Analysis of food retail patterns in urban,peri-urban and rural settings: A case study from Lebanon

Existing evidence on food retail expansion in developing countries is largely based on cross-country studies. This may be excellent to provide general pictures but less relevant for development planners to tailor context-specific interventions. We apply a meso-level analysis to address three questions: (i) Are modern food retail formats impeding the expansion of the traditional ones? (ii) What is the pattern of food retail expansion into urban, peri-urban, and rural areas? (iii) What factors influence observed food retail patterns? The study was carried out within the geographic landscape of Lebanon, a commercial link between the Middle East and Europe. Historical analysis shows increased growth both in the modern and traditional food retail sales, with the former modestly outpacing the latter. However, data from the last five years indicate the gap being reduced to 2 percentage points, displaying a clear leveling-off as compared to the preceding decade. Thus, we find insufficient evidence to conclude that modern food retail formats are definitively replacing traditional ones. An extremely high spatial disparity in food retail concentration is observed across governorates and districts, suggesting a need for flexible policies for viable food system development in various contexts. Expansion of modern food retail formats is limited by geography or socioeconomic groups, while traditional formats are equally present in urban, peri-urban and rural settings, including high poverty areas. This suggests a need for recognizing the latter as alternative institutions to address specific needs of consumers, particularly in poorer neighborhoods or rural areas. The findings are relevant for international, regional, and domestic food retailers to understand food retail patterns in Lebanon, for development planners to tailor specific interventions in areas where food establishments are least developed, and for researchers to investigate the impact of such patterns on nutritional transformations among the Lebanese urban, peri-urban and rural populations.     

Classifications of retail stores and shopping centres: some methodological issues

This paper reviews current methods used in classifying retail outlets and areas devoted to retailing, in the geographical and town planning literature. For retail outlets, classifications based upon types of goods sold, and types of shopping trip, are discussed. This is followed by an analysis of modern large store development which reflects property developers' and retailers' concerns. Areas devoted to retail uses are subdivided into unplanned ‘retail areas’ and planned ‘shopping centres’. Traditional classifications based upon central place theory are reviewed for both of these types, and found wanting in the light of recent changes in retail development practice and consumer behaviour. Classifications based upon physical development characteristics and type of shopping trip are recommended. Finally, classifications of urban retail location are examined. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

基于POI数据的大型零售商业设施空间布局与业态差异——以广州市为例

以广州市为例,基于大型零售商业设施POI（Point of Interest）数据,运用空间计量分析方法,对大型零售商业设施总体及不同业态的空间分布及其影响因素进行了探究。结果表明：总体上,大型零售商业设施空间分布呈现出由内向外扩散的多中心圈层式结构,沿交通干道生长和连片蔓延趋势明显,中心城区设施临近轨道交通分布指向性突出。不同业态分布差异明显,大型购物中心和商场主要分布在中心城区及外围城区次中心,大型综合超市由中心城区内部向边缘区域扩散趋势明显,大型专业店主要分布在中心城区的边缘区域。影响因素方面,人口、经济和租金因素对其总体分布影响显著为正。不同业态所受影响因素有所不同,除人口等传统影响因素外,与生活中心、产业园或专业市场的临近性也会分别对大型综合超市和大型专业店的空间分布造成显著影响。     

广州市商业业态空间形成机理

以产业、用地、交通、行为、历史和文化为影响要素,分析多要素共同作用下广州市商业业态空间形成的机理,并对业态空间的效益进行评价。提出并界定了研究概念,从广州土地供应的数量、结构、分布等角度,分析了城市用地扩展与商业业态空间的关系,并总结指出：商业与房地产业具有空间共生性,相关产业的整合程度影响零售空间的发展水平。在交通网络建设对业态空间的影响方面,认为城市对外交通干线主要影响批发空间的格局;对内交通干线则直接引导零售空间的拓展方向。在行为对业态空间的影响方面,消费者的消费需求和出行倾向促成零售空间的功能分化。作者还探讨了城市历史文化与商业业态空间的关系,认为广州市区逐渐形成“传统商业街→现代购物中心→仓储式商场”的地域结构。最后,概括了多要素影响下商业业态空间的形成机理,并通过效益分析对商业业态空间进行评价。     

PARSIMONIOUS MULTIVARIATE CLASSIFICATIONS OF URBAN RETAILING SYSTEMS

Multivariate classifications of intra-urban retailing centers have been based almost exclusively on functional variables. This paper advocates, by using a case study, the application of standard multivariate techniques to non-functional and mixed-variable data sets, a procedure that has implications for parsimonious field inventories at a time of accelerated commercial change.     

长春市大型商业网点的区位特征及其影响因素

以长春市中心城区大型商业网点调研数据为基础,选取专业店、专卖店、大型商场、大型超市、家居建材商店、综合交易市场六种商业业态类型,运用点模式分析、有序多分类逻辑回归等研究方法,探讨长春市大型商业网点的区位特征,并解释其区位选择的影响因素。研究发现:长春市大型商业网点的空间分布总体呈中心集聚与外围分散并存的态势,但集聚现象更显著,并表现出沿城市综合性中心地、商业中心布局的特征;各业态类型网点空间分布差异性较大,且具有不同尺度的空间集聚表现,专业店、大型商场以小尺度范围的空间集聚为主,集聚程度较低;专卖店和综合交易市场的集聚程度相对较高,且后者区位选择的空间尺度范围较大;大型超市在空间上呈均匀离散分布,家居建材商店仅在小尺度范围内表现出集聚分布;业态类型、土地价格、交通通达性及集聚特征是影响商业网点分布最显著的因素,同类因素对不同业态商业网点分布的影响程度差异性较大。     

