An obsolete dichotomy? Rethinking the rural–urban interface in terms of food security and production in the global south

The global food system is coming under increasing strain in the face of urban population growth. The recent spike in global food prices (2007–08) provoked consumer protests, and raised questions about food sovereignty and how and where food will be produced. Concurrently, for the first time in history the majority of the global population is urban, with the bulk of urban growth occurring in smaller-tiered cities and urban peripheries, or ‘peri-urban’ areas of the developing world. This paper discusses the new emerging spaces that incorporate a mosaic of urban and rural worlds, and reviews the implications of these spaces for livelihoods and food security. We propose a modified livelihoods framework to evaluate the contexts in which food production persists within broader processes of landscape and livelihood transformation in peri-urban locations. Where and how food production persists are central questions for the future of food security in an urbanising world. Our proposed framework provides directions for future research and highlights the role of policy and planning in reconciling food production with urban growth.     

Religion on the Fringe: the representation of space and minority religious facilities in the rural–urban fringe of metropolitan Sydney,Australia

This article examines land-use development applications for minority religious facilities in two local government areas on the rural–urban fringe of metropolitan Sydney, Australia. Using critical discourse analysis and underpinned by Lefebvre's (1991) conceptual triad of space, the work interrogates the way in which place identity is generated and codified both by land-use planners and local residents through spatial representation. This representation is revealed in discourses around the compatibility of minority religious facilities for particular zones, lack of a sufficient minority population and social disruption. These discourses reveal a construction of peri-urban space that is aligned with particular elite Anglo-Australian activities (horse riding and gentleman farms) and land uses (rural residential, small-scale agriculture and the ‘bush-church’). These case studies illustrate the potential for the creation of exclusionary, abstract space by urban planners but also the ways in which local residents use discoursive strategies to ensure the stability of their position as elites in rapidly changing spatial situations.     

Driving factors and spatiotemporal effects of environmental stress in urban agglomeration: Evidence from the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region of China

Environmental stress is used as an indicator of the overall pressure on regional environmental systems caused by the output of various pollutants as a result of human activities. Based on the pollutant emissions and socioeconomic databases of the counties in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, this paper comprehensively calculates the environmental stress index(ESI) for the urban agglomeration using the entropy weight method(EWM) at the county scale and analyzes the spatiotemporal patterns and the differences among the four types of major functional zones(MFZ) for the period 2012–2016. In addition, the socioeconomic driving forces of environmental stress are quantitatively estimated using the geographically weighted regression(GWR) method based on the STIRPAT model framework. The results show that:(1) The level of environmental stress in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region was significantly alleviated during that time period, with a decrease in ESI of 54.68% by 2016. This decrease was most significant in Beijing, Tangshan, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, and other central urban areas, as well as the Binhai New Area. The level of environmental stress in counties decreased gradually from the central urban areas to the suburban areas, and the high-level stress counties were eliminated by 2016.(2) The spatial spillover effect of environmental stress increased further at the county scale from 2012 to 2016, and spatial locking and path dependence emerged in the cities of Tangshan and Tianjin.(3) Urbanized zones(development-optimized and development-prioritized zones) were the major areas bearing environmental pollution in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region in that time period. The ESI accounted for 65.98% of the whole region, where there was a need to focus on the prevention and control of environmental pollution.(4) The driving factors of environmental stress at the county scale included population size and the level of economic development. In addition, the technical capacity of environmental waste disposal, the intensity of agricultural production input, the intensity of territorial development, and the level of urbanization also had a certain degree of influence.(5) There was spatial heterogeneity in the effects of the various driving factors on the level of environmental stress. Thus, it was necessary to adopt differentiated environmental governance and reduction countermeasures in respect of emission sources, according to the intensity and spatiotemporal differences in the driving forces in order to improve the accuracy and adaptability of environmental collaborative control in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region.     

Effects of rural–urban migration on vegetation greenness in fragile areas: A case study of Inner Mongolia in China

