The city,the (Member) state,and the European Union

This contribution to a Debate on “The Nation-State and the city” foregrounds the recently adopted Urban Agenda for the European Union. It discusses the new role of cities in the European policy making process and its relevance for relations between State and City in the light of EU membership.     

Land changes in Slovakia: Past processes and future directions

The aim of this study is to bring a unique overview of past, current and plausible future land use development in Slovakia. The study assessed land change processes and their spatial determinants related to the most significant socio-political periods that have shaped the former socialist country over the past 30 years, namely, socialism (1980–1990), postsocialism (1990–2000), EU accession (2000–2006), EU membership (2006–2012). Using boosted regression trees, the impact of different biophysical, socioeconomic, policy and distance-based factors was evaluated on land transitions, categorised as urbanisation, agricultural intensification and extensification, afforestation, deforestation and forest disturbance (natural and management-induced). Results show significant shifts in the landscape management associated with the institutional changes, especially in the postsocialist period.Agricultural intensification, which dominated the socialist period, was in subsequent periods substituted by afforestation and agricultural extensification. High relative annual rates of forest disturbance have dominated land-use change over the past 30 years, while deforestation was a minor land-use change during the late socialist period. Urbanisation has played a significant role and changed considerably through the studied periods: high urbanisation rates under socialism, a massive decline in the postsocialism and EU accession periods and increasingly high urbanisation rates during the EU membership period.Taking into account national and international (EU related) demands, we assessed land use development for 2040 within five different future land use scenarios. These scenarios were characterised as either extensions of current development trends, or as developments along axes that target globalisation or regionalisation, and more or less intervention. Results show that afforestation is by far the land-change process that will have the greatest impact on future Slovakian landscapes, mostly in rural areas. Among changes in agriculture, all scenarios uniformly suggest that extensification will exceed intensification mostly at the cost of arable land. In addition, urban areas will expand at the expense of arable land, particularly in the accessible city hinterlands.     

Urbanisation and centralisation in Norway

The need for population data in regional analysis

Policies targeting regional areas have been a central part of the planning system in Norway, at least since the last war – as they have been in many countries and now even on the European level through the European Union (EU). These policies are dependent upon relevant data on different regional levels. Criteria reflecting population growth, distribution and structure, are often used in analyses, preceding concrete planning initiatives and economic redistribution measures.     

Deep permafrost boreholes in western Svalbard,northern Sweden and southern Norway

The first deep permafrost boreholes (>10 m) ever drilled in Scandinavia for climatic studies constitute part of a transect of deep mountain permafrost boreholes through the mountains of Europe established under the EU PACE (Permafrost and Climate in Europe) Project. In Scandinavia, PACE boreholes are located at Juvvasshøe, southern Norway, Tarfalaryggen in northern Sweden, and northernmost in the transect at Janssonhaugen, western Svalbard. This paper outlines the aims and objectives of the PACE programme, and describes in detail the Svalbard and Scandinavian permafrost boreholes.     

Innovation networks and green restructuring: Which path development can EU Framework Programmes stimulate in Norway?

ABSTRACT

With combined insights from evolutionary economic geography and transition studies, the article examines the engagement of different regions in Norway in the innovation networks created within the European Union’s environmental programmes. The aim is to explore the programmes’ potential for supporting green economy and economic restructuring through branching and new path creation. The authors assess which regions participate in the programmes, which international networks they build, and which organisations participate in different regions. They compare three regions with different restructuring needs and research capacity – the counties of Rogaland, Hordaland, and Sør-Trøndelag (now part of the county of Trøndelag). They find that overall, Norwegian organisations participate relatively frequently in the programmes, but private firms play a marginal role. Their partners are mainly in core EU regions. Regional participation in the programmes is a function of research capacity as well as oil dependence. The authors conclude that in research-oriented regions, research establishments tend to dominate participation, creating potential for restructuring mainly through path creation. In oil-dependent regions, private firms account for a higher share of participants, enhancing the potential for branching. As the former regions participate more, the programme can mainly stimulate path creation.     

