Institutional arrangements for metropolitan government and strategic planning in Auckland

Abstract:  The task of designing appropriate institutional arrangements for metropolitan government and planning has recently proved highly contestable politically. We interrogate how the role of the Auckland Regional Council (ARC) was zealously contested and hollowed-out during the 1990s. More recently, the impacts of the neo-liberal reforms in Auckland have been mediated by a further round of local government reforms inspired by a Third Way ideology and by the imperative to respond to the planning crisis resulting from infrastructure underinvestment. New regionally based governance arrangements and planning processes have been created. We argue that this new commitment to regionalism can realistically expect to be tested by deep-seated political cleavages within Auckland and by Auckland's relationship with central government.     

生态足迹理论在区域可持续发展评价中的应用及改进

综述了生态足迹理论及其在全球及区域可持续发展系统中的应用成果,发现生态足迹理论在用于区域可持续发展评价时遇到了困难,主要表现为其对区域发展可持续性的评价结果与可持续发展理论所阐述的基本原则不一致,认为这主要是将基于全球生态系统的生态足迹理论不适当地用在了区域可持续发展系统所导致的,而根本的原因是生态足迹概念本身的定义不够确切。本文将生态足迹区分为消费性生态足迹和生产性生态足迹,对传统的生态足迹理论进行改进,并以生产性生态足迹作为评价区域可持续发展的指标,以期更真实地反映区域发展的可持续性;通过比较全球生态赤字和区域人均消费性生态赤字可以对区域发展公平性做出评价。     

Climate variability and rural livelihoods: assessing the impact of seasonal climate forecasts in Lesotho

Climate variability acutely affects rural livelihoods and agricultural productivity, yet it is just one of many stresses that vulnerable rural households have to cope with. A livelihood approach is used to assess the potential role that seasonal climate forecasts might play in increasing adaptive capacity in response to climate variability, using Lesotho as a case study. An examination of the assets and strategies that rural households employ enables a holistic assessment of the impact seasonal forecasts could have on rural livelihoods. This research thereby bridges macro-level variability with local-level impacts and adaptation to provide insight into the dynamics of forecast use and impact among vulnerable groups.     

Assessing environmental impacts of urban growth using remote sensing

ABSTRACT

This paper provides a study of the changes in land use in urban environments in two cities, Wuhan, China and western Sydney in Australia. Since mixed pixels are a characteristic of medium resolution images such as Landsat, when used for the classification of urban areas, due to changes in urban ground cover within a pixel, Multiple Endmember Spectral Mixture Analysis (MESMA) together with Super-Resolution Mapping (SRM) are employed to derive class fractions to generate classification maps at a higher spatial resolution using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) predicted Wavelet method. Landsat images over the two cities for a 30-year period, are classified in terms of vegetation, buildings, soil and water. The classifications are then processed using Indifrag software to assess the levels of fragmentation caused by changes in the areas of buildings, vegetation, water and soil over the 30 years. The extents of fragmentation of vegetation, buildings, water and soil for the two cities are compared, while the percentages of vegetation are compared with recommended percentages of green space for urban areas for the benefit of health and well-being of inhabitants. Changes in Ecosystem Service Values (ESVs) resulting from the urbanization have been assessed for Wuhan and Sydney. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for urban areas are being assessed by researchers to better understand how to achieve the sustainability of cities.     

From hard-path to soft-path solutions: slow–fast dynamics of human adaptation to droughts in a water scarce environment

ABSTRACT

Droughts have long impacted humans with adverse consequences, hindering the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. To reduce vulnerability, multiple ways of adaptation have been developed, most of which, historically, focused on “hard-path” implementation of infrastructure. However, since water consumption plays a major role in the supply–demand balance, “soft-path” solutions focusing on the control of water use have recently intensified. Furthermore, due to the dynamic interaction between humans and water, changes might occur over time, requiring adaptation measures to be continually reshaped. We assess the dynamic nature of human adaptation to droughts in the semi-arid Extended Jaguaribe Basin, Brazil. We explore the shift from hard, supply-oriented measures to soft governance, and its causes: natural and socio-economic processes not anticipated in the original water resources policy. The observed phenomenon and discussion of its causes help to build knowledge on human–water interactions that are applicable more generally.     

