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.     

A Plan to Push Limits? Investigating the ecologically sustainable development dimensions of Melbourne's Central Region sustainable water strategy

Drawing upon theory from the field of urban political ecology, we analyse a major strategic water plan for Melbourne, Australia—the Sustainable water strategy for the Central Region, published in 2006. We assess the extent to which the strategy identified and addressed ecological sustainability in terms of: cultural frames; ecological context; social equity; and engagement processes. We identify that the strategy's framing of water was largely separate from its social and ecological context. This framing resulted in the importance of issues such as environmental flows, social equity and cultural values being diminished, thus avoiding the inevitable confrontation with environmental limits needed to ensure long-term ecological sustainability. Our analysis shows that the discursive dominance of economics limited the response to persuasive scientific arguments for greater ecological consideration in the strategy. Our findings suggest that broadening engagement with the diverse ways in which water is valued is likely to contribute to more equitable and ecologically sustainable water futures.     

(Hetero)sexing Space: Gay Men and “Straight” Space in Adelaide,South Australia

This paper examines gay men's perceptions and experiences of everyday places in Adelaide, South Australia. It illustrates the nature of social space as a heterosexual artifact. The paper also outlines ways in which gay men may contribute to the heterosexualization of space. Many gay men monitor the public and private roles they play for fear of the consequences of “discovery,” and through self-policing and restricted behaviors they may contribute to the spatial supremacy of heterosexuality. Acts of nondisclosure and the adoption of straight sexual facades constrain gay men's social and spatial lives.     

论中国自然资源的稀缺性和渗透性

随着中国国民经济的快速增长,自然资源稀缺对社会经济发展的制约日益显现。从多角度对自然资源进行综合评价,已成为资源利用研究的热点。本文根据1997年、2002年、2007年中国投入产出表计算各自然资源部门的感应度系数,由此分析中国自然资源的渗透性,结果表明：石油和天然气、耕地和煤炭资源在国民经济各部门中的渗透性最强。论文...     

Securing supply: governing drinking water in the Northern Territory

ABSTRACT

This article considers the spatial and material implications of drinking water regulation in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia. Responding to water contamination and scarcity events in remote NT communities, we argue that the politico-bureaucratic edifice of uniform drinking water governance and service provision across the NT is a state-curated fiction. The article outlines the available legislative protections for drinking water supply in the NT, which include minimum quality standards, water allocation mechanisms, testing regimes, and so on. These are shown to vary significantly between geographic locations and we argue that this produces a racialised ‘archipelago’ of differentiated islands of drinking water governance (Bakker 2003. “Archipelagos and Networks: Urbanization and Water Privatization in the South.” The Geographical Journal 169 (4): 328–341). Using the Gulf country town of Borroloola as a case study, the article then examines the colonial and land rights bases of this spatial variegation, and its significance for drinking water infrastructure provision and remediation. In doing so, we consider how the entropic materialities of ageing infrastructures work to further confound effective drinking water regulations and their practical enactments. The article argues that it is crucial to understand the limits of drinking water regulation in the NT, in order to elucidate the racialised distribution of potential environmental harms, and to mitigate further toxic inheritances.     

Social acceptance of water reuse

Recycling of waste water presents one of the main options to the water supply planner. Public attitudes against recycled water, however, are seen to be a major inhibitor of its use. Research during the 1960s and 1970s indicated that acceptance of recycled water varied according to potential use—from about 50 per cent acceptance for potable water to almost 100 per cent for irrigation and industrial cooling. Initial acceptance is shown to depend mainly upon cognitive factors, including the awareness of the public about water supply, distribution and treatment, the perception of the adequacy of existing supplies, and income. Peripheral factors such as age, political affiliation and attitudes to local government are also related to acceptance, but neither price nor psychological factors influence the level of acceptance. It is concluded that public acceptance of waste-water reuse is not a formidable obstacle to its adoption, but that a greater constraint is the pessimistic perception by planners of consumer attitudes.     

(Hetero)sexing Space: Gay Men and “Straight” Space in Adelaide,South Australia

This paper examines gay men's perceptions and experiences of everyday places in Adelaide, South Australia. It illustrates the nature of social space as a heterosexual artifact. The paper also outlines ways in which gay men may contribute to the heterosexualization of space. Many gay men monitor the public and private roles they play for fear of the consequences of “discovery,” and through self-policing and restricted behaviors they may contribute to the spatial supremacy of heterosexuality. Acts of nondisclosure and the adoption of straight sexual facades constrain gay men's social and spatial lives.     

Representations of utopian urbanism and the feminist geopolitics of “new city” development

Increasingly over the past few years the building of new cities “from scratch” has become a key strategy to promote development across much of the Global South. While several projects are currently under construction, many others exist primarily as proposals awaiting adequate investment or government action. This paper builds on previous literature that considers representations of such projects – promotional materials, digitally-produced video simulations, and master plans – as key components in the production of imagined urban futures. Through an exploration of the proposed Zone for Economic Development and Employment (ZEDE) in Honduras, this article demonstrates a feminist geopolitical approach focused on how such representations of utopian urbanism circulate through the local communities slated for new city development. I examine how representations of future urban spaces and future urban governance regimes become appropriated by local residents in organizing opposition or otherwise making sense of the proposed project’s potential impact on their lives.     

