Towards models of strategic spatial choice behaviour: theory and application issues

Models of spatial choice behaviour have been around in geography urban planning for decades to assess the feasibility of planning actions or to predict external (competition) effects on existing destinations. Although these models differ in terms of complexity and key concepts, they all have in common that spatial choice behaviour is predicted as a function of the attributes of the choice alternatives and distance or travel time separation only. None of these models do take into account that the attributes of choice alternatives and travel time may be highly non-stationary and that often the utility that people derive from visiting a particular location also depends on the choice behaviour of other individuals. Under these circumstances, individuals may exhibit strategic choice behaviour. That is, they will choose particular choice options taking into account their expected behaviour of others such as to maximize their own utility. The purpose of the proposed paper is to discuss possible models of strategic choice behaviour for these urban planning problems. Theory will be outlined and some critical issues in the application of such models to problems of spatial choice will be discussed.     

‘You can get away with loads because there’s no one here’: Discourses of regulation and non-regulation in English rural spaces

Using qualitative data from a research project investigating contemporary rural identities in England this paper examines the apparently contradictory discursive claims that are made on rural spaces. It looks in particular at the ways in which these are narrated - through the notions of rural space as a site of safety, orderliness and community on the one hand and as a site of freedom, anti-order and non-regulation on the other. While the former is a familiar, entrenched and critiqued representation of rurality, the latter narrative has a more marginal and ambivalent place in the dominant rural imaginary. Drawing on Foucault’s concepts of panopticism and heterotopia the paper demonstrates the ways in which the rural is a highly labile concept and emphasises its continual ‘unfinishedness’. However, alongside this, the paper suggests that the tensions and contradictions of the orderly and anti-orderly discourses are underpinned by a particular coherency that is driven by senses of community, belonging and self-regulation. While these do not resolve the contradictions of the discursive claims the potency of such drivers are sufficient to produce a particular inclusive spatiality which is able to accommodate and incorporate the different discursive positions and the practices that are associated with each.     

Analysis of Canada’s Oceanography Research Situations and Latest Trends

Canada is a typical maritime country, fisheries economic prosperity and marine sustainable development have been the main management and research work. From two perspectives of research literatures and latest strategic plans, this paper studied the ocean research priorities and hot trends of Canada. The study found that the marine science and technology in Canada focuses on marine populations and ecosystems, protection of the marine environment and species, marine monitoring and data information, marine technology and management tools, Climate change and arctic research, deep-sea material energy and driving mechanisms. In the future, Canada will continue further study on arctic research, global warming, ecosystem monitoring, deep-sea exploration, marine new energy and new technologies. In summary, Canada’s research situations and development trends may provide a useful reference to China’s development of the marine industry.     

Negotiating through nature: The resistant materiality and materiality of resistance in Bolivia’s natural gas sector

Over the past two decades, the natural gas of Bolivia has been a point of international interest and internal contention. Materially and discursively using Bolivia’s natural gas to express their demands, transnational energy firms, the Bolivian state, and Bolivia’s social movements have made the country’s natural gas into an object of profit and protest. In this paper, I examine how these actors have used the country’s natural gas to both secure and disrupt processes of capital accumulation. Extending regulation approaches that take into account the materiality of nature, I argue that the differential abilities of transnational energy firms, the Bolivian state, and the country’s social movements to materially and discursively use Bolivia’s natural gas have provided each of these actors with differential mediums through which to express their often times contradictory interests, and thus to the challenge or stabilize existing regulatory frameworks. Within this context, the Bolivian state has been forced to continually balance the tensions surrounding its natural gas in an attempt to secure a stable regime of accumulation.     

