A review of Holocene avulsions of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and possible effects on the evolution of civilizations in lower Mesopotamia

The role of avulsion in the evolution of civilization in lower Mesopotamia is widely recognized. Ancient settlements are closely associated with abandoned courses of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. This paper discusses avulsion history, controls of avulsions, their effects on civilization evolution from 7000 to 1000 yr B.P., and interactions between human activity and channel‐network evolution based on previous archaeological and geomorphological surveys, analysis of cuneiform texts, maps, satellite photos, and limited geological data. Settlement distribution in ancient Mesopotamia is modeled in relation to avulsion styles, as well as channel and sedimentation patterns. Avulsion belts are suggested as places where urban settlements emerged and were sustained. Multiple channel networks and avulsion belts created large, naturally irrigated areas, fostering the efficient agriculture needed to sustain dense rural and urban settlements. After channel networks were abandoned during delta evolution, largescale canal construction was required to sustain settlements but still could not prevent their decline. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Water development in developing countries: Problems and prospects

Important as water is to man's manifold activities, a significant percentage of mankind still do not have access to clean water for drinking and personal hygiene. According to a WHO survey of facilities available in developing countries to the end of 1975, 75 % of urban population and 20 % of rural population have access to potable water. Studies carried out by the UN system estimate that investment necessary to provide clean water and sanitation by 1990 to both rural and urban areas is on the order of $ 132,940 million in constant 1977 dollors. Furthermore, provision of clean water alone is unlikely to eliminate all water-borne diseases, since it is only one of several complex factors affecting human health.The situation in developing countries on water requirements for agriculture, industry and generation of hydroelectric power also requires attention because of large amounts of water involved. Effectiveness and efficiency of the supply and distribution systems must be given top priority. There is a considerable potential for improving the efficiency of water use in virtually every developing country and in every sector.     

土地调查中有关城镇与农村土地面积问题的研究

第二次全国土地调查工作中,城镇与农村地区的土地面积在计算方法上有所不同：农村地区的土地面积是以椭球面为基准的面积,即球面面积;城镇地区的土地面积是以平面为基准的面积,即平面面积。二者之间存在差异并按一定规律变化,当调查区处于投影带边缘附近时,同一图斑的球面面积与平面面积之间的差异达到最大。由于采用不同的计算方法而导致面积数量的差异,在进行农村与城镇有关土地数据整合时会出现矛盾。为了建立城乡统一的土地管理信息系统,保证土地面积的一致性,应当采取相应措施消除二者之间的差异。     

苏南地区城乡聚落空间演化过程及其格局特征

当前,城乡聚落空间正由自然和经济社会条件存在差异的等级体系转变为密切联系的网络化结构,城乡融合已经成为中国城乡聚落空间演化发展的重要方向。以苏南地区为例,对20世纪90年代以来的城乡聚落空间演化过程及其格局特征进行分析,发现2000年以后城镇聚落扩张强度远高于乡村聚落,城乡聚落空间结构可进一步归纳为集中、双心、多核和密集4种基本格局。该研究对乡村振兴背景下的城乡聚落空间优化布局具有一定指导作用。     

Observations on the relevance of the industrial-Urban hypothesis for rural development

Rural development tends to be viewed as a facet of urban development in the sense that rural areas are expected to be recipients of positive urban spill-overs. To that end, two concepts have been formulated: growth centre theory and the Industrial-Urban Hypothesis (IUH). The former has been beset by conceptual problems whereas the simpler IUH has not been tested in a Canadian context. This paper tests the basic IUH proposition that the general level of rural development is an inverse function of urban accessibility. Findings suggest that the IUH is more attuned to the impacts of smaller centres rather than the region's metropolitan centre. However, introduction of an exogenous element based on ethnic variations in rural settlements indicate how socializing factors work to modify the IUH concept.     

喀斯特地区不同岩性上农村居民点分布特征——以平果市为例

以典型喀斯特地区广西平果市的农村居民点为研究对象,运用GIS空间分析方法、Voronoi图和景观格局指数分析方法,揭示平果市喀斯特地区不同岩性上农村居民点的空间分布特征.结果表明:(1)平果市农村居民点总面积为4825.15 hm2,喀斯特地区与非喀斯特地区的农村居民面积比值约为2.8:1;(2)平果市的农村居民点属于...     

