批判实在论在城市空间研究中的应用

批判实在论是一种有关社会科学的哲学理论,它从浅显易懂的本体论出发,抨击了传统科学研究中背离客观实在的种种理想主义倾向,如对“规律性”的迷信、对计量分析方法的过分依赖等。在上世纪80年代批判实在论被引入到西方城市空间研究中、发展为一种新的研究范式,该范式在对传统空间分析研究的批判基础上强调对空间现象的因果机制的阐释,提出了有关因果机制的概念框架,认为只有透过错综复杂的因果关系去把握决定事物的深层结构和机制,才能避免传统研究中常出现的“混乱归因”现象,为此发展了具体研究和抽象研究、深入研究和广泛研究相结合的研究方法,并将其应用于城市空间研究实践中。本研究对批判实在论范式的产生背景和哲学基础等进行了分析,介绍了其理论脉络、方法论和研究实践,并对该范式进行了评价。     

Critical specific stream power in gravel-bed rivers

Experiments with marked pebbles were carried out on different sized rivers of the Belgian Ardenne (catchment areas varying from less than 1 km² to 2700 km²). Specific stream power required to cause bedload movement was evaluated and critical values were obtained. Three types of relationship between critical specific stream power (ω₀) and grain size (D) were established. The values for ω₀ in the largest river (the Ourthe) were the lowest and were close to the values obtained for mountainous rivers carrying large boulders. In medium sized rivers (catchment area between 40 and 500 km²), the critical unit stream power was higher. It is likely that it is due to the bedform's greater resistance. This resistance would use up some of the energy that can cause movement and transport of bedload. The amount of resistance of the bedform can be expressed as bedform shear stress (τ″), determined by the relationship between grain shear stress (τ′—that determines movement and transport of the bedload) and the total shear stress (τ). This ratio varies between 0.4 and 0.5 in the medium sized rivers, compared to 0.7 in the Ourthe. In headwater streams (less than 20 km²), there is greater loss of energy due to bedform resistance (τ′/τ<0.3). Critical specific stream power is higher in this third type of river than in the other two.     

Whither Critical Inquiry?*

In his article, “Whither Geography?,” Jay R. Harman raised a number of important issues regarding the nature and direction of geographic scholarship. In this response I critically address some of those issues and offer an alternative perspective. In doing so, I support Harman's desire for the discipline to “help answer deep human questions” but argue that rather than reinforce the vitality and legitimacy of the discipline, a market‐based approach of the sort he advocates could instead potentially undermine such objectives and compromise disciplinary integrity by discouraging critical inquiry. While acknowledging the influence of “the market,” I defend a place for critical inquiry within the discipline.     

Ants in Labyrinths: Lessons for Critical Landscapes

Percolation theory provides a starting point for models for the movement of organisms in fragmented landscapes. We simulated six general rules for movement on three general landscape patterns with different degrees of habitat fragmentation. Fragmentation pattern affects migration success. Organisms moving within habitat patches are restricted by fragmentation, but the response is less abrupt as one moves from random to hierarchical to fractal landscapes, respectively. Success for organisms moving along edges is more strongly differentiated by landscape pattern. Success and speed are usually directly related, but indirect relations may indicate rare but efficient pathways or cul-de-sacs. We propose that general rules can be applied to the identification of landscapes near critical levels of fragmentation that will respond sensitively to increases in fragmentation or efforts at restoration.     

Ants in Labyrinths: Lessons for Critical Landscapes

Percolation theory provides a starting point for models for the movement of organisms in fragmented landscapes. We simulated six general rules for movement on three general landscape patterns with different degrees of habitat fragmentation. Fragmentation pattern affects migration success. Organisms moving within habitat patches are restricted by fragmentation, but the response is less abrupt as one moves from random to hierarchical to fractal landscapes, respectively. Success for organisms moving along edges is more strongly differentiated by landscape pattern. Success and speed are usually directly related, but indirect relations may indicate rare but efficient pathways or cul-de-sacs. We propose that general rules can be applied to the identification of landscapes near critical levels of fragmentation that will respond sensitively to increases in fragmentation or efforts at restoration.     

Tourism, Globalisation and Critical Security in Myanmar and Thailand

This paper seeks to articulate recent debates on globalisation and critical security with the process and local impact of international tourism development in Thailand and Myanmar (Burma). It argues that, although tourism is an important manifestation of the globalisation phenomenon, its impact on host societies is very much dependent upon the influence of local institutions and actors. Hence, the enquiry will focus principally upon the "global-local interface". The impact of tourism is viewed within the "new security" framework which involves broadening the notion of security beyond its traditional focus on military issues and inter-state relations into such realms as economic, environmental and societal security with a strong emphasis on sub-national situations. Using empirical examples of forced labour and human rights in Myanmar, the HIV/AIDS crisis and societal insecurity in Thailand and Myanmar, and the environmental impact of golf tourism in Thailand and elsewhere, the paper attempts to show how the perceived macro-level benefits of active tourism promotion are frequently traded off against significant, and occasionally severe, negative local security impacts. How such a situation occurs will be the principal focus of this investigation.     

