Urban-rural relationships in India: a macro-scale approach using population potentials

The urban system in India is the product of a long and complex history and the urban-rural dichotomy is marked. While urban India is often viewed as ‘modern’ and ‘commercial’, rural India is generally characterised as myopic, backward and traditional. The diffusion of a modern commercial sector into traditionally agricultural areas is seen to be slow because of the lack of small sized towns, and many of the major cities are viewed as the centres of introverted economic systems. This paper seeks to examine these aspects of urban-rural relationships and levels of development in India at two scales, the national and the district. The national scale study analyses the urban and rural components of population potential surfaces. The study at the district level uses similar data, but at a finer scale, and in addition considers potentials of retail trade which gives a clearer illustration of ‘importance’ than population data alone. Several innovations in technique are discussed. The paper concludes with some general methodological comments about the nature of location as perceived by geographers.     

The spatial shopping behaviour of the urban elderly: A review of the literature

The spatial shopping behaviour of the urban elderly has received increasing attention from researchers in a variety of disciplines including geography, marketing, city planning, and social gerontology. Relevant literature from these diverse sources is reviewed within an organizational framework based on two ‘behavioural’ approaches to retail geography: ‘empirical-behavioural’ and ‘cognitive-behavioural’. Overall, the research findings suggest that the elderly represent a distinctive consumer segment with special problems and needs. In particular, many older shoppers are subject to a wide variety of mobility constraints which ultimately restrict their access to shopping opportunities. However, some work has discovered important differences in the spatial behaviours of subgroups of elderly consumers defined on the basis of such characteristics as health, age, household composition, marital status, income level, and residential location. It is suggested that further research needs to explore more fully how these characteristics may impose variable personal and environmental constraints upon the shopping activities of the urban elderly.     

京津冀主要大城市经济发展中城市化与大气环境质量的关系

京津冀城市群在快速城市化进程中,"高耗能、高污染、高排放"的粗放型经济发展模式带来了一系列大气污染问题,亟需协调经济发展与大气环境质量之间的关系.本文基于2004—2017年北京市、天津市、石家庄市的大气环境质量与城市化各指标数据,运用熵值法多维度研究了城市化进程中大气环境质量的演化规律.选取城市空气主要污染物SO2、...     

Spatial plans and urban development trajectory in Kumasi,Ghana

This research uses empirical data to explore the link between spatial plans and ‘actual development’ occurring in Kumasi, Ghana. The research found that urban development is determined by both spatial plans and spontaneous informal development patterns (i.e. self-organisation). However, self-organisation is more widespread compared to spatially planned neighbourhoods. This phenomenon was expressed in a context of uncertainty created by weak institutional planning system which promote and reinforce haphazard development disregarding urban planning requirements. These findings provide a perspective on urban development that differs from that occurring in cities of developed countries, where planning institutions in consultation with urban residents determine the patterns of urban development. Unfortunately in Kumasi, self-organisation is not viewed as important in mainstream planning system. The paper concludes that more needs to be done in terms of understanding self-organisation processes, and the way they could be integrated into mainstream planning process to respond more fully to the urban development challenges in Kumasi.     

Soil sealing,population structure and the socioeconomic context: a local-scale assessment

In the most recent decades European urban regions underwent functional changes reflecting heterogeneous land-use patterns and specific urban footprints. Several mono-centric cities shifted towards a scattered development with impact on the socio-spatial structure. Discontinuous expansion determined, in some cases, a net increase in land consumption. Using a multivariate exploratory approach, the present study analyzes the spatial relationships between 14 morphological variables and 22 socioeconomic indicators in Rome’s province. The aim of this study was to identify the demographic and socioeconomic indicators most associated to the transition from a mono-centric and semi-compact morphology towards a more dispersed settlement structure based on different sealing profiles observed at the local scale. Four groups of socioeconomic indicators (population structure, job market, economic specialization and settlement characteristics) associated to different sealing profiles (low, medium and high imperviousness) were identified and local municipalities classified accordingly. Although the urban–rural axis maintains an important role in the spatial organization of Rome’s province, other variables were found associated to areas with moderately low imperviousness, evidencing a specific demographic structure and persisting socioeconomic disparities at the base of the settlement model observed at the regional scale.     

