Postrevolutionary land encroachments in Cairo: Rhizomatic urban space making and the line of flight from illegality

After the January 2011 revolution, new and unpermitted constructions on previously empty land went up across Cairo at striking speed. This paper explores a case of such land encroachments carried out by waste collectors in the neighbourhood of Manshiet Nasser in Cairo, Egypt. It begins with theoretical debates about the production of urban space, arguing that the de Certeauian paradigm, in which urban marginals poach or hijack others' spaces evanescently, fails to account for the way such encroachments produce permanent new spaces rhizomatically alongside the pre‐existing order. The paper then turns to a close examination of the events in Manshiet Nasser. Although in a broad view the actors are marginals living in the ‘informal’ city, the conditions enabling the encroachments were such that only the wealthiest and most powerful members of the ‘community’ benefitted. In a context of generalized ‘illegality’, the squatters rely on practical norms and de facto recognitions to obtain some degree of tenure security. Since these efforts rely on and play off legal norms even as the squatters violate them, the paper argues that property rights in this context should be understood not in classificatory terms based on the legal/illegal binary, but rather through a trajectory of ‘becoming‐legal’: a ‘line of flight’ that approaches legality asymptotically.     

Job losses and political acceptability of climate policies: why the ‘job-killing’ argument is so persistent and how to overturn it

Political acceptability is an essential issue in choosing appropriate climate policies. Sociologists and behavioural scientists recognize the importance of selecting environmental policies that have broad political support, while economists tend to compare different instruments first on the basis of their efficiency, and then by assessing their distributional impacts and thus their political acceptability. This paper examines case-study and empirical evidence that the job losses ascribed (correctly or incorrectly) to climate policies have substantial impacts on the willingness of affected workers to support these policies. In aggregate, the costs of these losses are significantly smaller than the benefits, both in terms of health and, probably, of labour market outcomes, but the losses are concentrated in specific areas, sectors and social groups that have been hit hard by the great recession and international competition. Localized contextual effects, such as peer group pressure, and politico-economic factors, such as weakened unions and tightened government budgets, amplify the strength and the persistence of the ‘job-killing’ argument. Compensating for the effects of climate policies on ‘left-behind’ workers appears to be the key priority to increase the political acceptability of such policies, but the design of compensatory policies poses serious challenges.

Key policy insights

• Public perception of, and support for, climate policies is substantially reduced in the presence of large negative shocks, especially job losses.

• Climate policies can be perceived as negative for employment, especially in areas where polluting industries represent a large share of employment and in occupations and sectors already damaged by globalization and automation.

• Policymakers should distinguish between small and large distributional effects of climate policies, and find the appropriate combination of revenue recycling schemes, industrial and retraining policies as well as compensation packages to increase the support for such policies.

     

城中村非正规住房的形成机理与管治——以深圳市为例

城中村非正规住房在快速城市化地区普遍存在。以深圳市为例,在梳理城中村非正规住房发展演化过程的基础上,探讨快速城市化地区城中村非正规住房的形成机理与管治对策。研究发现,城中村非正规住房的形成与发展是政策力、市场力和社区力相互作用的结果,处于不同发展阶段的非正规住房,各种动力的大小和方向存在差异。在此基础上,提出城中村非正规住房的管治方向与措施。     

Placing narrative correspondence in the geographer's toolbox: Insights from care research in New Zealand

Abstract:  To date, narrative correspondence has been relatively neglected as a geographical research method. This is particularly true within the subdiscipline of health geography. Drawing on the literature on narrative approaches, as well as a qualitative study of informal carers' experiences of transitions in the place of care for older people in New Zealand, this paper highlights the valuable insights this approach can offer into the interrelationship between people, place and care. More specifically, it explores how caring identities and care related behaviour are constructed and reconstructed over time and space.     