Absorbing heavy industry in marginal areas. The prospects of petroleum development in northern Norway

The vegetation of Norway varies along three main gradients: from south to north, from the lowlands to the mountains, and inland from the coast. The underlying criteria used in preparing the enclosed new map of the vegetational regions of Norway in the scale 1:1.5 mill, are discussed, especially with regard to Central Norway. On the major maps of the vegetational zones of the Nordic countries so far published, Norway has received different treatment. A new zonal map based on the abovementioned regional map is presented and discussed. A coastal section is distinguished in the far west of Norway, and on the regional map this section is subdivided into three separate altitudinal belts. The remaining part of Norway is split into regions on the detailed regional map or into zones on the zonal map, as follows: nemoral, present only in the far south of Norway; boreonemoral, which extends north to the Trondheimsfjord; southern boreal, as far north as Salten; middle boreal, from the Østlandet area northwards up the major valleys into Central Norway and northeastwards to Alta in North Norway; northern boreal, up to the altitudinal (climatic) forest limit; and finally the low, middle and high alpine regions in the mountains. The vegetational regions of Central Norway are thereafter described in more detail and contour maps (isohypses) presented for the upper limits of the regions.     

Notiser og litteratur — Notes and Reviews

The International Quaternary Association's (INQUA's) Commission on Genesis and Lithology of Quaternary Deposits has established the tradition of meeting every year in a different country in order to discuss the program and problems involved in its projects on genesis of glaciogenic deposits. If possible the meetings are combined with field trips. The commission had field meetings in Poland 1974, Canada 1975, Sweden 1976, Iceland 1977, and Switzerland 1978. As a continuation of this program, the commission invited Norway, represented by the Geological Survey of Norway (NGU), to be the national host and to organize a field trip. The result was the INQUA Till Norway 1979, a field excursion combined with a meeting of 39 participants from 13 countries. The primary aim was to examine not only representative Pleistocene sections but also deposits at presently active glaciers. To take care of the arrangements the Quaternary Group of the Geological Society of Norway (NGF) appointed a committee consisting of the following persons     

欧盟碳减排目标的经济可能性评估

经济发展与能源消耗有着密切的关系,文章通过选取1994年至2009年欧盟27国的人口、经济和能源数据,利用碳排放动力学模型对欧盟关于2050年前削减温室气体排放80-95%的承诺进行预测,并对欧盟目标下的减排情景进行了分析。结果表明：（1）以当前的技术进步速率下,沿最优平稳经济增长路线,到2050年欧盟的碳排放量将为775.608MtC,达不到预定的减排要求;（2）在最优经济增长速度得出总能源消费量的基础上,采用调整能源结构与碳捕捉技术,预期可以达到设定减排80%的任务。其每一期的煤炭占比、石油占比、天然气占比应分别有4%、2.26%、1.23%转移至非碳能源占比,非碳能源的上升速率应达到2.21%/年;（3）若以历史的能源结构转移趋势预测未来的能源结构占比,即使考虑能源利用效率和碳捕捉技术的预期目标,欧盟仍然达不到在2050年的减排目标;（4）考虑欧盟提出的四种减排路径上下限组合,可预计出到2050年欧盟的减排范围在80.51%-87.16%;（5）若欧盟重振工业（特别是制造业）,即使考虑欧盟制定的减排路径,仍存在着达不到减排预期的可能。     

The border as an engine for mobility and spatial integration: A study of commuting in a Swedish–Norwegian context

The purpose of the study was to analyse how cross-border commuting differed from intranational commuting in Sweden, and how cross-border mobilities affected spatial integration. The authors analysed patterns and spatial flows of cross-border commuting by comparing them with characteristics of intranational commuting. In the article, they explore the assumption that the border constitutes an ‘engine’ for work-related mobility, which affects processes of spatial integration in cross-border areas. The empirical material comprised data from surveys of commuting from the Swedish county of Värmland to Norway and commuting within Värmland. The findings showed that cross-border commuting shared common features with intranational commuting, including how the frequency of commuting was dependent on distance. The motives for commuting differed, and the reasons for working in Norway were economic rather than professional. In terms of spatial integration, cross-border commuting was mainly one-directional, from Sweden to Norway, while leisure mobility and migration tended to be in the opposite direction. The authors conclude that the border region is characterised by integration through specialisation, which involves a permanent state of ‘transient’ mobility. Thus, a win-win situation can be distinguished, in which the border serves as a resource and an ‘engine’ for cross-border integration, mobility and economic activities.     

