Foreign Hypermarket Retailers in China: Spatial Penetration,Local Embeddedness,and Structural Paradox

As the world economy shifts towards services, transnational corporations (TNCs) in the service sector have accelerated their expansion in emerging economies. This paper examines the development and embeddedness of foreign hypermarket retailers in China. It also analyzes the spatial penetration patterns of retail TNCs, the impacts of home and host economies on their local embeddedness, and how they resolve the structural paradox between enforcing standardization and conducting localization. The expansion of retail TNCs has been influenced by the gradual liberalization policies of the Chinese government. Spatially, they expanded in two directions: from the eastern costal region to the central and western hinterland, and along China's urban hierarchy from larger cities to smaller cities. While home economies greatly influenced their initial strategies, foreign hypermarket retailers are constantly adjusting to better embed in the Chinese market and to more effectively resolve the structural paradox.     

Taming a “chaotic concept”: gentrification and segmented consumption in Brooklyn, 2002–2012

Public debate and prior scholarship tend to emphasize the link between gentrification and high-end chain retail, underscoring the importance of taste cultures tied to social class in making sense of gentrification’s impact on neighborhood identity. In this study, we present evidence from 10 years of change in the businesses of Brooklyn, New York City, a period of extensive gentrification across a wide variety of neighborhood and census-tract level contexts. Adopting census tracts clustered in neighborhoods as the units of analysis, we model the effects of institutional and demographic change on two separate outcomes: chain retail density and homogeneity in the types of goods and services available. We argue that changes in consumer culture embedded in broader processes of gentrification are neither “chaotic” nor “unitary” but are “segmented” according to local spatial and demographic context, taking two discrete forms: institutionally facilitated corporatization; lifestyle-driven homogenization.     

Spatial patterns of retail activity and street network structure in new and traditional Israeli cities

The association between spatial patterns of retail activity and the spatial configuration of street networks was examined by means of the space syntax methodology in eight Israeli cities that represent two city types, characterized by different planning approaches and urban growth: (i) new towns, which were established according to a comprehensive city plan and modern planning concepts of “tree-like” hierarchical street networks and “neighborhood units”; (ii) older cities, where street networks and the spatial patterns of retail activity were formed incrementally during their growth. Unlike in older cities, retail activity in new towns concentrates in relatively less-accessible and intermediate locations. This is indicated by a weak correlation between retail activity and the street network’s Integration and Choice centrality measures. The comparison between Israeli cities illustrates the influence of urban growth and planning approaches on the formation of retail activity and its interaction with the structure of the street network.     

Calculating Intraurban Agglomeration of Economic Units with Planar and Network K-Functions: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

According to recent research, one of the most promising strategies for intraurban job growth lies promoting localized clusters that produce goods and services which are primarily sold within a single city, metropolitan area, or urban region. However, in order to design urban policies to create or reinforce local clusters, the first challenge is to measure in a reliable way the clustering tendencies of different kinds of economic units in intraurban space. The aim is to compare the similarities and differences in results obtained from two methods designed to measure global clustering tendencies (the planar and network K-functions) in terms of characterization, scale, and intensity of intraurban localization patterns for tertiary economic units in a Latin American metropolis. It is concluded that the network K-function is a more appropriate method for measuring agglomeration patterns, scale, and intensity at the intra-urban level.     

JUVENILE GUN CRIME AND SOCIAL STRESS: BALTIMORE, 1980–1990

Violence, particularly among minority youths, is a perennial social problem widely regarded as synonymous with the inner city. This analysis examines 2, 639 juvenile gun crimes reported to the police in an 11-year period, 1980-1990, in Baltimore, Maryland. Attention focuses on patterns of selected categories of gun crimes and their relationship to a generalized areal measure of social stress. Salient findings were temporal persistence of pattern; close spatial relationship between gun crimes and (predominantly African-American) census tracts at or above the 8th decile in terms of a social stress index; the territorial nature of gun crimes; and a “frontier” effect with respect to gun crimes with black offenders and white victims. Applications of this analysis to violence prevention are discussed.     

1984 年以来北京零售业空间发展趋势与特征

在采用虚拟变量对密度函数进行调整的基础上, 借助扩展方法引入时间变量构建计量经济模型测度北京零售业空间发展的分异与趋势, 并利用GIS技术研究了新型零售业的空间布局特征。结果表明:① 1984-2010 年, 近郊区零售业保持着强劲的增长势头, 增速是远郊区的近两倍, 而远郊区快于中心区, 说明中心区零售业地位的相对下降, 类似于20 世纪中期美国大都市区的发展特征。② 2000 年以来, 远郊区零售业增速下降, 近郊区小幅提升, 而中心区发展速度明显回升, 说明部分学者提出的20 世纪90 年代末期旧城区零售业“空洞化”、“边缘化”的发展趋势并未延续。③ 紧随人口的郊区化, 90 年代中期兴起的连锁超市以三环路为基础外向发展, 三、四环路和五、六环路之间数量较多, 而传统百货商店则主要布局在三环路以内。④ 以超市为代表的新型零售业空间布局呈现大分散、小集聚的特征, 没有表现出明显的等级性, 集聚区域既包括近郊人口密集区, 也包括远郊新城和城郊大型居住区。零售业的空间发展趋势与超市的空间特征共同显示, 北京应进一步提升远郊零售业的连锁化水平, 提高服务水平和质量, 促进居住与消费的空间平衡。     

核密度法的南京苏果超市分布热点探测

针对超市经营者进行选址优化和空间配置问题,该文以南京市主城区内苏果超市为例,利用平面核密度方法,对城市内零售超市的空间结构与分布模式进行分析,系统地研究不同类型超市的空间分布特征并进行热点区域的探测。研究表明,热点区域的探测结果符合商业网点分布的一般规律,南京主城区内不同类型苏果超市的空间分布表现出较大的空间区域分异:购物广场的热点分布于中心城区外围的次一级中心,社区店和标准超市的热点分布于居住区,便利店的热点大多分布于人口密集区域。     

长春市零售商业空间分布特征及形成机理

以长春市中心城区大型零售商业网点的调研数据为基础,运用空间密度分析、最近邻距离分析及区位熵分析等研究方法,探讨长春市零售商业空间分布特征及其形成机理。研究结果表明：① 长春市零售商业网点的空间分布整体呈现单中心集聚与多中心分散特征,商业业态空间分化逐渐显现,不同业态空间分布特征差异性较大;② 零售商业网点规模容量呈现老城区小规模密集分布,外围开发区大规模离散分布特征,且商业网点的规模容量等级结构较为合理;③ 不同区块的零售行业特征存在较大差异,成熟区块表现出多行业、多功能复合特征,发展中区块单一功能特征较为明显;④ 商业业态演进及其内在特性选择、居民消费结构与行为因素影响、集聚经济效应驱动及公共政策的宏观调控共同影响零售商业空间格局的形成与发展。