Privatised Communities: the use of owners corporations in master planned estates in Melbourne

This paper contributes to the growing body of work on master planned estates in Australia by addressing the issue of the privatisation of assets and facilities, which in more conventional residential developments are in the public realm, owned and managed by local councils or other public bodies. The paper addresses the trend to place assets presented as lifestyle features, such as community and recreational facilities, open space or landscaping features, in a form of collective private ownership, known in Victoria as owners corporations. The provision of these facilities and assets for residents, however, has a number of implications relating to exclusivity, separation from the wider community, and potential conflicts within the master planned community itself. These issues are examined with reference to data gathered through an investigation of recently established master planned communities in the growth areas of Melbourne.     

城市郊区乡村旅游发展影响因素研究——以成都农家乐为例

我国乡村旅游的研究大多停留在定性研究上,定量研究较少。文章在对乡村旅游研究述评的基础上,采用田野调查和统计分析法,以西南农家旅游的典型——成都市为例,分析了影响城市郊区乡村旅游的人文因素、资源因素、管理因素。对包括区域经济发展水平和休闲传统、客源市场和交通便捷性、节庆活动和知名度、空间竞争、旅游资源条件、政府的支持力度、经营者投资和管理水平等进行了评价。     

Islam in Sydney: Contesting the Discourse of Absence

Non‐recognition is one of the key modes of re‐inscribing the Other. In Sydney's anti‐mosque politics this form of oppression was manifest as a discourse of absence. Sydney Muslims have been portrayed as non‐existent within, or external to, localities where mosques have been proposed. In these circumstances claims to belonging and citizenship by Sydney Muslims have been fundamentally injured. Census data are used to challenge the historical and contemporary constructions of Islamic absence in Australia. Sydney Muslims are a culturally diverse and somewhat disparate faith group. They are increasingly present in areas outside of the initial zones of residential focus. This diversity and dynamism is a substantial challenge for Islamic community building (Ummah) in Sydney and presents rich foci for further research.     

北京郊区乡村旅游季节性特征及其影响因素

京郊地区乡村旅游发展迅速,已成为北京居民重要的休闲旅游目的地。本研究以2008-2010 年京郊乡村地区的旅游统计数据为基础,采用月度指数、快速样本聚类法和基尼指数等指标及方法,分析并测定京郊地区乡村旅游的月度分布特征、旅游季节划分以及旅游季节性强度等季节性特征。基础数据分析结果显示:京郊乡村旅游的季节性特征明显,在全年范围内形成旺季、平季和淡季3 个旅游季节,其中4-5 月、7-8 月和10 月是3 个旅游旺季,11 月到来年1 月是旅游淡季,其余月份为平季。然后,从自然因素(地理条件、气候条件)和社会因素(公共假日、社会关系和节事活动)等2 个主要方面入手,阐释了京郊地区乡村旅游季节性特征的影响因素,指出相对静态(可调节性较弱)的公共假日和相对动态(可调节性较强)的节事活动是京郊地区乡村旅游季节性特征的主要成因。     

Emerging trends in urbanizing Palestine: neglected city-builders beyond the occupation

In this article, we draw attention to trends in land transformation in the West Bank since the Second Intifada, after which a surge of investment from Gulf countries entered Palestine, almost exclusively in the West Bank. The occupied Palestinian territories have attracted a great deal of attention from media and academics, yet the vast majority of scholarship focuses on the conflict and the variety of social, economic, and political repercussions of the on-going Israeli occupation. While the occupation has undeniably serious impacts on every aspect of life for Palestinians, the near-exclusive focus on the conflict means that significant new trends, such as urban mega-developments and emerging market-based urbanisation processes, have been largely overlooked. We outline three directions for future research: the assemblage of “neglected city-builders” shaping current urbanization processes in Palestine; the ideas, policies, and norms circulating in the West Bank; and the social, spatial, economic, and other impacts of these new urban developments.     

