Marginalisation and demographic change in the semi-arid Karoo, South Africa

Semi-arid areas are often considered to be environmentally and economically marginal, a situation which has been exacerbated by economic change, shifts in agricultural production and land use, and changing state policy. These themes are explored with reference to a semi-arid landscape, namely the Karoo, which covers some 40% of the geographic space of South Africa and is used primarily for extensive livestock farming. Despite long-term decline in agricultural output, the traditional mainstay of the region, and weakening small town economies, the Karoo's population and the economies of its largest service centres are growing. There are, real socio-economic needs and development backlogs, and the situation has been exacerbated by recent political marginalisation. In this study, the small towns of the region are focal points of investigation and provide a lens to investigate the changing demographic and economic dynamics of the Karoo. Most of the region's population lives in these centres which are service, collection, and distribution points for what traditionally has been an agriculture-based regional economy. This paper explores the concept of marginalisation with specific reference to historical, economic, and demographic change.     

Shopping behaviour in the Øresund region before and after the establishment of the fixed link between Denmark and Sweden

In July 2000 the 15.5 km long fixed link across the Øresund was opened, connecting the Danish capital Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmö. With the decrease of the barrier an enlarged flow of shoppers was expected with Swedish customers availing themselves of the range of opportunities in the Copenhagen area and Danish customers making use of the much longer shop opening hours in Sweden. However, experience from other European border areas shows that customers tend to do their ordinary shopping in their home countries and that there must be significant differences in prices or ranges of goods to overcome the barrier of the border. Does the typical situation result from the rural nature of many border areas, and will matters be quite different in a metropolitan area? The purpose of the present paper is to describe the level and character of cross-border shopping by the residents of the Øresund region before and after the opening of the fixed link. Responses from about 4,000 people form the basis of the conclusion that a little less than a year after the opening of the fixed link the number of shopping trips across the Øresund had increased, but there was still no heavy flow of customers doing ordinary shopping in the neighbouring countries. In order to assess the level of cross-border shopping across the Øresund the findings are compared to those from surveys across the Danish-German land border.     

Structural setting and tectonic evolution of the Apennine Units of northern Calabria

A new structural–stratigraphic synthesis of the Apennine units of northern Calabria is presented. The Meso-Cenozoic successions are grouped into two tectonic units, named Pollino–Ciagola Unit (PCU) and Lungro–Verbicaro Unit (LVU), comprising terrains formerly attributed to five different tectonic units. FeMg carpholite and blue amphibole record HP–LT metamorphism in the LVU, followed by progressive decompression leading to final greenschist facies re-equilibration during dominantly extensional deformation. Final tectonic emplacement of the LVU over the PCU post-dated the metamorphism of the LVU and was accompanied by intense ductile deformation along zones of strain localisation in footwall rocks. All of the units were later affected by folding and minor thrusting during subsequent Apennine tectonics. To cite this article: A. Iannace et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

THE MORPHOLOGY AND VITALITY OF BUSINESS DISTRICTS IN UPSTATE NEW YORK VILLAGES1

Field examination of 40 upstate New York villages reveals their commercial structure consists of six common elements: CBDs, railroad-oriented districts, early automobile expansion zones, mixed use areas, outlying commercial strips, and highway commercial intersections. The economic health of CBDs is quantified by a “downtown vitality index.”Variation in the observed vitality of downtowns may be attributed to site and situation factors, including downtown centrality with respect to the surrounding population, route layout, and regional location of the community. Downtowns are not being abandoned so much as changing their function.     

岩溶地区小城镇地下水资源多目标应急配置研究——以织金县为例

以织金县珠藏向斜北段储水构造为例,依据混合整数线性规划和多目标线性规划原理,从保障应急水资源供给的角度构建了不同干旱条件下地下水资源多目标应急配置模型（E-MIP）,并提出了2010-2030年的织金县城区地下水资源应急配置方案,结果表明:（1）珠藏背斜北部储水构造中裂隙-溶洞水的出露方式以地下河集中排泄为主,平均流量为62.04 m3·s-1,基岩-松散岩类孔隙泉则以分散排泄为主,平均流量仅2.14 m3·s-1;（2）干旱程度的加深不单纯限制了可利用水资源量,也直接刺激了用水效率和社会经济效益的提升,2010-2030年期间的织金县重度干旱缺水率比轻度干旱低21.25%,但其社会经济效益却增加了5.84倍;（3）应急地下水资源配置原则是优先保障居民生活用水需求,其次依据用水效率和权重次序对盈余地下水资源量进行产业化分配。进一步推算出了2020年、2025年织金县城区不同干旱状态下水资源应急配置方案。      

