The Sponge City Hypothesis: does it hold water?

The notion of sponge cities has attracted considerable attention in the media, in the policy arena, and in academia. It rests on the notion that some regional centres ‘soak up’ population and business from a ‘pool’ of surrounding areas, thereby appearing as ‘oases’ of growth in areas of population decline. Specifically, the notion of sponge cities rests on two premises and a deduction: some large towns and provincial cities are growing; surroundings areas are losing population; therefore, the growth results from the relocation of people from outlying farms and smaller towns to the nearby growing centres. Despite its popularity, the notion has largely gone untested. Investigation of migration trends in Dubbo and Tamworth (New South Wales, Australia), frequently cited as sponge cities, over the period 1986–2001 shows that the reality is much more complex than the simple metaphor suggests. The contribution made by the ‘pool’ to the growth of the regional ‘sponges’ is relatively minor. This calls into question the value of the notion of a sponge city—and the use of metaphors in social science more generally.     

基于景观生态安全格局构建的城镇空间扩展模式研究——以江苏沿海地区为例

基于景观生态学的“格局-过程”理论,对维护江苏沿海地区地形地貌、水源涵养、生物多样性、游憩景观等生态系统服务的单一安全格局进行构建;根据“最小-最大约束”准则,通过镶嵌运算进行叠加,构建综合生态安全格局。运用MCR模型,设置并比对“生态安全模式”“经济发展模式”和“生态与经济协调模式”等不同模式对城镇空间扩展的影响,识别需严格保护的低安全水平区和未来城镇空间重点开发的高安全水平区。研究得出：“生态保护与经济发展”协调型模式更好平衡“生态-社会-经济”效益,合理确定城镇建设和产业发展空间,是城镇健康有序发展的最优模式。     

China＇s economic development stage and its spatiotemporal evolution： A prefectural-level analysis

As important mechanisms of regional strategy and policy,prefecture-level regions have played an increasingly significant role in the development of China’s economy.However,little research has grasped the essence of the economic development stage and the spatio-temporal evolution process at the prefecture level;this may lead to biased policies and their ineffective implementations.Based on Chenery’s economic development theory,this paper identifies China’s economic development stages at both national and prefectural levels.Both the Global Moran I index and the Getis-Ord Gi* index are employed to investigate the spatio-temporal evolution of China’s economic development from 1990 to 2010.Major conclusions can be drawn as follows.(1) China’s economic development is generally in the state of agglomeration.It entered the Primary Production Stage in 1990,and the Middle Industrialized Stage in 2010,with a ’balanced-unbalanced-gradually rebalanced’ pattern in the process.(2) China’s rapid economic growth experienced a spatial shift from the coastal areas to the the inland areas.Most advanced cities in mid-western China can be roughly categorized into regional hub cities and resource-dependent cities.(3) Hot spots in China’s economy moved northward and westward.The interactions between cities and prefectures became weaker in Eastern China,while cities and prefectures in Central and Western China were still at the stage of individual development,with limited effect on the surrounding cities.(4) While the overall growth rate of China’s economy has gradually slowed down during the past two decades,the growth rate of cities and prefectures in Central and Western China was much faster than those in coastal areas.(5) Areas rich in resources,such as Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia,have become the new hot spots of economic growth in recent years.For these regions,however,more attention needs to be paid to their unbalanced industrial structures and the lagging social development against the backdrop of the rapid economic growth,driven predominantly by the exploitation of resources.     

Southeast Asian cities as co-producers of ecological knowledge in transnational city networks

In a polycentric world, cities increasingly bear responsibility for implementing climate policies. To do so, they establish transnational city networks (TCNs), which produce ambitious imaginaries of the future of cities, such as ‘smart cities’ or ‘resilient cities’, based on ecological knowledge. This paper analyses Southeast Asian (SEA) cities’ participation in TCNs. First, this paper presents city networks operating in SEA. Then, drawing on a case study of Quezon City, this paper shows how SEA cities often position themselves in the network as knowledge consumers rather than (co)producers and prefer to learn from cities in the Global North. This research also shows how TCNs—with limited success—seek to counter this neo-colonial knowledge flow model. The paper contributes to the literature on TCNs, arguing that the ongoing North–South imbalance needs to be addressed if networks are to promote viable models of future SEA cities. Identifying the patterns of knowledge flows inside TCNs, this study argues that networks should assist cities in imagining possible city futures beyond the experiences of the select world and global cities. TCNs should pay more attention to supporting their SEA members in looking ‘outwards’ to comparable cities worldwide rather than merely ‘upwards’ to global and mega-cities.     

