RURAL POPULATION LOSS AND CROPLAND CHANGE IN THE SOUTHERN PLAINS: IMPLICATIONS FOR CROPLAND RETIREMENT POLICY∗

Given steadily increasing federal expenditures to manage surplus crop production, it would seem to make economic and environmental sense to concentrate production on the best acreage and to retire marginal crop acreage to alternate uses. A major obstacle constraining adoption and implementation of cropland retirement programs in the past has been the fear that cropland retirement threatens the viability of rural communities. Regression of change in population and retail establishments on changes in farm structure, nonfarm employment, and agricultural land-use in the rural Southern Plains between 1930 and 1970 provides only weak evidence to support this fear. In fact, short-term cropland idling under post-1960 price-support programs appears to pose more of a threat to rural communities than does cropland retirement.     

Property advertising and the representational production of suburbia: “Functional suburbs” and “lifestyle suburbs” in Auckland

This paper joins literature on suburban advertising with Lefebvre's concept of representational space to analyse property advertisements as part of the representational production of suburban space. Based on comparative analysis of advertising material for suburban residential developments on Auckland's “North Shore” in two time‐periods—1950s and 2010s—the paper examines changes and continuities in thematic content. While property advertisements in the mid‐1900s emphasised the “functional suburb,” paying attention to attributes such as quality of utilities and proximity to the central city, more recently advertisements have more strongly emphasised the “lifestyle suburb,” with a focus on middle‐class community and natural amenity.     

RURAL POPULATION LOSS AND CROPLAND CHANGE IN THE SOUTHERN PLAINS: IMPLICATIONS FOR CROPLAND RETIREMENT POLICY*

Given steadily increasing federal expenditures to manage surplus crop production, it would seem to make economic and environmental sense to concentrate production on the best acreage and to retire marginal crop acreage to alternate uses. A major obstacle constraining adoption and implementation of cropland retirement programs in the past has been the fear that cropland retirement threatens the viability of rural communities. Regression of change in population and retail establishments on changes in farm structure, nonfarm employment, and agricultural land-use in the rural Southern Plains between 1930 and 1970 provides only weak evidence to support this fear. In fact, short-term cropland idling under post-1960 price-support programs appears to pose more of a threat to rural communities than does cropland retirement.     

Memento Mori: The “Death” of Youngtown

Youngtown, Arizona, was founded in 1954 as the nation's first retirement community, presaging the original Sun City (1960) and subsequent proliferation of active-adult communities across America. Youngtown, whose attractiveness waned owing to competition from more upscale, amenity-rich communities, suffered a fatal blow in 1998. Legal issues led to the loss of age restrictions, ushering in a swift and dramatic transformation of Youngtown from retirement enclave to working-class community, as Youngtown was overwhelmed by powerful social currents coursing through the Phoenix metropolitan region: explosive population growth, suburban sprawl, Latinization, and voracious demand for affordable housing. We tell the story of the life and death of Youngtown as a retirement haven, including the response of seniors to the loss in community identity: out-migration, anger, depression, and eventual acceptance among older people who linger. Insular, freeze-frame dreams of community identity and stability common among seniors in retirement enclaves ultimately prove chimerical in the face of urban change. The death of Youngtown as retiree haven, viewed in the sweep of shifting cultural attitudes about aging, may be a harbinger, the opening notes in a requiem for de jure retirement communities.     

Function of Soils for Human Societies and Environment

This study assessed the spatial distribution of vulnerability to extreme heat in 1990 and 2000 within metropolitan Phoenix based on an index of seven equally weighted measures of physical exposure and adaptive capacity. These measures were derived from spatially interpolated climate, normalized differential vegetation index, and U.S. Census data. From resulting vulnerability maps, we also analyzed population groups living in areas of high heat vulnerability. Results revealed that landscapes of heat vulnerability changed substantially in response to variations in physical and socioeconomic factors, with significant alterations to spatial distribution of vulnerability especially between eastern and western sectors of Phoenix. These changes worked to the detriment of Phoenix's Hispanic population and the elderly concentrated in urban-fringe retirement communities.     

建成环境是否影响居民健康生活方式?——基于北京22个社区的实证分析

健康社区建设是后疫情时代的重要趋势,在促进居民健康状况方面,只有针对各类生活方式进行组合干预才能将个体患病风险降到最低并保证居民身心的全面健康.论文选取了北京22个典型社区,利用2019年北京城市体检问卷调查数据构建了社区居民健康生活方式的评价指标体系,并在此基础上结合社区生活圈内的建成环境空间数据,借助多层线性模型考...     

