THE WOLVES AND LAMBS OF THE CREATIVE CITY: THE SUSTAINABILITY OF FILM AND TELEVISION PRODUCERS IN LONDON

ABSTRACT. The sustainability of creative producers‐businesses and individuals‐depends in part on the state of the urban environment, especially the one of the street. Relationships with the street differ among creative producers with different power positions and levels of embeddedness in street life. Thus an approach to the sustainability of the creative city needs to move beyond the simplistic ideals of “mixed use” and “vitality” to an understanding of the complexity and continuity inherent in the production of creative spaces with respect to the multiple transactions of both the strong and weak stakeholders involved‐the “wolves” and “lambs.” The example used in this article, which draws on evidence from interviews with producers, is the film and television industry in Camden Town, London, in relation to the “experience” economy.     

Re-constructing the urban landscape through community mapping: an attractive prospect for sustainability?

Community mapping is a relatively new tool with considerable potential in giving practical effect at the local level to sustainable development rhetoric. As a repository of socially constructed knowledge, it has considerable value in democratizing information both in terms of what is recorded and public access to it, in a manner that facilitates more meaningful participation of non-experts in planning and advocacy processes. Focusing on a community mapping project in Galway, Ireland, this research paper explores how the city's municipal authority is employing community mapping not just to record and promote the city's social, environmental, economic and cultural assets but also as a practical tool to bolster public participation in policy-making and to improve local communities' trust in the municipal authority, thereby shaping sustainability practices through enhanced governance.     

The principles and guidelines for designing long-term agronomic experiments

Many of the important questions facing farming systems in the world today require long-term studies to provide meaningful information and answers. A long-term agronomic experiment (LTAE) should (1) have long-term objectives; (2) study important soil processes or ecological processes; and (3) be related to the productivity and sustainability of systems. A well established LTAE can provide both insights into how the system operates and foresight into where the system goes. The prerequisites for setting up a LTAE are the secured land, continuous funding and dedicated scientists. A number of principles must be considered carefully when establishing a LTAE, (1) the site must be representative of large areas; (2) the treatments should be simple, but focusing on the big questions; (3) the plots should be large enough to allow subsequent modification of the experiment if this becomes necessary; (4) crop rotations should minimise, wherever possible, the risk of build-up of pests and diseases, and rotational phase should be considered in a rotational experiment; (5) a clearly defined experimental protocol should be developed to ensure data collected is scientifically valid and statistically analysable, but with flexibility to allow essential changes; (6) soil samples, possibly plant samples, should be achieved to provide better answer to the original questions when new, perhaps more accurate analytical techniques are developed, or answer new research questions that were not considered in the original design. The MASTER experiment in Australia was used as a case study to demonstrate how these principles are implemented in practice.     

Livelihood diversification of farmers and nomads of eastern transect in Tibetan Plateau

Livelihoods of farmers and nomads in Tibetan Plateau are severely affected by grassland and herbal resources degeneration. How to help them achieve livelihood diversification is a key sustainable development issue. This paper examines livelihood assets, livelihood diversification level and livelihood strategies of farmers and nomads in 3 regions of eastern transect in Tibetan Plateau. The results show that livelihood diversification is a popular strategy. From high mountain gorge region to mountain plateau region and plateau region, livelihood diversification level is reduced, and livelihood activities and proportion of extended livelihood also decrease. Livelihood assets and livelihood diversification level decrease with the increase of elevation, mainly shown in human assets and natural assets. Livelihood diversification level is highly correlative with livelihood assets, mainly shown in natural assets, human assets and social assets. Livelihood improvement strategies of farmers and nomads are still based on existing livelihood assets, mainly raising livestock and digging herbs, and less farmers and nomads consider off-farm employment or doing business. Nomads in plateau region should learn much from experiences of extended livelihoods of people in high mountain gorge region and mountain plateau region. Therefore, aids of governments should focus on relieving restricted factors of livelihood diversification and help them improve their abilities to build up extended type livelihoods.     

Livelihood diversification of farmers and nomads of eastern transect in Tibetan Plateau

Livelihoods of farmers and nomads in Tibetan Plateau are severely affected by grassland and herbal resources degeneration. How to help them achieve livelihood diversification is a key sustainable development issue. This paper examines livelihood assets, livelihood diversification level and livelihood strategies of farmers and nomads in 3 regions of eastern transect in Tibetan Plateau. The results show that livelihood diversification is a popular strategy. From high mountain gorge region to mountain plateau region and plateau region, livelihood diversification level is reduced, and livelihood activities and proportion of extended livelihood also decrease. Livelihood assets and livelihood diversification level decrease with the increase of elevation, mainly shown in human assets and natural assets. Livelihood diversification level is highly correlative with livelihood assets, mainly shown in natural assets, human assets and social assets. Livelihood improvement strategies of farmers and nomads are still based on existing livelihood assets, mainly raising livestock and digging herbs, and less farmers and nomads consider off-farm employment or doing business. Nomads in plateau region should learn much from experiences of extended livelihoods of people in high mountain gorge region and mountain plateau region. Therefore, aids of governments should focus on relieving restricted factors of livelihood diversification and help them improve their abilities to build up extended type livelihoods.     

