Southern urbanism or a world of cities? Modes of enacting a more global urban geography in textbooks,teaching and research

Despite growing attentiveness to cities in the global south, questions remain as to how to enact a more global urban studies. We analyze five contemporary textbooks as a lens into how southern cities ought to be incorporated in teaching as well as the field of urban geography. We find both separate chapters for southern cities (southern urbanism), and southern cities integrated into existing thematic chapters (a world of cities). We further show that i) the global south is 2–33% of the content; ii) information about the south is typically more general than the north, but never as universal trends iii) representations differ not just in content but in style and iv) the south is exemplar or exception rather than as a source of theory. We suggest that geographers must continue their efforts in thinking about how southern cities should be incorporated in urban geography in and outside the classroom.     

A Review of “Urban Climate Change Crossroads”

This article examines the former location-based social medium Brightkite, over its three-year life span, based on the concept of natural cities. The term natural cities refers to spatially clustered geographic events, such as the agglomerated patches aggregated from individual social media users’ locations. We applied the head/tail division rule to derive natural cities, based on the fact that there are far more low-density areas than high-density areas on the Earth's surface. More specifically, we generated a triangulated irregular network, made up of individual unique user locations, and then categorized small triangles (smaller than an average) as natural cities for the United States (mainland) on a monthly basis. The concept of natural cities provides a powerful means to develop new insights into the evolution of real cities, because there are virtually no data available to track the history of cities across their entire life spans and at very fine spatial and temporal scales. Therefore, natural cities can act as a good proxy of real cities, in the sense of understanding underlying interactions, at a global level, rather than of predicting cities, at an individual level. Apart from the data produced and the contributed methods, we established new insights into the structure and dynamics of natural cities; for example, the idea that natural cities evolve in nonlinear manners at both spatial and temporal dimensions.     

Emerging Chinese Cities: Implications for Global Urban Studies

Chinese cities are emerging in multiple senses: They have created new physical spaces to accommodate the fast urbanization of the country but have also developed new properties and characteristics along with urban transformation. The novelty created by emerging cities in China is not easily covered by Western urban theory. This article examines the dynamism of Chinese urban transformation, especially political economic changes vis-à-vis so-called neoliberalism, and spatial outcomes as diverse and contrasting spaces of formality and informality. Finally, this article speculates on implications for global urban studies.     

Urban re-generations: afterword to special issue on the politics of urban greening in Australian cities

ABSTRACT

‘Urban re-generations' is written as an afterword to the special issue of Australian Geographer on ‘The Politics of Urban Greening in Australian Cities'. The collection prompts a deep questioning of reparative and regenerative work associated with greening, green spaces and green infrastructures. The climate-driven 2019-2020 bushfire crisis and COVID-19 have amplified the visibility of the more-than-human connectivity of our cities and the deep underlying structures of social and environmental inequity underpinning a variety of urban green spaces and agendas. Inspired by the articles in this special issue, the afterword explores how we might call back the grammars and practices of regeneration from their service to the neo-liberal, settler-colonial city and instead nurture reparative de-colonial practices that aid in the collaborative work of re-composing, becoming into better relation with, and working in modes of situated historical and cultural difference, with green and just cities.     

Black Holes and Loose Connections in a Global Urban Network

This paper introduces the concept of black holes and loose connections in a global urban hierarchy. Black holes are defined as large cities, with a population of over 3 million, that are not classified as world cities. The paper draws upon a classification that uses advanced producer services as an indicator of world city status. Large, nonworld cities are identified, and provisional ideas about explaining their position are outlined. Connectivity and population data are used in a simple regression analysis to identify loose connections: cities whose connectivity is less than that predicted by their population.     

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.     