城市化与城市近郊乡村旅游开发研究--以成都邛崃市鹤鸣村为例

城市近郊区是一个极不稳定的区域。呈现动态变化的过程,其变化受城市化进程的影响。近年来,乡村旅游在城市郊区、特别是城市近郊的各种旅游中发展十分活跃。但是缺乏科学的理论指导。该文根据城市化作用下的城市近郊乡村旅游演变的规律和原理,以成都邛崃市鹤鸣村为例,探讨城市化对城市近郊乡村旅游的影响,分析城市化影响下鹤鸣村乡村旅游地生命周期的发展进程,提出鹤鸣村乡村旅游开发的建议。     

Context and contingency: the coffee crisis for conventional small-scale coffee farmers in Brazil

Brazil is the largest economy in Latin America and the world's leading producer and exporter of coffee. Smallholders are the predominant producers of Brazilian coffee and have been significantly impacted by post-ISI (import substitution industrialisation) neoliberal reforms that swept the nation's agricultural sector beginning in the 1980s. These reforms stimulated increased coffee production while simultaneously diminishing state interventions, including agricultural subsidies, farmer credits, research and development programmes, extension services, and rural development initiatives. These changes were closely followed by major restructuring of the global coffee market and the elimination of international coffee export quotas. Our research joins a growing body of recent literature exploring how changes related to market liberalisation and globalisation affect localities and regions where producers supply coffee for conventional markets. Through a case study, we describe the impacts of neoliberal globalisation on the lives, livelihoods, and environment of small-scale coffee producers in Minas Gerais, Brazil. We explore how neoliberal reform, reflected in the specific historical, geographical, and environmental context of Brazilian coffee production, has resulted in the increased marginalisation of small-scale farmers, the degradation of soils, and overall rural decline.     

The Suburban Stream Syndrome: Evaluating Land Use and Stream Impairments in the Suburbs

Development is known to impair stream water quality at moderate to high levels of urbanization, but the effects of low-density urban expansion, the kind occurring on the outskirts of many cities, remain unclear. We examined five suburban headwater streams in Duchess County, New York whose watersheds contained between 4.7% and 34% impervious surface cover. We measured Cl^- and nitrate-N (NO₃-N) concentrations in water samples taken at four to six sites on each stream in winter and summer. Even at low levels of population and impervious cover, concentrations of both Cl^- and NO₃-N exceeded reference levels found in cleaner streams in the region. Chloride levels were elevated in upper reaches and remained elevated or continued to increase downstream, with a linear response to impervious cover. Nitrate-N increased downstream in all watersheds, indicating that NO₃-N inputs exceeded natural denitrification and uptake in both winter and summer. Nitrate-N responded logarithmically to impervious surface cover, with steep increases at low levels of imperviousness. Per-capita inputs were also high in rural areas. Agricultural inputs were not sufficient to explain observed trends in NO₃-N; we interpret inputs to result chiefly from low-density exurban expansion. Widespread residential expansion has significant impacts on water quality that have not previously been acknowledged.     

Chocolate in China: the cadbury experience

Since 1979, China's Open Door policy has attracted increasing foreign investment. To maintain global competitiveness, the British confectioner, Cadbury, authorised its Australian subsidiary to develop a chocolate plant in China. This paper details the decision‐making processes that eventually led to a new factory on a greenfield site near Beijing. It also illustrates some of the adaptations that Cadbury has had to make in its product and production procedures in order to match its own standards for dairy milk chocolate and yet accommodate guo qing (the special situation in China).     

Acquisition of industrial enterprises and its relations with regional identity: The case of the beer industry in Central Europe

ABSTRACT

The development of globalisation has ushered in fundamental changes that have led to a break in the relationship between places of production and places of consumption, and sometimes a rejection of global products and corporations at the local level in accordance with neolocalism. The objective of the article is to examine the effect of regional identity on the local impacts of global processes by applying a multilevel analysis of the brewing industry, in which consumers are very sensitive to changes in the beer offered and can influence it, for example by putting pressure on representatives of restaurants. Beginning with extensive research on the international level, the authors point out the various impacts of brewery acquisitions in three Central European countries – Czechia, Poland and Slovakia – that differ regarding the role of beer in the identity of their inhabitants. Thereafter, they focus on two Czech beer brands, the production of which was relocated to other regions after acquisitions. Based on field studies in the regions of the brands’ original production, the authors find that both brands lost popularity among their original customers. They conclude that for Czech customers, the place of production may be an important factor when choosing a beer brand.     

