Policy responses to informality in urban Africa: the example of Maputo,Mozambique

In the global South informality constitutes one of the leading issues for urban policy makers. The planning challenges around informality are particularly relevant in urban Africa as most Africans make their livelihoods in the informal economy. This paper examines issues of state policy responses to informality through the lens of street traders. Under scrutiny are policy responses towards street trading in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, a city that has experienced the advance of informalization. It is argued that the dominant approach towards informal trading across urban Africa is of a ‘sanitising’ policy response by the local state which is rooted upon traditions of modernist urban planning in search of ‘ordered development’. The research discloses that in Maputo national and municipal authorities have adopted a more tolerant approach to the informal economy, mainly because it provides a livelihood to so many of the city’s poor and because of potential social unrest likely to be triggered by a repressive approach. In Maputo the core narrative is of an urban informal economy viewed by officials as an important livelihood for the city’s poor, albeit one which is subject both to periodic harassment and encouragement to ‘formalize’. The analysis represents a contribution to the expanding corpus of writings on Africa’s informalising cities and specifically concerning policy responses towards street trading.     

International students as urban agents: International education and urban transformation in Auckland,New Zealand

This paper discusses connections between the internationalisation of education, and in particular the growth in international students, and processes of urban transformation. The research is centred in Auckland, New Zealand, a city where the number of international students has grown rapidly over the last decade leading to significant impacts on the urban form and experience of the city’s CBD. This includes growth in educational services such as language schools and other private training establishments, new residential geographies characterised by low-cost and low-quality high-rise developments, and new ethnic economies of food, service and entertainment businesses that explicitly target international students. The paper draws on research with South Korean international students and a range of secondary materials to interrogate the connections between student mobilities and changing urban form. In doing so the paper contributes to emerging scholarship on student geographies and the role of students as urban agents through the inclusion of an international dimension that has largely been absent in the extant literature. The findings illustrate that while international students themselves clearly play a significant role in the transformation of urban spaces their influence cannot easily be separated from the contribution of a range of other actors including educational businesses, property developers, transnational migrants and local and national state actors.     

Living it up: Super-rich enclave and transnational elite urbanism in Singapore

Notwithstanding the burgeoning scholarship on enclave urbanism, urban gating has often been pigeonholed as an intra-urban development that is somewhat ‘epiphenomenal’ to wider global processes. Overlooked in the literature is how gated communities as globally-oriented spaces are intertwined with the transnational lifeworlds of its elite inhabitants. As key sites where transnational super-rich elites organize their consumption and reproduce their purportedly global lifestyle, gated communities are now emerging as a new ‘meta-geographical form’ that circulates in and around rapidly globalizing cities. Drawing on the case study of Sentosa Cove, an exclusive waterfront gated community in Singapore catering to ‘high net-worth’ residents, this paper critically examines how elite localities and transnationalism are being socially and spatially reproduced in the city-state. To this end, the paper makes a distinct contribution by bringing to bear critical transnationalism perspectives in the understanding of urban gating and the privileged geographies of the global super-rich.     

Financialization,totality and planetary urbanization in the Chilean Andes

In a context of planetary urbanization, where vast swathes of the countryside are being enclosed on an ongoing basis in order to support a sprawling urban system, the relationship between finance and land-use change needs to be brought to the forefront. By engaging with Henri Lefebvre’s ideas of levels and totality, this paper draws analytical connections between the financialization of the transnational mining industry and the production of the financialized urban everyday in geographies of extraction. The paper does this by looking at the case of Pascua Lama, a multibillion open-cast mine to be developed in Chile by a major mining company in the context of the current global gold rush. Through this case, I show how a set of strategies pursued by financiers and corporate managers thousands of kilometers away from the extraction site, resulted in fractured spaces of urbanization shaped by socioecological plunder, dispossession and geographically uneven financial landscapes.     

肯尼亚矿产资源及矿业投资环境分析

肯尼亚是东非第一大经济体,也是非洲东部的重要出海口,战略位置突出。境内矿产资源丰富,有钛铁矿、金、猛、铜等金属矿产,以及纯碱、萤石和重晶石等非金属矿产,主要赋存于太古代绿岩带和莫桑比克构造带上,其中钛铁矿储量全球第五。中肯两国关系稳定,且近年矿业发展迅速,其资源与我国有较强的资源互补性,加之肯尼亚地质工作程度较低,有大部分陆域国土面积尚未进行勘探,具有良好的投资前景。本文在系统梳理肯尼亚主要矿产资源基本情况、矿业开发现状的基础上,深入研判肯尼亚矿业投资环境及主要投资风险与机遇,进而对肯尼亚矿业投资提出建议。     

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.     