Global environmental change: conceptualising the growing challenge for cities in poor countries

Ongoing urbanisation makes cities a key focus for global environmental change (GEC) research, creating an imperative for a new, city-scale, research agenda. The vulnerability of urban populations to the multiple stresses of GEC lies at the core of overlapping domains of knowledge that could be better integrated in advancing research. The urban development, global change and disasters literatures are fragmented and reveal fundamental cleavages over the role that government could play in mitigating vulnerability to multiple threats and challenges. Important empirical gaps exist, especially on cities of the South. While there are significant knowledge gaps and numerous tensions within and between schools of thought, this overview suggests useful entry points for framing an invigorated research agenda on urban GEC.     

Relational Cities: Doha,Panama City,and Dubai as 21st Century EntrepÔts

In a dynamic global economy, emergent configurations of capitalist production produce novel spatial assemblages and correspondingly unique geometries of power. The “global cities” literature frames these transformative processes in terms of hierarchical world urban systems, providing a clear theoretical path to understanding the local implications of global spatial restructuring. This article develops the concept of the “relational city” as a transnational urbanist approach to understanding a particular subset of cities that are emblematic of the spatial transformations manifest through advanced capitalism. Relational cities are those constituted through globally critical flows of capital, goods, and ideas, and whose economies are dedicated to intermediary services such as offshore banking, container- and bulk-shipping, and regional re-exportation. Similar to gateway cities and entrepôts, relational cities are found eccentrically at one end of a fan-shaped network, connecting the global economy with a regional economic matrix. Drawing upon Doha, Dubai, and Panama City as illustrative case studies, this article suggests a new way of understanding urban change in a global context while simultaneously moving beyond the recurrent focus on the top-tier financial world cities of the Global North.     

Cities and Urban Land Use in Advanced Placement Human Geography

Abstract

This article examines key topics and concepts in the cities and urban land use section of the Advanced Placement human geography course. Among the topics discussed are definitions of urbanism, the origin and evolution of cities, functional character of contemporary cities, the built environment and social space, and responses to urban growth.     

全球化与中国时尚消费城市的兴起

在当前中国经济转型和产业升级的背景下,许多城市开始步入后工业化阶段,消费在城市化进程中扮演的角色日益重要。以进入中国的国际时尚品牌为切入点,重点探讨全球化在城市消费领域的影响。根据本项研究的概念界定,35个时尚消费城市大都为省会城市、直辖市和经济发达的沿海城市。其中,上海和北京是中国等级最高的时尚消费城市,无论是发展规模还是水平都遥遥领先。大部分时尚消费城市则是区域性中心城市,但也有一些沿海经济发达城市,虽然其城市中心性并不强（如苏州、温州、无锡等）,但在时尚消费城市体系中占据了重要的地位。整体而言,中国时尚消费城市的发展受到多方面因素的影响,其中市场因素和开放度起着最为重要的作用。另外,产业氛围也是时尚消费城市形成和发展的重要基础。     

中国城市全球化与地方化程度分析

全球化和地方化以及伴随的全球空间和地方空间是新经济时代城市发展的重要外部环境,即全球化过程中的全球体系优势源泉和地方化过程中的地方据点优势源泉。中国城市加速其全球化进程的同时,城市竞争以及城市一区域一体化也在不同地区、不同程度地加剧和加速,城市发展取决于其全球性的链接程度以及区域竞争力的高低和地方根植程度。该文分析新经济时代全球化和地方化过程中城市发展和城市竞争的基本特征,通过主成分分析等方法分析中国城市的全球化和地方化程度。结果表明,中国东部发达地区的全球化和地方化作用相对显著;中西部地区由于区域整体竞争力低、城市区域整合度差,影响了该区域的城市竞争优势。     

城市旅游与旅游城市的深化发展

城市旅游是以城市整体形象作为旅游吸引物,招徕游客进行各种游憩活动,其实质是人们对城市文明的向往与追求。一个城市要发展城市旅游,必须挖掘城市文明,提升城市的游憩功能,使城市转变为旅游城市,进而发展为优秀旅游城市。优秀旅游城市是城市旅游的品牌,它通过品牌效应直接影响旅游者的旅游决策,引发更多的城市旅游,从而实现城市旅游与旅游城市的互动发展。     