Rural restructuring and social sustainability: some reflections on the Western Australian wheatbelt

Over the past three decades the Western Australian wheatbelt has undergone dramatic economic, environmental and social changes precipitated, primarily, by the process of rural restructuring. Farm amalgamation, environmental degradation, labour market adjustments and severe population decline have been consistently noted trends throughout much of the wheatbelt. The ongoing and integrated nature of these problems has led to increasing calls for a more holistic approach to sustainable rural development. This paper argues that while considerable efforts are being made to find solutions to the economic and environmental problems faced in the wheatbelt, these endeavours do not address many important problems faced by rural communities. It therefore advocates the inclusion of a social dimension in any attempt to achieve an overall goal of rural sustainability.     

The enigma of social sustainability in rural Australia

While much previous work has been done on the general concept of ecological sustainability, there is relatively little that examines the likely spatial aspects of a socially sustainable rural system. Having defined essential concepts, this study first identifies major current forces for rural change likely to influence any future sustainable system. It goes on to specify those features of modern rural social formations which I believe deserve retention. Finally, some essential requirements for a socially sustainable system are established.     

Quantify the landscape effect and environmental sustainability of rural region planning at town scale near metropolis

The urban fringe, which can be seen as a special form of regional ecosystem with a spatial transition from urban to rural areas, has strong heterogeneity and is a typical ecologically sensitive area. The expansion of cities and the landscape effect of the changes have attracted wide attention. The primary aim of this study is to obtain an understanding of the spatial patterns of landscape conversion and the corresponding environmental sustainability. With the help of GIS and Fragstats software, the changes of landscape patterns before and after town planning were compared in An-Ding town of Beijing, of which the sustainability was also revealed based on the ecological footprint using social and economic statistic data. The results showed that the landscape pattern changed greatly during its conversion from several villages to a small town and the landscape fragmentation increased due to road construction. Meanwhile, human disturbance increased with the constructed land extension. For the gap between the ecological footprint and the biological capacity, An-Ding town ran an ecological deficit at that period, which means it was unsustainable. However, the environmental sustainability decreased after planning due to the degraded green land and forest. The results suggested that ecological management should be strengthened during the town planning period.     

区域可持续发展评价——以拉萨地区为例

本文依据区域可持续发展评价的理论模型和区域发展的目标体系 ,构建了拉萨地区可持续发展评价的指标体系 ,并对拉萨地区 4 0年来的发展历程进行了评价。评价揭示了拉萨地区社会经济发展水平不断提高、但自然环境对社会经济发展的支持能力却在持续下降的动态历程 ,并鉴明了人均耕地面积持续下降、草场退化、土地沙化、以生物质能源为主的能源消耗结构、居民收入差距增大、人口出生率高、人口文化素质较低等因素是拉萨地区发展的不可持续性因子。     

农户后顾生计来源及其居民点整合研究 ——基于重庆市西部郊区白林村471户农户调查

农户生计资产决定着农户生计方式选择与生计策略行为,作为当前农户主要消费性投资行为的农村居民点建设消费受制于农户所拥有的生计资产量,基于此引导农户的居民点建设消费行为、开展农村居民点整合已成为当前提高农村土地利用效率、改善农户生产生活条件的关键。研究选取重庆市沙坪坝区白林村为样点,采用“PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) +3S”相结合的方法,以地理坐标为标识码,建立农户属性数据与地块的空间数据相链接的“农户-土地”数据库。运用该数据库,构建农户生计资产量化指标体系,量化农户生计资产进行农户分化,剖析不同农户的后顾生计来源及其住居意愿,开展农村居民点整合。结果表明,农户生计资产的配置结构差异明显,8%的农户各项资产产值高于平均水平,23%的农户各项资产产值处于中等水平;以农户拥有的自然资产产值为主辅以其他各项资产产值,将农户划分为农业多样化发展型(16%)、农业专业化发展型(8%)、兼业化发展型(23%)、非农多样化发展型(31%) 和非农专业化发展型(22%) 5 类;根据不同生计来源农户的住居意愿并结合国家与地方发展战略,构建了社区型(非农多样化发展型与非农专业化发展型)、组团型(农业专业化发展型)、块状型(农业多样化发展型) 和带状型(兼业化发展型) 4 种农村居民点整合方式。