The importance and limitations of social networks and social identities for labour market integration: The case of Ghanaian immigrants in Bergen,Norway

Whereas refugees and larger immigrant groups’ integration in the Norwegian labour market has received considerable research attention, less is known about the labour market integration of small, non-refugee immigrant groups from West African countries such as Ghana. The purpose of the article is to examine the role of social networks and social identities for the differentiated labour market integration outcomes among Ghanaian immigrants in the city of Bergen. Based on data produced through in-depth interviews, participant observation and informal conversations, the authors argue that Ghanaian immigrants’ ability to obtain jobs is determined by more than simply having the appropriate educational and language qualifications, and largely depends on having favourable social identities and being embedded in social networks beyond the Ghanaian immigrant community. They find that those who mainly relied on Ghanaian networks found it difficult to circumvent labour market hindrances and they predominantly obtained menial jobs. The authors conclude that Norwegian job-seekers networks played a crucial role in the immigrants’ opportunities and for potential Norwegian employers’ perception of their employability, especially in professional and semi-professional jobs.     

The influence of snow cover on ground freeze-thaw frequency,intensity, and duration: An experimental study conducted in coastal northern Sweden

The impact of snow cover on seasonal ground frost and freeze-thaw processes is not yet fully understood. The authors therefore examined how snow cover affects seasonal ground frost in a coastal setting in northern Sweden. Air and soil temperatures were recorded in a paired-plot experiment, both with and without snow cover, during the frost season 2012–2013. The frequency, duration, and intensity of the freeze-thaw cycles during the frost season were calculated. The results showed that the freeze-thaw frequency was 57% higher at the soil surface and the intensity 10 °C colder in the spring of 2013, when the ground lacked snow cover. Furthermore, the duration of the seasonal freeze-thaw cycle was 30 days longer on average in cases where there was natural snow accumulation. The correlation between air and ground surface temperatures weakened with increased snow-cover depth. The authors conclude that continued increases in air temperature and decreases in snow in coastal northern Sweden might alter freeze-thaw cycles and thus affect natural and human systems such as geomorphology, ecology, spatial planning, transport, and forestry.     

The importance of symbols in the region formation process

The aim in the article is to conceptualize the general foundations of research on the importance of regional symbolism in the process of region and regional identity formation. The article is founded on a critical analysis of works pertaining not only to the field of the new regional geography, but also to the field of regional marketing and/or branding, sociology, and semiology. The authors focus on meanings attributed to symbols and symbolism in literature, and observe which elements are viewed as regional symbols and how these symbols contribute to the process of regional development and institutionalization, especially in the formation of its symbolic shape. They examine the thematic and theoretical grounds, looking at identity, regional identity, and regional institutionalization. Next, regional symbols are defined and classified according to their types and forms, and their importance in the process of regional formation and institutionalization is discussed. The results show that symbols of any type can play an important role in a region’s marketing, and become the key image associated with a region. The authors conclude that regional symbols are a significant feature of the formation of a region and its identity, both outwardly (the external image of a region) and inwardly (concerning the inhabitants’ relationships with their region).     

Natural hazard experiences and adaptations: A study of winter climate-induced road closures in Norway

The effects of global climate change include more extreme weather events that harm lifeline infrastructure such as road access. The questionnaire-based study takes a novel natural experiment approach to subjective personal experiences and perceptions of lifeline vulnerability in two seaside communities in Norway that have been sporadically isolated due to avalanches, heavy snowfall, and/or snowdrifts. The enquiry aims at filling a research gap on sudden winter climate-induced disconnections and road travel hazards in advanced societies. The results show that weather-induced road closures lead to worries about road travel and practical problems, but also that many people are able to adjust to reduce their vulnerability. The authors concluded that community characteristics such as available services and social and human capital are important for understanding people’s vulnerabilities, worries, and hazard preparedness.     