Service-Learning: Critical Traditions and Geographic Pedagogy

Abstract

The rise of service-learning in higher education has been critiqued as little more than community service that encourages students to “do good,” but fails to generate original scholarship or social change. In this article, we argue that service-learning gives geographers the opportunity to challenge these critiques, by demonstrating the practical and political implications of collaborative research methodologies, while conveying powerful conceptual understandings of inequality. We begin by interrogating the philosophical overlap between experiential and service-based learning in the educational philosophy of John Dewey. Using this foundational approach, several theoretical and methodological debates in geography are examined, celebrating and drawing lessons from classic and current service-learning programs. We conclude with a discussion and reflection on experiences with implementing similar pedagogical projects.     

Making the Case for Critical Q Methodology

Q methodology combines qualitative and quantitative approaches to measure subjectivity by identifying shared worldviews among participants. Since Q methodology was first introduced to human geography by Robbins and Krueger (2000 Robbins, P., and R. Krueger. 2000. Beyond bias? The promise and limits of Q method in human geography. The Professional Geographer 52 (4):636–48.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), a nascent body of “critical Q” research has emerged among researchers who employ Q methodology in critical, reflexive, and innovative ways. In particular, this body of work questions the positivist foundations of standard Q methodology as a supposedly “objective” measure of subjectivity. Although many such analyses use Q methodology to identify and analyze discourses, few explicitly engage the field of critical discourse analysis. This article argues that discourse analysis has been “blackboxed” in geographic Q scholarship and outlines four key moments in the standard Q methodology protocol where researchers could productively integrate critical discourse analysis. In so doing, this article argues that juxtaposing the “messiness” of critical discourse analysis and the “tidiness” of Q methodology exposes productive tensions, gaps, and contradictions that provide key moments for interrogation and critical reflexivity. Key Words: discourse analysis, mixed methods, Q methodology, reflexivity subjectivity.     

Estimation of Critical Rainfall for Flood Disasters in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

According to the results of The Second Comprehensive Scientific Expedition on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the balance of solid and liquid water on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is disturbed, and a large amount of solid water, such as glaciers and perpetual snow, is transformed into liquid water, which aggravates the risk of flood disasters in the Plateau. Based on the historical flood disaster records of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, this paper analyzed the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of the flood disasters in the Plateau, and estimated the critical rainfall for the flood disasters combined with precipitation data from the meteorological stations in each basin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The results show that most of the flood disaster events in the Plateau are caused by precipitation, and the average annual occurrence of flood disasters is more than 30 cases and their frequency is on the rise. The high frequency areas of flood disasters in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are mainly in the Hehuang Valley and the Hengduan Mountains area; the secondary high frequency areas are located in the valley area of South Tibet and the peripheral area of the Hehuang valley. Finally, we found that the highest critical rainfall value of flood disasters in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is in the southern area of the plateau, followed by the eastern and southeastern parts of the plateau, and the lowest values are in the central, western and northern parts of the Plateau.     

A Critical Appraisal of the Global Warming Debate

Major changes are occurring in the global warming debate. Popular alarmist views are giving way to more balanced assessments of the situation. There is now greater emphasis on the lack of consensus among climatologists on fundamental scientific issues related to climate change.     

坡面泥石流发生的坡度阀值研究

对重庆市北碚区的21个坡面泥石流的实地调查表明,坡度对坡面泥石流发生具有重要的控制性作用。在对坡面泥石流流域大量原始坡度进行统计分析后发现,各坡面泥石流的坡度服从正态分布规律。根据这一分布规律,将本区坡面泥石流发生的坡度阀值确定为三类。文章从定量的角度阐述了坡度阀值与坡面泥石流发生的关系,为生态脆弱区的划分、工程建设、防灾减灾和政府决策提供服务。     

Critical Thinking in Physical Geography: Linking Concepts of Content and Applicability

Abstract

This research examines the effectiveness of problem-based learning (PBL) in an online geographic information systems (GIS) course for adult learners. Adults expect to take greater control of their learning and tend to be self-directed. Students are encouraged to take an active role as problem-solvers in PBL courses. The effectiveness of PBL in face-to-face courses has been shown. Effectiveness in online courses is demonstrated in this study. The performance and experiences of students and instructor in two online courses are compared. The results show that PBL can be more engaging than traditional methods, making PBL-GIS a good choice for an online adult audience.     

Women in the Field: Critical Feminist Methodologies and Theoretical Perspectives*

Feminist scholars have traditionally emphasized the importance of incorporating “the everyday” worlds of women into the historically masculinist theoretical and empirical foundations of the social sciences. Such emphases have commonly resulted in smaller-scale research projects and more interactive kinds of research methods and methodologies. Feminist geographers have uniquely contributed to the body of feminist scholarship through drawing out the importance of place in everyday constructions of gender and, more recently, sexuality. Critical field-based research has therefore from the beginning been the mainstay of subdisciplinary research. Like the discipline as a whole, however, little explicit attention has been given in publications or pedagogically to the politics of fieldwork (including how a “field” is defined and the politics involved in choosing and working in a particular “field”) or the politics of representation (which includes considerations of the partiality of knowledge and how and to whom we represent our work, ourselves and others in various kinds of texts). These “Opening Remarks” show how these issues are addressed in the papers that follow and how feminist geography has much to contribute to critical analyses of global and multinational processes, including patriarchy, capitalism, and racism.