Syracuse,sidewalks, and snow: the slippery realities of public space

This article addresses sidewalks as particular kinds of public spaces. Sidewalks of residential areas have been understudied; debates have tended to concentrate on pedestrian flows in commercial districts. By discussing the snowy sidewalks of Syracuse, New York, this article asks how sidewalks appear in law, and how responsibility for sidewalks is divided between governments and property owners. According to law and ordinances, sidewalks are responsibility of adjacent property owners. Unofficial monitoring has turned property owners’ sidewalk responsibilities away from questions of liability to questions of morality. Sidewalks evince a moral order, where questions concern not only pedestrian flows or laws, but also attitudes of others. A snowy sidewalk appears as a contested moral order, whose publicity is questionable because of the sidewalk’s reliance on private responsibility and policing. In the end, then, this article provides insights into how laws concerning public space are both maintained and questioned in everyday practices, and how the regulatory systems advance—or hinder—the publicity of public spaces like sidewalks.     

The High Line and the ideal of democratic public space

This study examines New York’s internationally acclaimed High Line with regard to the democratic ideal of urban parks as places of social mixing among diverse groups in the city. Observational surveys were conducted to assess the levels of racial/ethnic diversity among visitors to the High Line and four other Manhattan parks, and census data were collected on the race/ethnicity of residents in surrounding neighborhoods, the borough of Manhattan, and New York City. The data show that the High Line crowd is overwhelmingly White, to a degree that is far out of line with the racial/ethnic demographics of the borough and city, that the level of racial homogeneity significantly exceeds that of other comparable parks, and that the lack of diversity cannot be explained by neighborhood composition. The author concludes that the High Line is failing as a democratic public space and draws on the work of political scientist E. E. Schattschneider to assert the importance of diversity in public spaces.     

Monuments and their functions in urban public space

ABSTRACT

The aim of the article is to present and discuss functions of public monuments in relation to different dimensions of geographical space. The authors discuss public spaces, monuments, public art, based on a mixed-method approach and an analysis of scientific literature as the main research method. The theoretical discussion is supplemented with the results of Internet searches and an analysis of media supplements, and specific examples are given, including some from Poland. An additional method was autoethnography, which involved an analysis of cultural phenomena based on the authors’ experience. The analysis revealed that monuments were part of public art and thus enriched public spaces in cities. They fulfilled different important functions: artistic, symbolic, commemorative, political, social, religious, marketing, and mixed. Additionally, the monuments reflected the contemporary transformation of ideas and social orders and therefore also reflected contemporary urban debates. They were products of social relations, powers, ideas, identities, and the collective memory reflected in the urban spatial structure of cities. The authors conclude that the examples presented in the demonstrate that monuments perform various functions in urban public spaces. From a spatial perspective, the role of monuments depends on their different impacts on people’s perceptions and interpretations of space.     

Loose threads: The translocal making of public space policy in Hanoi

This paper analyses the recent developments in public space policy in the city of Hanoi, Vietnam. It has three aims. The first is to look at a potentially progressive urban policy in contrast to most work on ‘policies in motion’ that has primarily been concerned with neoliberal policies. The second is to put the process of public space policymaking in Hanoi in historical and cultural perspective. We therefore describe public space in Hanoi as historically constituted by different layers of meaning and physical urban patterns. The paper's third aim is to analyse the translocal connections involved in a policy that is still in the making, and therefore characterized by a series of ‘loose threads’. We show how different types of connections – policy mobility, topological relations and inter‐referencing – relate Hanoi to multiple locales elsewhere. The conclusion reflects on the ‘politics of reception’ showing how analysing a policy in the making develops a critical analysis of policies in motion.     