Editorial – transformation of cities

Cities and city regions are on the global agenda as key sites for contemporary societal development, in terms of agglomeration of economic activity, places of everyday life and dense networks. The majority of economic, political and social activities is today formed by urbanisation, and an increasing number of people are living and working in city regions. At the same time, many cities and peripheral regions are struggling with job losses, industrial restructuring and depopulation, and thus, many countries face new forms of spatially economic and social inequalities. This special issue is about the contemporary urbanisation processes and the transformation of cities and urban systems in the European context using Denmark as a particular case. Denmark provides a present-day example of urban transformation, and its urban system resembles that of many other European countries – Denmark having one large urban centre and a long tail of smaller cities and towns. Thus, the papers in this issue provide insights into contemporary urban changes.     

珠江三角洲城际轨道网络结构：基于连接、容量和流量的对比

城际交通网络包含提供联系可能性的基础设施连接网络（铁轨等）,反映承载容量的组织网络（列车班次等）与实际需求的流量网络（客货流等）3类,分别从连接可能性、潜力容量和实际流量三方面映射了网络发育的不同特征。理清城市在这3种维度网络中的不同位置,对分辨城市的节点位势和城市系统构造具有重要意义。以珠三角城市群城际轨道网络为研究对象,本文系统分析了3种网络整体结构、城市的节点位置和城际连接性的差异。结果表明：虽然3种网络城镇地方中心度均呈现出显著的等级差异特征,相较于需求网络,设施网络和组织网络扁平化特征更为显著;组织网络和需求网络均表现出了以广深为核心、以广深、广珠和广佛为主要联系的结构体系,设施网络则呈现出明显的“沿线效应”,突出了珠江口西岸广珠城际沿线的骨干地位;与组织和设施网络相比,需求网络突出了肇庆、江门等城市的重要性,轨道沿线中小城镇位势则逐渐降低。研究一方面通过区分3种铁路交通网络强调了城市网络研究中明确“刻画何种网络”的重要性;另一方面通过对比城市节点和城际连接在不同网络中的位置,识别出可能性、利用潜力和实际流量的差异,为交通线路规划和区域空间优化政策制定提供依据。     

A green space between life and death – a case study of activities in Gamlebyen Cemetery in Oslo,Norway

The amount of green space in urban areas is shrinking. Densification and the introduction of new user groups in most cities today is leading to more intensive use of public spaces and the need for more space. Urban cemeteries constitute a unique type of public space: while some may consider them primarily religious and contemplative spaces, others see them as primarily recreational or as heritage sites steeped in history. The authors examine the extent to which the pressure on cities’ open green areas combined with influences from intercultural encounters is mirrored in the use and character of cemeteries today – exemplified by Gamlebyen Cemetery (Gamlebyen Gravlund) in Oslo, Norway. They used observations in combination with short semi-structured interviews with those using the cemetery. The findings of pilot study conducted in 2013 suggest that religious aspects played a minor role and that the recreational aspects were more important to most of the interviewees. Many of them considered that the cemetery provided a pleasant green walkway on their way to work, busses or city services. The cemetery offered a combination of calmness, an aesthetically pleasant environment, and ‘cultivated nature’ in an urban context, and was thus an arena that invited respect and esteem.     

Are Australia’s suburbs swamped by Asians and Muslims? Countering political claims with data

Recent decades have seen substantial growth across many developed-world countries of right-wing populist political parties whose policies oppose immigration and multiculturalism as threats to the majority way of life there. These are exemplified in Australia by Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party, which was successful at elections there at the turn of the twenty-first century and again in 2016. Part of this party’s rhetoric focuses on the geography of immigrant groups in Australia’s cities, with claims that their members live in ghettos. Is that factually correct? Using data from the 2011 Australian census this paper analyses the distribution of Asians and Muslims (the two groups picked out by One Nation and its leader) at four spatial scales within the country’s 11 largest urban areas. It finds no evidence at all of intensive residential segregation of Muslims, and although there are concentrations of Asians—notably in Sydney and Melbourne—most residents claiming Asian ancestry live in neighbourhoods and suburbs where they form a minority (in many cases a small minority) only of the local population.     