绿色空间对休闲性体力活动影响的社区分异 ——以广州市为例

以广州市20个典型社区为例,构建多元线性回归模型,探讨了绿色空间对居民休闲性体力活动的影响,并剖析绿色空间对不同类型社区居民休闲性体力活动影响的作用机制。结果发现：1）不同类型社区居民的休闲性体力活动水平存在明显差异,低档社区的为782.99 MET-min/w,中档社区的为871.70 MET-min/w,高档社区的为1 227.91 MET-min/w;2）影响不同类型社区居民休闲性体力活动水平的绿色空间因素有所不同,低档社区、中档社区和高档社区的显著因子分别为“到最近公园广场距离”“邻里绿化覆盖率”和“健身活动设施数量”;3）绿色空间对休闲性体力活动水平影响的作用机制存在社区差异,低档社区居民休闲性体力活动主要受到成本作用的约束,中档社区居民主要受绿化环境作用影响,而高档社区居民主要受机会作用影响。     

“THIS TERRITORY WAS NOT EMPTY”: PACIFIC POSSIBILITIES

ABSTRACT. Narratives concerning Pacific Ocean territories are often historically derived from European and American mainland visions of great, empty oceans dotted with deserted and uninhabited islands. However, research by indigenous and outlander scholars, along with struggles for political and cultural autonomy in the Pacific, has brought attention to vital island communities and 6has raised questions about a Pacific‐island way of understanding the world. This understanding is traced through scholarly and artistic engagements with history, island‐community studies, and navigational philosophies and is framed by a growing theoretical literature on epistemologies of place from the disciplines of geography and oceanography.     

生活方式型移民研究综述

在经济比较发达以及后现代社会带来个人主体性增强的背景下,以寻找更好的生活方式的迁移——“生活方式型移民”成为一种重要的人口流动类型,并受到西方学者的高度关注。在中国,生活方式型移民开始萌芽,然而研究较少,目前主要集中在对生活方式型旅游企业主移民研究;西方的研究则涉及退休移民、生活方式型企业主移民等多种类型,但尚未形成完整的研究体系,对于生活方式型移民概念界定及其类型划分较为杂乱。为此,本文从现有文献出发,试图对这类移民的研究内容进行介绍、探讨、厘清和评析,首先确定“生活方式型移民”的概念框架,根据生产和消费在时间和空间上的结合状态将生活方式型移民划分为三种类型,并从社会交往、生活状态、旅游行为和自我认知等方面综述其迁移后的行为表现及由此产生的影响,希望借此促进中国学者对生活方式型移民的关注。     

From Rural Dilution to Multifunctional Countryside: Some pointers to the future from South Australia

Rural dilution, a term originally used in the UK in the 1950s, refers to change in the social composition of rural populations: those elements engaged in primary production (and its necessary servicing) are thinned out by agricultural restructuring and labour shedding, while at the same time in-migration of new elements (retirement, long-distance commuting, lifestyle migration) is occurring. The extent to which such dilution occurs is influenced by a number of factors, including distance in travel time from the nearest metropolitan or other large city, location with respect to the coast/perceived environmental amenity, and rural population density. This paper explores changes in traditional rural communities in Southern Yorke Peninsula, South Australia, which lie 2½-3 hours' drive from Adelaide and have been subject to substantial rural dilution. Drawing on two detailed surveys of the strictly rural (dispersed) population of the region carried out in 1984 and replicated in 2000, some important social impacts of the recent migration flows are identified, including changes in perceived community identity and allegiance, shopping and business patterns, and the very recent impact of the uptake of electronic communication innovations. The paper concludes with an assessment of the extent to which the trends identified are likely to continue, and mould future communities in similar distance and amenity situations over the next 10-20 years, changing the nature of rurality in Australia.     