Different government departments and researchers have paid considerable attention at various levels to improving the eco-environment in ecologically fragile areas. Over the past decade, large numbers of people have emigrated from rural areas as a result of the rapid urbanization in Chinese society. The question then remains: to what extent does this migration affect the regional vegetation greenness in the areas that people have moved from? Based on normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data with a resolution of 1 km, as well as meteorological data and socio-economic data from 2000 to 2010 in Inner Mongolia, the spatio-temporal variation of vegetation greenness in the study area was analyzed via trend analysis and significance test methods. The contributions of human activities and natural factors to the variation of vegetation conditions during this period were also quantitatively tested and verified, using a multi-regression analysis method. We found that: (1) the vegetation greenness of the study area increased by 10.1% during 2000-2010. More than 28% of the vegetation greenness increased significantly, and only about 2% decreased evidently during the study period. (2) The area with significant degradation showed a banded distribution at the northern edge of the agro-pastoral ecotone in central Inner Mongolia. This indicates that the eco-environment is still fragile in this area, which should be paid close attention. The area where vegetation greenness significantly improved showed a concentrated distribution in the southeast and west of Inner Mongolia. (3) The effect of agricultural labor on vegetation greenness exceeded those due to natural factors (i.e. precipitation and temperature). The emigration of agricultural labor improved the regional vegetation greenness significantly.     

The impact of perceived urban human settlement quality on subjective well-being: A case study using urban health examination data in the Yangtze River Delta region北大核心CSCD

城市体检是促进中国城市人居环境高质量和提升城市居民幸福感的创新举措,但却很少有研究正面关注城市体检社会评价对居民福祉的影响。论文基于2021年住建部在长三角地区8个样本城市开展的大规模城市体检社会满意度调查数据,采用主成分分析和多元回归分析相结合方法,分别探讨了长三角地区居民的城市人居环境质量感知因子及其对居民幸福感的影响,并从以人为本视角提出长三角地区城市人居环境高质量发展策略。研究发现:(1)城市体检社会满意度评价指标共提取了7个城市人居环境感知评价主成分因子,分别命名为城市管理、城市活力、城市舒适、城市宜居、城市包容、城市安全和城市便利,累计贡献率达到66.767%。(2)城市人居环境感知评价因子均对长三角地区城市居民幸福感具有显著影响,但不同城市人居环境感知评价因子的影响方向却存在差异性。其中,城市管理、城市活力、城市舒适、城市宜居和城市包容等因子显著正向影响幸福感,城市安全和城市便利等因子显著负向影响幸福感。(3)不同城市规模居民幸福感的人居环境主导因子有所不同,同时不同户口和年龄居民幸福感的人居环境影响因素也有差异。研究结果对促进长三角地区城市居民幸福感提升和指导城市人居环境建设具有重要的决策参考作用。     

The shape of Fraught – urban – rural – the nation-state: tensions and dynamics

I argue that the tension between cities and nation states go through the countryside, or rural areas, at least in the U.S. Further, cities are decidedly constrained in their abilities to effectuate many of the changes associated with them: addressing climate change, economic inequality and more. What is missing is the way in which rural alienation from economic prosperity plays out politically.     

Research on the changes of China's fruit planting distribution and its influence effect: Based on the perspective of price changes of rural labor北大核心

在推导中国水果产业布局演变的影响模型基础上,以1985—2019年中国22个水果主产省为研究对象,探讨农业劳动价格、非农劳动价格和工资收入占比对我国水果产业布局演变的影响效应。结果表明:农业劳动价格、非农劳动价格和工资收入占比的提高对东部水果种植产生替代效应,造成东部各省区水果种植面积减少或增幅不明显,比重下降;农业劳动价格、非农劳动价格和工资收入占比对中部水果种植的影响具有省际异质性,产生的替代效应和收入效应相互抵消,导致中部整体水果种植比重无显著变化;西北、西南地区较低的农业劳动工价和非农劳动价格使其具有劳动成本比较优势,工资收入占比提高产生收入效应,使西北、西南地区水果种植面积大幅增加,比重上升,促成我国水果种植布局“西移内扩”。因此,优化水果产业布局要解决水果适宜区农村劳动力价格过高和非适宜区农村劳动力价格过低等问题。     

Quantitative estimation and spatial reconstruction of urban and rural construction land in Jiangsu Province, 1820–1985

Land cover is the most evident landscape signal to characterize the influence of human activities on terrestrial ecosystems. Since the industrial revolution, the expansion of construction land has profoundly changed the status of land use coverage and changes. This study is proposed to reconstruct the spatial pattern of construction land (urban construction land and rural settlement land) for five historical periods over the past 200 years in Jiangsu Province with 200 m × 200 m grids on the basis of quantitative estimation. Urban construction land is estimated based on data about city walls, four gates along walls, and other socio-economic factors. Rural settlement land is calculated based on the rural population and per capita housing allowance. The spatial pattern of historical construction land is simulated based on the distribution of modern construction land in 1985 with a quantitative-boundarysuitability control method and thorough consideration over connectivity of different land use types. The study concludes that: (1) the amount of construction land in Jiangsu Province is estimated at 963.46 km² in 1820, 1043.46 km² in 1911, 1672.40 km² in 1936, 1980.34 km² in 1952 and 10,687.20 km² in 1985; and (2) the spatial distribution of construction land features the great proclivity to water bodies and main roads and the strong polarization of existent residence. The results are verified directly and indirectly by applying the trend verification of construction land changes and patterns, the correlation analysis between rural settlement land and local arable land, and quantitative accuracy test of the reconstructed construction land to actual historical survey maps covering four sample regions in 1936.     