Borderland urbanism: seeing between enclaves

Recent scholarship on the characteristics of Chinese urbanism engages with the practices and possible consequences of so-called enclave urbanism, said to generate cities as agglomerations of patchworked enclaves. Acknowledging that inequality becomes explicit in supposedly self-contained enclaves, in this paper, I seek to advance the initial debate by shifting the focus onto the spaces and processes in-between the enclaves. I draw on fieldwork in Shanghai to argue that perceptions of inequality, individual and group identities, everyday cultures and, ultimately, new ways of being in and making the city are shaped amidst the in-between spaces that essentiate emerging cities in China and elsewhere: urban borderlands. I outline a research agenda around the current and future urban condition and propose the exploration of borderland urbanism as a timely new direction in urban geography.     

近年来新疆城镇空间集聚变化研究

传统绿洲城镇的显著特点之一为相对孤立,封闭性强。但改革开放以来绿洲城镇的快速发展使集聚能力显著增强,相互作用日益密切。1990~2002年新疆87个城镇集聚能力的度量及其评析表明,新疆城镇集聚能力呈现进一步极化的趋势,中心城市的集聚功能突现,城市经济区实体开始形成,而处于中心城市集聚阴影区的城镇集聚能力相对弱化,并且表现出明显的南北疆地域差异。新疆城镇的集聚变化受绿洲扩展、资源开发和政治因素的深刻影响,集聚发展态势为今后新疆城镇化道路和城镇体系变化提供了有益的启示。     

Re-placing soil and its mattering in more-than-human cities

ABSTRACT

What role does soil play in sustainable design interventions and can it help to reconfigure human place experiences and human-nature relations in cities? Cities are home to a host of nonhuman actors that are overlooked or under-acknowledged in design and planning practices and in everyday dwelling. Soil is one such under-acknowledged urban inhabitant. In a period where cities and their inhabitants must adapt to the challenges of a changing climate, the paper draws together theory in design, planning and geography and empirical research with designers and residents in Australian cities to re-place soil as mattering in place(making) practices, everyday urban dwelling and urban sustainability transitions. The research contributes to recent work in (post)human geography to discuss ‘soil-planty mattering’, or the active role of soils and their intra-actions with other urban matter in shaping place. Soil-planty mattering is shown to disrupt human place(making), extending cities in material, temporal and spatial ways. In these extensions, the research suggests that soils have particular potential to re-orient human relationships with nonhumans in urban realms.     

基本公共服务对不同规模城市流动人口居留意愿的影响效应

利用2016年中国流动人口动态监测调查数据中的东部沿海6省市数据集,将长期居住意愿、户籍迁入意愿和本地购房打算三部分指标的加和定义为城市居留意愿指标,将城镇基本公共服务分为就业关联和非就业关联两种类型,运用序次Logistic回归模型,系统考察两类城镇基本公共服务的获得特征对流动人口城市居留意愿的影响及其在不同规模城市间的差异特征。研究发现：流动人口城市居留意愿和城镇基本公共服务获得率呈现出随城市规模扩大而上升的梯度变动特征;在流动人口获得的城镇基本公共服务较为有限时,流动人口的城市居留意愿不高。从影响效应看,流动人口在流入城市获得的城镇基本公共服务是影响其城市居留意愿的关键因素,此类影响效应因公共服务内容和城市规模的不同而存在差异。大城市流动人口获得的医疗保险、失业保险和住房保障显著增进了流动人口的城市居留意愿,但上述影响效应在中小城市并不明显;健康档案和健康教育普及程度除了在个别规模城市中没有显著影响效应外,在其余规模城市中都具有显著的正向影响效应;在小城市,仅健康档案和健康教育普及程度对其流动人口城市居留意愿具有显著且正向的影响作用。     

Modeling Spatial Processes of Urban Growth in African Cities: A Case Study of Nairobi City

