Local Economic Development and Post-Apartheid Reconstruction in South Africa

The application of Local Economic Development (LED) planning has been little investigated in the developing world context. In this paper, LED strategies in South Africa are investigated in order to examine the emergence, contemporary directions and problems of entrepreneurial LED strategies across urban South Africa reconstruction. The origins and spread of local authority involvement in LED are analysed in both the international and national contexts. The various LED approaches presently being pursued in South African cities are reviewed and critically discussed in terms of four themes: (1) cities as centres of production; (2) cities as centres of consumption; (3) cities as centres of decision-making; and (4) cities and government surplus. The conclusion evaluates the current directions and problems of local government initiatives for LED in post-apartheid reconstruction and points to the danger of “place wars” as a result of a trend towards the imitation of development projects.     

The geopolitics of diaspora

In recent years there has been a growing body of work dealing with issues of diaspora and hybridity, both within geography and in other disciplines, such as cultural studies. This work tends to celebrate the potential of the hybrid and diasporic to transcend essentialist notions of identity and subjectivity. In this paper I argue that these approaches often fail to pay sufficient attention to two particular aspects of the diaspora experience: firstly, the geographical specificities of particular diasporas, and secondly, the ways in which essentialist modes of being are often reproduced within diasporic discourse. This is done by providing an overview of recent research into the Croatian diaspora in the United States (particularly their involvement in the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s), which begins to develop the notion of the geopolitics of diaspora.     

Value,Identity and Place: unearthing the emotional geographies of the extractive sector

The practice of natural resource extraction remains a key function of the global economy, and has been the subject of a considerable body of research, across multiple academic disciplines. Growing awareness of the economic, socio-cultural and ecological aspects of extractive practices (and their impacts) have also forced change in the way in which this research is conceptualised. Yet, despite conceptual shifts, a lack of engagement with the felt and emotive dimensions of the extractive sector remains striking. As a complex and highly contested industry, acknowledging emotion is crucial to breaking down problematic representations of the sector as a ‘rational’, ‘economic’ and emotionless space. This paper emphasises the need to engage and prioritise emotional and affective registers when thinking about, and representing, the extractive sector. Specifically, this paper explores the role of emotion in problematising approaches to the material across the sector, as well as in unsettling the often taken-for-granted and highly gendered workplace identities that characterise the sector. Finally, this paper will highlight the importance of validating emotion in legitimising important relationships to place that conflict with extractive practices. In essence, this paper calls for more emotionally attuned approaches to the extractive sector, in order to engage with its profoundly emotive dimensions and impacts.     

Where is my neighborhood? A dynamic individual-based definition of home ranges and implementation of multiple evaluation criteria

With the growing interest in studying characteristics of geographical context and its influence upon people, the concept of home range has been a focus of scholarly research. Home ranges are studied extensively across multiple disciplines, with literature supporting different operationalization techniques. This article argues that many of the existing approaches are not dynamic and versatile enough and do not provide reliable solutions for estimating individual home ranges. We additionally argue that many of current studies lack robust evaluation approaches. Recent evidences suggest that the usual approaches, which often exclusively rely on a single validation criterion, are not reliable and may be influenced by inferential errors. This study aims to tackle the exiting limitations in definition and operationalization of individual-based home range models and provide a more robust solution for their evaluation and comparison. Using data collected through public participation GIS we develop an applied, dynamic, and parametric model of individual home ranges. Subsequently, we propose multiple criteria comprising five validation hypotheses to evaluate model's effectiveness. We argue that application of this approach in evaluating spatial delimitation models can ameliorate the risk of biased validation resulting from inferential errors. The evaluation results indicate a substantial improvement in coverage of visited points compared to previously used static methods. Consequently, this paper draws a number of conclusions that can serve as guidelines for future research. This paper highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed method and explains how it can be improved and employed in future studies investigating contextual effects on residents.     