A new look at population change and regional development in Aotearoa New Zealand

In New Zealand, population change is interlinked with regional development. Places growing in population attract regional investment, while regional investment—or lack thereof—can change migration patterns. However, to determine the appropriate response to population change for a community, it is important to understand that population change involves much more than “just” migration. Specifically, it involves interactions between the three components of population change: natural change (births minus deaths), net migration (international and internal) and population ageing (changing cohort size). For example, migration can be negative, but growth can be positive due to underlying natural increase or growth in cohort size. Responses need to differ, depending on these drivers. The goal of this article is to provide new insights into these interactions using data for 275 cities, towns and rural centres (hereafter “urban places”) in New Zealand for the period 1976 to 2013. The results show that natural change has been consistently positive for most urban places up to the present, although projections indicate that in the future this component will become negative across much of the country. At the same time, net migration shows considerable spatial variation, not only in terms of volume, but also direction (negative or positive), which differs markedly by age. A net gain of people of retirement age can offset a net loss of young adults to deliver overall growth, and vice‐versa, but the two have very different implications for longer term growth. An analysis of the drivers of net migration using GIS and machine learning techniques provides an indication of the importance of economic conditions (land‐use and access to markets), lifestyle, access to essential services (hospitals and education) and their interaction with age in regional change. The results show that population age is the best predictor of migration. Younger people are moving to cities for tertiary education and work and older people near or in retirement are moving to smaller lifestyle towns but also want to be close to amenities such as hospitals and international airports. The research also shows that natural lifestyle characteristics (landscape and climate), in combination with age are just as important as economic conditions for understanding migration. Regional development, such as infrastructure that helps business (ports and services) is important for the working age population but not necessarily the retirement age group. When regional development, age/life‐cycle stage and lifestyle come together, such as in Queenstown and Tauranga, net migration gain is high.     

Place attachment among retirees in Greensburg, Kansas

On 4 May 2007 an ef-5 tornado leveled 95 percent of Greensburg, Kansas. Because city leaders encouraged everyone to use “green” building techniques as they rebuilt their homes and businesses, not only has the return to normalcy been exceedingly slow, but some of the town's older residents feel that officials have overlooked their needs. These minor episodes of discord enabled us to learn what features are most important to people in retirement. The features include identifiable landmarks, a space in which to socialize, and age-specific businesses. We assert that the lessons learned in Greensburg are applicable to other communities with a sizable older population. As baby boomers rapidly enter retirement they will seek places to live that are elder friendly and enable them to effectively bond with place. As previous research attests, people who have a strong attachment to place commonly have a good quality of life.     

旅游引导的新型农村城镇化研究——以丹霞山瑶塘村与断石村为例

采用质性研究方法,揭示1980~2014年间丹霞山瑶塘村和断石村在旅游引导下实现农村城镇化的过程特征和机制。研究发现,在旅游驱动下,地方政府、农村社区、外来力量等多元主体共同作用下两村逐步实现了“以人为核心”的新型农村城镇化;地方政府的有效管理和资金扶持,有力保障了农村公共设施建设和旅游企业发展,防止“公地悲剧”和“虚假城镇化”现象发生;农村社区以土地、资金和劳动力等要素主动参与旅游经营和社区建设,实现了产业、就业和生活方式的非农化,是农村城镇化的主导力量;以外来资本、旅游移民和旅游者等为主的外来力量为农村城镇化提供了资金、劳动力、文化和信息等支持,其作用随着旅游市场规模的扩大而逐步加大。研究认为,当前旅游驱动型农村城镇化并非传统意义上农民空间、职业和身份都发生转化的城镇化,而是农民通过参与旅游就地转变生产和生活方式的内生型城镇化,未来可通过“村改居”方式逐步向区域城镇化转换。     

LIVESTOCK VERSUS “WILD BEASTS”: CONTRADICTIONS IN THE NATURAL PATRIMONIALIZATION OF THE PYRENEES

ABSTRACT. The Pyrenees are becoming an environmental reservoir. The acute human depopulation experienced during the twentieth century and the progressive appropriation of large parts of the mountainous territory by the state in order to implement conservation policies have resulted in the return, via reintroduction or natural regeneration, of bears, wolves, beavers, river otters, marmots, mouflon, feral goats, and deer, among other species. This development, however, has not occurred without social and scientific controversy and leads to questions about territorialization and governmentality. Herders perceive wild animals as unregulated public property subsidized by the work of the local populace. Agriculturalists see their fields trespassed on a daily basis by animals they cannot kill because of their protected status. Ranchers, under extremely strict sanitation regulations, see their animals coming into contact with these unchecked wild populations. The work and living space of the mountain communities has fallen under the jurisdiction of external institutions and constituencies that value conservation and ecotourism above local subsistence.     

