Social Mix and the Problematisation of Social Housing

Social housing in Australia is at a significant juncture. High levels of housing stress, increasing levels of socio-spatial polarisation and reduced government funding are posing complex policy challenges. Social mix policies are one response to these challenges, arising from the problematisation of social housing estates as socially excluded. This problematisation is examined through case studies of two Sydney social housing renewal projects: Telopea and Riverwood North. Drawing on interviews with government, private-sector and not-for-profit housing practitioners, the paper identifies two distinct discourses of social exclusion within this problematisation—culture of poverty discourse and equity discourse—that shape the implementation of social mix. These discourses reveal that implementing social mix is more complex than simply managing the cohabitation of residents in different tenures. Rather, the practice of social mix is embedded within discourses about the nature and causes of social exclusion. These discourses, in their turn, inform the multiple and sometimes conflicting aspirations pursued through social mix policies.     

测绘师的职业素养和成长进程研究

要实现测绘强国,一要有先进发达的测绘科技,二要有规范繁荣的测绘市场,而二者平衡发展的关键就在于人才。测绘师在测绘行业中起着至关重要的作用。测绘师的能力通常可以反映测绘事业的整体水平。作为一个合格的注册测绘师必须具有测绘职业道德、素质修养和专业技能,才能胜任功能社会的需要。注册测绘师的成长需要经历学校培养、见习锻炼和执业发展3个阶段,从而逐步形成测绘师自身和测绘行业的社会地位和专业魅力。     

Understanding the potential relationship between the socio-economic variables and contributions to OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap (OSM) has seen an exponential increase in the last few years and large volumes of geodata have been received from volunteered individuals. The collected geodata are heterogeneous in terms of different dimensions such as spatial patterns of contributions, quality, patterns of contributing individuals, and type of contributions. Because contributors’ personal information is anonymously stored by the OSM administrators, alternative methods are needed to investigate the role of contributors’ characteristics on their mapping behavior. This study is intended to explore the potential socio-economic characteristics of contributors in highly contributed areas to have better insights about the latent patterns of involved individuals in a highly dynamic state of the most active country in OSM, Germany. A logistic regression model (LRM) is applied to discover the potential correlations between dependent and independent variables. The findings explain that the areas with high population density, middle level of education, high income, high rate of overnight stays, high number of foreigners, and residents aged from 18 to 69 are more likely to be involved in OSM. Furthermore, the degree of dynamism in OSM is a function of proximity to built-up areas. Finally, concluding remarks concerning the independent variables and model sensitivity are presented.     

“Belonging” in the gentrified Golden Horn/Halic neighbourhoods of Istanbul

Mainstream gentrification research predominantly examines experiences and motivations of the middle-class gentrifier groups, while overlooking experiences of non-gentrifying groups including the impact of in situ local processes on gentrification itself. In this paper, I discuss gentrification, neighbourhood belonging and spatial distribution of class in Istanbul by examining patterns of belonging both of gentrifiers and non-gentrifying groups in historic neighbourhoods of the Golden Horn/Halic. I use multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), a methodology rarely used in gentrification research, to explore social and symbolic borders between these two groups. I show how gentrification leads to spatial clustering by creating exclusionary practices and eroding social cohesion, and illuminate divisions that are inscribed into the physical space of the neighbourhood.     

Dark side of the planet: hidden dimensions of urban agglomeration

ABSTRACT

This intervention probes the hidden, political dimensions of planetary urbanization. Drawing on political theory, it approaches its analysis through the analytic of ‘the political,’ the dimension in which antagonism performs a constitutive function in the social order. In doing so the intervention throws into relief the ways in which group-based differentiation, conflict, and exclusion establish the conditions of possibility for ongoing transformations of urban agglomeration. It then develops a case for further exploring intersections of the political and capitalist agglomeration to generate new knowledge about current mutations in urban economies of space.     