Formal representation of qualitative direction

This paper reviews formal approaches to representing spatial knowledge about qualitative direction. Unlike geometric direction information, qualitative information does not employ numerical values but relies on comparison. The qualitative approach is often regarded as suitable for capturing commonsense concepts and thus is relevant to human-centered interfaces for spatial information systems. To establish a context for the work on qualitative direction, we preset a brief history of the development of qualitative temporal and spatial representations from different scientific perspectives. We identify main focal areas of these representations of spatial direction and propose a taxonomy. In the light of more than three decades of fruitful research, we obtain a map of formal representations that reveal interrelationships between different research strands in the field.     

近30年来中国地理学及相关学科期刊的发展

1978年以来的30年间,中国地理学及相关学科期刊取得了飞速发展.地理学及相关学科期刊种类增加,覆盖了自然地理、经济地理和地球信息科学等各专业;主办地理学及相关学科期刊的机构包括中国科学院所属研究所、省级科学院所属研究所和高等院校;地理学及相关学科期刊的版面迅速增加.与此同时,地理学及相关学科期刊的学术质量和国际影响力在不断提高,获得了国家期刊奖和各部委的多项奖励,英文版地理学及相关学科期刊被SCI等国际著名检索机构和数据库收录.     

Some thoughts on inference in the analysis of spatial data

Statistical inference is important for all those who engage in the analysis of spatial data. The issue is becoming increasingly important given the explosion in the availability of spatial data and the proliferation of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) across different academic disciplines and application areas. The aim of this paper is to provide a brief overview of some of the concepts and controversies inherent in statistical inference in the hope of raising the level of awareness within the geographic information science community that different points of view exist when it comes to inference. We argue that the concept of statistical inference in spatial data analysis and spatial modelling is perhaps broader than many GIS users imagine. In particular, we argue that different types of inference exist and that process inference is just as valid as sample inference, even though the latter appears to dominate the GIS literature.     

Rural Local Economic Development and Land Restitution in South Africa: The Case of Schmidtsdrift,Northern Cape

Local Economic Development is (LED) an activity of increasing importance in the developing world as globalisation produces new roles for local governments. As compared to a growing number of urban initiatives for LED, rural LED initiatives are relatively undeveloped. In this paper, the focus is upon South Africa, where the post‐apartheid government has sought to encourage both urban and rural LED initiatives. Programmes of land reform and restitution in South Africa result in the resettlement or return to the land of communities formerly dispossessed under apartheid. A critical element of planning for successful resettlement is the implementation of LED programmes. Schmidtsdrift in Northern Cape is examined as an example of participatory LED in a developing rural context. Rural LED in South Africa is distinguished by its focus upon poverty alleviation in the context of addressing the legacies of apartheid.     

基于产业集群的上海LED产业发展研究

产业集群是空间上的一种集聚现象,是带动地方积极发展的一种重要方式。基于产业集群理论,结合实际调研资料,作者对上海LED产业进行了系统的分析和研究。作者认为：上海的LED产业集群已经形成,并呈轮轴式形态;上海的LED企业大多集中在近郊的开发区内,且集群效应显著。在集群的发育过程中,上海的LED产业集群还存在着产业价值链各环节发育不平衡、创新能力不足等问题。应该优化上海LED产业结构、合理资源配置,积极学习国外先进技术、鼓励产业创新。     

陆生节肢动物采集方法比较(英文)

陆生节肢动物是生态系统的十分重要组成部分。面对广泛分布的陆生节肢动物,如何选择最合适采集方法是长期以来被探讨的话题。本文介绍了一些常用的陆生节肢动物采集方法。我们将其分为三大类:有"活动密度"缺点的被动采集方法,无"活动密度"缺点的被动采集方法以及带有内在"活动密度"缺点的主动采集方法,并探讨了各种方法的优缺点,为生物多样性研究以及病虫害防治工作提供了基础。如何选择合适的采集方法主要取决与采集的目的以及目标物种的生活习性,在大多数情况下,多种不同的采集方法组合将会有较好的效果。     

2019年亚洲地理大会理事会在北京召开

On November 1st,2019,Council Meeting of the Asian Geographical Association(AGA)was held at Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing,China.The meeting was chaired by Prof.Dahe Qin,who is President of the Asian Geographical Association,Director of Academic Committee of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Former Administrator of China Meteorological Administration.At first,he extended his warm welcome to all the participants present and gave a brief review on the establishment of the Asian Geographical Association.Then,he introduced invited guests and representatives from member organizations of AGA and announced the agenda of the meeting.     

