Spatial transformations in a “loosening state”: South Africa in a comparative perspective

This study explores the spatial transformation of urban South Africa since the ending of Apartheid rule two decades ago. It places this experience within the context of countries which have also gone through a “loosening” of political control and of related controls over spatial arrangements. The paper provides a discussion of South Africa’s spatial trends between 1996 and 2011, focusing on urbanisation; urban form; and socio-spatial segregation, and exploring the extent to which changes identified are shaped by the state, private sector investment, and the everyday actions of households and individuals. It shows that South Africa’s urban spatial transformation, post-Apartheid, is both idiosyncratic and comparable. The consequences of spatial controls, and of their loosening, have been diverse across countries, but also within countries. Loosening has led to differing relationships between state, citizenry and private enterprise, and to complex new crossing points between these groupings, affecting spatial change. In South Africa, significant trends have been: movement to the major cities where employment growth is stronger; levels of racial desegregation; and densification of parts of cities and towns, along with peripheral growth and employment decentralisation. Many of the changes however are differentiated across space and between settlements. While proactive state policies have had some impact (not necessarily in the direction of desired spatial transformation), and there are complex interrelationships, our empirical studies suggest that the major weight of evidence is towards the roles of private enterprise and people in shaping spatial change, enabled in part by forms of state loosening.     

Small towns resisting urban decay through residential attractiveness. Findings from Denmark

Small towns are often considered as losing out in the current trend towards urban development. However, research from around Europe shows a great diversity of small town development, including successful development trajectories despite geographical disadvantages. Investigations into this are predominately done in the context of economic development and urban systems, but such approaches fail to explain why a number of small towns that are not centrally located near a metropolitan region are not in decay. This paper examines how the restructuring of retail and service sectors, demographic composition, residential migration, social organisation and community engagement form and affect small town (1000–5000 inhabitants) development patterns in Denmark and specific place-based endowments. The study is carried out with mixed methods, comprising a quantitative analysis of development trends, complemented by qualitative case studies in six small towns. Our findings show how favourable development paths are a combination of a positive development in population, provision of daily commodities and attractive housing, and a high number of local voluntary social organisations. Introducing the concept of ‘residential urbanism’, the paper discusses the extent to which a residentially driven urban development can compensate for the generally unfavourable regional development context.     

基于工作流技术的村镇建设用地规划信息系统研究

针对当前村镇级别建设用地规划与城市规划不衔接、规划工作效率低等问题,探讨GIS与工作流的集成方式,并将工作流技术引入到村镇建设用地详细规划业务中.通过设计基于GIS的工作流模型,采用GIS、网络与数据库技术,并无缝集成GIS与工作流数据库,建立村镇建设用地规划信息系统.实践证明,该系统能够为制定村镇建设用地规划方案提供...     

利用重复地震观测粤闽交界地区地壳介质变化

利用粤闽两省数字化地震台网2007年6月～2010年5月的走时及波形记录对南澳地区ML≥1地震用双差法重新进行定位,根据定位结果挑选重复地震丛,并研究地震丛的P波走时经伪弯曲射线追踪技术及波形互相关校正后的走时差变化.经上述处理后,汕头台、潮州台记录的南澳地区地震的P波走时差在2008年6～8月间出现负异常,经与地震活动性及形变观测资料对比分析,认为该时段的负异常反映了区域地壳介质速度有所上升.     

县域经济合作与协调发展中的江苏省区际边界效应实证研究

以人均GDP为指标,运用Barro回归方程结合重力模型时江苏省区际县域间1995-2009年的边界效应进行实证分析.研究发现:(1)江苏省区际各县域间表现出经济一体化趋势,但边界效应对区域一体化趋势存在一定的阻碍作用,影响了江苏省县域协调发展的速度;(2)从变动态势来看,江苏省区际边界效应呈持续下降趋势,但在不同的时间段和区间,表现出不完全相同的演化过程和结构性波动;(3)交通条件的改善在很大程度上促进了江苏省区域一体化的进程,但仍对江苏省区际县域边界效应的影响表现出一定的显著性.最后,从区位条件、经济因素和交通建设等方面分析了边界效应及其演变的原因.     