Urban land expansion and its driving factors of mountain cities in China during 1990–2015

Land expansion of mountain cities in China is not systematically studied yet. This study identified 55 major mountain cities at and above prefecture level, and analyzed the land expansion characteristics and driving forces, based on visually interpreted data from TM images in 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2015. From 1990 to 2015, total built-up land area of the mountain cities increased by 3.87 times, 5.56% per year. The urban land growth was apparently accelerated after 2000, from 4.35% per year during 1990–2000 increased to 6.47% during 2000–2010 and 6.2% during 2010–2015. Compared to the urban population growth, the urban land expansion rate was 44% higher. As a result, the urban land area per capita increased, but it was still within the government control target, and also was much lower than the average of all cities in China. Urban development policy, changes to administrative divisions, GDP and population growth, and road construction were identified as the major driving forces of land expansion. Terrain conditions were not found a relevance to the urban land expansion rate during 1990–2015, but had a significant impact on the layout and shape, and also probably on the urban land efficiency.     

Quantitative identification and the evolution characteristics of production–living–ecological space in the mountainous area: From the perspective of multifunctional land

Developed here is an integrated framework for identifying production–living–ecological space(PLES) quantitatively at grid scale from the perspective of multifunction land use, and 25 compound space types are classified to highlight the multiple functions of PLES. As a typical mountainous city in northern Hebei province, Zhangjiakou is used as a case study, and the results show that more than 80% of the land space in Zhangjiakou has remarkable triple functionality. The living-dominated space and ...     

Living austerity urbanism: space–time expansion and deepening socio-spatial inequalities for disadvantaged urban youth in Ireland

After the 2008 financial crisis, Ireland implemented a severe austerity program which drastically reshaped the opportunities and constraints experienced by youth living in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods. Rising unemployment, reduced social welfare, and funding cuts for support organizations limited the opportunities of urban life for disadvantaged youth. This article uses the experience of austerity urbanism of young adults from Ballymun (Dublin) and Knocknaheeny (Cork), both among the most disadvantaged neighborhoods of their cities, to argue that austerity, through time-space expansion, removes services, facilities and opportunities from deprived urban neighborhoods, thus reinforcing and intensifying socio-spatial inequalities. In an effort to bring State finances under control and to revitalize the economy the whole urban fabric, and the urban population, is managed for the purpose of economic recovery. Urban life becomes restricted as disadvantaged urban youth becomes socially and spatially excluded from vital urban opportunities and amenities.     

Damming China’s rivers to expand its cities: the urban livelihoods of rural people displaced by the Three Gorges Dam

Over the next two decades, China, the country with the world’s largest urban population, is orchestrating the urbanization of some 300 million rural people. In its National New-Type Urbanization Plan (2014) the State Council has outlined a range of strategies to grow its cities not least of which is rural-to-urban migration. This plan will have significant effects on other types of displacement, particularly, the forced displacement and resettlement of those living in the path of large dams. This paper reviews what is known about New-Type Urbanization Approach to Reservoir Resettlement. Then, based on a longitudinal study of 145 resettled households at the Three Gorges Dam, the livelihood effects of rural-to-urban resettlement are unpacked to provide lessons for its use in advancing urbanization. It finds that rural-to-urban resettlers have lower incomes than their urban-to-urban and rural-to-rural counterparts, and higher rates of food and income insecurity.     

Predicting the expansion of an urban boundary using spatial logistic regression and hybrid raster–vector routines with remote sensing and GIS

This paper presents an urban growth boundary model (UGBM) which utilizes spatial logistic regression (SLR), remote sensing, and GIS to simulate the differentially expanding geometry of a dynamic urban boundary over decadal time periods. SLR is used as the core algorithm in a UGBM quantifying how biophysical factors influence the rate at which all edges of an urban boundary expand over time. Spatial drivers selected from a raster-based environment are used as input predictor variables to the SLR UGBM, the output response variable being the distance between time-separated urban boundary intersections along arcs extending radially from a point centered at the urban core relative to the maximum distance. Percent area match (PAM) quantity and location goodness-of-fit metrics, fit of the predicted distance versus observed distance, and the sensitivity of the SLR UGBM to the contribution of each predictor variable are used to assess the agreement between predicted and observed urban boundaries. The model is built, tested, and validated using satellite images of the city of Las Vegas, United States of America, collected in 1990, 2000, and 2010. We compare urban boundary simulation of full and reduced SLR UGBMs to a null UGBM lacking in specificity of predictor variables. Results indicate that the SLR UGBM has a better goodness of fit compared to a null UGBM using PAM quantity and location goodness-of-fit metrics. Then, we use the SLR UGBM to predict urban boundary expansion between the years 2000 and 2010 and describe how this model can be used to plan ahead for future boundary expansions given what is known about current edge conditions.     