Escapism. Yi-Fu Tuan; Transnationalism from Below. Michael Peter Smith and Luis Eduardo Guarnizo,editors; Race,Place, and the Law 1836-1948. David Delaney; Hurricane Andrew: Ethnicity,Gender, and the Sociology of Disasters. Walter Gillis Peacock,Betty Hearn Morrow,and Hugh Gladwin,editors

In the second half of the 20th century, considerable resources and efforts have been devoted to revitalizing American central cities. In these redevelopment processes, however, the common byproduct of physical upgrading is social upgrading, the displacement of many of the original residents, who are often low-income and minority, from their traditional neighborhoods. This article explores the various processes of physical and social upgrading—including locally driven urban renewal, private sector "blockbusting," and gentrification—occurring in late 20th century Houston, Texas. This research also examines the neighborhood characteristics and demographic patterns that influence the occurrence of specific upgrading processes. One location of particular interest in the study is Houston's historic African American community of Freedmen's Town, which has experienced decades of conflict over land and space. Most recently, Freedmen's Town has been at the focus of Houston's urban revival, where physical upgrading has been accompanied by the displacement of the community's traditional population and the destruction of this historic neighborhood.     

Policing,Partnerships, and Profits: The Operations of Business Improvement Districts and Town Center Management Schemes in England

This study considers the emergence of Public Private Policing Partnerships (PPPPs) in England and focuses on two increasingly common partnership bodies in particular: Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and Town Center Management (TCM) schemes. It argues that in order to fully understand the operations of these partnerships, research must pay attention to their introduction, evolution, and social relationships. Through comparative case studies of local TCM schemes and BIDs in Coventry, Plymouth, and Reading, it reflects on the ways in which policing services are speculatively used to improve the "experience"' of being downtown, and increase the likelihood of consumers and investors spending more in their district. It also sheds light on the evolving policing "portfolios" the partnerships have developed and the roles that socio-technologies (e.g., CCTV, circulars) play in shaping the performance and relations of the partnerships.     

亚运会城市更新对社区居民影响的跟踪研究——基于广州市三个社区的实证调查

亚运会的成功举办对广州的经济、社会、文化产生了深远影响,同时也触发了广州新一轮的城市更新,涉及颇多社区与居民。现有研究仅关注亚运会前期的影响,缺乏对其后续影响的跟踪研究。本文对亚运会期间更新改造的三个案例进行跟踪研究,对比更新前后社区居民在物质、社会和心理层面上所受影响。研究表明:由于城市更新缺乏对社区居民的全面考虑,更新改造导致部分居民的社会经济地位降低,社会网络破坏,邻里关系拆散,社区满意度下降。这场快速、效果显著的城市更新,在物质层面上一定程度地改善了居民的居住环境和质量,但在社会层面和心理层面却对社区居民造成了较大负面影响。作为与政府和开发商不均衡博弈中的弱势方,社区居民成为亚运轰轰烈烈的城市更新改造中的社会成本承担者。城市更新应更多关注社会利益与公众参与,提倡多元化的城市更新目标。     

Space,time, and situational awareness in natural hazards: a case study of Hurricane Sandy with social media data

ABSTRACT

Various methods have been developed to investigate the geospatial information, temporal component, and message content in disaster-related social media data to enrich human-centric information for situational awareness. However, few studies have simultaneously analyzed these three dimensions (i.e. space, time, and content). With an attempt to bring a space–time perspective into situational awareness, this study develops a novel approach to integrate space, time, and content dimensions in social media data and enable a space–time analysis of detailed social responses to a natural disaster. Using Markov transition probability matrix and location quotient, we analyzed the Hurricane Sandy tweets in New York City and explored how people’s conversational topics changed across space and over time. Our approach offers potential to facilitate efficient policy/decision-making and rapid response in mitigations of damages caused by natural disasters.     

“This is a Montreal Issue”: Negotiating responsibility in global production and investment networks

While geographers have increasingly focused on how global commodity and production networks create new ‘geographies of responsibility’ there has been little empirical work considering how responsibility is worked into management systems and social activism in such networks. Drawing on literature from global production networks, geographies of responsibility and other literatures, this paper explores the dynamic and contested ways in which concepts of responsibility can play a role in network regulation. Both foreign direct investment and commodity networks (here referred to as ‘global production and investment networks’) are subject to complex negotiations and compromises involving corporate social responsibility and sustainability initiatives as well as shareholder activist, human rights, labor, and environmental activism. This is illustrated by reference to conflicts in Canada over Alcan, Inc.’s investments from 1993 to 2007 in the Utkal Alumina Project in Orissa, India. The project involved significant socio-environmental conflict. In Canada, Alcan’s investment was met by civil society campaigns that tested the company’s commitments to sustainability and corporate social responsibility. The case study suggests revising theories of geographies of responsibility. While foreign direct investment can create new relationships between distant others, these are fluid and contingent and not necessarily desirable. Rather than see networks as a source of responsibility we should work to ensure that the relationships that networks foster be structured to ensure our deeper values are respected.