Food gardens as important elements of urban agriculture: Spatio-developmental trends and future prospects for urban gardening in Czechia

The main research goals of the article are to explain the historical context of urban food gardens in Czechia, to describe the current spatial pattern of allotment gardens, and to introduce and analyse recent trends in urban gardening. The main method for achieving the first goal was a literature study. For the second goal, geographical mapping and analysis of data relating to the spatial distribution of allotment gardens were used. For the third goal, mapping together with analysis of semi-structured interviews carried out in community gardens in Prague were used. The analysis showed a strong tradition of urban agriculture and urban food gardening activities in Czechia. Both allotment gardens and newly emerged community gardens were concentrated mainly in the biggest cities and in areas with a rich industrial and mining tradition. This finding supports the significance of gardening as an important element of urban agriculture. However, uncertainty regarding land tenure and long-term sustainability were among the greatest obstacles for the future of allotment and community gardens. The authors’ main recommendations are that urban agriculture should be included as primary land use in sustainable planning and there should be broader community involvement in planning and decision-making processes.     

The adoption of a local food concept in post-communist context: Farm shops in Czechia

The article examines an alternative food network evolution in the post-communist context in Czechia in general and farm shop developments in particular. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with farm shopkeepers operating in Czechia. The results revealed that the development of the farm shop network was significantly shaped by the communist past of the country. While consumers’ demand for quality food contributed to the initiation of developments in local food movements such as farm shops in Czechia, the inconvenient structure of the farming sector, comprising a limited number of small-scale farmers, hindered the development. Although the farm shops usually operate as middlemen by reselling goods produced by a range of farmers, farm shopkeepers expressed significant awareness of the sustainability principles of the local food concept and dissociated themselves from unethical practices of large retailers. Nevertheless, the author finds that the local concept is used in a flexible manner to meet customers’ demands. Despite obstacles faced by farmers when developing their own farm shops, there is significant potential in ‘Czech-type’ farm shops operating solely as retailers. However, the author concludes that the threat of the diversion from the sustainability principles of the local food concept should not be neglected.     

Allocation of degraded hillsides to landless farmers and improved livelihoods in Tigray,Ethiopia

In the northern highlands of Ethiopia degraded hillsides have been allocated to landless farmers for tree planting since the mid-1990s. The authors assessed the effect of hillside plantations on the livelihoods of landless farmers in the eastern part of the Tigray Region by using transect walks, focus group discussions, and pretested questionnaires. A matched-pairs design was used to compare crop yields, livestock holdings per household, and household incomes to test the differences before and eight years after the intervention. In addition, regression analysis was used to capture variables influencing hillside management. The findings revealed that the plantations significantly increased crop yields, livestock holdings, and the household incomes of all beneficiaries. In addition, tree planting on degraded hillsides had a positive impact on the livelihoods of formerly landless farmers. However, moisture stress and free-ranging livestock were crucial problems. The findings are highly relevant in a conservation context because many existing or planned hillside allocations to landless farmers are located on degraded steep slopes that are unsuitable for crop production. Thus, replicating the practice to other areas with similar environment and problems would be worthwhile, although the management should focus on careful planning to avoid conflicts of interest between beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries.     

The role of lead firms in cluster evolution: The case of the Manchester television cluster

ABSTRACT

The author utilizes recent work in evolutionary economic geography to examine the television cluster in Manchester, UK. A path dependency approach is used to trace the evolutionary phases of the cluster, and to reveal the shifting dynamics of the cluster and the role of key actors. The article focuses on the role of two lead firms – the BBC and Granada. Based on qualitative interview and participant observation data, supplemented with contextual quantitative data collection, the study presents the results of longitudinal research conducted between 2000 and 2014. The author finds that the role of lead firms varied according to the evolutionary phase of the cluster. The role of the broadcasters was most significant during the emergence and growth of the cluster. Both the lead firm and the cluster have been impacted by exogenous factors, particularly regulatory changes. A key trigger point in 2003 led to the evolutionary trajectory of the cluster shifting into decline and stagnation.     