Welfare reform and the intra-regional migration of beneficiaries in New Zealand

This paper investigates the net effect of major cuts in welfare benefits and associated changes in the delivery of housing assistance on the relocation behavior of beneficiaries. It does so against an international literature which has documented the tendency of welfare recipients to adjust their costs of living by moving from urban to rural settlements. The paper reviews the literature on welfare and migration, introduces a theoretical framework based on a metropolitan labour market and then tests several hypotheses about the possible effects of benefits cuts on spatial adjustment. The research design uses quinquennial census data to compare core beneficiary relocation patterns with those of non-beneficiaries before and after the cuts to welfare benefits in the Wellington region of New Zealand in 1991. The period following the benefit cuts in New Zealand was characterised by increasing job opportunities which helped to mitigate their adverse effect and made it difficult to identify a more general down-market residential adjustment. While a downward adjustment in housing consumption by core beneficiaries was identified, residential movement from urban to the cheaper settlements in adjacent rural areas was only observed from former State house areas where the income effects of benefit cuts were compounded by increases in rents on former State houses. Thus, while this paper supports the findings of independent sample survey work, our census based analysis underscores the highly contingent nature of that response. Evidence of urban-rural migration is placed in the context of the government's `remote area policy' which attempts to dissuade beneficiaries (who are receiving a social security benefit related to their employment status) from moving without good reason to `remote' locations where job prospects are weak. The paper raises the more general policy issue where benefit cuts, designed to stimulate more active job searching among the unemployed, actually prompt some beneficiaries to relocate to the urban fringe and in some cases to remote parts of the country where job prospects are weak. The theoretical and policy implication of this paper is that there are geographical correlates to the reservation wage which need to be integrated into thinking about the participation consequences of setting benefit levels.     

江苏沿海地区工程建设地质适宜性评价

建筑用地适宜性评价对城市规划和土地利用总体规划具有重要意义,是资源环境承载力评价的重要组成部分,但目前无统一的地质适宜性评价标准,尚处于研究探索阶段。江苏沿海地区沉积环境复杂,软土严重区软土厚度10 m,地面沉降严重区地面沉降速率10 mm/a。通过探讨基于层次分析法的建筑用地工程建设地质适宜性评价和基于地质环境问题的限制性因素评价方法,发现这2种方法相互结合、互为补充,可在城乡规划中发挥支撑规划编制和工程建设的双重作用。     

Social justice and access to legal services: a geographical perspective

This paper discusses the theory, method and results of the Exeter Access to Justice in Rural Britain project which examined the question whether rural inhabitants are disadvantaged in terms of their access to legal services by comparison with people in urban areas. Analysis of the spatial distribution of solicitors in private practice in England and Wales revealed rural areas to be relatively well provided for. An interview survey of a random sample of solicitors in Devon and Cornwall showed some important differences between rural and urban solicitors, with the former being less specialized and more conservative in orientation. A parallel survey of managers of CABs, providing a limited legal service, also revealed some perceived differences between rural and urban bureaux and some spatial unevenness in distribution. Surveys of rural clients, supported by parallel studies elsewhere in Britain, suggest that remote rural communities harbour cases of considerable deprivation with respect to legal services.     

The socioeconomic and environmental effects of the 2003 landslides in the Rumphi and Ntcheu Districts (Malawi)

Despite the occurrence of fatal landslides in Malawi, literature is not available on their socio-economic and environmental effects. Limited or no research is being carried out in this area except for technical reports commissioned by the government. Landsliding does not appear on the ten environmental concerns affecting the nation. This paper attempts to examine the socio-economic and environmental effects of landslides that struck parts of Ntcheu district of central Malawi and Rumphi district of northern Malawi in 2003. This paper asserts that poor rural people are more vulnerable to landslides and their resilience is low. Unsustainable production systems, inappropriate location of settlements, low incomes coupled with lack of government support aggravates the situation. Mitigation measures, which were in conflict with people’s production systems, prevented them from participating in the rehabilitation of the areas. Lack of support from government for the reconstruction and regeneration of local production had economic effects such as loss of livelihood, unemployment, decreased productivity and out migration to urban centers. The study recommends the participation of all stakeholders in reducing the impacts of landslides and the development of disaster management plans to achieve timely response to landslide hazards.     

