A critique of the socio-spatial debate and the publicness of urban space

Research on urban processes under capitalism and the resulting transformations of urban space is caught in a socio-spatial dualistic debate, which neglects the continuum and relativities of space. The author aims to extend this debate through an in-depth review and critique of the main perspectives on socio-spatial relations. He argues that in capitalist urban processes urban space plays a dual role as both the public sphere and arena of capital accumulation. However, importantly, this dual role has led to the multidimensional nature of the publicness of space which, in turn, collaboratively results in increasingly blurred boundaries between ‘public’ and ‘private’ in cities. To grapple with the new features of urban space for theory and empirical research, the article offers an alternative property rights approach. Rather than treating space as monolithic, the proposed property rights approach puts the case for analysing space as a continuum. On this basis, the author discusses how that approach can be used for empirical research.     

Constructing Risk: multi-scale change,livelihoods and vulnerability in the Mekong Delta,Vietnam

ABSTRACT

Change has been at the heart of the livelihoods concept since its inception, allowing for a clear focus on how people perceive, respond to and experience risk. The ardent focus on ‘the local’ within livelihoods work, both in research and programmatic terms, has to some extent overshadowed attention on the role of wider-scale political economic and environmental processes in generating change and determining responses to change. Livelihoods in the Mekong Delta have never been ‘local’, having long been historically embedded in international, regional and national economic, political and environmental transformations. Drivers of change at these wider scales have intensified, complicating local responses to change, whether through economic, social or political means. A more nuanced appreciation of how scaled relations can be supported is required to better anticipate and respond to the political ecology of risk.     

Home matters: The role of home in property enactment on Norwegian smallholdings

The article argues that geographies of home add important perspectives for analysing property enactment on Norwegian smallholdings. Characteristics of smallholdings as homes are described, and it is demonstrated that ‘home matters’ in terms of how property owners’ senses of home affect how properties become enacted. In conformity with recent theories in legal geography, the article demonstrates that these socio-spatial relationships conflict with the dominant ownership model which permeates public policy initiatives. The ownership model assumes a single owner motivated by self-regarding behaviour and maximising economic benefits. The article, however, reveals a deep sense of home and place attachment relating to Norwegian smallholdings, and this influences how smallholdings as properties become enacted, and thus, how legal instruments aiming at affecting people's behaviour are responded to. The article draws upon empirical research conducted among current and former owners of smallholdings in four Norwegian local authority districts.     

The Social Geographies of Indigenous Population and Housing in Australia's Regional Urban Centres

In recent years, social scientists have turned increasing scholarly focus to the ‘post-colonial city’, as it relates to the lived experiences and socio-cultural worlds of urban-dwelling Indigenous peoples. In Australia, this literature is concerned primarily with issues of identity, power and representation in big cities. More conventional geographic analyses regarding socio-spatial, economic and demographic aspects of urban Indigenous experience have been mostly absent from this discourse. In this paper, we begin to address this gap within the literature by identifying notable socio-spatial, economic, and demographic features of urban Indigenous experience in regional Australian cities. We draw on census and administrative data to empirically examine Indigenous residency, presence, and uneven housing market access in regional urban centres. The analysis builds a national comparative picture regarding population change, tenure type, crowding and housing affordability in these localities. At the same time, it ‘drills down’ to explore some of the drivers and implications of change against these indicators in one case study locality: Geraldton Western Australian. This case study analysis, based on recent fieldwork, grounds the broad identified trends in a localised narrative, illuminating some of general and specific socio-economic and socio-spatial dynamics that shape urban life for Indigenous peoples in regional Australia and the implications of these dynamics for broader questions of co-existence between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.     

Spatial (re)organization and places of the Brao in southern Laos and northeastern Cambodia

Initiatives designed to bring about social and spatial change, whether implemented by governments, international agencies, nongovernment organizations or private companies, invariably have an impact on how people perceive ‘places’– defined as spaces with particular meanings. In southern Laos and northeastern Cambodia the ethnic Brao peoples are facing rapid social and spatial changes as a result of a wide range of initiatives, many of which are associated with ‘development’. Case studies on internal resettlement from the uplands to the lowlands, the redesigning of living spaces, and the implications of protected national park establishment and management are discussed in relation to a four‐point typology of what is required to constitute place. The role of social and spatial (re)organization on place amongst the Brao is considered, including how peoples' conceptions of place are being altered and how the Brao are variously responding to efforts to (re)organize them and reconstitute their places.     

Sustainable Utilisation of Fisheries as Governmentality: Constraining the Potential for Ecosystems‐Based Management?