Forty years of urban expansion in Beijing: What is the relative importance of physical,socioeconomic, and neighborhood factors?

Urban expansion is one of the major causes of many ecological and environmental problems in urban areas and the surrounding regions. Understanding the process of urban expansion and its driving factors is crucial for urban growth planning and management to mitigate the adverse impacts of such growth. Previous studies have primarily been conducted from a static point of view by examining the process of urban expansion for only one or two time periods. Few studies have investigated the temporal dynamics of the effects of the driving factors in urban expansion. Using Beijing as a case study, this research aims to fill this gap. Urban expansion from 1972 to 2010 was detected from multi-temporal remote sensing images for four time periods. The effects of physical, socioeconomic, and neighborhood factors on urban expansion and their temporal dynamics were investigated using binary logistic regression. In addition, the relative importance of the three types of driving factors was examined using variance partitioning. The results showed that Beijing has undergone rapid and magnificent urban expansion in the past forty years. Physical, socioeconomic, and neighborhood factors have simultaneously affected this expansion. Socioeconomic factors were the most important driving force, except during the period of 1972–1984. In addition, the effects of these driving factors on urban expansion varied with time. The magnitude of the unique effects of physical factors and neighborhood factors declined while that of socioeconomic factors increased along with the urbanization process. The findings of this study can help us better understand the process of urban expansion and thus have important implications for urban planning and management in Beijing and similar cities.     

Mechanism and effects of the increase in winter temperatures in the Arctic region on cold winters in Heilongjiang Province,Northeast China for the period 1961–2018

With the advent of climate change,winter temperatures have been steadily in-creasing in the middle-to-high latitudes of the world.However,we have not found a corre-sponding decrease in the number of extremely cold winters.This paper,based on Climatic Research Unit (CRU) re-analysis data,and methods of trend analysis,mutation analysis,correlation analysis,reports on the effects of Arctic warming on winter temperatures in Hei-longjiang Province,Northeast China.The results show that:(1) during the period 1961-2018,winter temperatures in the Arctic increased considerably,that is,3.5 times those of the Equator,which has led to an increasing temperature gradient between the Arctic and the Equator.An abrupt change in winter temperatures in the Arctic was observed in 2000.(2) Due to the global warming,an extremely significant warming occurred in Heilongjiang in winter,in particular,after the Arctic mutation in 2000,although there were two warm winters,more cold winters were observed and the interannual variability of winter temperature also increased.(3)Affected by the warming trend in the Arctic,the Siberian High has intensified,and both the Arctic Vortex and the Eurasian Zonal Circulation Index has weakened.This explains the de-crease in winter temperatures in Heilongjiang,and why cold winters still dominate.Moreover,the increase in temperature difference between the Arctic and the Equator is another reason for the decrease in winter temperatures in Heilongjiang.     

Adaptive evolution of the rural human–environment system in farming and pastoral areas of northern China from 1952–2017