Revisiting the red light district: Still neglected, immoral and marginal?

Twenty years ago, Ashworth et al. (1988) offered a distinctive and innovative interpretation of a neglected aspect of the urban scene: the red light district. Focusing on the location of female prostitution in a series of Western European cities, their paper suggested that the geographies of sex work are revealing of some of the ‘less obvious’ social and political processes that shape urban space. Here, we revisit Ashworth et al’s paper in the light of subsequent developments in the organisation of commercial sex as well as the study of sexuality and space. Noting important continuities as well as major shifts in the location of sex work, with a significant shift to off-street forms of sex working having occurred, this paper argues that some of the ideas in Ashworth et al’s paper remain highly pertinent, but others appear in need of updating. In particular, we stress the importance of focusing on men as both clients and workers within the sex industry, and flag up a number of connections that might be made with the emerging literatures on the geographies of sex itself. We hence conclude by considering Ashworth et al’s paper as an important early intervention in debates surrounding the relations of sexuality and space, albeit one in which questions of gender, embodiment, and sexual desire remained largely unexplored.     

The potential and prospect for global cities in China: in the context of the world system

Over the last two decades, accompanying their rapid economic development, many `mega-cities' in China have devoted themselves to changing their relationships to the global economy and some have aimed at attaining global (world) city status as a key future development goal. This paper examines the relationship between global (world) city status and the emerging world economic system, and discusses the intense competition between `mega-cities' in the Asia-Pacific region that Chinese cities will face in the 21st century, especially after the Asia financial crisis. It also explores the potential and possibility of achieving global or world city status in China. The main arguments are that only Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing have the possibility to attain leading positions in the global urban system in the future. Post-1997, it has been very important for the Chinese government to find a way to coordinate the functions of Hong Kong and the other major cities which allows them to operate smoothly together under quite different political systems. Finally, the authors analyse the relationships between these three metropolises and suggests some possibilities for coordinating their roles in the global urban system.     

FORMATION OF COAL DURING THE CRETACEOUS PERIOD AND ITS ROLE IN THE GLOBAL PROCESSES OF COAL ACCUMULATION

P. I. Stepanov suggested that during the Cretaceous there probably took place a considerable accumulation of coal, although that time was always considered to have been a period of attenuation of coal accumulation. The analysis of facies of the Cretaceous deposits in the far east maritime region of the U. S. S. R. as well as of those of Alaska led the author to conclude that coal accumulation during the Cretaceous was tremendous. This conjecture has now been confirmed: the new estimate of coal reserves of the U. S. S. R. has shown the Cretaceous Lena coalfield to be the largest in the world. Tremendous reserves of coal are also concentrated in the Bureya, Maritime, Anadyr and Sakhalin Cretaceous coal bearing basins of the U. S. S. R. in the Ryōseki basin of Japan and in the Cretaceous coal deposits of North America, particularly in Alaska where a major coalfield very likely exists. Thus it may now be considered that during the Cretaceous there accumulated reserves of coal comparable in immensity to those accumulated during the Tertiary and undoubtedly much larger than those of the Permian, Carboniferous and Jurassic. It may be asserted that rate of coal accumulation kept ever increasing in the course of geological time, and the Cretaceous may be regarded as a period of very intensive coal accumulation. Following up Stepanov's idea we can point out the knots of Cretaceous coal accumulation: Lena, Alaska, Anadyr, Sakhalin — Maritime. The new data on the Cretaceous coal accumulation should be taken into account in any reconstruction of the history of geological development of the earth and of the evolution of the organic world. --Author's English Summary.     

Manila’s metropolitan landscape of gentrification: Global urban development,accumulation by dispossession & neoliberal warfare against informality