中国非物质文化遗产在欧洲传播空间分布特征研究——以皮影戏为例

在全球经济一体化的大潮中,中国高度重视文化遗产保护与传承,大力推进中华文化“走出去”战略,为非物质文化遗产的传播提供了新的途径和机遇。基于GIS技术,以列入联合国教科文组织“人类非物质文化遗产代表作名录”的中国皮影戏为案例,研究新中国成立以来以欧洲城市为文化传播目的地的跨文化传播时空特征,并分析其传播特点。研究显示：第一,中国皮影戏跨文化传播欧洲目的地城市表现出一定的空间集聚性特征;第二,方向分布由初期的在欧洲的西北-东南分布,发展为近年来在欧洲地区的东南-西北走向,分布中心由瑞士转移至法国东部。第三,密度高值点转移,跨文化传播欧洲目的地城市密度分布的高值由意大利北部城市等转移至德国中部城市。我国的皮影文化在欧洲地区的传播以中欧地区聚集,并向周边国家扩散,主要是以法国、德国、意大利为主,主要传播城市为法国巴黎、英国伦敦、意大利米兰等。     

城市群研究进展与展望

城市群是指以中心城市为核心向周围辐射构成的多个城市的集合体.城市群的形成是经济发展和产业布局的客观反映,并已成为发达国家城市化的主体形态.进入21世纪,中国加入世界贸易组织,沿海城市群成为国家外向性经济、出口贸易和"世界工厂"的主要地区,以城市群为主体推进中国城市化进程成为中国特色城市化道路的重要选择.本文重点就城市群...     

点-轴系统的分形结构及其空间复杂性探讨

本文对社会经济点-轴系统空间结构的分形演化及其复杂性规律进行了初步探讨。首先分析一般点-轴系统的演化过程,揭示其从低度有序的空间结构向高度有序的分形结构演化的一般规律;然后借鉴复杂性科学研究中的“球-棍”模式,论证点-轴系统的数理本质乃是空间复杂性中“惟一巨型组件(UGC)”。文章以豫北地区的郑、汴、洛城镇体系为实例验证了点-轴体系的分形性质,并讨论了系统的空间复杂性特征及其现实意义。文章最后指出了有关课题今后研究的主要方向。     

航空企业视角的中国航空客运网络组织模式

基于37个中国航空企业的航班大数据,选取对外联系度、异（同）配性系数、层次分析、优势生态位分析等方法对中国航空客运网络组织模式进行分析。研究发现：① 中国航空网络发育整体趋于成熟,已形成明显的层次性和核心-边缘结构,航空企业的航空网络均蕴藏位序-规模规律,依据其机场节点、航线和航班数量可划分为6个层级;② 依据企业视角与网络规模、层次性与同配性/异配性等指标的综合度量,中国航空企业的网络组织模式可划分为核心培育阶段、核心竞争阶段、过渡阶段与稳定增长阶段4种类型;③ 航空企业的航空网络包括核心-边缘同配性网络和核心-边缘异配性网络,企业间竞争焦点主要表现为“核心”的竞争;④ 结合航空客运网络组织模式的判定,当前中国航空网络存在两条收敛规律：层次性收敛与同配性/异配性收敛;⑤ 实力强、规模大的航空企业在全国通航城市的比例分布均匀,具有较高生态位;实力弱、规模小的航空企业在全国通航城市的分布具有区域性且比例不均,生态位较低。为优化航空网络结构、避免企业恶性竞争,中国不同等级的航空企业一方面需结合自身发展阶段不断优化网络组织模式,寻求与企业等级相适应的生态优势位;另一方面要加强合作,避免航线饱和问题,提高整个航空网络的韧性和运营效率。     

The processes of incorporation and secession of urban and suburban municipalities: The case of Poland