The potential for reference site resampling in estimating sediment redistribution and assessing landscape stability by the caesium-137 method

The objective of this study was to examine a new resampling methodology for estimating reference levels of ¹³⁷Cs in uneroded locations. Accurate and precise measurement of ¹³⁷Cs is required from reference locations to estimate long-term (c. 40 years) sediment redistribution (SRD) and landscape stability. Without reliable long-term, quantitative erosion data it is extremely difficult for land managers to make optimal decisions to ensure landscape sustainability. To determine the influence of ¹³⁷Cs reference site sampling, particularly under-sampling, on SRD and landscape stability, two statistical approaches were applied to a grid-based data set. Caesium-137 inventories in the reference location (n=36) indicated that data were normally distributed, with a mean inventory of 2150±130 Bq m⁻² (±95% confidence band) and a coefficient of variation of 18%. The two approaches used to determine the effect of under sampling included: (1) one-time random subsampling from the total sample collected, subsamples ranged from n=3 to n=30; from these data means and parametric confidence bands were calculated; and (2) random subsamples (n=3 to n=36) were selected from the total ¹³⁷Cs reference sample, and each subsample was in turn resampled 1000 times with replacement to establish a sampling distribution of means. Thus, an empirically derived mean and 95% confidence bands were established. Caesium-137 activities determined from each approach were input into equations to estimate SRD from two cultivated fields. Results indicate that the one-time random sampling approach for subsamples of size ≤12 significantly over- or under-estimated net SRD, particularly from the gently sloping agricultural field. Computer-intensive resampling produced significantly better estimates of net SRD when compared with the random one-sample approach, especially when a subsample of size three was used. Landscape stability, based on partitioning the agricultural fields into areas exhibiting erosion, stability and deposition, was better approximated for both fields by applying resampling. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

扎龙湿地水环境可持续性度量研究

湿地水环境的持续性度量的指标体系是从湿地水环境系统结构、功能状态和人为因素三个方面构建的。扎龙湿地水环境可持续综合指数的数学模型是:可持续综合指数P＝0.14P₁+0.47P₂+0.3P₃+0.09P₄。分指数(PI)分别是:水质指数、水资源量指数、生物指数和土地利用变化指数。计算过程运用了灰关联分析法、层次分析法和分段线性函数等方法,结果表明,扎龙湿地水环境可持续性的总体趋势在减弱,其影响因子已经不利于扎龙湿地生态系统的持续发展。     

森林碳汇决策与农村可持续发展研究

认为有必要在基于碳汇的土地利用和当地可持续发展之间建立一种更加明确的联系.依托一个中国-加拿大合作项目,以中国贵州省黎平县为例,阐述了一种将森林碳汇、森林资源管理以及如何促进当地可持续发展联系起来的综合评估方法,并且着重介绍了能帮助资源管理和规划部门实施这种综合评估的土地利用决策支持工具(LUDST).     

生计资产差异对农户耕地保护补偿模式选择的影响——渝西方山丘陵不同地带样点村的实证分析

耕地比较效益低下引致耕地保护经济补偿成为破解耕地保护问题的客观选择,而影响经济补偿成败的关键因素之一在于补偿模式设计是否符合农户诉求,因此定量刻画农户生计资产差异对其补偿模式选择的影响便是补偿模式设计的核心.运用参与式农村评价法(PRA)对渝西方山丘陵3 个样点村392 户农户进行了实地调查,构建了农户生计资产六边形计量分析框架,运用灰色关联分析模型和Probit 回归分析法对农户生计资产差异与补偿模式选择意愿间耦合关系的存在性和影响度进行了分析,并设计了差别化耕地保护经济补偿模式.研究结果表明：① 农户生计资产存在属性差异和空间分异.农户生计总资产呈现由自给型纯农户到非农户递增的总体趋势,空间上存在海拔越高生计资产越低的趋势.② 农户对耕地保护经济补偿模式的选择意愿存在随农户生计资产差异由“成都模式”向“佛山模式”过渡的趋势,不同地带农户模式选择意愿存在空间分异.③ 农户生计资产差异与耕地保护补偿模式选择间存在耦合关系,自然资产与农户模式选择意愿呈负相关,社会资产对农户的模式选择影响最小,金融资产对农户模式选择的影响较弱,人力资产和物质资产对农户决策均产生较显著影响,心理资产对农户的决策影响最为显著.④ 根据农户生计资产缺乏情况为7 种类型农户设计了概念性的补偿模式体系,并就补偿方法、补偿依据、补偿标准和补偿资金来源问题进行了探讨.     

The politics of the possible: Making urban life in Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh, 're-entering' urban history as it did just some three decades ago becomes an important arena in which to focus on the intensifying contestation of rights, practices and development trajectories related to city making. Far from being comprehensively marginalized by emerging urban economies, residents with limited economic means, through their configurations of space, social relations and infrastructure continuously attempt to construct the conditions that enable the city to act as a flexible resource for the viable organization of their everyday lives. These issues are taken up in an analysis of some of the ways in which residents of a large low income housing tract, popularly dubbed 'Building', in the Bassac River neighbourhood collaborate to maximize their access to resources and opportunity.