省际边缘区的就业空间结构模式及动力机制——以淮海经济区为例

淮海经济区是我国典型的省际边缘区,通过对淮海经济区118个县(市)、市区的就业结构与空间分布特征进行主成分分析和聚类分析,得出省际边缘区7种就业空间模式:连续型同心圆圈层就业模式、非连续型同心圆圈层就业模式、跳跃式同心圆圈层就业模式、混合型同心圆圈层就业模式、母子型同心圆圈层就业模式、核心转移型就业空间模式、带状空间就业模式,并从边界、中心城市、交通、城市间关系4个方面总结出各种模式的形成机制。     

Rural diversification in Bulgaria

Agriculture has always been very important for the Bulgarian economy, but during the socialist period there was considerable progress made in the diversification of employment opportunities in rural areas. While many people commuted to non-agricultural jobs in the townships (and there was a large permanent transfer from rural to urban areas), there were additional opportunities in small factories and local services in the villages themselves. The transition has seen these opportunities much reduced, at precisely the time when full-time paid work in agriculture has declined due to market restructuring while complex problems have emerged associated with liquidating the state-run cooperatives and establishing a viable alternative. The paper discusses the general issues and presents a case study from the north-central part of the country. The rebuilding of a cooperative farming system (along with other forms of consolidation) is a positive trend which could increase spending power in the villages and help in the growth of employment in rural industries and services. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Problems of agriculture in Slovenia with special reference to Cirkovce

The transition in the Slovenian countryside is examined through a case study of Cirkovce, a local centre for the central southern section of the Dravsko polje plain where natural and socio-geographical factors underpin a mixed rural-urban structure. Farming is intensive, but a high percentage of people are now employed outside agriculture; a situation which is reflected clearly in the appearance of the settlement. The process of rural depopulation, balanced by the growth of employment in industry and services, is reflected in a secondary knot of settlement around Cirkovce's railway station. Agriculture is still very significant but there needs to be some consolidation of landholding to create larger units suitable for market production and food processing. But the village must also improve its range of functions and provide a better environment for the non-agricultural population which will become increasing important for its future development. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

关于三峡库区移民就业问题的几点看法

本文认为三峡库区移民就业问题实际是三峡工程建设而引起整体的社会－经济－环境问题，也就是地球学中新的人地关系问题，即在符合经济效益前提下实现人与地的协调与社会的整合。首先不应当把迁移出的农民完全转向已负担沉重的传统农业方面。而应当转向新出现的环境（如新出现的水域与水位波动带）、新出现的行业（旅游景区的发掘、建设和开发）、新的就业方向（劳务输出）、与新的社会－经济开发区（新的城镇建设和新的工业建设而形     

Job Accessibility and Male Teenage Employment, 1980–1990: The Declining Significance of Space?*

The spatial mismatch hypothesis, which argues that job decentralization has had a major impact on the economic fortunes of inner-city minorities, has been a popular argument in academic and policy circles. It is possible, however, that employment decentralization was a temporary shock to inner-city labor markets and that labor supply has successfully adjusted by residential relocation and alterations in job search patterns. This paper examines this issue with an empirical analysis of the 1980 and 1990 employment probabilities of black and white male teenagers living in the largest metropolitan areas of the United States. Findings indicate that the impact of job accessibility on employment probabilities declined between 1980 and 1990, especially for black male teenagers not enrolled in school. Accessibility had a declining effect for this group because of losing the advantage of accessibility rather than overcoming the disadvantage of inaccessibility. By 1990, black male teens living in job-accessible areas no longer enjoyed as much of an employment advantage relative to teens living in job-inaccessible areas as they did in 1980. We should thus be cautious about ascribing too much theoretical or policy importance to job accessibility factors.     

Evaluation of water quality pollution indices for heavy metal contamination monitoring. A study case from Akpabuyo-Odukpani area, Lower Cross River Basin (southeastern Nigeria)

This article seeks to show the characteristics of homework in the traditional industrial sectors of clothing and footwear in Germany and Spain. We focus, first, on the national contexts in order to grasp how homework is embedded in the economic, political and social environment, and second, on the women's perspective regarding how homework is integrated into their everyday lives and vital expectatives. Finally, we compare the two different national and cultural contexts and draw some conclusions with which we would like to enrich further discussions on homework. The analysis is based mainly on in-depth interviews and participant observation. The study in Germany was carried out in urban and rural areas of Bavaria, and the Spanish study occurred in rural areas of Catalunya, Galicia, Andalusia, and Valencia. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.