Configuring floating production networks: A case study of a new offshore wind technology across two oil and gas economies

ABSTRACT

The authors employ the global production network (GPN) approach to analyse the development of the renewable energy sector. Through a case study of the development of a Hywind floating offshore wind project (Hywind) across two oil and gas economies, namely Norway and Scotland, the paper sheds light on the key drivers and role of core GPN actors. Methodologically, the authors investigate the process from both ‘inside-out’ and ‘outside-in’ perspectives, referring to the efforts of firms expanding into overseas markets and the efforts of host countries to attract investment from outside their territories. The analysis shows how the configuration of extractive production networks is shaped by the interactions between the network development practices of firms and the market development strategies of host states. The authors conclude that the distinct materiality of floating wind power technology shapes the territorial configuration of the production network by enabling its spatial extension across a range of locations. By contrast, existing research on other extractive sectors has emphasized the spatially constraining effects of materiality (Bridge 2008).     

Resource management regimes and innovation in peripheral nature-based tourism: The case of North Cape tourism and sea-fishing tourism

The study objective was to analyse how capitalized and non-capitalized resource rents act as mechanisms of innovation in nature-based tourism within a centre–periphery context dominated by distance, instability, and dependency. The authors studied 55 out of 64 businesses engaged in tourism in Nordkapp Municipality in Norway in the period 2002–2012. Data were collected from a survey, interviews, and empirical observations, and then analysed using both deductive and inductive methodological approaches. The main findings were that tourism in the Nordkapp Municipality had suffered from a lack of local innovation initiatives caused by the capitalized resource rent of tourism to North Cape and its leakage. Nevertheless, local tourism had increased partly because of the inclusion of new and more attractive products, due to the open-access, non-capitalized resource management in fishing tourism that operated simultaneously with the closed and capitalized context of North Cape tourism. The authors conclude that this open-access regime of fishing tourism stimulated innovation and further development of coastal tourism, and even affected traditional North Cape tourism. Non-capitalized resource rent had not leaked out because it had not been collected by external companies and because it had acted as an innovation mechanism on the periphery.     

Rediscovering the anatomy of urban growth: The spatio-temporal evolution of building activity in a Mediterranean city

ABSTRACT

The impact of building cycles on recent expansions of Athens was assessed under the hypothesis that non-linear paths of urban growth result from sequential phases of economic growth and decline. Changes over time in building activity were examined by considering indicators derived from a local-scale analysis of building permits issued by Greek municipalities between 1990 and 2016. Relevant socioeconomic forces shaping spatio-temporal variability in building activity were identified by analyzing contextual indicators through inferential techniques and multivariate analysis. The results showed distinctive responses of real-estate local markets to economic cycles at the local scale in Athens, allowing for identification of short-term and long-term urban dynamics characteristic of expansion and recession waves. The most sensitive indicators to economic cycles in Athens were density of new buildings, average floors per new building, density of building additions, and number of building permits per inhabitant. Infrastructure-driven development, as a result of the 2004 Olympic Games, has produced relevant alterations in short-term patterns in the construction market, resulting in spatially-complex urbanization trends. The author concludes that local-scale indicators derived from building permit data provide insights into progressively complex dynamics of urban growth, with implications for regional planning and the design of sustainable development practices.     

The Multifunctionality of Country Stores: Insights on Resilience from Rural Vermont

A multifunctionality analysis of built environments within rural landscapes can deepen understanding of how contemporary rural places function. There is an urgent need for this knowledge as small towns in the United States lose socio‐economic infrastructure resulting from restructuring, demographic change, and the centralization of services. This qualitative and exploratory study of country stores in rural Vermont finds that stores operate as key socio‐spatial nodes within broader geographic networks. Analysis of the goods, functions, and services stores furnish reveals the reflexive relationships stores have with the physical and cultural geographies of their regions. In moments of community crisis and under certain conditions, stores exhibit hyper‐functionality. Built environments and their socio‐spatial roles in multifunctional landscapes should be included in analyses of rural community resilience.     