On the Fringe of Neoliberalism: residential development in outer suburban Sydney

Although there is widespread consensus in human geography that neoliberalism is achieved through the intersection of multiple scales and states, there has been growing emphasis in recent years on the hybrid qualities of neoliberalist-styles of governance. Because hybrid approaches draw attention to the wide range of actors and contradictory agendas underpinning the always uneven expression of neoliberalist projects, they are particularly suited to the identification of residual state capacities in contexts where neoliberalist forms dominate economic and political life. Drawing on two cases of large-scale residential development in New South Wales, namely Warnervale Town Centre on the New South Wales Central Coast and the Australian Defence Industry site at St Marys in Sydney's west, the present paper adopts an hybrid approach in order to identify current state capacities. Through a comparison of both sites, it identifies the potential for socially and ecologically balanced development in the outer suburban context.     

Changes in the Indonesian Clothing Industry: Trade and Regulation

Policy frameworks at national and international levels have significant influence on the growth performance and industrialisation of developing economies. This paper aims to explore the influence of such regulatory policy frameworks on the development of the Indonesian clothing industry since the mid‐1980s based on an analysis of national clothing trade statistics provided by the Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics. Although the Indonesian policy framework had a general export‐orientation, protectionist measures for the domestic market proved to be important in facilitating the growth of the Indonesian clothing industry. This paper also shows how the existing international clothing trade regulatory framework of the Multi‐Fibre Arrangement (MFA) influenced the integration of Indonesian clothing firms into global production and trade networks. Finally, the future policy changes and potential impacts for Indonesian clothing firms are discussed.     

Nationalism, Populism, Dependency: Southeast Asia and Responses to the Asian Crisis

Opposition to neoliberal globalisation has been especially intense since the Asian crisis. This paper assesses three responses to the crisis: a broad localist reaction in Thailand, and the approaches adopted by two major Asian-based organisations, the Third World Network (TWN) and the Focus on the Global South. The discussion of these approaches focuses on the issues of nationalism and populism; dependency; industrialisation and the state; and liberalisation, international institutions, and local society. Their critiques range from the conservative populism of the localists, to reformism of TWN, and to the more radical "deglobalisation" approach of the Focus group. However, none have been able to free themselves of the influence of dependency models. Their populism and "progressive nationalism" prevents an accurate location of the causes of exploitation in capitalist processes. This paper questions whether the national-global dichotomy of these approaches is an adequate way to conceptualise capitalist production and exploitation in the era of globalisation.     

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.     

Place,exile and identity: the contemporary experience of Palestinians in Sydney

Statelessness, displacement and exile, far from being particular moments in history, continue to affect the lives of Palestinians living in Sydney, in the maintenance of national identity and community formation. The impacts that displacement and subsequent ‘statelessness’ have had on the ways in which Palestinians maintain a sense of national identity have similarities with those of other ‘displaced’ peoples. Without the recognition of national boundaries to secure national sovereignty (Palestine) and accommodate the continuation of a shared and inherited history, the most significant element through which Palestinian identity is kept ‘alive’ is the one thing that all Palestinians share: a communal sense of injustice which involves being denied the right to live in, or return to, their homeland. Statelessness, nationalism and the now ‘imagined community’ of Palestine are more crucial for Palestinians living in Sydney than more primordial elements of identity, such as language or local community. Statelessness and exile in Australia have constructed a particular sense of Palestinian nationalism. The continuity of Palestinian identity as a primarily political phenomenon is a situation analogous to that of other diasporic refugee communities.     

Globalisation, Regionalisation and Local Voices: The Asian Development Bank and Rescaled Politics of Environment in the Mekong Region

Globalisation is manifested in the Mekong Region both through processes and discourses that reflect the ideology of a borderless world allowing easy passage of capital and commodities, and through resistance to such processes in an increasingly transnationalised civil society movement. However, more immediately significant supranational integrative agendas take the form of regionalisation, a process that has received less attention but which raises analogous concerns of re-scaled governance. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been a catalysing force for regionalisation amidst a host of regional processes and initiatives; as such it has found itself the object of critique as an institution and through the specific projects it has supported that have impacted on local communities and ecosystems. Meanwhile, local and NGO voices associated with the emergence of a vibrant civil society in Thailand and nascent civil society responses in neighbouring countries have challenged claims on resources made in the name of national development and regional integration.
This paper considers some key issues of re-scaling resource and environmental politics in the Mekong Region, and the extent to which challenges have been recast from national to regional development agendas. Politics of environment are shown to exist as a general rather than exceptional response to the region's development direction, and it is suggested that equitable and sustainable development increasingly needs to address simultaneously the re-scaling and reconfigurations of power in both environmental politics and the "infrapolitics" of environment. The paper is illustrated with case studies of dams in Laos and Thailand.     