新时期黑龙港地区水资源问题及对策

黑龙港地区是河北省区域经济发展的“洼地”,该区发展面临着如何从根本上改变日益严重的缺水状况问题。资源性缺水和水污染是黑龙港地区面临的两大水资源问题,解决黑龙港地区水资源问题的根本出路在于实施跨区域调水、非传统水资源开发、节水和水源保护四大工程。     

Competing rationalities in water conflict: Mining and the indigenous community in Chiu Chiu,El Loa Province,northern Chile

Conflict over water is a significant phenomenon in many parts of the world where globally linked neoliberal economic activities encroach on the lands of indigenous peoples. This case study from Chile examines how water scarcity affecting indigenous agricultural communities in the Chilean Altiplano has been exacerbated by legally sanctioned mining‐related practices. Notably, the legal framing of the 1981 Water Code promotes private ownership of water rights and enhanced mining activity usually at the expense of the ancestral territorial rights of indigenous communities. In the case of the Atacameño community of Chiu Chiu, a serious decrease in subsistence and agriculture production has been suffered as a consequence of reduced flow in the Loa River, resulting from the water intensive needs and extraction practices of the nearby Chuquicamata mine owned by Codelco, the National Copper Corporation of Chile. Via an analysis of the political ecology of competing rationalities this paper explores how an economic rationality based on utilitarian and reductionist thinking manifested by Codelco has taken precedence locally over a socionatural rationality grounded in holistic thinking and sustainability concerns as articulated by the Chiu Chiu community.     

Linked and Independent African American Migration from Los Angeles

Empirical evidence of environmental performance of urban areas designed according to the principles of sustainable urbanism is limited. Using the case study of Civano, a planned development that was designed and marketed as a sustainable community in Tucson, Arizona, we quantify fine-scale differences in urban form and delivery of ecosystem services. We found that the urban design of the first phase of development translated to the lowest surface temperatures and highest albedo and vegetative density. The first and second phases of the development greatly reduced potable water consumption through the addition of nonpotable resources; however, the second phase had higher temperatures and less dense vegetation than even the conventional development. Our results show modest improvements in environmental performance through sustainable urbanism and suggest further refinement in fine-scale spatial analysis of the role of urban design in the provisioning of services.     

Editorials

Abstract

Travelers' diaries are just one example of how primary documents can be used to experience geography in the classroom. Involving students in people's lives is an effective way to interest students in geography. Students will discover how these travelers migrated across the Missouri landscape, what modes of transportation they utilized, and the places they encountered along the way. This lesson focuses on people who traveled through Missouri in the mid-1800s. State historical societies and local archives are excellent sources of travel diaries and journals that can help your students experience geography and learn something about their own state in the process.     

中国社会化水资源稀缺评价

水资源稀缺是我国21世纪可持续发展面临的最主要问题之一,水资源稀缺评价是水资源管理中最基础性的工作。在界定水资源管理阶段、引入社会适应性能力概念的基础上,将水资源稀缺评价问题拓展到了社会经济领域,强调社会资源在水资源稀缺评价中的作用。同时根据计算的社会化水资源稀缺评价指数,对2002年我国各省 (市) 水文水资源稀缺指数和社会化水资源稀缺指数进行了比较分析。结果表明北京、上海、浙江、广东和广西省由于相对高的社会适应性能力,其社会化水资源稀缺程度指数的相对排序得到了改善;河北、河南、贵州、云南省因相对低的社会适应性能力使其社会化水资源稀缺指数排序有所降低。同时探讨了社会适应性能力对水资源稀缺程度的影响,并指出运用社会资源来适应水资源的稀缺也是水资源可持续开发利用的一种途径。     

Bushmanship: The explorers' silent partner

Bushmanship, or the competence to interact meaningfully with newly encountered environments in the achievement of predetermined goals, is a factor overlooked in analyses of land-based exploration. The importance of bushmanship is examined in this paper through a comparison of George Grey's inept exploration of north-western Australia in 1836-37 with Edward Eyre's increasingly successful overlanding ventures in south-eastern Australia at approximately the same time. Grey's impetuosity, inexperience and lack of competence contrast sharply with Eyre's growing confidence to handle unfamiliar conditions. The comparison reveals many of the factors that differentiate externally initiated expeditions such as Grey's from forays by settlers determined to wrest a living from newly settled territories.     