Location-based services,conspicuous mobility,and the location-aware future

The production and consumption of geographic information is becoming a more mobile practice, with more corporate actors challenging the traditional stronghold of Esri- and government-based geospatial developments. What can be considered a geographic information system has expanded to include web-based technologies like Google Earth/Maps, as well as more recent developments of Microsoft’s Bing Maps and the mobile version of ArcGIS available for the iPhone. In addition to these developments, a discursive shift toward ‘location’ is occurring across the Internet industry. Location has become the new buzzword for social-spatial strategies to target consumers. As reported in 2010, venture capitalists have, since 2009, invested $115 million into ‘location start-ups’ – software companies that provide location-based services to mobile computing consumers (Miller and Wortham, 2010). Applications like Foursquare, Loopt, Gowalla, and most recently, Facebook Places allow users to ‘check-in’ at restaurants, bars, gyms, retail outlets, and offices, thereby sharing their location within their social network. These developments enable consumers to (re)discover their proximities to products, while feeding a desire for making known one’s everyday movements. Here, I discuss the development of location-based services as the proliferation of a peculiar form of geographic information: conspicuous mobility. Through discussion of a recent gathering of location-aware software professionals and through analysis of discourses that emerge over a battle between ‘check in’ companies, I sketch an area of study that explores the implications of these emerging geographic information ‘systems’, and new everyday cartographers.     

Relationality/territoriality: Toward a conceptualization of cities in the world

The paper contributes to the conceptualization of cities in the world by first outlining the conceptual and empirical challenges of theorizing the urban/global nexus in both relational and territorial terms. It argues that the most useful and appropriate approach to understanding contemporary urban governance in global context is to develop a conceptualization that is equally sensitive to the role of relational and territorial geographies, of fixity and flow, of global contexts and place-specificities (and vice versa), of structural imperatives and embodied practices, in the production of cities. In order to illustrate the benefits of this conceptualization, the paper will apply it to the case of how downtown development is governed in many contemporary cities. The role of the Business Improvement District (BID) program and New Urbanist planning models in shaping downtowns will be examined in terms of: (1) how and by whom these models are developed in a global-relational context and are set in motion through scaled circuits of policy knowledge and (2) how the mobilization of these models are conditioned by their territorialization in specific spatial and political economic contexts. The paper emphasizes that the ‘local globalness’ of policy models like BIDs and New Urbanism and their consequences for cities can best be understood through a combined focus on relationality and territoriality.     

Multi-level geospatial modeling of human exposure patterns and vulnerability indicators

In the context of disaster risk management and in particular for improving preparedness and mitigation of potential impacts, information on socioeconomic characteristics including aspects of situation-specific human exposure and vulnerability is considered vital. This paper provides an overview on available multi-level geospatial information and modeling approaches from global to local scales that could serve as inventory for people involved in disaster-related areas. Concepts and applications related to the human exposure and social vulnerability domains are addressed by illustrating the varying dimensions and contextual implications. Datasets and methods are highlighted that can be applied to assess earthquake-related population exposure, ranging from global and continental-scale population grids (with a focus on recent developments for Europe) to high-resolution functional urban system models and space–time variation aspects. In a further step, the paper elaborates on the integration of social structure on regional scale and the development of aggregative social and economic vulnerability indicators which would eventually enable the differentiation of situation-specific risk patterns. The presented studies cover social vulnerability mapping for selected US federal states in the New Madrid seismic zone as well as the advancement of social vulnerability analysis through integration of additional economic features in the index construction by means of a case study for Turkey’s provinces.     

From sprawl to compactness and back: population dynamics (1848–2011) and the economic structure of a Mediterranean city

In the recent decades southern European cities experienced morphological changes and a demographic transition towards zero (or negative) growth and aging. Population dynamics shifted from the impressive growth of the post-industrial period into recent de-concentration processes determining the spillover of commercial and residential settlements across the surrounding rural areas. Based on long-term demographic data, the present study hypothesizes that urban expansion did not follow a one-way linear path from compactness to dispersion while reflecting differentiated growth patterns based on the specific socioeconomic context at the local scale. Along a sufficiently long time period non-linear expansion waves alternating settlement densification and scattering are expected to be found especially in complex urban contexts such as those developed in the Mediterranean region. This hypothesis was tested for a paradigmatic case study in southern Europe (Athens, Greece) using demographic data covering 160 years (1848–2011). Urban growth in Athens was assessed through the analysis of long-term census data made available on a district level. These data provide information on the spatial distribution of resident population and characterize distinct expansion waves according to the dominant socioeconomic context. Results of the study were discussed in the light of the debate on future development of the Mediterranean cities and the (changing) economic relations with the surrounding region.     