Changing retail structure in Southern Sydney

Analysis of the retail structure in three local government areas in southern Sydney revealed many changes over the period 1969–1989: the number of establishments grew by more than 20 per cent despite a significant population decline; there was considerable evidence of the suburbanisation of the professions; and the composition of shopping centres reflected changing suburban lifestyles, notably as regards an increased concern for eating out, fitness and health, and personal services. Over time, the hierarchy of shopping centres became less clear‐cut and more attenuated. The geographical pattern of growth and decline suggests that the retail structure of the area is becoming increasingly complex.     

Equity Issues in the 'New Prosperity' of the 1990s: The case of Sydney

Equity issues associated with Sydney's engagement with prosperity, especially over the last decade, are examined. Sydney is positioned within the historic contexts of major national economic change and of globalisation, noting especially the rise in importance of the financial, property and business services sectors. These sectors are concentred in inner Sydney and have helped position Sydney as Australia's leading global city, thereby generating jobs and growth in incomes. At the same time, however, there have been major shifts in patterns of income distribution across the Sydney metropolitan area and between Sydney and other parts of Australia. In particular, we note the 'revitalisation' of Sydney's inner-urban areas and their association with new forms of Central Business District (CBD) workforce growth and a significant realignment of journey-to-work patterns. Using Australian Taxation Office income data, the dynamics and some of the equity outcomes of 1990s prosperity within the Sydney metropolitan area are examined, paying particular attention to the impact of change in and around the Sydney CBD and the City of Sydney local government area. We find that there has been a complex shift in the nature of inequality across the Sydney metropolitan area, including a widening in incomes in some instances and a major geographic shift in Sydney's income-divide axis. The paper concludes by arguing that ongoing economic prosperity in Sydney will depend on the extent to which social cleavage can be avoided by a more equitable sharing of the benefits of prosperity.     

Nurturing Relationships: the gardens of Greek and Vietnamese migrants in Marrickville,Sydney

First- and second-generation migrants represent about 40 per cent of the Australian population. With such a large and also diverse immigrant population, urban landscapes are significantly shaped by the gardens created by migrants. Two groups of Vietnamese and Greek migrants, in the inner suburb of Marrickville South in Sydney, were interviewed to examine the relationship between migration history and garden-making practices. Garden composition was influenced by migrants’ relationship with their homeland, in terms of length of time since migration, previous garden ownership, reason for migration and desire for cultural continuity, and by the size of the garden. Gardens also varied according to country of migration. The actual garden produce and type of environment created by the garden helped to emphasise and maintain cultural relationships, provide a space of nostalgia, and give a sense of ownership and control.     

Prosperity and the Suburban Dream: Quality of life and affordability in western Sydney

Over the past 10 years Sydney has experienced a remarkable wave of economic prosperity and growth, partly due to its developing role as a regionally significant global city. Through this period, maintaining the quality of life in the city has been regarded as particularly important. Yet traditional accounts of the global city have stressed quality-of-life features of the inner city. In this paper I examine the implications of the prosperity of global Sydney for the quality of life of western Sydney, paying particular attention to environmental amenity and the affordability of housing. The paper argues, first, that growth in the Sydney region has depended upon continued growth in western Sydney. It highlights key instances in which residents have resisted developments associated with this growth and regarded as major threats to the environmental amenity of the region. Second, the paper argues that the prosperity of Sydney, combined with changes to government policy, have impacted upon the supply of affordable rental housing in western Sydney. This is particularly significant in the case of public housing. Managing growth in the city will require attention to managing quality-of-life issues in the metropolis as a whole.