The theory on the cyclic adaptation between society and ecosystems sheds new light on the evolution and internal structure of human–environment systems. This paper introduces the risk index(RI) and adaptation capacity index(ACI) to evaluate the rural human–environment system. An evaluation index system for the adaptability of rural human–environment systems is configured in the context of climate change and policy implementation. On this basis, the stages, features, dominant control factors, and evolution mechanism were examined vis-à-vis the adaptability of the rural human–environment system in Darhan Muminggan Joint Banner from 1952 to 2017. The main results are as follows:(1) The evolution of the rural human–environment system can be divided into three stages, namely, the reorganization and rapid development stage(1952–2002) with population, cultivated land, livestock and degraded grassland increasing by 260%, 13%, 134% and 16.33%, respectively. The rapid to stable development stage(2003–2010) with population increasing by 2.8%; cultivated land, livestock and degraded grassland decreasing by 2.3%, 13.6% and 10.7%, respectively. The stable to release stage(2011–2017) with population, cultivated land, livestock and degraded grassland decreasing by 2.6%, 0.2%, 10.6% and 3.8%, respectively.(2) With the passage of time, the ACI of the rural human–environment system first increased slightly(–0.016–0.031), followed by a slight decline(0.031–0.003), and culminating in a rapid increase(0.003–0.088). In terms of spatial patterns, adaptability is high in the middle, moderate in the north, and low in the south.(3) The evolution of adaptability in the rural human–environment system was mainly controlled by the per capita effective irrigation area(22.31%) and the per capita number of livestock(23.47%) from 1990 to 2000, the desertified area(25.06%) and the land use intensity(21.27%) from 2000 to 2005, and the per capita income of farmers and herdsmen(20.08%) and the per capita number of livestock(18.52%) from 2010 to 2007.(4) Under the effects of climate change and policy interventions, the cyclic adaptation of the rural human–environment system was propelled by the interactions between two kinds of subjects: farmers and herdsmen on the one hand and rural communities on the other hand. The interaction affects the adaptive behavior of the two kinds of subjects, which in turn drives the cyclic evolution of the system. As a result, the system structure and functions developed alternatively between coordinated and uncoordinated states. Small-scale adaptive behaviors of farmers and herdsmen have a profound impact on the evolution of the rural human–environment system.     

Differential changes in precipitation and runoff discharge during 1958–2017 in the headwater region of Yellow River of China

Maintenance of steady streamflow is a critical attribute of the continental river systems for safeguarding downstream ecosystems and agricultural production.Global climate change imposes a potential risk to water supply from the headwater by changing the magnitude and frequency of precipitation and evapotranspiration in the region.To determine if and to what extent the recent climate changes affected streamflow in major river systems,we examined the pattern of temporal variations in precipitation,temperature,evapotranspiration and changes in runoff discharge during 1958–2017 in the headwater region of the Yellow River in northeastern Tibetan Plateau.We identified 1989 as the turning point for a statistically significant 14% reduction in streamflow discharge(P 0.05) for the period 1989–2017 compared with 1958–1988,approximately coinciding with changes in the monthly distribution but not the interannual variations of precipitation,and detected a mismatch between precipitation and runoff after 2000.Both annual precipitation and runoff discharge displayed fourand eight-year cyclic patterns of changes for the period 1958–1988,and a six-year cyclic pattern of changes for the period 1989–2017,with two intensified two-year cyclic patterns in the changes of precipitation and a three-year cyclic pattern in the change of runoff further detected for the later period.Our results indicate that the temporal changes in runoff are not strictly consistent with the temporal variations of precipitation in the headwater region of Yellow River during the period 1958–2017.In particular,a full recovery in annual precipitation was not reflected in a full recovery in runoff toward the end of the study period.While a review of literature yielded no apparent evidence of raised evapotranspiration in the region due to recent warming,we draw attention to increased local retention of rainwater as a possible explanation of differential changes in precipitation and runoff.     

Drivers of Change and Sustainability in Linked Social–Ecological Systems: An Analysis in the Volta River Basin of Ghana,West Africa

Understanding the nature and relative importance of various drivers of change is crucial for sustainable management of natural resources and in prioritizing management efforts, allocating limited resources, and understanding cumulative effects. For this article, we employed structured an expert judgments approach to identify, characterize, and assess the relative importance of the key biophysical and socioeconomic drivers of change within the Volta River Basin, West Africa. Precipitation variability, water availability, land use change, drought events, and population growth were perceived as most important, while biodiversity loss, social conflicts, pest and disease occurrence, urbanization, and pollution were viewed as less critical. A majority of these drivers were characterized as “slow” acting processes as compared to rapidly changing drivers. Intra- and interexpert groups agreement were found to be significant and convergent, indicating the reliability of the results. The implications of these results for sustainable water resources management and agricultural production are discussed.     

The role of money in China’s urban production: the local property industry in Qujing,a fourth-tier city

What has made the urbanization of capital possible in China since the late 1990s? A major strand of literature in urban geography has pointed out land as the main trigger of urbanization. Scholars have highlighted the empowerment of local governments and their subsequent role in implementing China’s national urbanization objectives because of substantial revenues from the commodification of land. Other scholars have looked beyond the supply side, emphasizing the role of demand in stimulating urban development in China. In terms of demand, the speculative rationale of urban households aided land and property development during the 2000s, when property became a main alternative financial asset. However, this still raises the question of how urban production is financed. Based on a case study of the fourth-tier city of Qujing, in Yunnan province, this article investigates the financing of urban production from the perspective of the development industry. For the time being, little is known about how these companies finance their operations.