ABSTRACT

The aim of the article is to explain the phenomena of mergers and territorial disintegration of Polish towns and cities from three perspectives: social, economic and spatial-primal. Administrative border changes are fundamental components of local urban policy guidelines in countries that have experienced a dual history in the socialist and post-socialist periods, such as Poland. The main method of the authors research was the application of statistical and cartographic methods focused on measuring quantitative administrative changes in urban areas and their demographic effects. The scope of the research covered all towns in Poland existing in the years 1945–2018. Since the changes in the administrative boundaries of cities particularly concern the rural areas in the vicinity of large cities, the suburban municipalities surrounding urban centres were analysed too. The findings underline the deterministic role of political systems in the territorial expansion of towns and cities, and indicates their role for current planning decisions. The authors conclude that noticeable differences between two analysed periods have had at least two significant causes. First, the political and economic systems determining the changes differed, and second, each system was accompanied by differing directions of economic development and therefore also different ‘urbogenic’ forces.     

Property speculation,global capital,urban planning and financialisation: Sydney Boom,Sydney Bust redux

In this ‘Thinking Space’ essay we revisit Maurie Daly’s 1982 book Sydney Boom, Sydney Bust, fuelled by concern for how Australian cities are being transformed by financialised real estate. Daly's insights remain highly relevant to Sydney and other cities around Australia and the world today. Poorly planned densification, inflated property markets, land speculation, and housing poverty are all outcomes of the (global) capitalist intersection of finance and land in Australia. The overwriting of Aboriginal country with colonial-capitalist systems of land ownership set in train a process of land and housing booms, bubbles and busts that are better understood by their circular continuity rather than as a set of ephemeral ruptures. It is the property and finance system itself, rather than any ruptures to it, that reproduces unequal and alienating social relations. Researchers investigating property speculation, global capital, urban planning and financialisation, we argue, ought to revisit this key text to inform their contemporary analyses. Moreover, those wielding power over Australian urban affairs would do well to read it too, lest its lessons be ignored for another generation.     

水资源约束下的张掖绿洲城镇发展模式初步研究

水资源是绿洲城镇存在和发展的重要约束因子,它影响到绿洲城镇的产业结构、空间格局、规模等级及生态环境。张掖绿洲城镇水资源紧缺,利用结构不合理,经济效益低下。选择合理的绿洲城镇发展模式,可使水资源的持续利用和绿洲城镇的快速发展达到良性循环。本文以提高水资源经济效益和绿洲城镇健康发展为模式选择的约束条件,提出了节水防污型城镇模式、商贸枢纽型城镇模式、特色农业型城镇模式及生态型城镇模式。     

The geography of Canadian interlocking directorates: how do they relate to brain circulation?

This study examines the spatiality of interlocking directorates of Canadian companies, with particular emphasis given to international interlocks. From a geographical standpoint, do these connections to foreign firms reinforce the importance of Canada’s top corporate cities as ‘gateways’ to international business? Is there a geography associated with the interlocking to these gateway cities? Findings build on James O. Wheeler’s body of research focused on corporate headquarters. This study is placed within the context of the current economic geography dialogue. Particular focus is placed on Saxenian’s theory of brain circulation, wherein she argues that individuals with international experience serve as brokers linking domestic businesses with those in distant regions. A further purpose of this study then is to examine Saxenian’s argument in the context of Canadian corporations. First, is there a geographical association between directors’ foreign educations and where Canadian firms are interlocked to internationally? Second, the corporate performance of Canadian firms interlocked internationally will be measured against those firms that are not. It seems logical to assume that increased connections would yield more diverse and rich knowledge, which could lead to better decisions, and thus corporate performance, in today’s global world. But does it? This study finds that being linked to an international company through a common director did translate into more profitability for Canadian firms. Findings also revealed a geographical link between international interlocks and a director’s foreign education. However, when Canadian firms were interlocked with an international company with a director who had international education, greater profits did not necessarily result.     