Africa's urban population growth has been especially rapid, averaging about 5% per year over the past two decades. As a result, many urban areas have experienced dramatic growth that is seriously outstripping the capacity of most cities to provide adequate services for their residents. Although population growth and urbanization rates in Africa have slowed recently due to a number of factors including HIV/AIDS, urban growth is still expected to double by 2030, leading to dramatic sprawl with serious environmental and social consequences. Using Nairobi as an example of a rapidly urbanizing African city, we studied the dynamics of land use and land cover change using satellite data and addressed the need for models and urban management tools that can guide sustainable urban planning policies. Cellular Automata, which integrate biophysical factors with dynamic spatial modeling, are used in this study. The model was calibrated and tested using time series of urbanized areas derived from land use/cover maps, produced from remotely sensed imagery, with future urban growth projected to 2030. Model assessment results showed high levels of accuracy, indicating that simulation findings were realistic, thereby confirming the effectiveness of the model. Results further showed that the model is a useful and effective tool to foresee the spatial consequences of planning policies in the context of many African cities. The forecast for Nairobi showed unsustainable sprawl.     

城市和城市群可持续发展指数研究进展

21世纪是城市的世纪,城市的高质量发展对区域和全球可持续发展至关重要。中国城市化发展迅速,城市化率从1978年的17.9%增加到2019年的60.6%,2030年将达到70%,大部分人口居住在城市。城市是中国经济发展的引擎,以全国近7%的土地面积生产了70%的国内生产总值(GDP),而城市群更是集聚了全国大部分城镇人口和GDP。因此,城市和城市群的健康与可持续性将决定中国未来发展的质量与进程。识别城市和城市群发展的程度、存在的问题以及国内外差距,亟需进行城市可持续发展的评价。本研究系统综述了城市可持续发展评价的思想与指标体系的发展历程,重点基于联合国可持续发展目标(SDG)框架考察了开展城市可持续发展评价的方法,提出了构建城市和城市群可持续发展指数的途径,并从平台构建、大数据基础、跟踪发布等方面提出了推进城市可持续发展指数评价建立城市发展“仪表盘”的思路。基于联合国SDG框架的城市和城市群可持续发展指数可为目标城市对标其他城市、开展不同区域城市的对比、找准发展目标与识别存在问题等方面提供重要支撑。     

城市增长与收缩的演变过程及其影响因素

中国快速城镇化过程中已经出现了城市增长与收缩并存的现象,其中收缩型城市中又以资源型城市较为典型。研究城市增长与收缩过程及其影响因素有助于优化资源型城市发展路径以及制定合理的规划策略。本研究以黑龙江省鸡西市、鹤岗市、双鸭山市、七台河市为研究案例,从城市比较研究的思路入手,利用均方差决策法、偏最小二乘法等方法定量化表征4市城市增长与收缩过程并分析其影响因素。结果表明：① 4市并不是处于持续收缩的状态,而是增长与收缩交替进行。② 从城市增长与收缩过程的影响因素方面看,鸡西市主要受居民收入与消费情况影响,鹤岗市主要受产业及投资影响,双鸭山市主要受制造业和外部投资影响,七台河市主要受煤炭产量影响。③ 从差异性角度分析,城市增长与收缩过程以及影响因素的差异主要由替代产业选择差异、城市间竞争、外部性影响所决定。     

城市空间形态应对气候变化研究进展及展望

气候变化与城市化的叠加使城市成为温室气体减排和气候变化许多关键风险集中的区域,如何应对气候变化已成为城市面临的重大挑战。以空间形态作为切入点,开展城市应对气候变化研究日益成为城市环境与气候变化领域的发展前沿和热点问题。本文通过文献分析和归纳,综述了城市空间形态应对气候变化研究的主要影响及评估方法、城市空间形态与温室气体排放和气候变化主要风险之间的关系、空间形态应对策略以及规划应用研究。在此基础上,展望了未来的研究重点和方向。