This paper examines the constitution of ‘sustainable management’ within the context of the New Zealand marine environment. Firstly this paper examines the difference between ‘sustainable ecosystems’ and ‘sustainable utilisation’. The distinction is important if we are to make sense of the different ways in which various stakeholders (fishers, fisheries companies, scientists, fisheries managers and environmental groups) use ‘sustainability’ in the management of New Zealand's marine environment. We then examine how contestation results in sustainable management becoming a governmentality. We propose that such contestation transforms stakeholders into subjects whose everyday practices and relationships are influenced by seemingly incommensurable understandings of the lexicon that surrounds sustainable management. We conclude try considering how the potential revelation of new unknowns may be needed in order for disparate stakeholders to forge a unified approach to New Zealand's marine management.     

The Decentred Firm and the Adoption of Sustainable Office Space in Sydney,Australia

As the social, ecological and economic benefits of green buildings become more established, firms, especially professional service firms, are responding by adopting sustainable office space (SOS). Accelerating this uptake demands a nuanced appreciation of firms’ understandings of and motivations for adopting SOS. Through a qualitative study of professional service firms in Sydney, this paper brings together a decentred understanding of the contemporary firm drawn from the ‘new economic geographies’ approach and theories of corporate social responsibility to trace and interpret the diverse and overlapping motivations shaping the uptake of SOS amongst these firms. The firm is shown to be a site of plurality and agency, governed by multiple logics. Whilst motivations informed by economic logic remain persuasive and pervasive, the adoption of SOS is simultaneously informed by a wider palette of logics, including environmental and social logics. The paper argues that a decentred conceptualisation of the firm brings the multiplicity of firms’ orientations towards SOS into view and, in so doing, has the potential to inform a politics of intervention for steering firms towards more socially and environmentally sustainable behaviours.     

What is the Meaning of ‘Social Mix’? Shifting perspectives in planning and implementing public housing estate redevelopment

This paper unravels a variety of perspectives about the concept of social mix, drawing on a case study of the implementation of a redevelopment project in Melbourne. The first part provides a theoretical overview of two internationally predominant academic debates around policy interpretations of this concept, namely social mix as a means for promotion of social inclusion; and as a state-led form of gentrification. These two arguments are usually presented as one, with social inclusion and reductions of concentrations of disadvantage one side of the ‘social mix policy’ coin, and state-led gentrification the other. This paper contributes to the national and international literature on public housing estate regeneration and social mix policies through exploring the question of whether these two ideas about social mix were shared by different stakeholders as the ‘messy’ process of redevelopment unfurled. Interviews were conducted with public tenants, homeowners and homebuyers, private renters and local service providers at the Carlton Housing Estate to explore the diverse perspectives of various stakeholder groups as estate design and implementation shifted. The study identified that as a result of the global financial crisis and the developers exerting pressure on government there was a gradual move away from perceiving social mix as a policy tool for encouraging social inclusion at Carlton, between public housing tenants and private residents, towards a different form of social mix and inclusion. Contrary to intentions, the revised form of social mix at Carlton was perceived as a means to harness market capital and attract higher income residents to the inner city.     

Motivation for mountain biking in Norway: Change and stability in late-modern outdoor recreation

The paper presents empirical data on motivation for mountain biking in Norway. In the study a mountain biker was defined as a person who had cycled on rough trails or in difficult terrain more than ten times during the previous year. The research sought to establish the degree to which the motivation for the ‘modern’ activity of mountain biking differs from the motivation for more ‘traditional’ outdoor recreational activities. In 2002 two surveys were conducted among bikers to take into account two different ways of practising mountain biking. A factor analysis was undertaken with 27 items from the Recreation Experience Preference (REP) scales to establish the relative importance of various kinds of motivation. Participants rated the importance of the factors on a scale from 1 (not at all important) to 5 (very important). ‘Physical exercise’ scored a mean value of 4.46, ‘contemplation’ 3.91, ‘nature & place’ 3.52, ‘speed & excitement’ 3.43, ‘managing challenges’ 3.35, ‘social relations’ 2.49, and ‘equipment & appreciation’ 2.02. The paper concludes that a theoretical perspective which focuses on both change and stability in cultural development in the late-modern period is necessary for a nuanced understanding of the complexities of Norwegian outdoor recreation today.     