The influence of halokinesis on prograding clinoforms: Insights from the Tiddlybanken Basin,Norwegian Barents Sea

Although the trajectory and geometry of clinoforms in different types of basins have been described in many studies, few studies discuss the influence of halokinesis on clinoforms in salt-related basins. In this study, we analyse the Lower Cretaceous clinoforms in the Tiddlybanken Basin, Norwegian Barents Sea to evaluate the impact of salt mobilization on the geometry and trajectory of clinoforms as well as its implications on sediment partitioning. To accomplish this objective, we use a multidisciplinary approach consisting of seismic and well-interpretation, 3D structural restoration, and forward stratigraphic modelling. The results show that salt mobilization affects prograding clinoforms by: (a) causing lateral variations in progradation rates, resulting in complex palaeogeography, (b) increasing slope angles, which affect the equilibrium of the clinoform profile and can trigger slope-readjustment processes and (c) producing lateral and temporal variations in accommodation space, leading to different clinoform trajectories, stacking patterns and reservoir distribution along the basin. Forward stratigraphic modelling shows that in salt-related basins and other tectonically active basins, the isolated use of conventional methods for clinoform analysis might lead to potential interpretation pitfalls such as misinterpretation of trajectories and overestimation of foreset angles, which can have negative consequences for exploration models.     

Landscape evolution and glaciation of the Rwenzori Mountains, Uganda: Insights from numerical modeling

The Rwenzori Mountains are a high alpine mountain chain, about 40 × 80 km in size, just north of the equator in the western branch of the East African Rift System in Africa. The central part of the mountain chain is located in Uganda, and the highest peak, the Margherita Peak with 5119 m, lies on the border to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Topography is very pronounced, with steeply incised valleys and clear glacial landforms in the upper part of the mountain chain. The Rwenzori Mountains are an unusually high mountain chain located in the extensional setting of the East African Rift System, and the large elevation poses a challenging problem for geodynamists to explain.We have used the landscape evolution model ULTIMA THULE, which combines hillslope diffusion, fluvial erosion, and glacial abrasion and is driven by a climate driver, simulating the variations in temperature, precipitation, and relief over several glacial cycles. With a simulation time of 800 ka, we test the hypothesis of climate-tectonic interactions on the uplift of the Rwenzori Mountains.Our results show that a moderate cooling of around 6° causes widespread glaciation of the high mountain regions as observed during the peak glacial phases, and that morphological processes degrading the landscape allow for a tectonic uplift rate of around 0.5 mm a^− 1.     

Insights into the lithospheric structure and tectonic setting of the Barents Sea region from isostatic considerations

We study the tectonic setting and lithospheric structure of the greater Barents Sea region by investigating its isostatic state and its gravity field. 3-D forward density modelling utilizing available information from seismic data and boreholes shows an apparent shift between the level of observed and modelled gravity anomalies. This difference cannot be solely explained by changes in crustal density. Furthermore, isostatic calculations show that the present crustal thickness of 35–37 km in the Eastern Barents Sea is greater than required to isostatically balance the deep basins of the area (>19 km). To isostatically compensate the missing masses from the thick crust and deep basins and to adequately explain the gravity field, high-density material (3300–3350 kg m⁻³) in the lithospheric mantle below the Eastern Barents Sea is needed. The distribution of mantle densities shows a regional division between the Western and Eastern Barents and Kara Seas. In addition, a band of high-densities is observed in the lower crust along the transition zone from the Eastern to Western Barents Sea. The distribution of high-density material in the crust and mantle suggests a connection to the Neoproterozoic Timanide orogen and argues against the presence of a Caledonian suture in the Eastern Barents Sea. Furthermore, the results indicate that the basins of the Western Barents Sea are mainly affected by rifting, while the Eastern Barents Sea basins are located on a stable continental platform.     