Using GIS for analysis of urban systems

It is recognized that the spatial organization of urban system can be abstracted as three main components: a set of points, which describes the structural characteristics such as social and economic properties of individual city; a set of lines, which indicates the patterns of interaction among the cities; a set of spheres, which indicates how and to which extent each city affects the area around it. Even if such substance of urban system coincides with the main purpose of GIS for spatial or geometric data types such as point, line and region, little attention has been given to this point. By an evidence analysis of China, the application of potential analytical capabilities of GIS for urban system is attempted in this study. We find GIS acts as an efficient tool not only for the spatial structure analysis of urban system, which including potential distribution of cities, extraction of principal linkages among cities, and delimitation of subsystems; but also for the verification of socio-economic attributes and dynamics of urban system. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Agglomeration and location choice of foreign financial institutions in China

In the midst of global economic and financial integration, there are increasing cross-border capital flows between China and the rest of the world. Foreign financial businesses also start to play more important roles in the nation’s market after waves of financial reforms. Within such a background, this study aims to investigate the agglomeration and location choice of overseas financial institutions in Chinese cities. Data from the 2004 China Economic Census show that foreign financial establishments, including banks, insurance companies, and other financial service businesses, were mainly agglomerated in coastal cities. In particular, three major urban areas, Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou, concentrated a majority of overseas financial institutions. Results from regression models show that foreign businesses’ location choice is greatly influenced by a city’s urban economy, involvement in the global market, and telecommunication infrastructure. However, we do not find a significant link between foreign financial institutions’ market entry and the size of domestic financial centers in China.     

Exploring the structure of the U.S. intercity passenger air transportation network: a weighted complex network approach

The U.S. airline network is one of the most advanced transportation infrastructures in the world. It is a complex geospatial structure that sustains a variety of dynamics including commercial, public, and military operations and services. We study the U.S. domestic intercity passenger air transportation network using a weighted complex network methodology, in which vertices represent cities and edges represent intercity airline connections weighted by average daily passenger traffic, non-stop distance, and average one-way fares. We find that U.S. intercity passenger air transportation network is a small-world network accompanied by dissortative mixing patterns and rich-club phenomenon, implying that large degree cities (or hub cities) tend to form high traffic volume interconnections among each other and large degree cities tend to link to a large number of small degree cities. The interhub air connections tend to form interconnected triplets with high traffic volumes, long non-stop distances, and low average one-way fares. The structure of the U.S. airline network reflects the dynamic integration of pre-existing urban and national transportation infrastructure with the competitive business strategies of commercial airlines. In this paper we apply an emerging methodology to representing, analyzing, and modeling the complex interactions associated with the physical and human elements of the important U.S. national air transport and services infrastructure.     

基于遥感和GIS的新疆绿洲城市扩展时空动态变化分析

以新疆16座城市为研究对象, 运用多时相卫星遥感资料, 利用遥感和GIS技术提取城市的空间特征信息, 并通过城市扩展强度、扩展速率以及城市空间形态紧凑度和分形维数等指标定量分析了1990-2010年以来新疆城市扩展时空动态变化的过程和特征. 结果表明: 新疆城市的空间分布由其独特的自然环境和绿洲经济所决定, 许多城市的发展依托于绿洲, 城镇的形成具有"亲水性"的特点, 由于新疆地域辽阔, 交通干线附近往往形成城镇相对集中的城市带或城市群. 南北疆城市之间在扩展速度及强度上存在较明显的差异, 位于北疆天山北坡经济带上的城市大多属于扩展速度相对较快、扩展强度相对较大的扩张类型, 而南疆城市的扩展速度则相对较慢、扩展强度也相对较小.通过对城市紧凑度和分维数变化的分析发现, 新疆城市平均紧凑度呈下降趋势, 而分形维数呈增长的趋势, 说明整体上新疆城市空间结构有趋于松散化的趋势, 城市的空间结构不够合理, 有待改善.     

中国城市空间分布的双侧对称性

借助尺度归并和笛卡儿变换思想考察中国城市的宏观分布规律,发现中国城市在一定的空间和规模尺度上具有双重对称性：以秦岭—淮河为界,南方城市与北方城市呈现双侧对称特征;以呼和浩特—太原—郑州—武汉—广州沿线为轴,东部城市与西部城市形成双侧对称局势。中国城市的宏观对称性与地球公转和自转的方式有关,海陆差异、地表形态和水系构成是影响城市对称格局的重要因素。城市的对称分布属于广义的形态发育问题,对称形成的内在机制可能在于人类空间行为的自组织演化。     

Assessing the impact of conceptual mineral systems uncertainty on prospectivity predictions