缅孟边境罗兴亚难民的人口学特征及其对区域地缘政治关系的影响

基于联合国难民署的动态监测数据,对2018年1月至2020年9月期间的缅孟边境罗兴亚难民人口规模、人口结构及其对区域地缘政治关系的影响进行分析。研究表明：1）缅孟边境罗兴亚难民规模大且呈不断增长的态势;女性难民多于男性,难民年龄结构趋于年轻型,以18岁以下的未成年人为主,青壮年难民占总人口比重次之且增长快速;在空间分布上表现出典型的“距缅孟边境的距离衰变规律”,即难民营地向西部扩张,难民规模呈现自东向西递减的分布规律。2）罗兴亚难民的人口规模及结构对区域地缘政治关系产生了显著影响。一是深刻影响着缅甸的民主化进程;二是对缅孟边境安全形成挑战,导致缅孟关系趋于紧张;三是引发了多地缘行为体的介入与关注,进而引发了围绕难民问题的地缘政治博弈,导致东盟内部的分化及其地缘政治的外溢效应。3）相较于部分西方国家及国际组织,中国提出的“三步走”解决方案符合缅孟两国的实际情况,在中缅孟联合工作组机制下,罗兴亚难民问题正朝着合作共商的道路积极推进解决。     

欧盟跨边界合作研究对粤港澳大湾区协同治理的启示

经济全球化与区域一体化是21世纪区域合作的核心动因,跨边界合作议题备受学界关注。欧盟在区域一体化实践方面有丰硕的理论与实证成果,其发展经验为粤港澳大湾区协同治理提供了指引,二者均涉及到跨制度、边界的协作和权力的尺度重组。文章基于Web of Science（WOS）数据库和中国知网（CNKI）,运用Citespace文献计量方法,系统分析了1993—2020年欧盟跨边界合作研究动向。结果发现：1）欧盟跨边界合作研究主要集中在边界区域互动、跨边界合作模式、跨边界合作领域、跨边界合作障碍等方面;2）欧盟跨边界合作的发展得益于国家之间政治上的互动互信、正式与非正式的制度协调和合作范围的扩大与深入,然而在双边差异、跨边界可达性、移民和安全等方面仍存在不足;3）欧盟跨边界合作的实践经验对粤港澳大湾区协同治理具有重要启示作用,增强价值与文化认同,创设特殊制度安排,构建多尺度合作空间与多维度治理体系是实现大湾区协同发展的核心支撑。     

边境城镇的产业演化及其机制研究

边境地区是我国的安全屏障和对外交流的门户,其产业演化深受地缘政治、国家和区域政策、当地发展条件等多元要素影响,嵌套于多尺度的社会经济发展框架中。在“一带一路”建设的背景下,边境地区的产业演化研究有着重要意义。本文将“一带一路”的重要节点边境城镇——云南省勐腊县作为案例区域,在进行实地调研和深入访谈的基础上,利用演化图谱、相关分析等方法,剖析了勐腊县的典型产业演化过程及多尺度要素作用下的产业结构演化机制。研究表明：勐腊县的橡胶、制糖和旅游三大典型产业均经历了萌芽、快速发展到成熟的过程;勐腊县作为边境县,产业发展大致可以分为起步、集聚和整合三个阶段;产业的演化受到了全球化进程、国家间关系、地缘政治博弈、国家开发政策、区域发展政策等多尺度因素的影响。随着“一带一路”中国—中南半岛经济走廊建设进一步提速,勐腊县获得了边境合作区、国家重点开发开放试验区等众多跨境合作发展新动能,迸发出新的活力。     

The Dynamic Pathways of Agrarian Transformation in the Northeastern Thai–Lao Borderlands

ABSTRACT

Rural livelihoods in the northeastern Thai borderlands have moved away from being predominantly agrarian, yet farming remains a desirable alternative for many people. The empirical findings from fieldwork in a village in the northeastern Thai–Lao borderlands indicate how dependence on agriculture is determined by family contexts, such as land ownership, education level of household members, their gender and age. Cheap Lao labour and government price-support policies have enabled farmers to remain in production and diversify. Some educated rural people have successfully found employment opportunities outside the village as migratory wage labour, and are able to attain higher social status back in the village. Successful migrants have invested their earnings on cash-crop production and become rural entrepreneurs. Conversely, less educated migrants were unsuccessful in finding good jobs in the city and viewed agriculture as a more favourable alternative and valuable security. Geographical, cultural and economic specificities conditioned rural transformation and contributed to increasingly diverse and geographically extended livelihoods.