Visualising 30 Years of Population Density Change in Australia’s Major Capital Cities

ABSTRACT

This study uses a novel spatial approach to compare population density change across cities and over time. It examines spatio-temporal change in Australia’s five most populated capital cities from 1981 to 2011, and documents the established and emerging patterns of population distribution. The settlement patterns of Australian cities have changed substantially in the last 30 years. From the doughnut cities of the 1980s, programs of consolidation, renewal and densification have changed and concentrated population in our cities. Australian cities in the 1980s were characterised by sparsely populated, low density centres with growth concentrated to the suburban fringes. ‘Smart Growth’ and the ‘New Urbanism’ movements in the 1990s advocated higher dwelling density living and the inner cities re-emerged, inner areas were redeveloped, and the population distribution shifted towards increased inner city population densities. Policies aimed at re-populating the inner city dominated and the resultant changes are now visible in Australia’s five most populated capital cities. While this pattern has been reported in a number of studies, questions remain regarding the extent of these changes and how to analyse and visualise them across urban space. This paper reports on a spatial method which addresses the limitations of changing statistical boundaries to identify the changing patterns in Australian cities over time and space.     

‘Development’, resistance and the geographies of affect in Oecussi: Timor‐Leste's Special Economic Zone (ZEESM)

In 2013, it was announced that Timor‐Leste's Oecussi enclave would become the site of a special economic zone. Arid, and inhabited mostly by semi‐subsistence farmers from West Timor's Meto ethno‐linguistic group, the plan entails remaking the enclave as an industrial, transport and tourism hub. To facilitate this, in mid‐2015 the authorities began the process of clearing hundreds of indigenous gardens and homes from land slated for mega‐projects intended to make the region attractive to foreign investors. In this paper, I describe how, for many Meto, land tends to be experienced as a spiritually mediated ‘geography of affect’ (Lea & Woodward, 2010) in which questions of place, belonging, spirituality and personal fortune cannot easily be divided, a reality that raises questions about the suitability of the plan's vision of globalized and investment driven ‘development’. Drawing on Scott, I argue that in Oecussi, spirits associated with the land are not apolitical, but are sometimes perceived as acting to protect locals against powerful outsiders – a characteristically Meto ‘weapon of the weak’ that is in keeping with their previous encounters with colonial regimes.     

东北地区城际高铁网络格局特征与演变趋势

构建城际高铁联系强度模型并结合社会网络分析探讨东北地区高铁网络格局特征与演变趋势,研究结果表明：① 东北地区高铁网络整体关联性相对紧密,小世界效应显著,但仍处于弱连接状态,涵盖长春-四平-沈阳-铁岭-抚顺、大连-辽阳-鞍山-营口-盘锦、松原-白城-乌兰浩特子群,吉林-延吉、齐齐哈尔-大庆、丹东-本溪、锦州-葫芦岛关系对,7片区组织格局成型;② 以哈尔滨为分界线的东南部比西北部的高铁通达联系密切,高铁要素集散呈“一核心、三边缘”格局特征,长春为东北高铁中介运输轴点;③ 辽、吉省内高铁联系紧密,黑、蒙东松散,辽宁省呈沈阳-大连一轴、沈阳-锦州与沈阳-丹东两翼格局,吉林省呈长春-吉林-四平与长春-吉林-延吉三角交叉状格局,黑龙江省呈哈尔滨-大庆-齐齐哈尔轴线状格局,蒙东区呈乌兰浩特孤立化格局;④ 东北地区高铁的运营加快了哈大齐、哈长与长吉图一体化进程,有助于构建辽中南内部哈大、沈丹与丹大高铁三角骨架,同时应依托7片区与4大中俄朝韩主通道搭建东北内外、海陆统筹的铁路网络架构。     

跨学科视角下“地缘政治”概念及其研究范式

分析1982—2019年中国核心学术刊物和著作,梳理地理学和政治学对于“地缘政治”概念和研究范式的不同理解。研究发现：① 地理学和政治学有很多相似之处,包括对“地缘战略”等概念的关注,对“大国安全与崛起”等议题的探讨,以及在分析框架中对案例和质性分析方法的强调等;② 地理学和政治学有各具特色,地理学衍生“地缘环境”等概念,政治学也衍生“地缘安全”等概念;地理学在议题上更具空间和系统思维,对海洋地缘政治等话题更偏好,而政治学更强调时事性,侧重于分析时事政治及其地缘政治逻辑等;在分析框架上,地理学受计量革命的影响深远,对质性和定量分析都有所关注,而政治学对案例分析和质性分析的依赖度更高。这些发现说明了当前学科分工并没有改变地理学中的“地缘政治”概念和政治学中的“地缘政治”概念源出一脉的事实,同时也发现,其中的差异正是学科壁垒形成关键所在。