Mobility encounter: The narratives of Burmese refugees in Norway

The article examines the lived experiences of Burmese refugees in Norway in order to understand how they experience integration into local society and how they manage their transnational lives in new socio-economic, political, and cultural contexts. The examination is performed from the perspective of mobility as the entanglement of movement, representation, and practice. In teasing out the refugees' various experiences, the author emphasizes the diversity of migrant groups in terms of their ethnicity, religion, gender, and age, as well as multiple dimensions of mobilities. The complex politics of mobility – how different mobilities are produced, practised, and regulated in relation to issues such as transnational migration, diasporic cultures, and communication technologies – is seen as underlying the narratives of Burmese refugees in Norway. Their narratives equate mobilities with escape from poverty, highlighting the linkage that mobility has with poverty and development. The discussion reveals the potential for divisiveness within wider society in Norway, and it is argued that a nuanced understanding of how mobilities are differentially accessed within immigrant groups is essential for conceiving a multicultural society in Norway.     

Nordic innovation models: Why is Norway different?

ABSTRACT

The study objective is to assess why official statistics give the impression that Norway has low levels of innovation compared to other Nordic countries. The author examines innovation practices in Denmark and Norway to demonstrate that this is not the case. The results reveal that official statistics are misleading and that Norway has a high level of innovation but spends relatively less on scientific research. A further finding is that in Finland and Sweden innovation is heavily based on science and technology, whereas Denmark and Norway are clearly more pragmatic and base their innovation more on a ‘doing, using, and interacting’ (DUI) post-science, technology, and innovation (STI) approach. Additionally, in Denmark systems are led by small and medium-sized enterprises, whereas in Norway they are led by large enterprises. The author discusses the explanations for such differences in national and regional ‘innovation systems’ among countries that appear to outsiders to have a lot in common. He concludes that, by contrast, the ‘insiders’ are aware that they are quite distinctive societies that are evolving notably divergent developmental pathways. A key and probably controversial conclusion is that in the contemporary post-specialisation and post-cluster era the DUI systems have advantages over the STI-led ones.     

Use of Fuzzy Membership Input Layers to Combine Subjective Geological Knowledge and Empirical Data in a Neural Network Method for Mineral-Potential Mapping

Use of GIS layers, in which the cell values represent fuzzy membership variables, is an effective method of combining subjective geological knowledge with empirical data in a neural network approach to mineral-prospectivity mapping. In this study, multilayer perceptron (MLP), neural networks are used to combine up to 17 regional exploration variables to predict the potential for orogenic gold deposits in the form of prospectivity maps in the Archean Kalgoorlie Terrane of Western Australia. Two types of fuzzy membership layers are used. In the first type of layer, the statistical relationships between known gold deposits and variables in the GIS thematic layer are used to determine fuzzy membership values. For example, GIS layers depicting solid geology and rock-type combinations of categorical data at the nearest lithological boundary for each cell are converted to fuzzy membership layers representing favorable lithologies and favorable lithological boundaries, respectively. This type of fuzzy-membership input is a useful alternative to the 1-of-N coding used for categorical inputs, particularly if there are a large number of classes. Rheological contrast at lithological boundaries is modeled using a second type of fuzzy membership layer, in which the assignment of fuzzy membership value, although based on geological field data, is subjective. The methods used here could be applied to a large range of subjective data (e.g., favorability of tectonic environment, host stratigraphy, or reactivation along major faults) currently used in regional exploration programs, but which normally would not be included as inputs in an empirical neural network approach.     