Rainwater harvesting: an option for sustainable rural water supply in Ghana

Potable water is a critical for improved health and for the pursuit of various socio-economic activities. Despite its immense usefulness, rural communities in developing countries such as Ghana lack adequate access to potable water. Rainwater harvesting, which has the potential of providing potable water for rural communities in Ghana and can be undertaken largely with local resources is rarely utilized. The purpose of this paper is to present rainwater harvesting as a sustainable water supply strategy for domestic use and is based on research undertaken in two rural communities in Ghana. The paper identifies opportunities such as affordability and user ownership as well as constraining bottlenecks that include poor roofing materials, lack of appropriate harvesting facilities and housing occupancy status as factors influencing rainwater harvesting practices by rural communities. It then proposes measures to resolve these and other difficulties associated with rainwater harvesting and thereby enhance its potential for sustainable rural water supply.     

The complex mobilities of homeless people in rural England

This paper explores the interconnected issues of mobility, power and meaning in the context of rural homelessness. It explores two common assumptions relating to these interconnections: that rural homeless people move to cities thereby transposing homelessness into an urban problem; and that mobility is deeply implicated in the mapping of moral codes in rural areas. Drawing on a range of interviews with homeless people, and workers with homelessness agencies in the rural areas of Gloucestershire and Somerset, the paper discusses four types of movement: ‘local’ homeless people moving out of rural areas; ‘local’ homeless people moving within rural areas; homeless ‘incomers’ moving to rural areas; and itinerant/transient homeless people moving through rural areas. The complex mobilities of rural homeless people influence common ideas about where homelessness occurs and how it is experienced. These mobilities also affect how homelessness is ‘made known’ in rural areas, as different elements of the mobility of homeless people are discursively scattered amongst identity labels and policy arenas other than homelessness. Finally, homeless mobilities problematise the adequacy and nature of policy responses to homelessness in rural areas.     

Migration and urban survival strategies in Windhoek, Namibia

Based on recent research in Windhoek, this paper demonstrates that it is the well established and widespread social linkages that persist between rural and urban households that are central to the ability of poor urban households to survive. Whereas informal coping mechanisms that include borrowing, piecework and credit are pervasive in rural areas of Namibia, intra-urban sources of food are poorly developed, and outside of kinship circles, social networks within Windhoek are used sparingly, even in times of greatest need. In addition, urban agriculture plays a very limited role at present in urban food supply. The research demonstrates that urban households that are most vulnerable to hunger are those that have limited social connections to the rural areas, and must rely on intra-urban opportunities to get food (including borrowing, begging, piecework and crime). The most vulnerable are female- and male-headed households with no access to farm income and limited/irregular urban incomes. In contrast, those with active rural-urban linkages enjoy significant transfers of food from rural areas that offset hunger and vulnerability in the urban context. Urban-rural reciprocity is therefore not only a one-way movement of people and resources from the urban to the rural areas, but also a transfer of food from rural to urban households.     

Is there a step-wise migration in Nigeria?: A case study of the migrational histories of migrants in Lagos

The paper sets out to test whether or not the movement pattern of people in Nigeria is step-wise. It examines the spatial order in the country and the movement pattern of people. It then analysizes the survey data and tests for the validity of step-wise migration in the country. The findings show that step-wise migration cannot adequately describe all the patterns observed. The multistep moves of the people is an indication of the complexity of factors influencing human mobility behaviour. Moreover, the preponderance of circuitory movement pattern is an indication of the socio-cultural life of the people. The urban-urban movement pattern that was observed is used as a basis for advocating for the development of intermediate urban centres, in addition to the rural areas. This is seen as a way of alleviating the increasing convergence of people on Lagos.     