Trade unions, coalitions and communities: Australia’s Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and the international stakeholder campaign against Rio Tinto

There is a growing geographical literature on the significance of organised labour. A key theoretical and political question concerns the extent and nature of the engagement between trade unions and other groups in the broader community. The paper seeks to contribute to this debate by focusing specifically on the ways in which trade unions engage collaboratively with such interest groups over international corporate campaign issues. It draws upon a case study of the encounter between Australia’s Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) and Rio Tinto, one of the largest privately owned mining companies in the world. This was conducted through a loose alliance co-ordinated by the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mining and General Workers Unions (ICEM). The campaign included the use of stakeholder reports aimed at influencing corporate shareholders. The main issues concerned the rights of indigenous peoples, environmental consequences of mining operations, and human rights in the workplace. The attempt to change these aspects of corporate culture led to union-inspired resolutions at the firm’s May 2000 Annual General Meeting, the first attempt to challenge a company through international union-led action in this manner. Although defeated, the resolutions were backed by a significant minority of leading institutional shareholders. The paper interprets this campaign in terms of broader debates over the spatiality of organised labour and the role of trade unions, at a time when increased significance has been attached to alternative political movements. It seeks to theorise the specific implications of internationally-grounded interest-based campaigns and take into account the ways in which these are both constrained by, and draw strength from, their constitution at this spatial scale.     

Bushfire and everyday life: Examining the awareness-action ‘gap’ in changing rural landscapes

In this paper we use the notion of ‘everyday life’ to critically examine an apparent ‘gap’ between bushfire risk awareness and preparedness amongst diverse landholders in rural landscapes affected by amenity-led in-migration in southeast Australia. Landholders were found to bring their own agency to bushfire preparedness in the relationships between everyday procedures, dilemmas, and tradeoffs. Consequently, regardless of landholders’ awareness levels, attitudes towards bushfire and natural resource management influence if, how, and to what extent landowners prepare for bushfires. We argue that not only is the ‘gap’ complex but also paradoxical in that it is both evident in, and constituted by, landholder attitudes and action and simultaneously dissolved in their practices and decision-making in everyday life. Three dilemmas of everyday life in particular were found to underpin these attitudes: costs (in terms of monetary and time values), gender roles, and priorities. Using a mixed-methods research approach, this simultaneous cultural construction and material nature of bushfire in everyday life is mapped out through landholders’ narratives and actions that embody living with fire on the land. The place of bushfire in landholders’ everyday life has direct relevance to recent international discussions of the vulnerability of the growing number of people living in bushfire-prone rural-urban interface areas.     

双标量损伤模型及其在Biot固结有限元中的应用

在前人工作的基础上,推广并发展了各向同性双标量损伤变量理论,推导出双标量损伤变量模型的损伤演化方程。然后,将其引入比奥固结有限元方程中,并据此编制相应的双标量损伤变量流-固耦合有限元程序。最后,对一个软土路基有限元简化模型进行分析计算,并以典型节点为例,绘制了模型沉降值、孔压值、损伤变量等的变化曲线。结果表明,利用双标量损伤变量模型描述土的本构关系比单标量损伤模型更加合理。     

The Caesura: remarks on Wittgenstein’s interruption of theory, or, why practices elude explanation

This paper aims to bring the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein into contact with the growing interest and concerns over the status of practice, performance and non-representational ‘theory’ within human geography. Drawing predominantly on Wittgenstein’s later work, the aim is to use Wittgenstein’s comments to illuminate how certain presuppositions and idealisations over the nature of understanding and meaning are or have been built into our (social scientific) modes and methods of explanation. Thus Wittgenstein’s work is used as a diagnosis––a diagnosis of how the modus operandi of giving an explanation can, and often does, prevent us from acknowledging the practical and the performative, from witnessing the taking-place of meaning and understanding. The paper carries out this task by focusing first on Wittgenstein’s critique of the role of ‘rules’ and ‘rule-following’ in the construction of social scientific accounts and secondly, through a consideration of the implications of Wittgenstein’s ‘scenic’ style of writing through which he attempts to deconstruct the epistemo-methodological idealisations and representationalist desires of social analysis. The claim here is not that Wittgenstein’s work provides the solution to the problematics which confront us in considering the status (or otherwise) of practice, but rather that his work may provide us with other ways of going-on, ones more sensitive to the eventful, creative, excessive and distinctly uncertain realms of action.     