地理信息可视化中的二元方法论

作为一种方法论的探索,以二元分析为基本方法,初步探讨和形成了地理信息可视化二元概念模型 ,力求构建一个简单的、易于被人们理解和接受的地理信息可视化理论框架。文章首先从地理学、语言学、哲学等方面阐述了二元方法论的理论基础,然后以符号语言学为范式,从地理信息可视化的所指与能指两个方面展开,阐述地理信息可视化二元方法论的主要内容;最后得出结论。研究表明:①地理信息具有二元性,它包括时间与空间二元 、瞬时与历时二元、空间几何与空间属性二元、定性与定量二元;②地图设计也具有二元性,它们是地图整体样式与个体符号二元、符号外观与内在二元、形状与尺寸二元、色彩与纹理二元。     

中国科学院盐亭紫色土农业生态试验站建站20周年回顾

简要回顾了中国科学院盐亭紫色土农业生态试验站建站 2 0年来的研究、观测及数据积累。介绍了盐亭站的研究方向、主要成绩与存在的不足 ,提出了盐亭站今后的主要研究方向与总体目标。     

Council Approaches to Implementing Sustainability: a case of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic?

Local government has a key role to play in implementing sustainability. Yet even councils attempting to address the issue of sustainability are often unacceptably slow and ineffective in their endeavours. This study investigates the approaches that councils currently take in implementing sustainability, as this may shed additional light on the slow progress of councils towards sustainability. The approaches of three New South Wales councils were examined and assessed using a model developed for the study that utilised the Ecological Footprint as the primary assessment tool. The model assessed three key aspects of council approaches to implementing sustainability: (1) the issues councils target for change; (2) the methods councils use to change behaviours; and (3) the clarity and holistic nature of their approaches. All three council approaches scored poorly against the model mainly as a result of the councils' failure to target the behaviours of their residents that are causing the greatest ecological harm. The major implication is that councils need to reconsider, and possibly overhaul, their approaches to implementing sustainability as these approaches are unlikely ever to achieve sustainability.     

经济与环境协调研究进展

随着社会经济的发展 ,人地矛盾越来越突出 ,为了解决这个问题 ,经济与环境的协调发展成为学者们研究的重要内容之一。对于经济与环境关系的辩证关系的认识主要是基于二者倒“U”关系基础的协调 ,对此问题研究的领域涉及地理学、经济学、生态学等学科 ,影响经济与环境协调的因素包括市场与政策、技术和经济结构等因素 ,在研究过程中通过建立指标体系 ,以承载力作为重要标准 ,对区域经济与环境协调状况进行定量评价日益受到重视。     

The elusive reality of landscape. Concepts and approaches in landscape research

Growing interest in the cultural landscape in Norway in recent years has been accompanied by increasing awareness of the chaotic nature of the concept. The article discusses relationships between conceptions of landscape and approaches to its study. The idea of landscape is briefly considered historically. The paradoxical relationship between landscape change and conservation is set out. Ways in which landscape perceptions are socially and culturally constructed are illustrated with reference to recreation, tourism and agricultural policies. Similarly, Undscape is an intcrsubjective construct within different academic disciplines. Reflexivity is needed over the roles of various disciplines in the ideological and physical shaping of landscape.     