北京社会空间重构（2000-2010）

基于2010年全国第六次人口普查数据,采用空间统计方法探讨了北京社会空间重构的特征。首先运用因子生态分析和空间自相方法探讨北京社会区类型及主因子,继而通过对有关空间分异的各类指标计算及统计分析,揭示北京社会空间分异演化趋势。结果表明：① 2000-2010年,北京产业结构调整及产业空间演化导致城市社会空间结构的相应变化,城市职业分化及职业空间分异明显,白领人口对新社会区的形成影响显著;② 一产、二产就业人口和从事生产运输业的人口空间分布更加集中,老年人口、外来人口、维族人口、文盲人口和农业人口这些指标的空间分布与居住人口空间匹配的一致性在变差,折射出包括就业人口的职住分离、外来人口的通勤、留守老人等在内的城市问题更加突出;③ 外来人口分布更加广泛且呈现出向远郊方向推移、蔓延的趋势,知识分子集中分布趋势愈加显著;④ 住房系统复杂程度增加,商品房分布总体上趋于均衡,但经济适用房空间分异增大。从城市社会空间结构演化机制上看,个体差异、家庭差异和地区差异是构成城市社会空间分异过程的3个层级,其背后是行政力量、市场力量和社会力量三者的推动,上述力量交互作用,推动城市社会空间结构持续演化。     

印度尼西亚华人对该国社会经济进步的贡献

本文简要剖析了在荷兰殖民统治、经济民族化以及后民族化等各时时期印度尼西亚（以下简称印尼）华人经济的发展;论述了华人族群为当地社会进步及经济繁荣所作重大贡献。论文阐明华人自成为印尼公民,就已认同当地;强调华人经济是当地民族经济不可替代的组成部分;指出赋予印尼华人族群少数民族资格及民族平等权益,尊重和保护印尼华人合法地位对当地社会稳定和经济发展的重要性。     

“Clusters” or “communities”? Analysing the spatial agglomeration of video game companies in Australia

In this paper, I question whether agglomerations of video game companies in Australia function as clusters (spatially bound) or rather as communities (not spatially bound). The two case studies included in the analysis are the main agglomerations of video companies in Australia—Brisbane and Melbourne. The data have been collected through 21 semi-structured interviews performed between 2012 and 2014. The main findings are as follows: (1) the primary reason that video game companies come together is to share tacit knowledge and skilled labour; (2) these agglomerations do not have the attributes of “creative clusters”; and (3) new technologies enable experienced game developers to operate at the geographic periphery of the main agglomeration of developers. Therefore, to paint a more accurate picture of why some video game companies are successful—beyond simply positive externalities associated with co-localization—I propose the term “networked communities.” This recognizes that social networks at varying scales (local, national, international) are being developed by video game firms in order to thrive and reach a global audience.     

Arab integration in Jewish-Israeli social space: does commuting make a difference?

Urban research on segregation and integration has been dominated by an obsessive focus on ethno-racial residential patterns, obscuring the multidimensional facets of separation versus encounter that define contemporary urban experience. In this study, we develop an explicitly multidimensional theoretical perspective that relates segregation/integration not only to residential location, but also to daily activity spaces, social networks, transnational media and communications environments, and aspects of identity and sense of place. To disentangle residential location from other facets of segregation/integration, we use GPS and interview data to analyze the socio-spatial experiences of 60 Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel who live in ethnically homogenous Arab towns—divided equally between “localists” versus “commuters” who spend most of their daytime hours working in Jewish-Israeli spaces. While results highlight many important consequences of commuters’ long hours of daily exposure to Jewish urban mileux, daily activity spaces are only marginally associated with other dimensions of socio-spatial integration. Our analysis reveals evidence of complex relations amongst the multiple dimensions of segregation and integration. Partial integration on a few of these dimensions is insufficient to overcome the structural stratification of Arabs in contemporary Israeli society.     

转型期中国城市社会空间演进动力及其模式研究--以广州市为例

1990年代,社会经济转型期中国城市社会空间演进机制成为城市地理学、城市社会学研究的重点。以广州市为例,分析出现的“城中村”、大学城、“华南板块”等若干“新社会空间”类型,发现“新自由主义”经济发展策略及其政府的企业化行为、市场力量的强大与投机成为该时期城市社会空间演进的内在动力,在此基础上总结其社会空间结构演进的抽象模式。     

社会资本视角下历史文化名镇保护困境研究——基于苏州周庄、锦溪、黎里3镇调研

引入社会资本理论,从网络、信任和规范3个维度,建构社会资本与名镇保护间的一个分析框架,剖析保护背后的社会资本困境及其内在根源.基于对苏州周庄等3个名镇的实证研究发现:①社会资本主要通过其3个关键要素从组织基础、制度体系、精神动力对名镇保护沟通机制、约束机制与合作机制进行作用;②当前名镇社会资本呈现网络弱化、信任缺失、规...     