Marginalised men’s emotions: Politics and place

Men living in the informal settlement of Cato Crest, Durban, South Africa, where violence and crime are high, are marginalised in a variety of ways, but also cling to patriarchal ideals. These relations of power are witnessed through the expression of a range of emotions which point to the interconnections between emotions, place, politics and performances of masculinity. This paper contributes to debates over the significance of politics in analyses of emotions, as well as broadening attention to geographies of emotions of, and beyond, fear. Using an example from the global South, the particular politics informing marginalisation and their relations with emotion are examined. This is achieved through a focus on three key government policy agendas shaping these men’s lives, namely housing, gender and employment.     

Wave propagation in a general anisotropic poroelastic medium: Biot’s theories and homogenisation theory

Anisotropic wave propagation is studied in a fluid-saturated porous medium, using two different approaches. One is the dynamic approach of Biot’s theories. The other approach known as homogenisation theory, is based on the averaging process to derive macroscopic equations from the microscopic equations of motion. The medium considered is a general anisotropic poroelastic (APE) solid with a viscous fluid saturating its pores of anisotropic permeability. The wave propagation phenomenon in a saturated porous medium is explained through two relations. One defines modified Christoffel equations for the propagation of plane harmonic waves in the medium. The other defines a matrix to relate the relative displacement of fluid particles to the displacement of solid particles. The modified Christoffel equations are solved further to get a quartic equation whose roots represent complex velocities of the four attenuating quasi-waves in the medium. These complex velocities define the phase velocities of propagation and quality factors for attenuation of all the quasi-waves propagating along a given phase direction in three-dimensional space. The derivations in the mathematical models from different theories are compared in order to work out the equivalence between them. The variations of phase velocities and attenuation factors with the direction of phase propagation are computed, for a realistic numerical model. Differences between the velocities and attenuations of quasi-waves from the two approaches are exhibited numerically.     

“It’s a gestalt experience”: Landscape values and development pressure in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand

Demand for both primary residences and second homes in high-amenity areas has led to escalating property values and widespread development pressure in coastal New Zealand. We focus on a major development proposal at Ocean Beach, a greenfield coastal site in the Hawke’s Bay region, and seek to explain the opposition it has provoked. In so doing, we address three questions: first, what landscape values are articulated within the planning process; second, what is the anticipated impact of 1000 new dwellings on those values; and third, how does place attachment figure in the ensuing debates. We address these questions though a thematic analysis of data derived from official reports and proposals, planning submissions, and key informant interviews. We find Ocean Beach to be a place that offers a quintessential coastal experience, often linked to youthful memories. Additionally, the site is valued for its accessibility and wilderness qualities - perceptions heightened by awareness that areas of undeveloped coastline relatively close to population centres are increasingly scarce. We contend that such sites are doubly valuable: in a formal sense, as natural landscapes whose processes and forms receive regulatory protection; and in an informal sense, as sites that generate human meaning, including emotions such as nostalgia, freedom and belonging.     

The state and the regulation of biodiversity: International biopolitics and the case of Mexico

In this article, the evolving forms of biodiversity politics are examined in the light of regulation theory and in the tradition of materialistic state theory (Gramsci, Poulantzas, etc.). Biodiversity politics is not so much oriented toward the conservation of biodiversity as towards the creation of a stable political-institutional framework for its commercialization. In this contested and contradictory process, the nation state plays a crucial role. After a few remarks on the theoretical assumptions, some basic elements of the international regulation system of genetic resources are presented. The main topics of international biodiversity politics beside conservation are: access to biodiversity and its genetic resources, benefit sharing from its use and intellectual property rights. A major problem of this system is the relationship between varying negotiation processes in different fora. Another closely connected problem is the contradictory relationship between different regulatory levels at different spatial scales (international, regional, local). These contradictions are analyzed for the case of Mexico. Central issues of Mexican biodiversity politics, and the different actors, forces and interests are outlined and discussed against our initial theoretical reflections. Bioprospecting projects in the south of Mexico have raised questions of legal and legitimate forms of access, which have generated growing concern and significant disputes within Mexico. Finally, some conclusions are drawn, binding together the theoretical with the empirical results of our study.     