A new regime of gentrification is dramatically restructuring Manila’s metropolitan landscape. Grounded upon an on-going neoliberal warfare of accumulation by dispossession, this gentrification serves as the fulfillment of postcolonial visions of a world class and modern metropolis through public–private arrangements and market-oriented developments but necessitates the systematic demolition of informal settlements, the home of the Manila’s urban poor and working class population. Through a mixed-methods approach, this paper examines gentrification’s spatial forms and trajectories and exposes context specific dynamics facilitating accumulation by dispossession. Using barangay (village)-level data on changes in population of informal households and median zonal values, I calculate for local measures of spatial autocorrelation and locate significant clusters of spatial shifts. Using the quantitative results plus field narratives and community histories, I triangulate local dynamics of accumulation by dispossession. What emerges is a sprawling gentrification process that, in producing a market-oriented metropolis, displaces and asphyxiates informal spaces. These accounts illustrate the contingencies of violence, neoliberal urbanism, colonial legacies of land regimes, and elite power in the production of a globally-competitive Manila. With other Global South megacities similarly competing in the global market, gentrification in Manila, with its expanding landscape of property accumulation and ’legitimized’ dispossession, is instructive of the emerging form of gentrification in the 21st century.     

Systems of provision: Fast fashion and jeans

Using the example of jeans and the fast fashion sector, this critical review explores how systems of provision analysis can be used to understand geographical connections between spaces of production and places of consumption. The study of global commodity chains and production networks has proliferated in economic geography, yet the focus on transactions between places frequently omits to consider the material culture that surrounds processes of making and buying. In contrast, in cultural geography the meanings and transformations associated with ‘following things’ has explored the shifting meanings of commodities as well as personal experiences of shopping with a focus on signifying culture. Ben Fine’s systems of provision approach can offer a more comprehensive analysis. Fine considers how the role of the consumer has emerged as well as the economic processes through which value is established in goods and is an inclusive way of examining the activities that connect consumption and production. Through discussing some of the recent and emerging work on denim jeans this review shows how a systems of provision approach can effectively map a ‘fast fashion’ system and provides a framework that can be applied to other economic geographies.     

当代世界的矿产资源

论述了最近５０年来世界矿产资源供求关系的变化和现状,着重讨论了独联体国家、北美地区西欧国家、中欧和东欧国家、日本、澳大利亚和南非共和国、欧佩克国家的矿产资源情况。俄罗斯仍是矿产资源大国,但矿山开采工业每况愈下,许多矿种没有清楚的探明储量。独联体一些国家某些矿种储量大,但没有维持经济正常发展的其它矿种。美国的某些矿种储量大,但其它矿种不足,例如石油、天然气、煤、铝、铜、铅、锌、锡、镍、钴、钨等需求量     

An overview of the resources and environment conditions and major geological problems in the Yangtze River economic zone,China

Focusing on the Yangtze River economic zone, the previous geological researches are systematically summarized, resources and environment conditions and major geological problems which are needing to be concerned in land planning and construction are studied. The results show that the resource conditions of cultivated land, shale gas, geotherm, lithium and so on are superior in the Yangtze River economic zone, and the resources and environment conditions are conducive to develop the modern agriculture, clean energy industry and strategic emerging industries. 3×10¹³ m² farmlands without heavy metal pollution are concentrated; there are three national level shale gas exploration and development bases with explored reserves of 5.441×10¹¹ m³; geothermal availability is 2.4×10⁹ t of standard coal each year, equivalent to 19% of the amount of coal in 2014; Asia’s largest energy lithium metal ore deposit is found. In some parts of Yangtze River economic zone, there are some major geological problems such as active faults, karst collapse, ground subsidence, landslide-collapse-debris flow, affecting the river-crossing channels, high-speed railway, urban agglomeration and green ecological corridor planning and construction. Those problems should be concerned, and the relevant suggestions and countermeasures are put forward. Meanwhile, the ideas to further support the development of the Yangtze River economic zone are put forward.     

Strategic globalizing centers and sub-network geometries: A social network analysis of multi-scalar energy networks

Over the past three decades, a multitude of studies have examined the relational properties of corporate networks as a proxy for analyzing interurban hierarchies and structures. While this has been important in illuminating the nature of global connectivity, a significant conceptual lacuna exists in understanding how a multi-scalar analysis of interurban networks informs a more complete understanding of the geographies of globalization, and how cities within these networks act as regional globalizing centers. Building upon the theoretical and methodological foundations of ‘world city network’ (WCN) research, this paper investigates the corporate networks of the energy industry as a historic driver of globalization using social network analysis from an Australia geographical perspective. Globally and nationally scaled energy networks derived from the Platts and Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) corporate lists are used to explore the convergence of nationally and globally articulated networks, and identify cities instrumental in the globalization of the national industry sub-networks. These are strategic ‘globalizing centers’ which, in contradistinction to ‘global cities’ or ‘world cities’ as broad classifications, play nuanced roles in anointing industry-specific circuits of capital and information. The analysis of two complementary yet distinct networks provides theoretical insight into how scale plays an integral role in defining/articulating interurban relations.     

