Urban land transformation for pro-poor economies

The transformation of land into a setting for clustering local economies can become an important cornerstone of poverty policy. This transformation has several functional aspects, which in turn have important institutional and political aspects. Underlying both the functional and institutional factors is the role of local government and local democracy. Such a conceptualization puts to center stage several paradoxes: A terrain that seems “slum-like” turns out to be highly productive and employment generating. Complex tenure forms and mixed land use seen as “unplanned” turn out to be pre-requisites for economic development. There are institutional paradoxes that contrast efforts at “transparency” and managerial “best practices”. Here, the messiness of local bureaucracies in municipal government turns out to be critical for poor groups to influence interventions in their favor. Influencing the public process may be more effective in stealth-like ways rather taking a more visible approach. Most fundamentally these issues remind us that the potential of cities to reinforce or reduce poverty moved far beyond projects and programs and the normative frameworks used by planners and administrators. Instead, it is the transformative process of turning land into economic settings that might be at the center stage. This is a stage where poor groups are the central actors who stealth-like draw on complex alliances across ethnic and class lines to shapes cities in their interests.     

Application of Remote Sensing in Flood Management with Special Reference to Monsoon Asia: A Review

The conventional means to record hydrological parameters of aflood often fail to record an extreme event. Remote sensingtechnology along with geographic information system (GIS)has become the key tool for flood monitoring in recent years.Development in this field has evolved from optical to radarremote sensing, which has provided all weather capabilitycompared to the optical sensors for the purpose of flood mapping.The central focus in this field revolves around delineation of floodzones and preparation of flood hazard maps for the vulnerable areas.In this exercise flood depth is considered crucial for flood hazardmapping and a digital elevation model (DEM) is considered to bethe most effective means to estimate flood depth from remotelysensed or hydrological data. In a flat terrain accuracy of floodestimation depends primarily on the resolution of the DEM. Riverflooding in the developing countries of monsoon Asia is very acutebecause of their heavy dependence on agriculture but any floodestimation or hazard mapping attempt in this region is handicappedby poor availability of high resolution DEMs. This paper presents areview of application of remote sensing and GIS in flood managementwith particular focus on the developing countries of Asia.     

重庆石碗溪小流域坡度和高程对土地利用及经济发展的影响

坡度和高程是土地资源固有的两个重要环境因子,与土地利用关系密切,尤其是在山区,坡度和高程基本上决定了土地利用的方向和方式,从而影响农业和经济的发展。石碗溪小流域面积20.73km2,为丘陵低山区。按坡度和高程对土地利用的影响程度,把坡度和高程各分为3级,即:0°～15°、15°~25°、>25°和500m以下、500~800 m、800m以上。从1:10 000地形圈上提取土地坡度和高程分级图,与土地利用现状图又叠加,获取各坡度、高程级及其土地利用类型和数据。结果表明,土地面积随坡度、海拔级的增加而加大。耕地分布在各个高程级0～15°的缓坡上,800m以上地区面积最大,果园和森林大多分布在800m以上>25°的陡坡地上。通过分析比较小流域各个行政村2002年农业总收入及种植业、林业、牧业收入与坡度和高程的关系,可以看出坡度和高程对经济发展的影响。最后,根据坡度和高程状况,结合小流域社会经济条件,提出几点建议,以其为山区小流域土地可持续利用及经济持续发展提供科学依据。     

云南发展"会展经济"的战略构想

会展经济，在云南社会经济的发展过程中有着十分重要的意义，云南应该尽快、尽早制定相应的发展对策。首先应深刻地认识到发展会展经济对云南具有十分重要的战略意义，与此同时成立相应的领导机构，同时制定合理的发展目标，并按照会展发展的原则和云南发展会展经济的步骤逐步实施。     

亚、欧两大洲自然地理环境结构的整体性和差异性教学初探

地理环境的结构，是指地理环境各组成要素之间和各组成部分之间相互关系性质的组合，它包括既有联系、又有区别的两个方面，即地理环境结构的整体性和差异性。笔者在亚、欧两洲自然地理数年的教学实践中，从自然环境结构的整体性和差异性特征入手，得出分析、综合、概括归纳和对比研究等方法是学习世界区域地理的主要方法。     

SAN技术在基础地理信息数据库系统建设中的应用

分析了基础地理信息数据库建设中对存储备份系统的需求和当前存储系统的组成及特点 ,提出了存储局域网在基础地理信息数据库系统建设中的应用方案 ,并介绍了其在陕西省基础地理信息数据库系统建设中的实现情况     

A Local Example of Land‐Use Change: Southern Illinois—1807, 1938, and 1993*

This article provides an analysis of a wetland site in southern Illinois from presettlement to the present. The study area is part of the Cache River‐Cypress Creek Wetland, which has international importance, as recognized by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Land‐cover data for 1807, 1938, and 1993 were created and analyzed with a geographic information system (GIS). Land‐use change by topographic setting (uplands, transitional, and bottomlands) and soil productivity was quantified and studied. Interviews with local experts informed this analysis. Results illustrate the complexity of environmental change and its driving forces. First, notable forest and swamp acreage was converted to cropland between 1807 and 1938 and, to a lesser degree, from 1938 to 1993. Second, there were land‐use variations by topographic region. Between 1807 and 1938, the largest transformation occurred in the uplands, with substantial acreage converted from forest to cropland. Between 1938 and 1993, however, agriculture decreased in the upland areas as hilly areas reverted to forest cover. At the same time, agriculture expanded in the bottomlands as this land was drained for farming. Third, there are interesting patterns within these categories of land‐use change, as soil productivity is an indicator of what lands were taken out of cropland and converted back to grassland and forest.     

A Place for Geography in the Liberal Arts College?

This study charts the presence of geography at liberal arts colleges and explores the relationship between the liberal arts and the study of geography. The results of this study reveal a paradox: geography embodies many of the ideals of a liberal arts education and yet this study indicates an absence of degree‐granting geography programs at 93% of institutions. Geography thrives, however, at a select group of liberal arts colleges, and these colleges are disproportionately important as the undergraduate origin for doctorate recipients in geography.     

GIS中矢量与栅格数据模型比较

由于GIS软件的多样性，每种软件都有自己特定的数据模型，从数据结构上来说，矢量和栅格是地理信息系统中两种主要的空间数据结构。本文通过对栅格数据与矢量数据模型的应用比较．对于空间数据从需求分析，以满足对数据信息进行更改、更新、增加或者为了某种特定的需要。     

基于GIS的地下水水源地补给潜力探讨

本文提出了一种基于GIS的补给潜力分析方法。在实例研究中,通过对地形、地表物质组成、包气带岩性、植被覆盖等因子建立的专题图层的叠加分析,确定了地下水的补给潜力分区,结合研究区含水层分布特征,综合确定了水源地的靶区和开采潜力区。研究表明,利用GIS确定研究区降雨入渗补给量是一种高效、直观、可行的方法。