The Necessity for Multi-disciplinary Research: Ralph Jacobi's Institute of Freshwater Studies

In spite of many proposals, Australia has no national freshwater research centre. Thus the passing in the Senate of Ralph Jacobi's private member's bill for an Institute of Freshwater Studies in 1982 was unusual. His driving force was the need to overcome State boundaries and for research to inform policy and management of water resources. It gained widespread support, and not just from the parliamentary Labor Party, but was strongly opposed by the Fraser government, State and federal water bureaucracies, and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). The election of 1983 prevented further discussion in parliament, but the proposal was part of the Labor Party platform taken to the election. An Interim Council set up to investigate whether or not such an institute should be established, but with narrow terms of reference very different from those in Jacobi's bill, sided with the large water bureaucracies and CSIRO, in spite of majority support for an institute. An institute was rejected and the government accepted the recommendation. Jacobi's proposal failed primarily because of a fear of independent advice by many in the bureaucracies, a potential loss of power and influence, and inter-governmental rivalries. The status quo remained; the bigger picture is still unseen.     

Problems for water resources development in typical small karst drainage basins and countermeasures

IntroductionThe karate runoff produchon process is a hydrO-geological process dependent on the shape and bining ofrainfall hydropoh and the spatial vacation Pattern Of landfonns, which is represented by the peak-forestdepression and peak-forest pci ie. It is also affected by tile unique chacterishcs and spatial pattern ofsurface and underground channel netWork exiSted in the karshc catChmellt, where the surface drainagedivide is different from the underground dlainage divide. Along with rese…     

Globalisation and Border Dynamics: impacts on the urban development of Darwin,Australia

National boundaries and border cities have been transformed globally. This is partly due to neoliberal globalisation, the continuous formation of a ‘borderless world’ and partly to the global ‘war on terror’. Darwin, the capital city of the Northern Territory (NT), is on the northern coast of Australia, bordering its overseas Asian neighbours. Far away from the main Australian population centres in the south, the city grows slowly, relying mainly on Australian government investments, infrastructure, and the incorporation of defence programs in the north. The rise of Asia, as well as Australia's increasing economic reliance on Asia, has created new opportunities for Darwin's growth. The development of Asian economies has resulted in growing global investment in resource extraction in NT. Asia, though, has been seen as a key threat in the modern history of Australia. This national sensitivity is underpinned by the global ‘war on terror’ in which Australia is deeply involved. Australia has tight border control regimes and a growing military presence on the northern border area. This paper examines how these co-existing but contradictory dynamics have reshaped the urban development of Darwin City. The consequential social and spatial patterns are identified and discussed.     

京津冀城市群虚拟水贸易的近远程分析

虚拟水贸易能重新分配区域间的水资源。在京津冀协同发展的背景下,厘清京津冀城市群与外部的虚拟水贸易及城市群内部的虚拟水流动,有助于深入理解该地区的水资源供需现状及问题,为制定虚拟水贸易相关策略、实现区域水资源优化配置、保障区域水资源安全提供决策支持。本文基于2010年全国区域间投入产出表,测算了京津冀城市群各省（市）水足迹及与全国各省域单元的虚拟水贸易量。从近远程视角定量评估城市群地区对内、外部水资源的依赖程度,并分析虚拟水贸易的距离特征。研究发现：① 京津冀城市群各省（市）各部门用水系数显现出差异性,农业部门用水强度最高,直接用水与完全用水系数分别超过300 m ³/万元和400 m ³/万元;② 京津冀城市群内部各省（市）人均消费水足迹差异大,北京、天津、河北的人均水足迹分别为405 m ³、565 m ³、191 m ³;③ 京津冀城市群的消费水足迹遍布全国各省域单元,近程水足迹与远程水足迹分别为91.4亿m ³、198.5亿m ³,其中,近程水足迹主要来源于本省（市）,西部地区对远程水足迹的贡献最大;④ 京津冀城市群的虚拟水输入总体偏向来源于距离较近的省域单元,北京、天津、河北水足迹距离来源地的平均距离分别为1049 km、1297 km、688 km;⑤ 北京和天津为虚拟水贸易的净流入区,对外部水资源的依赖性强;河北为虚拟水贸易的净流出区,为京津冀城市群及其他地区供给水资源,虚拟水净流出进一步加剧了河北的水资源短缺。未来,受人口增长、经济发展等因素影响,京津冀城市群的水资源压力将进一步加剧,提高用水效率、升级产业结构、提倡低水足迹消费模式、实行虚拟水战略是实现京津冀城市群可持续发展的有效途径。     

I Do? On geography,marriage and love in Australia

Calls for law reform in Australia reveal marriage as central to the notions of family and citizenship. Attention here is drawn to the recent lack of willingness to debate marriage equality in Australia—from either its advocates or opponents—following a cross-party marriage equality private members bill. Federal Liberal/National Coalition politicians dismiss legislative frameworks that recognise marriage equality in Australia because it is thought to cause the demise of social mores, or is at best unimportant. Advocates for same-sex marriage present promises based on rights, justice and equality, yet fail to reflect on the social implications for those who arrange their sexual lives outside this institutionalised partnership. I argue that the lack of debate is operating to narrow rather than widen understandings about ‘love', drawing attention to geographical understanding of the links between sex, bodies, gender, families and belonging.