A global index for measuring socio-spatial segregation versus integration

The article suggests a global index that measures segregation/integration in social space on one continuum. We assume that social space is the context of human agency, stimulating some modes of action and turning down other modes of action, but still leaving a room for active agency. Accordingly, we introduce the concept of socio-spatial lifestyle and we define segregation/integration as one aspect of socio-spatial lifestyle. The index is multidimensional relating to residential and activity spaces and to the sources of recruiting social, cultural and emotional capitals in either intra or inter ethnic sources.A case study of Arabs in Israel is tested showing the relatively high segregation of Arabs in terms of accumulating social capital even when Arabs commute to Jewish spaces and live in Jewish neighborhoods or mixed cities.     

The broken promises of social mix: the case of the Cabrini Green/Near North area in Chicago

Public policies of social mixing have been enacted as the reversal of what segregation and concentrated poverty are presumed to have produced: intensified social problems (i.e., “neighborhood effects”). In addition, the pervasive discourses of diversity have provided more support for the idea of social mixing. Studies on planned and unplanned diverse neighborhoods have shown how certain diverse patterns can emerge and endure over time. Yet these studies have failed to explain how such demographic diversity becomes integration. In this article, I draw on a multidimensional perspective of socio-spatial integration to present a qualitative case study of the Cabrini Green/Near North area in Chicago—a neighborhood with a long history of segregation and recent socially engineered diversity. The case shows how contentious this new coexistence has been, and how segregation has been shifting its mechanisms of enforcement from housing to other spheres of life. I conclude with reflections on four dimensions of socio-spatial integration, and on the troubling policy and theoretical implications of the “social mix” paradigm.     

Negotiating invisible lines: Cross-border emergency care in the rural north of Scandinavia

ABSTRACT

Cross-border cooperation is increasingly practised as a spatial planning strategy in health care. This observation is emphasized in numerous reports on transboundary agreements in European border regions. While the projects hint at an ongoing contestation and reconfiguration of nationally bordered health care pathways, they have rarely been subject to critical geographical inquiry. Departing from contemporary border studies debates, the article addresses this gap by providing a nuanced perspective on the socio-spatial complexity of health care practices across Europe’s internal borders. The author demonstrates this empirically by focusing on a framework for emergency care assistance in the northernmost regions of Scandinavia. He uses a heuristic approach to borderscapes as assemblages, and conceptually argues that the strategic reconfiguration of emergency care provision through cross-border cooperation is not adequately captured by a narrative of dissolving topographically bordered sovereignty (i.e. the commonplace notion of overcoming national boundaries). Based on a qualitative analysis of motives, procedures and hurdles, the author concludes that the attempt to cope with demography and distance in rural northern health care formats a socio-spatial arrangement in its own right, a case-specific geography of emergency care that is characterized by a complex interplay between different sites and their multiple bordering trajectories.     

我国城市更新中的权益博弈研究述评

城市更新是城市发展的一种重要方式,其关键和难点在于平衡利益相关者之间的权益博弈。在城市化快速发展时期,我国便出现了大规模的城市更新,这使得我国城市更新中的权益博弈形成了独特的模式与特征,较之于西方发达国家也更加复杂。文章认为随着我国城市更新研究的不断深入,在权益博弈研究领域取得了一定的成果,但也存在一些问题与不足,如对博弈主体间的关系研究不足、对城市更新中的“社会运动”现象研究不够,未来的研究需要综合运用多学科理论,注重典型个案的深入研究,逐步构建出合乎中国国情的城市更新权益博弈理论。     

Rural modernisation as national development: The Norwegian case 1900–1950

Nilsen, R. 2014. Rural modernisation as national development: The Norwegian case 1900–1950. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift–Norwegian Journal of Geography Vol. 68, 50–58. ISSN 0029-1951.

The aim of the article is to explain the maintenance of a pattern of scattered rural settlement in Norway during industrialisation and modernisation. The ‘master narrative’ of Norwegian transformation, based on the development of waterpower and the metallurgical and fertiliser industries, is only one of three narratives that can be told about the national transformation in the 20th century. A second narrative concerns the modernisation along the coast, and a third concerns the development of a varied, mostly rural, manufacturing and import-substituting industry. It is suggested that this attempt at rewriting the history of Norwegian modernisation can do what the master narrative does not do, namely explain the transformation from a poor to a rich society while more than half of the national population continued to live in rural areas.