川滇黔交界地区铅锌矿床含矿角砾岩特征及其构造意义

川滇黔交界地区的铅锌矿床中普遍发育含矿角砾岩。文章综述了角砾岩的成因分类,在重点矿床野外地质调查的基础之上,对川滇黔交界地区的铅锌矿床含矿角砾岩进行了详细研究。结果表明:大部分含矿角砾岩显示张性角砾岩的特点,仅个别矿床同时出现挤压角砾岩。综合区域地质构造演化特征和典型铅锌矿床的同位素测年数据,可大致推断出,从中二叠世茅口期以来该铅锌成矿区伸展构造至少有2期:一期发生在铅锌矿化之前或同时,即早二叠世/晚二叠世的升降运动(东吴运动)与晚二叠世峨眉山玄武岩喷发期间,此次伸展作用形成的角砾岩为成矿流体提供了大量的容矿空间,并最终导致成矿流体沿断裂运移并充填沉淀而形成角砾状或网脉状-脉状构造的矿石;另一期发生在铅锌矿化之后,即白垩纪—古近纪,发育一系列正断层,并有可能破坏了铅锌矿体的连续性。     

黔桂交界龙胜地区玄武岩-流纹英安岩组合特征及其地质意义

黔桂交界龙胜地区新元古界青白口系上部丹洲群三门街组玄武岩系内部产出条带状流纹英安岩,与玄武岩共同构成了双峰式火山岩组合。玄武岩、流纹英安岩具有过铝质、钙性的特点;稀土元素配分样式为轻稀土元素富集型,轻、重稀土元素分异明显,弱负Eu异常。玄武岩与流纹英安岩均具有富集型洋中脊玄武岩初始地幔标准化微量元素配分曲线的特点,指示其形成于伸展裂谷环境。双峰式火山岩组合的确立,结合已经发表的年代学数据,对正确进行黔桂地区地层对比、构建江南造山带西南段青白口纪构造具有重要意义。     

Migration Permanence and Village Decline in Zacatecas: When You Can't Go Home Again

At the same time that the Third World has become more dependent on international wage-labor migration, developed countries have become less hospitable to this migration. This inhospitality is beginning to have negative repercussions on rural sending regions such as north-central Mexico. This study is based on a survey of a stratified random sample of households in Villanueva municipio (county), Zacatecas, in 1988 and again in 2002, employing the same questions and methodology. The results suggest that restrictive U.S. border policies over this period have had a negative impact on village economies in the municipio. Although migrant families continued to hold a distinctive edge on nonmigrant families in terms of possessions and productive investments, there was a decline overall in levels of investment and remittances in the municipio. In the latter year, Villanueva had more nonmigrant families as well as more families with permanent migrants—both trends leading to less money remitted to rural families and lower agricultural investments. Observations and interviews with migrants and townspeople in the municipio in 2005 and 2008 strongly corroborate these trends. Rural villages are facing depopulation, disinvestment and, it might be argued, a deterioration of hope for the future.     

A Review of “Small Town Sustainability: Economic,Social, and Environmental Innovation”

Books Reviewed

Colbert C. Held, Middle East Patterns: Places, People, and Politics

Barbara A. Weightman, Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East, and Southeast Asia

Henry J. Bruman, Alcohol in Ancient Mexico

Brian W. Blouet, Geopolitics and Globalization in the Twentieth Century

M. A. B. Siddique (ed.), International Migration into the 21st Century: Essays in Honour of Reginald Appleyard

Michael R. Haines and Richard H. Steckel (eds.), A Population History of North America

Emilio Moran, Human Adaptability: An Introduction to Ecological Anthropology

Jeremy Leggett, The Carbon War: Global Warming and the End of the Oil Era

Susan B. Marriott and Jan Alexander (eds.), Floodplains: Interdisciplinary Approaches

William S.Logan, Hanoi: Biography of a City

Alex Krieger and David Cobb (eds.) with Amy Turner, Mapping Boston

Eric Sandweiss, St. Louis: The Evolution of an American Urban Landscape

Carl Abbott, Greater Portland: Urban Life and Landscape in the Pacific Northwest

Arthur D. Murphy, Colleen Blanchard and Jennifer A. Hill (eds.), Latino Workers in the Contemporary South

Yanek Mieczkowski, The Routledge Historical Atlas of Presidential Elections     

The potential for the use of Open Source Software and Open Specifications in creating Web‐based cross‐border health spatial information systems

Globalization is contributing to the blurring of borders making irrelevant the distinctions between domestic and international health problems. Cross‐border and global health spatial information systems (CBHSIS) are required to address the new global health challenges. There is a need to build and document alternatives for addressing the technological, economic, and sociocultural–political challenges encountered in the creation and deployment of these systems. This paper documents the building of a prototype Web‐based multimedia GIS system for use in a public health context using Open Source Software and Open Specifications and its deployment across the US–Mexico border. These technologies offer advantages in addressing several of the challenges previously mentioned. We highlight the technological and sociocultural–political issues important in successful collaboration across borders and cultures and in the creation of interoperable CBHSIS.