Rescaling of Access and Property Relations in a Frontier Landscape: Insights from Jambi,Indonesia

The recent expansion of protected areas and oil palm plantations in Jambi (Sumatra), Indonesia, has been notably disruptive. This article investigates the scalar dimensions of land conflicts within a privately managed conservation area. We built on qualitative research focusing on struggles related to the formation of two informal settlements within the conservation area. Results indicate that, especially in the context of rapid rescaling (e.g., decentralization), new power constellations emerge, thereby altering preexisting property relations. We argue that competing scales of meaning and regulation are structuring the ability of actors to access land and, consequently, reflect tensions between structure and agency.     

The spatial extent and coverage of tornado sirens in San Marcos,Texas

The tornado siren has become the standard method of notifying resident populations of dangerous weather conditions. In March, 2012, the city of San Marcos, Texas purchased 14 Tempest-121 rotating sirens creating a coverage network. Because San Marcos has experienced two tornadoes during the previous twelve years, two research questions were constructed, 1) what is the spatial coverage of the tornado siren network in San Marcos, and 2) what is the approximate number of residents located outside the siren's network coverage area? The hypothesis stated that the siren network left more than 10 percent of the population outside the coverage area.Each tornado siren was individually located and associated GPS data allowed for construction of the siren network in a GIS. The analysis identified approximately 26 percent (22 km²) of San Marcos located outside the network's coverage area. Furthermore, analysis of census block data and the extent of siren coverage resulted in 5.14 percent of residents not included in siren coverage, approximately half compared to what was hypothesized. As San Marcos continues to expand, both in size and in population, the question of whether there is enough coverage for the entire city for the foreseeable future remains unclear.     

本地知识基础对新兴产业创新集群形成的影响——以中国燃料电池产业为例

新兴产业的区位选择一直是经济地理学研究的重点问题,以中国燃料电池产业为例,本研究重点对“区域产业分叉”理论在燃料电池创新集群形成中的适用性进行探究。本文将知识基础区分为解析型知识、合成型知识、符号型知识,采集中国2000—2016年291个地级市燃料电池产业的专利信息、专利引证及被引信息、学术论文信息,通过ArcGIS、Stata软件进行空间和计量分析,得到如下结论：① 从格局上来看,燃料电池创新集群发展主要集聚于发达省会城市,并且在格局演化过程中路径依赖作用明显,291个地级市在2000—2005年、2011—2016年两个时期的创新集群指数相关系数高达0.904,呈现显著的强相关性。② 本地解析型、合成型、符号型知识库以及创新集群指数滞后一阶项的回归系数均显著为正,说明知识基础对新兴产业创新集群发展具有显著的积极影响,成为支持“区域产业分叉”的重要证据。③ 燃料电池产业创新集群形成主要以“区域产业分叉”方式进行,城市在知识基础上的优势对创新集群的形成具有积极作用,而创新集群的发展又使得知识基础进一步积累,实现良性循环,路径依赖现象显著;创新集群指数排名前20位城市中,直辖市和省会城市就占据了75%,一般城市的区位机会窗口较难打开。     

The structure of King's Trough, Northeast Atlantic, from bathymetric, seismic and gravity studies

Summary . We present new seismic and gravity data from the linear chain of deeps and flanking ridges known collectively as King's Trough, and combine them to produce crustal models of the western end of the complex. These models show that there is an abnormally low-velocity, low-density crust under the trough itself, and that the whole King's Trough feature is situated in a region of slightly thicker than normal oceanic crust. The flanks and basins of King's Trough are not in local isostatic equilibrium, although the feature now appears to be inactive. We believe these data indicate a history of extension and of hot-spot activity at King's Trough, and that the feature was formed either as a slow-spreading arm of an R-R-R triple junction associated with a Mid-Atlantic Ridge hot-spot, or by subsequent rifting of a preexisting hot-spot trace.