Environmental pollution and bio-politics: The epistemological constitution in Japan’s 1960s

This article examines the epistemological reconstitution in Japan—from Eisei (hygiene) to Kankyo (environment and ecology)—in the 1960s, particularly focusing on Yokkaichi city in the Mie prefecture that was infamous for environmental pollution. Post World War II, Yokkaichi port and its petrochemical industrial complexes were regarded as a symbol of Japan’s development. Referred to as ‘a million dollar night’s view’ for its ability to provide light the entire day, it played a central role in the country’s industrial reconstruction. Due to its reputation for ‘nature’-filled countryside, many enjoyed swimming at Yokkaichi despite the presence of the nearby industrial plants. Both these facts imply that people did not realize the risks posed by the dirtiness of the wastewater and the fumes emitted by the plants, an ignorance that may be traced back to the epistemic constitution of hygiene in Japan at the time. Since modernization, the government had adopted the idea of hygiene to control infectious and venereal diseases. The Department of Interior in 1873, and later, the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 1938 were also instituted to discipline human aesthetics through bio-politics. In the 1960s, when diseases of unknown origins began to appear and ‘scientific’ researches made the risks of wastewater and fumes visible, a new idea, Kankyo (which included but went beyond that of hygiene), was implemented to mitigate these risks. This transition saw the landscape of ‘a million dollar night’s view’ being transformed into a symbol of injustice and became a basis for grassroots political acts.     

盐岩地下储气库体积收敛失效概率分析与模型试验验证

盐岩地下储气库受盐岩蠕变特性影响会产生较大的体积收缩变形,影响储气库安全稳定运行。目前对地下储气库体积稳定性分析方法和评价准则各国没有统一标准,国内主要采用数值计算的方法来评价储气库体积稳定性。以江苏金坛盐矿地下储气库体积收敛数值分析为基础,借鉴国外盐岩地下储气库稳定性评价标准,建立盐岩地下储气库体积收敛失效风险评价矩阵,采用一次二阶矩法显示功能函数分析储气库体积收敛失效概率,分析得出：储气库在长期恒定内压工况下体积收敛失效概率随内压的增大而减小;在短期调峰低压工况下体积收敛失效概率随内压的减小而增大;最小内压应保持在4.2 MPa以上。通过交变气压条件下层状盐岩地下储气库大型三维地质力学模型试验得出:储气库体积收敛变形随内压的增大而减小;短期运行最小内压应大于4.0 MPa。模型试验结果与失效概率分析结论较为相似。因此,为避免盐岩地下储气库产生体积收敛破坏,应保证调峰短期最小内压在4.0 MPa以上。     

Ontario’s Environmental Farm Plan: Evaluation and research agenda

This paper analyses the operation of the Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) scheme in Ontario, Canada, a voluntary agri-environment scheme established in 1993. Previously unpublished data and interviews with farmers, leaders of farmers’ organisations and government officials are used to detail participation rates, geographical spread and method of operation. Largely developed by farmers’ organisations, the scheme has focused on soil management, water quality and storage/disposal of agricultural wastes. The environmental actions associated with these activities are discussed, revealing both successes and limitations. Distinctions are drawn with agri-environmental schemes in the European Union, and a broader context for the EFP is provided with respect to the proposed post-productivist transition of agri-food systems and the need to examine the way these systems are regulated. A need for further systematic research is proposed, specifically with respect to barriers to participation, the voluntary nature of the scheme, financial incentives and the resultant environmental impacts.     