Specializations in “Jobs in Geography”: 1990–1992*

One way to probe into the direction in which American academic geography is heading is to look at the actual demand for specializations and teaching duties as expressed by the recent jobs offered by colleges and universities. The results of this inquiry for the 1990–1992 period indicate that the most frequently requested courses were GIS, regional geography, and environmental geography. The greatest number of positions were advertised as general physical geographer or human geographer and were in departments without graduate programs. The findings suggest that preparations for the profession of “geography professor” should include the ability both to conduct focused research and to teach a diverse set of courses.     

Representing “Neighborhood”: Growth Coalitions,Newspaper Reporting,and Gentrification in St. Louis

Newspaper reporters are important actors in promoting gentrification. This study of St. Louis examines their use of a prominent representation of neighborhood in this process: dying neighborhoods in need of middle‐class technical salvationists. We examine its use to help drive two processes to promoting gentrification: legitimating restructuring at actual or anticipated sites and isolating “revitalization‐contaminating” communities. We discover this neighborhood representation is applied primarily to legitimate restructuring at specific sites. Revitalization‐threatening neighborhoods, represented differently, indicates this representation is task specific in this city's “gentrification project.”     

Rural Tourism: A case of lifestyle-led opportunities

Tourism is often seen as a panacea for the ills of declining rural communities. The paper argues that there is an element of blind optimism in this view although a shift of focus from production to consumption within advanced economies like Australia's will undoubtedly provide opportunities for the development of the leisure, recreation and tourism industries, both in metropolitan and rural areas. The paper suggests that an increased focus on lifestyle will come to characterise Australia. Some rural communities will be able to capitalise on this, both for temporary visitors and for in-migration, but many will not. The well-established concepts of threshold and range, when coupled with the idea of specialisation, will have a large influence on which places 'win' and which 'lose' in any lifestyle-led and leisure-oriented society. 'Place marketing' will become increasingly important for towns competing against each other for the 'leisure and lifestyle dollar'.     

‘Here,we don't just trade goods,we also “sell” people's lives’: Sari‐sari stores as nodes of partial surveillance in a Philippine fishing community

Home‐based neighbourhood stores (locally known in the Philippines as sari‐sari stores) are a ubiquitous feature of most Philippine communities. They are small to medium‐size trade stores not unlike convenience stores in the West where people buy goods in small quantities. In the Philippines, these stores play a vital role in providing everyday economic sustenance to low‐income communities. But more than an economic hub, sari‐sari stores also function as a social hub that connects people and acts as eyes and ears of the community through the people who make use of their services. In a sense, sari‐sari stores are the community's ‘myopticon’ where people's day‐to‐day dealings with everyone in the community and its environs are reported and discursively brought under the gaze of the ‘entire community’. Being myopticon as opposed to Foucault's panopticon, surveillance in sari‐sari stores is partial, non‐hierarchicalized and could be resisted by people in the community. Nonetheless, regardless of the ‘myoptic’ features of sari‐sari stores, their presence in the community ‘interpellates’ everyone's daily existence and instantiates a discursive space from which a structure of informal social control is enacted among community members. Sari‐sari stores then are an important reminder of how our built environment is also about contestation and negotiation of everyday life as we make use of space and as the architectonics of space both constrain and empower our manoeuvring in places.     

The Sun City Wars: Chapter 3

A revealing indicator of social fragmentation in metropolitan America is the proliferation of common interest developments (CIDs), communities defined by restrictive covenants, deed restrictions, community associations, and citizens groups that wield substantial political influence and power. In Phoenix, large-scale retirement communities represent a conspicuous form of CID, populated by Anglo, middle, and upper-middle class elderly migrants who display high levels of political organization and participation. We present a case study of heated conflict between retirees in Sun City West—who see themselves as separate from the larger metropolitan region—and surrounding communities in the Dysart School District. The conflict is fraught with age, social class, and cultural tensions and evolves around seniors wielding political muscle in defeating school funding measures, controlling the Dysart governing board, and seeking to de-annex themselves out of the district to avoid paying school taxes. We argue that political conflict between advantaged seniors and neighboring working class Latino communities is symptomatic of troubling divisions across urban social space in America, raising thorny questions about the nature and scale of community, political representation and power, and fostering the public good in the face of "secession of the successful" from the larger polity.