中国城市公共游憩空间研究进展

城市公共游憩空间（Urban Public Recreational Space,UPRS）作为大众休闲时代居民惯常性游憩活动场所,是城市公共空间基本体系的重要内容,其规划、布局和服务水平是衡量城市社会文明和居民生活质量的重要表征。研究以中国知网（CNKI）数据库1985-2017年间相关高被引用文章为分析对象,梳理期间中国UPRS研究的状况,以期明确当前关注热点,为快速城镇化进程中UPRS的合理规划和科学建设提供参考依据。研究结果表明,中国UPRS学术研究呈现了阶段演化和等级结构特征,主要涉及UPRS类型划分、空间形态结构、综合评价体系、规划设计与开发策略、发展产生的影响、时空演化与形成机理、空间意象特征、可持续利用及政府决策9个领域。最后,针对宜居城市和游憩空间规划的实践,研究提出深化基础理论研究,构建学科交叉与多维空间融合的中国特色UPRS研究思路;培育人文主义理念,以国际化视野构建引领世界城市发展的城市公共游憩管理制度体系等建议。     

浅析节事活动与地方文化空间生产的关系——以北京前门—大栅栏地区节事活动为例

基于空间生产理论,采取实地景观考察、问卷调查、访谈等研究方法,对北京前门—大栅栏地区的节事活动与地方文化空间生产的关系进行研究,分析地方政府在空间生产中发挥的特殊作用,以及节事文化空间的“第三空间”性质。研究表明：第一,政府在节事活动中占绝对的权力地位,以行政和财政手段投入节事活动,从而赋予实体空间新的文化符号意义,进而实现空间的再生产。第二,政府努力创造非排他的消费条件,从而使得人们公平地享受节事活动这一公共物品,在一定程度上克服了资本主义机制下空间再生产中的不公平性。第三,该区域的节事活动努力营造观念与实践、自我与他者融合的“第三空间”,使空间具有自下而上的再生产活力。第四,与历史密切联系的节事活动增强了历史街区独特的文化形象和文化资本。从结论延伸出两个建议：第一,区域性节事活动的策划组织人应将节事活动与本区域的历史植根联系起来,从而赋予地区实体空间恒久且独特的文化软资产。第二,强化个体日常社会实践和抽象文化符号的联系,加强个体对本区文化形象的理解,从而达到认同。     

Important progress and future prospects for studies on urban public recreational space in China

Journal of Geographical Sciences - As the main sites of urban residents’ recreational activity in a mass leisure era, urban public recreational space (UPRS) is the primary component of urban...     

Discrete emergence of neoliberal policies on public space: an informal Business Improvement District in Istanbul,Turkey

This article investigates the birth and evolution of a Business Improvement District (BID) in Talimhane, Istanbul, which is the first case of use of this instrument of neoliberal governance in the Turkish city. The distinctive nature of the Talimhane BID consists in the fact that it has been developed through a series of informal and piecemeal arrangements. The article first reviews the evolution, characteristics, and critical aspects of BIDs. It then focuses on the case study of this “informal BID” in Talimhane, analysing its origins, features, and outcomes. The informal nature of this BID is stressed as a key factor in understanding its features and outcomes, and it emerges as a fundamental component of urban neoliberalism in Turkey: it allows a centralized and authoritarian government to maintain complete control over public space and private actors and activities, while promoting a process of devolving powers in favour of the private sector.     

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.     

传统节庆、身体与展演空间——基于人文地理学视觉量化方法的研究

采用人文地理学视觉量化的研究方法,结合照片评定、眼动分析及定性分析对广东汕头澄海区上社村传统节庆活动（其“拖神”活动具有鲜明的身体表达特征）的空间进行了解译。研究发现,在传统节庆活动中,身体的仪式化实践和体验可对特定的节庆时间—空间进行生产和维持,身体成为传统节庆意义生产的最小空间尺度。身体所能感受和分享的节庆情感作用于地方共同感和认同的建构,而持续的身体参与是传统节庆活动得以不断再生产和保持强盛生命力的关键。在具体研究中,照片评定和眼动仪实验等视觉量化方法的使用,通过对地方居民的空间情感体验进行直观而有效的测度,借助眼动轨迹的热点及瞳孔数据,有力地表明在传统节庆的展演空间内外,现场观众和外界“他者”的“凝视”与身体化的感知存在不同,表现出身体的空间差异性。研究对身体地理学内容的拓展和人文地理学新方法的应用都有一定价值。     