Emplacement and the dispossessions of cosmopolitan capital

Ananya Roy’s theorization of the urban land question in terms of ‘dis/possessive collectivism’ is a powerful, eloquent intervention at a pivotal moment of intensified, planetary urban land inequalities. In this commentary, we evaluate Roy’s call to identify sites of “strategic illegality” from which to challenge the racial and class inequalities of capitalist colonization of urban land and property. Our analysis focuses on three transformations – evolving jurisdictional geographies, expanded proliferations of disparate impact, and reinforced infrastructures of monetized universalization – in which old, familiar exploitations are produced through the new multicultural meritocracies of an increasingly transnational, cosmopolitan capitalism.     

Local economic development: Theory, evidence, and implications for policy in Brazil

Local economic development policies have surged in Brazil over the past decade—a major shift in this regionally diverse country of 27 states, over 5000 municipalities, and the largest economy in Latin America. We review the stylized facts, expected patterns and policy recommendations from the foundational studies in regional and urban economics. We then provide a summary of a more recent stream of scholarship focused on local economic development (LED) studies in developed and developing countries that have surged in the last 20 years. Based on this review, we then systemize the findings emerging from studies focused on analyzing local economic development policies in Brazil recognizing the distinctive contributions emerging from both the empirical and the case studies literatures. We identify key lessons for (and from) the Brazilian experience and conclude that Brazil and Latin American countries need a new generation of studies that undertake more rigorous evaluations of these policy experiments. Finally, we recommend steps to advance such research.     

Relational networks of knowledge production in transnational law firms

For geographers, debates surrounding the knowledge economy have reinvigorated interest in the geographies of learning and knowledge production. Particularly topical are discussions of the possibility of spatially stretched (global) learning, something especially relevant to professional service firms where the production and management of knowledge across transnational organizational networks is essential. Taking this as its starting point, the paper explores the way knowledge is produced and circulated in transnational legal professional service firms. Drawing on the ideas of relational economic geography to analyse original empirical material, it highlights the way relational networks are socially constructed to allow learning to be stretched across space. The paper then goes on to identify the ‘politics’ of inclusion in these networks and the exclusivity of membership. It also highlights the geographies of power that influence the nature and effect of the knowledge produced and circulated. It does this by examining the role of relational knowledge networks in the ‘Americanization’ of legal practice in Europe and the impacts of such changes on national institutional and regulatory contexts. It is, therefore, argued that transnational corporate networks need to be viewed as heterogeneous and ‘embedded spaces of social practice’. It is shown that studying the actors and their interactions across relational networks is vital to fully understand how global relational forms are constructed and to understand their structuring effects on the global economy.     

Getting away with it? Exposing the geographies of the super-rich

Geographers have often highlighted the existence of marginalized populations living on or below the poverty line. In contrast, little has been written about the principal beneficiaries of contemporary capitalism--the super-rich. While there have always been super-rich individuals, in this paper we chart the exponential growth in the wealth of the global elite. Suggesting that the globalization of the world economy benefits the wealthy in a variety of ways, we accordingly argue that much is to be gained by exposing the contemporary geographies of the super-rich, beginning by highlighting their transnational reach and global influence.     

“[W]e do not lose our treaty rights outside the... reserve”: challenging the scales of social service provision for First Nations women in Canadian cities

Recent work in political geography has emphasised how scale plays a role in constituting relationships and identities. Historically, the Canadian federal government has taken responsibilities for social services for First Nations people on reserves, leaving this responsibility to provinces for First Nations people in cities. This constitutes First Nations women as individuals with Aboriginal rights only on reserves, and as part of mainstream society in urban areas. First Nations women have challenged the definitions of their identities embedded in these scales of service provision. In presenting alternative geographies for organising the provision of services, they demonstrate the importance of paying attention to the diversity of women’s everyday geographies in the city. This is a phrase from Vicki English’s (1993) presentation to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, where she argues that treaty rights to housing, education, medicare and other services should not be confined to the boundaries of reserves. I use the term “First Nations” to refer to people who identify themselves as such, including people who are and are not registered pursuant to the Indian Act. By “Aboriginal peoples” I mean the descendants of the indigenous people in Canada, including First Nations people, Métis and Inuit. The Census of Canada uses the term “North American Indian” to refer to First Nations people, and I employ this terminology for clarity in some cases.

---