Modelling three‐dimensional geoscientific fields with the Voronoi diagram and its dual

Fields as found in the geosciences have properties that are not usually found in other disciplines: the phenomena studied are often three‐dimensional (3D), they tend to change continuously over time, and the collection of samples to study the phenomena is problematic, which often results in highly anisotropic distributions of samples. In the geographical information system (GIS) community, raster structures (voxels or octrees) are the most popular solutions, but, as we show in this paper, they have shortcomings for modelling and analysing 3D geoscientific fields. As an alternative to using rasters, we propose a new spatial model based on the Voronoi diagram (VD) and its dual the Delaunay tetrahedralisation (DT), and argue that they have many advantages over other tessellations. We discuss the main properties of the 3D VD/DT, present some GIS operations that are greatly simplified when the VD/DT is used, and, to analyse two or more fields, we also present a variant of the map algebra framework where all the operations are performed directly on VDs. The usefulness of this Voronoi‐based spatial model is demonstrated with a series of potential applications.     

国际干旱区研究发展态势简析

基于SCI-E的国际干旱区研究科学计量指标明显上升,灰色预测显示未来仍将保持较大幅度的上升态势；美国是国际干旱区研究的科学活动中心,国际产出力指标居前的机构绝大多数出自美国；中国是国际干旱区研究产出力排名仅次于美国的第二大国；中国科学院是国际干旱区研究连续八年排名第一、产出力最高的科研机构；国际干旱区研究领域已经形成结构稳固、特征显著的核心支撑学科群。     

Integrating neo- and paleolimnological approaches to refine interpretations of environmental change

With the development of quantitative transfer functions to relate community structure to physicochemical variables, reconstructions of past environmental conditions have been possible and have enhanced our understanding of various ecosystem processes. There are cases, however, in which this approach is not applicable, or does not provide enough information for the questions being asked. In these cases, some alternatives are to conduct experiments or to examine the distribution of species at a finer spatial resolution. These two approaches have been used as alternatives to or in conjunction with the development of transfer functions. In this review, I discuss the ways in which these two approaches are now being used in paleolimnological studies to enhance our understanding of the ecology of the species found in sediment records and thus refine interpretations of environmental change. My focus is primarily on studies that deal with establishing clearer relationships between environmental variables and the growth or distribution of organisms. I present examples of how these approaches have been integrated in a variety of studies, including those designed to: (1) refine and enhance reconstructions that are based on transfer functions; (2) develop new paleolimnological tools to reconstruct environmental change; (3) explore mechanistic links in the relationships between organisms and commonly reconstructed environmental variables; and (4) pose and test hypotheses based on patterns in the sediment record. These cases demonstrate that the use of these approaches was essential to clarify species-environment relationships as well as lake responses to disturbance. As in all disciplines, however, there are many challenges in this area of research. In particular, the quantitative integration of these approaches with the sediment record is a major challenge, due to disparate spatial and temporal scales. This research can also be quite labor-intensive, and provides information on fewer taxa than in the calibration set approach. It also requires interdisciplinary training and/or collaboration in fields that have historically been less integrated, hence they may require greater effort. These issues may hinder the use of these approaches because of the perceived difficulty. I discuss these challenges and address possible solutions.     

Comparative performance of logistic regression and survival analysis for detecting spatial predictors of land-use change

Although survival analysis is known to outperform logistic regression, theoretically and according to evidence from other disciplines, little is known about how true this is in situations where the goal is detecting spatial predictors of land change. Furthermore, with the increasing availability of longitudinal land-change data, evidence is needed on the relative performance of these two different methods in situations with differing levels of data abundance. To fill this gap, we generated a pseudo land-change data set using an agent-based model of residential development in a virtual landscape. This agent-based model simulated the decisions of homebuyers in choosing residential locations based on the values of several spatial variables. Pseudo land-change maps, generated by the agent-based model with different weights on these spatial variables, were exposed to statistical analysis under the logistic and survival approaches. We evaluated how well the two approaches could reveal the spatial variables that were used in the agent-based model and compared the performance of the two methods when land-change data were collected under different sampling frequencies. Our results suggest that survival analysis outperforms logistic regression in detecting the variables that were included in agent decisions, largely because it takes into account time-dependent variables. Also, this research suggests that various properties of land-change processes (like amount of developed area and access of agents to information) affect the relative performance of these statistical approaches aimed at uncovering land-change predictor variables.