Rumpftreppen in Southernmost Norway

In several publications Evers (see especially 1941) described ‘Piedmont’ or ‘Rumpftreppen’ in Norway. He claimed to have found the Treppen in many parts of the country at surprisingly regular height intervals: at 200 m, 400 m, 600 m, 800 m, 1000 m, and 1200 m above sea level, at sea level and 200 m below sea level. Evers recognized ‘Rumpftreppen’ north of Kristiansand in the southernmost part of Norway at 200 m, 600 m, 800 m, 1000 m, and 1200 m elevation (Evers 1941, p. 38). This part of Norway is underlain by crystalline Precambrian rocks. Rolling hills with a low relief between more deeply incised north-south-trending main valleys characterize the landscape. The hills are flat-topped or slightly rounded. A smooth surface, which passes through the highest hill-tops, rises gradually from the coast to the high mountain plateau of central southern Norway (Fig. 1). The surface is also shown by profiles at right angles to the coast line (Fig. 2). Towards the northwest this ‘summit surface’ passes into the mountain plateau which follows the sub-Cambrian ‘peneplain’ in Ryfylke (Andersen 1954). Andersen (1960) therefore suggested that the ‘summit surface’ in southernmost Norway was probably the tilted sub-Cambrian ‘peneplain’ slightly lowered by erosion. The only extensive distinct younger erosion surface (shelf) that could be clearly recognized lies on the coast approximately at sea level (Fig. 3).     

Geographical Patterns of Membership in U.S. Environmental Organizations

This county-level study examines the locational concentrations of membership in a sample of national environmental organizations. Maps of location quotients indicate distinct regions of high and low membership concentrations, with membership most concentrated in the Northeast, West, and Rocky Mountain states. The results may be helpful in identifying general patterns of environmental concern in different U.S. regions.     

International trade and industrial dynamics: Geographical and structural dimensions of Chinese and Sino-EU merchandise trade

This paper draws on trade data to examine the degree of upgrading of China’s trade structure with the world as a whole and in particular with the European Union (EU). More specifically it examines the evolution of the industrial structure of China’s trade with the world and with the EU between 1996 and 2008 and of the underlying dynamic indicators of revealed comparative advantage. This method of analysing China’s industrial structure provides clear evidence of upgrading into more advanced industries without at present losing significant competitive advantage in industries employing unskilled workers. The examination of revealed comparative advantage indices for world and Sino-EU trade also indicates an increasingly high degree of interdependence between the EU and China between 1996 and 2008. The EU (especially Germany, the UK, and France) is China’s most important export market, though it is also much more important as a market for China’s exports than the EU is as a supplier for China. China’s consequent trade surplus with the EU has gradually shifted from textiles and clothing to machinery and furniture. Further investigation reveals that the complementary Sino-EU bilateral trade is moving towards intra-industry trade at the 4-digit level of HS (Harmonization System) commodity classification. Although China is still a ‘global sweatshop’ with a strong specialization in labour-intensive commodities produced for economically developed countries (by importing machinery, raw materials and exporting processed goods), there are signs of technological upgrading in number of selected sectors in China, noticeably electronics, computers and telecommunications equipment. China’s reliance of imports of minerals indicates however that energy and resource security could be an important constraint on China’s long-term economic development.     

中东欧“地区化”进程的动因分析——以波兰为例

欧洲“地区化”进程分别从20世纪80和90年代在西欧和中东欧开始。西欧国家“地区化”进程受到全球化和欧盟的推动。以波兰为代表的中东欧国家“地区化”进程,除了受全球化推动之外．还受苏联解体后国家内部“民主化”、“现代化”改革需求以及地方政府联合等因素的推动。欧盟通过地区政策的运行对推动中东欧国家“地区化”进程起到积极作用,但该作用不能被过分夸大。     

The Norwegian-Soviet Boundary

The Norwegian-Soviet boundary is of unusual interest for several reasons. Its long history involves the territories of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia and has been complicated by the migration of nomadic Lapps¹ and by changing Norwegian sovereignty (in relation to Denmark and Sweden), Finnish sovereignty (in relation to Sweden and Russia) and by revolutionary changes in the government of Russia. The boundary was also closely concerned in events at the end of the first World War, in the so-called ”Winter War” between Finland and the Soviet Union (1939—10), in the Nazi occupation of Norway and Finland (1940—44), and the subsequent liberation of northeastern Norway and Finland by Soviet armies late in 1944.