新城市贫困空间居住满意度及其影响因素——基于西安市企业社区的实证

研究新城市贫困空间居住满意度,对深入认识城市贫困群体生活状况,提升居住质量,完善居住区理论具有重要意义.论文以西安市主城区典型老旧企业社区为例,基于1010份问卷数据,构建居住满意度结构方程模型,探究居民居住满意度及其影响因素;引入重要性—绩效理论(importance-performance analysis,IPA...     

生活方式对开封城市家庭采暖碳排放的影响

随着城市化进程的加快和家庭采暖用能消费量的不断提高, 家庭采暖用能碳排放对环境造成的胁迫效应日益凸显。尽管家庭采暖碳排放问题引起众多学者的关注, 但深入探讨微观家庭采暖用能碳排放机理研究仍然缺乏。根据生活方式对家庭采暖碳排放影响的理论分析, 构建城市家庭采暖碳排放影响因素研究模型, 以暖温带典型城市——开封市为例, 基于792 户家庭样本的调查数据, 探究生活方式与家庭人均采暖CO₂排放之间的关系。借助数据统计和多元回归分析发现:① 家庭采暖生活方式各因子与人均采暖CO₂排放量之间的关系密切, 随着各因子的变化, 家庭人均采暖CO₂排放量呈现出规律性变化;② 生活方式各因子均为影响家庭人均采暖CO₂排放的显著因子, 其中, 住房面积、采暖形式、采暖期长度、人口规模等因素对家庭人均采暖CO₂排放的影响程度较大。建议采用低碳采暖形式, 以降低家庭采暖碳排放量。     

Public places and empty spaces: dislocation,urban renewal and the death of a French plaza

This article examines the dislocations produced when competing understandings of public space come into contact. Focusing on Montpellier, France, where an urban renewal program has seen portions of the city-centre renovated, the article considers the breaking apart of a North African commercial cluster under the guide of French heritage protection. Arguing that such action is tiedto municipal urban politics and wider trajectories that place diverse identities in a separate category, I trace the process through which a plaza encompassed in the urban renewal program has been labelled as “empty” and “dead” space. Suggesting that the relocation of a well-used outdoor food market is an instance of public space being deliberately emptied of its social and civic function, I argue that such sites are better defined as “municipal spaces”, entities that are firmly in the realm of the state, rather than ones within the purview of diverse publics.     

中国大城市公园绿地可达性的公平性研究——以武汉市中心城区为例

城市公园绿地(UPGS)是城市生态系统的重要组成部分,良好的UPGS可达性可促进城市宜居、提高居民福祉。进入新时代,在建设“生态文明”和“人民城市”的背景下,关注中国大城市UPGS可达性的公平性问题意义重大。论文以武汉市中心城区为研究区域,从供给、需求2个方面综合测度可达性,从局部、整体角度评估了UPGS可达性的空间特征,并进一步探究了可达性与居民社会经济条件之间的关系,以此探讨社会公平性。研究发现： ① 区域型、全市型和综合型UPGS可达性空间分布优于社区型UPGS可达性空间分布;② UPGS的总体可达性在中心城区呈现“核心—边缘”逐渐递减的空间形态,UPGS数量多、密度大的区域的社区具有更高的可达性水平; ③ UPGS可达性与居民社会经济条件之间存在空间正相关关系,房价较高的社区,居民的UPGS可达性也较高,UPGS可达性反映的社会不平等现象明显。建议未来应重视更加精细化的UPGS布局优化和调控,不同区域和社会群体需求采取选择性策略,落实精准施策。论文弥补了现有研究的不足,应用大数据和新技术优化指标数据源,采用UPGS面积、生态系统服务价值、游憩设施和安全条件等指标精细化测度公园品质,并考虑了多种交通模式、实时路况以及不同年龄群体的选择偏好等因素,综合测度可达性,创新了研究方法;从城市经济结构视角出发,从房价入手探讨UPGS的公平性问题,拓展了已有分析框架,为中国大城市的基础设施布局和空间资源配置提供了支撑。     

