并结合DEA模型,从经济增长和经济效率水平2方面对其经济发展变化进行多阶段自身纵向和区域横向对比。结果表明：1）撤市设区,有限弱化了顺德规划管理等重要事权、财权财力和核心人事权,不利于顺德经济的长期增长,降低了经济效率;2）强县扩权、省直管,推动顺德财政独立,强化其一般事权和核心人事权,有利于顺德经济增长和经济效率的提高;3）撤市设区后,行政管理层级增加,县级政府对各部门有效制衡被弱化,县域发展意志被制约,更为重要的是,在“中心城市经济实力较弱,为撤并工作顺利,县级制度部分保留”的背景下,市县两级政府分歧下的区域分割等问题难以解决,区域一体化受限明显,这是顺德乃至佛山整体长期经济发展弱化的重要原因;4）强县扩权、省直管后,行政管理趋于扁平化,“大部制改革”“简政放权”权限与动力得到强化,县域发展意志得以实现,是顺德经济发展强化的主要因素。     

BAVARIAN LEAVENWORTH AND THE SYMBOLIC ECONOMY OF A THEME TOWN

ABSTRACT. Theme towns are an often‐overlooked but significant form of tourism in rural areas. Many a small town across the United States, faced with a declining resource‐based economy, has turned to “theming” as an economic‐development strategy. In hopes of creating an alluring landscape, the built environment is radically transformed, and a variety of invented traditions are instituted. This article explores one such place‐Leavenworth, Washington‐that “went Bavarian” in the 1960s and is widely viewed as a success story. We examine four interrelated concepts that produce the symbolic economy of Leavenworth: emulation of other theme towns, authenticity, visual difference, and place marketing. After discussing each, we turn to the questions of how residents are affected by tourism and what it is like to live in Leavenworth.     

新疆旅游经济网络特征的时空演变研究——基于修正的引力模型及社会网络分析

通过构建“旅游综合质量”评价指标,继而将引力模型进行修正以衡量各区域间旅游经济联系度并运用社会网络分析方法探究了2008—2017年新疆15个地州旅游经济的空间网络特征。结果表明：（1） 2008—2017年间,新疆旅游经济关联网络密度的均值仅为0.356、网络效率均值为0.718、网络等级度均值为0.367。（2） 10 a间,乌鲁木齐市、伊犁州直属、喀什地区、昌吉州、吐鲁番市等地属于度数中心度与中间中心度双高区域;阿勒泰地区、巴州等地属于度数中心度较高、中间中心度较低区域;克拉玛依市属于度数中心度较低,中间中心度较高区域;博州、和田地区、哈密地区、塔城地区、克州、阿克苏地区、石河子市等地属于度数中心度、中间中心度双低区域。（3） 乌鲁木齐市、昌吉州、喀什地区、伊犁州直属、阿勒泰地区等地在研究时限内属于“双向溢出板块”;石河子市、克拉玛依市、巴州、吐鲁番市属于“经纪人板块”;博州、哈密地区、塔城地区属于“净受益板块”;阿克苏地区、克州、和田地区属于“主受益板块”。本文旨在丰富旅游经济网络研究视角,同时为新疆各地州旅游经济发展与合作提供量化依据。     

珠江三角洲世界工厂的非正规职业中介及其作用——以广东省东莞市塘厦镇为例

国内外现有研究认为,农民工的求职渠道非常单一,主要依赖社会关系网络。本文选取典型的珠江三角洲世界工厂所在地——广东省东莞市塘厦镇为案例,对非正规职业中介机构进行了深入调查研究。发现非正规中介机构在农民工的求职过程中发挥着重要作用,帮助农民工实现灵活、即时的就业,其存在是在我国转型期市场改革不断深入的背景下,企业/工厂的用工需求、农民工的求职需要、中介机构的逐利目的和地方政府的宽容态度共同作用的结果。非正规职业中介机构是市场动力作用下的新型农民工非正规求职渠道,是原有的社会关系网络求职渠道的延伸。研究表明,在现阶段中国城市化过程中,非正规的动力在解决农民工求职乃至城市化过程中具有重要的作用。     

Examining regulatory reform for bus operations in Latin America

Governments in Latin American cities are pursuing regulatory reforms to address the negative externalities of informal public transportation service providers. This is achieved by regulatory actions that work to consolidate many small operators competing “in the market” into fewer larger companies competing “for the market.” This reform addresses problems in the previous phase of the regulatory cycle, but requires a larger role for public authorities. The cities of Bogotá, Santiago and Mexico City took different approaches and have achieved different levels of formalization. Under these cities’ new regulatory regimes, bus companies have consolidated and public authorities now rely on renegotiation of contracts instead of open rebidding. However, industry formalization increases costs, requiring public subsidy or higher fares, and puts financial pressure on the public sector. These results imply a continued instability in the regulatory cycle; without increased public sector capacity, it is possible that large, entrenched operators and increasing costs will create a new market opening for informal service.