The region adjacent to the boundary is significant for other reasons: It contains valuable resources — especially iron ore and nickel; the Pasvik River has potential value for hydro-electric development, and for floating lumber northward toward a region where wood is scarce; there are relatively fertile soils and a mild climate whereas the surrounding area is generally unproductive. The Pasvik valley is the natural trade route between northern Finland and the open waters of Varanger Fjord, and conversely, from the Kirkenes area to southern Scandinavia.     

欧盟跨边界合作研究对粤港澳大湾区协同治理的启示

经济全球化与区域一体化是21世纪区域合作的核心动因,跨边界合作议题备受学界关注。欧盟在区域一体化实践方面有丰硕的理论与实证成果,其发展经验为粤港澳大湾区协同治理提供了指引,二者均涉及到跨制度、边界的协作和权力的尺度重组。文章基于Web of Science（WOS）数据库和中国知网（CNKI）,运用Citespace文献计量方法,系统分析了1993—2020年欧盟跨边界合作研究动向。结果发现：1）欧盟跨边界合作研究主要集中在边界区域互动、跨边界合作模式、跨边界合作领域、跨边界合作障碍等方面;2）欧盟跨边界合作的发展得益于国家之间政治上的互动互信、正式与非正式的制度协调和合作范围的扩大与深入,然而在双边差异、跨边界可达性、移民和安全等方面仍存在不足;3）欧盟跨边界合作的实践经验对粤港澳大湾区协同治理具有重要启示作用,增强价值与文化认同,创设特殊制度安排,构建多尺度合作空间与多维度治理体系是实现大湾区协同发展的核心支撑。     

Approval of Wolves in Scandinavia: A Comparison Between Norway and Sweden

Based on Norwegian and Swedish representative national samples, and samples from areas with large mammalian carnivores present, we investigated whether well-known predictors for approval of wolves may explain between-country differences. Swedes were in general more positive than Norwegians were, while respondents in large carnivore areas, regardless of nationality, were less positive. The profile of those who approved wolf presence was the same in all samples. The difference between the samples was greater in Sweden, indicating that the relationship between urbanized and rural areas is more polarized in Sweden compared to Norway. We suggest this to be an effect of the fact that Norway’s large carnivore and agriculture policies favor the rural population, and of a higher degree of urbanization in Sweden. We recommend future studies to look into the different power relations between people living in urban and rural areas, comparing countries with different degree of urbanization.     

Fostering renewable energy with smart specialisation? Insights into European innovation policy

ABSTRACT

The transition to a low-carbon economy is a major challenge confronting policymakers at all government levels. In the European Union (EU), ambitious targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emission are linked to aspirations of fostering green growth at national and regional levels. These aspirations have been manifested in a recent radical policy change through the introduction of the smart specialisation research and innovation strategy (RIS3) for national and regional development. The novelty of the RIS3 compared with previous EU innovation policy is that it aims to develop regional competitiveness based on the harnessing of regional assets rather than focusing on the provision of innovation infrastructure. In this article, the authors employ a mixed-methods research approach both to explore the nature and content of energy-related priority settings in RIS3 strategies in the EU and to address the question of regions’ abilities to foster renewable energy through their place-based strategies. The article contributes to the literature on policy strategies for realising EU energy and emissions targets and the RIS3 aim of developing competitive advantages. The main conclusions are that energy-related priority settings vary substantially within RIS3, and that regional innovation policy ambitions may be hindered by unconducive policy frameworks at national levels.