Making in the City: disjunctures between public discourse and urban policy

Creative cities contribute much to the cultural economies and identities of a nation, shaping imagination and talent, and contributing to the sense of livability and place. Artists, designers, crafters, tinkerers, and even small-scale manufacturers are at the heart of urban rejuvenation in cities such as Brooklyn in New York, and Newcastle and Melbourne in Australia. Increasingly this activity is referred to in the public realm via the media, including social media, through the all-encompassing term ‘making’. Yet in much public policy, this activity is framed through previously held notions: artists, culture, and the precincts associated with this life. I explore this disjuncture by focusing on a case study of Australia’s largest city, Sydney, to interrogate the current schism between public and policy discourse. I share findings about the role of discourse, community consultation, and timing in policy development to argue that valuing making in cities requires commitment to continual community consultation to ensure policy currency, with makers as key stakeholders in this dialogue. Furthermore, the intersection of policy domains is required to prevent isolating making into one policy area. I highlight implications for the imagining of creative cities.     

Entrepreneurial city and the restructuring of urban space in Shanghai Expo

ABSTRACT

This study examines the restructuring of urban space brought about by Shanghai Expo. The focus is on how the municipal government strategically makes use of this mega-event program to proactively implement two entrepreneurial spatial policies, namely economic restructuring and population decentralization. Specifically, it critically investigates the omnipotent government’s policies in terms of industrial relocation and residential resettlement leading up to the Shanghai Expo. Shanghai’s entrepreneurial city building, at the metropolitan level, has long been associated with the optimization of spatial structure. The empirical findings reveal that the negotiations involved in relocating enterprises were tougher when they took place within the state system, as compared to those between the government and foreign or private sectors. At the same time, social groups remained excluded from decision-making processes for resettlement, and there was a downscaling of governance, which contributed to improved efficiency of the resettlement work. The Shanghai municipal government was key to the restructuring and entrepreneurial city building, engaging, on the one hand, in negotiations on spatial relocation with central state-owned enterprises (SOEs) at the level of the central government and mobilizing, on the other hand, lower-tier government authorities to deliver the resettlement plan. This paper argues that the development of the entrepreneurial city in Shanghai depends essentially on the way local government implemented the policy and that an integrated approach is significant to attaining the goals and objectives.     

论北京农村空间的商品化与城乡关系

基于后生产主义理论,讨论了北京农村空间的商品化与城乡关系问题,并从理论抽象方面取得了以下认识：（1） 无论农村与城镇,空间是一种抽象的概念,理论上,自然界的纯粹空间不具有商品价值意义。空间的商品化是与一定的人类经济生产活动和生产方式相联系而存在和逐步显现的;（2） 在经济全球化与可持续发展的背景下,随着社会经济力的增强、后生产主义思想的蔓延,人类生产活动日益丰富,空间的商品化也进一步显现;（3） 改革开放以来,北京农村的景观、土地利用、就业、生活形态、旅游业的快速发展使得北京农村空间生产内容发生了巨大变化,多样化愈趋增强,北京农村空间的商品性也日益突出;（4） 随着农村空间商品化的发展,北京地区的城乡差距逐步缩小,北京地区长期扭曲的城乡关系得到一定程度的纠正。     

Towards inclusion: Local government, public space and homelessness in New Zealand

Abstract:  This paper considers the political and normative dimensions of local government responses to homelessness in New Zealand. It outlines the context for local government action, the approaches adopted by three case study cities, and arguments for rejecting anti-homeless regulations in favour of supportive policies conducive to forging inclusive public space. It contributes to debates over homelessness policy by articulating an approach that integrates regulatory, funding and leadership roles. It argues that in addressing antisocial behaviour in public spaces, policy-makers must eschew approaches which effectively criminalize the sight, and status, of poverty.