The past two decades have seen a rapid adoption of artificial intelligence methods applied to mineral exploration. More recently, the easier acquisition of some types of data has inspired a broad literature that has examined many machine learning and modelling techniques that combine exploration criteria, or ‘features’, to generate predictions for mineral prospectivity. Central to the design of prospectivity models is a ‘mineral system’, a conceptual model describing the key geological elements that control the timing and location of economic mineralisation. The mineral systems model defines what constitutes a training set, which features represent geological evidence of mineralisation, how features are engineered and what modelling methods are used. Mineral systems are knowledge-driven conceptual models, thus all parameter choices are subject to human biases and opinion so alternative models are possible. However, the effect of alternative mineral systems models on prospectivity is rarely compared despite the potential to heavily influence final predictions. In this study, we focus on the effect of conceptual uncertainty on Fe ore prospectivity models in the Hamersley region, Western Australia. Four important considerations are tested. (1) Five different supergene and hypogene conceptual mineral systems models guide the inputs for five forest-based classification prospectivity models model. (2) To represent conceptual uncertainty, the predictions are then combined for prospectivity model comparison. (3) Representation of three-dimensional objects as two-dimensional features are tested to address commonly ignored thickness of geological units. (4) The training dataset is composed of known economic mineralisation sites (deposits) as ‘positive’ examples, and exploration drilling data providing ‘negative’ sampling locations. Each of the spatial predictions are assessed using independent performance metrics common to AI-based classification methods and subjected to geological plausibility testing. We find that different conceptual mineral systems produce significantly different spatial predictions, thus conceptual uncertainty must be recognised. A benefit to recognising and modelling different conceptual models is that robust and geologically plausible predictions can be made that may guide mineral discovery.     

Quantify the landscape effect and environmental sustainability of rural region planning at town scale near metropolis

The urban fringe, which can be seen as a special form of regional ecosystem with a spatial transition from urban to rural areas, has strong heterogeneity and is a typical ecologically sensitive area. The expansion of cities and the landscape effect of the changes have attracted wide attention. The primary aim of this study is to obtain an understanding of the spatial patterns of landscape conversion and the corresponding environmental sustainability. With the help of GIS and Fragstats software, the changes of landscape patterns before and after town planning were compared in An-Ding town of Beijing, of which the sustainability was also revealed based on the ecological footprint using social and economic statistic data. The results showed that the landscape pattern changed greatly during its conversion from several villages to a small town and the landscape fragmentation increased due to road construction. Meanwhile, human disturbance increased with the constructed land extension. For the gap between the ecological footprint and the biological capacity, An-Ding town ran an ecological deficit at that period, which means it was unsustainable. However, the environmental sustainability decreased after planning due to the degraded green land and forest. The results suggested that ecological management should be strengthened during the town planning period.     

New local state power through administrative restructuring – A case study of post-Mao China county-level urban entrepreneurialism in Kunshan

By focusing on Kunshan, an economically advanced county-level city in the Yangtze River Delta, this paper aims to answer how, why, and under what circumstances the territorial power of Chinese urban entrepreneurial states is created in response to the dynamics of spatial economic development in the context of market transition and globalization. Although Kunshan is merely a county-level authority administratively, its economic performance in 2011 was better than that of several poor provinces, such as Hainan, Tibet, Qinghai, and Ningxia. Kunshan’s successful urban entrepreneurialism presents a unique ‘mismatch’ between ‘low’ administrative rank and ‘great’ economic performance (a big foot in a small shoe, dajiao chuan xiaoxie). I argue that Kunshan has developed several new local state powers through flexible administrative restructuring that explains the ‘mismatch’ puzzle and includes the following characteristics: (1) reclassification of Kunshan from county to county-level city, (2) relational adjustment by officially or informally raising Kunshan’s place rank and the cadre rank, and (3) boundary revision by virtual enclave enlargement. I conclude that the Chinese party-state system plays a role in Chinese county-level urban entrepreneurialism.     

The new retail trade and services and their emerging location pattern in St. Petersburg

The system of factors affecting the spatial distribution of the retail trade and service establishments has changed dramatically since socialist times. The administrative regulation lost its almost complete dominance and turned into one of the market forces. In contrast, the impact of the urban environment under very free market conditions substantially increased. We show the main directions of this influence. Two generalized indicators that we use describe macro trends in the development of the spatial system of retail trade and services. One of them, which we call the urban morphology, is of a concentric effect, another – transportation pattern – adds the sectoral component to the retail trade and services geography. Five systems of spatial attractions differently affect the distribution of different branches.     

宝鸡市城市空间形态演化研究

合理选择宝鸡城市空间拓展方向,推动城市空间集约化发展,达到城市与区域生态协调发展.在大量查阅相关资料的基础上,运用定性描述和带形城市空间扩展理论进行探讨.宝鸡城市空间扩展分四个阶段,自然地理环境、经济发展水平及交通条件是驱动城市空间扩展演化的主要动力.城市空间拓展必须合理选择发展方向,通过交通及生态建设,实现市域城镇间...