Cenozoic Plate interaction of the Australia and Philippine Sea Plates: “hit-and-run” tectonics

Recent studies in northwest New Guinea have shown the presence of at least two marginal basins of different age, both of which formed in back-arc settings. The older basin opened between the Middle Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, a remnant of which is now preserved as the New Guinea Ophiolite. Its obduction started at 40 Ma and it was finally emplaced on the Australian margin at 30 Ma. The younger basin was active during the Oligocene to Middle Miocene and was obducted in the Early Pliocene. Studies of the western edge of the Philippine Sea also reveal an important deformation of the Philippine arc in the Oligocene, which hitherto has remained unexplained. Using information from these systems, paleomagnetic results, kinematic reconstructions and geochemistry of the supra-subduction ophiolite, we present a plate model to explain the region's Eo–Oligocene development. We suggest that an extensive portion of oceanic crust extended the Australian Plate a considerable distance north of the Australian Craton. As Australia began its steady 7–8 cm/year northward drift in the Early Eocene, this lithosphere was subducted. Thus, the portion of the Philippine Sea Plate carrying the Taiwan–Philippine Arc to its present site may have actually been in contact with the ophiolite now in New Guinea and obduction led to deformation of the Philippine Sea Plate itself. Neogene Plate kinematics transported the deformed belt in contact with the Sunda block in the Late Miocene and Pliocene. This interpretation has implications for the origin for the Philippine Sea Plate and the potential incorporation of continental fragments against its boundaries.     

‘Through children’s eyes’: childhood, place and the fear of crime

This article seeks to bring young respondents more sharply into focus by considering fear of crime ‘through children’s eyes’. By incorporating children’s perspectives it is argued that more inclusive and integrative community safety initiatives may arise. Inspired by the recent flowering of research undertaken in childhood studies by social and cultural geographers, the study seeks to make a theoretical, empirical and spatial contribution to debates in the field. Based on the findings of a large-scale school survey, the responses indicate that children have an acute place-based sensitivity to a range of highly relevant community safety issues. This includes detailed reflections concerning the place of policing, boredom, youth gangs, motorcars and drugs in their neighbourhoods. It is suggested that the inclusion of children’s accounts into geographical debates not only enriches our knowledge of childhood studies, but also adds detail and texture to our understandings of fear of crime.     

Raw hides: Hegemony and cattle in Guatemala’s northern lowlands

As a microcosm of the global livestock-climate problem, this tale of two hegemonies explores how and why two critical constituencies—development planners and conservation professionals—have failed to see the “raw hides” of cattle’s impact on the Maya Biosphere Reserve in northern Guatemala. Based on ethnographic research carried out between 1993 and 2007, this paper seeks to explain the idealization, persistence, and normalization of cattle as a land use in Petén from the colonial period to the present. Framed with a Gramscian analysis of the critical role of organic intellectuals in catalyzing social change, I explore the mental feedback loops reinforcing other social and environmental causes of land degradation in this region. After presenting data on the historical expansion of cattle into the Guatemalan lowlands through government colonization programs, I describe how multilateral lending agencies like the World Bank continue to corral development plans in the region. The next part of the paper explores the complex and ambiguous relations between conservation professionals and the ranching sector. I then conclude with a discussion of how global trade and infrastructure projects such as the Puebla to Panama Plan and the Central America Free Trade Agreement will further mask the hegemonic hides of cattle.     

Wetland conservation: Change and fragmentation in Trinidad’s protected areas

Conservation efforts often neglect the importance of monitoring of protected areas, which is key to adaptively managing dynamic landscapes. In many developing countries, like Trinidad, protected areas are set aside as a result of an agreement with an international conservation organization, often resulting in inadequate planning and monitoring of the protected area. Monitoring of protected areas allows for an examination of the conservation scheme implemented and enables improved conservation decisions to be made. The research presented provides an example of the use of technology in monitoring conservation strategies in two protected wetlands, Caroni and Nariva, in Trinidad. Remote sensing and fragmentation analyses are used to quantify land cover change within these two protected wetlands. Results show that the classification of Caroni immediately identifies a shift towards anthropogenic land cover types, suggesting an increase in human activity within the park. This finding is further supported by the continuous measures used, such as decreases in mean NDVI and greenness values suggesting a decrease in the amount or health of the vegetation. While the classification of Nariva suggests a return to natural land covers, the continuous measures of land cover change indicate the opposite. Land cover change analyses are limited in Trinidad and in the Caribbean in general, partly due to satellite data availability, thus this research presents remote sensing and landscape fragmentation analyses as new tools for monitoring land cover change and conservation effectiveness in Trinidad.