青州市农村土地整治工作的实践与思考

农村土地整治已成为当前国土资源管理工作的热点,它综合了统筹城乡发展、城市反哺农村、工业反哺农业等工作,将多年的土地开发整理和复垦工作推到了一个新的高度,同时该项工作在开展过程中也存在一些不容忽视的问题。该文以青州市农村土地整治开展情况为例,进行了一些有益探索与思考。     

Analyzing spatial disparities in access to health care: A methodology with application in Bangladesh

This paper develops a methodology for analyzing spatial disparities in access to health care in situations where the data base is limited, and applies it in the context of Bangladesh. The proposed indirect measures of inpatient and outpatient service utilization, and of quality of available services, seem to provide reasonably accurate, consistent, and interpretable results; these indices are combined into a composite index of relative access to health care. The form of the composite index and its components permits the incorporation of Sopher's disparity index into the methodology for measuring urban-rural disparities in relative access to health care. The empirical analysis based on subdivision level data revealed that Bangladesh's health care delivery system is, in general, characterized by extremely low level of access and a high degree of disparity in favor of urban areas, especially in terms of inpatient services. Spatial patterns of relative access and urban/rural disparity were perused through cartographic and statistical analyses; although clear-cut regional patterns did not emerge, the considerable spatial variations could be explained largely with reference to urbanization and density of population. Assuming improved level of access and minimal urban/rural disparity as basic policy goals a method to prioritize spatial units for future allocation of health sector resources is recommended.The author gratefully acknowledges the helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper by Dr. S. M. Bhardwaj, Professor of Geography, Kent State University.     

莱芜市莱城区城乡建设用地增减挂钩工作初探

对当前正在实施的城乡建设用地增减挂钩现状及政策进行分析,认为当前大多数地方开展增减挂钩工作认识存在偏差,由于资金拨付不到位等原因,导致工作进展的不平衡性比较突出。对增减挂钩工作中存在的问题进行剖析,并提出相应的对策建议。     

岩溶山区乡村聚落的格局特征及类型分析——以重庆市巫山县为例

为探索岩溶山区乡村聚落空间格局的特征,以位于重庆东北部岩溶广布的巫山县为研究对象,运用空间分布测度模型、空间规模测度模型和空间形态测度模型,定量分析了巫山乡村聚落的空间格局特征,并进一步划分了地域类型。分析结果表明,总体上,巫山县的乡村聚落有一定的空间集聚特征,但存在明显的区域差异;乡村聚落的规模普遍偏小,具有低值集聚的特征,空间上呈现县城西北、西南大规模农村聚落集中,东北、东南小规模零散分布的“西热东冷”的格局;在空间形态上,巫山县西部区域连接性好,但形状不规则,复杂程度高,东部区域连接性差,复杂程度不及西部区域。整体而言,巫山县的乡村聚落形状规则性差,缺乏规划与引导。通过构建乡村聚落空间测度指标体系,采用系统聚类的方法,将巫山县乡村聚落划分为6种类型:低密度散点型、低密度小团块型、低密度不规则团块状、中密度不规则条带型、高密度宽带型、高密度散点型。未来的县域乡村聚落重构需要根据不同类型的特点加以引导。      

日照市城乡建设用地增减挂钩工作的探讨

随着社会主义市场经济的发展,推进土地集约节约利用,促进城乡统筹发展,是当前和今后一个时期有效的利用现有土地资源,改善农村生产生活条件和环境、缓解建设用地供需矛盾的有效途径和手段。近几年来,日照市严格按照上级有关要求,规范开展了城乡建设用地增减挂钩试点工作,取得了显著成效。     

Patterns of urban settlements in Somalia

In this research paper attempts have been made to analyze the distribution of 68 urban settlements in 14 regions of the country. The value of near-neighbour statistic (R) shows nearly random pattern of urban settlements in some regions and approachingly uniform distribution of urban settlements in other regions. Regional distribution of urban settlements and their growth have been explained in context of region's geographical, economic and industrial frameworks.