街道尺度下的零售商业中心热点识别与业态差异——以武汉市为例

城市零售商业的空间分布是现代城市发展的重要研究领域,科学分析城市零售商业的集聚特征,有利于优化城市用地布局及合理配置城市商业资源。基于POI数据,以武汉市街道为研究尺度,通过核密度估计、空间自相关分析以及Ripley’s K函数来识别武汉市零售商业中心热点和分析各业态之间的差异。结果表明:(1)武汉市零售商业在空间分布上表现为“大集聚、小分散”的特征,集聚趋势和扩张态势并存,在中心城区集聚特征明显,并形成多个次级集聚中心。(2)全局空间自相关分析结果显示Moran’s I为0.385,说明武汉市零售商业分布存在正的空间相关性,局部空间自相关分析表明高-高集聚区的街道集聚特征明显,但其辐射带动作用较弱,极化现象明显。(3)零售商业分布的“中心-外围”结构明显,零售商业集中区主要分布在以江汉路商圈为核心的10 km圈层范围内,由中心城区向远城区递减。(4)不同距离下各业态空间集聚存在差异,商场、超市进行区位选择的范围较小,便利店、家居建材市场、专卖店的距离范围较大。     

网上购物对个人出行与城市零售空间影响的研究进展及启示

随着互联网的快速发展和普及,网上购物因其巨大的经济潜力已经成为ICT 应用的核心领域之一。网上购物指的是通过互联网搜索或购买商品和服务的活动,网上购物作为一种新的购物渠道和媒介,与城市传统零售业在竞争的同时又相互补充,重新塑造人们的购物行为和零售业运行模式,进而改变着城市传统零售业布局和土地利用格局。本文重点梳理国内外近20 年来地理学界关于网上购物、出行和城市零售空间的研究内容。网上购物和出行的关系包括替代、补充、修正、中立4 个方面。网上购物对城市零售空间的影响包括:①扩大化和碎片化活动空间;②不同等级零售空间受网购影响差异显著,向虚实融合的零售空间转化;③线上线下零售活动向与其他空间渗透和融合,促进传统零售空间转型。研究结论可为消费者出行优化和城市传统零售业发展转型提供借鉴。     

The organisational context of retail locational planning

Retailers have a large number of techniques at their disposal to assist them in their locational planning, but the use made of them is varied, regardless of their intrinsic merits. The reasons for this lie very much in the organisational context in which the techniques are applied. This paper discusses the nature of locational planning and decision making, and puts forward a framework which links locational planning and the organisational settings in which it takes place. The preliminary results of a survey of the use of techniques by U.K. retailers are presented, which show that while most companies use more than ‘Rules of Thumb’, it is the simplest techniques which are the most widely used. The application of the more advanced knowledge based methods is still relatively uncommon. The explanation for the variations lies in the attributes of the techniques themselves, the types of locational planning undertaken, and the structural and cultural characteristics of the companies. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article: Geography and the Third World. International Seminar, 14–18 May 1980, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia . Ishmail Ahmad and Jamaluddin Md Jahi, eds. The Growth Dilemma: Residents' Views and Local Population Change in the United States . Mark Baldassare. Sport and Place: A Geography of Sport in England, Scotland & Wales . John Bale. The Deindustrialization of America: Plant Closings, Community Abandonment, and the Dismantling of Basic Industry . Barry Bluestone and Bennett Harrison. Selected Essays 1963–1975: Carl O. Sauer . Bob Callahen, ed. Housing and Planning in the Countryside . G. Clark. Conflict, Politics and the Urban Scene . Kevin R. Cox and R. J. Johnston, eds. Thematic Maps: Their Design and Production . David J. Cuff and Mark T. Mattson. Wine: A Geographic Appreciation . Harm Jan de Blij. USSR in Maps . J. C. Dewdney. Political Geography: A Contemporary Perspective . Ramesh D. Dikshit. Rethinking Human Adaptation . Rada Dyson-Hudson and Michael A. Little, eds. Sacred Sands: The Struggle for Community in the indiana Dunes . J. Ronald Engel. Geography of the Biosphere . A. Furley and Walter W. Newey. Disaster and Reconstruction . Robert Geipel. Glasgow: The Making of a City . Andrew Gibb. Design for Arid Regions . Giden S. Golany, ed. Urbanization and Cancer Mortality: The United States Experience, 1950–1975 . Michael R. Greenberg. Geology in the Nineteenth Century: Changing Views of a Changing World . Mott T. Greene. Colonización y Destrucción de Bosques en Panamá . Stanley Heckadon Moreno and Alberto McKay, eds. Urban Geography: A First Approach . David T. Herbert and Colin J. Thomas. The Visual and Spatial Structure of Landscapes . Tadahiko Higuchi. Climate from Tree Rings . M. K. Hughes, P. M. Kelly, J. R. Pilcher, and V. C. LaMarche, Jr., eds. The structure of Nineteenth Century Cities . James H. Johnson and Colin G. Pooley, eds. The American Planner: Biographies and Recollections . Donald A. Krueckeberg, ed. Urban Land Policy For the 1980s, the Message for State and Local Government . George Lefcoe, ed. Regional Planning: Evolution, Crisis and Prospects . Gill C. Lim, ed. Relevance and Ethics In Geography . Bruce Mitchell and Dianne Draper. China: The Geography of Development and Modernization . Clifton W. Pannell and Laurence J. C. MA. The Urban Retailing System . Robert B. Potter. Hants. Nonconventional Energy Resources . Philip R. Pryde. Caribbean Migrants: Environment and Human Survival on St. Kitts and Nevis . Bonham C. Richardson. Population and Resources . Harry Robinson. East Los Angeles: History of A Barrio . Ricardo Romo. Integrated Impact Assessment . Frederick A. Rossini and Alan L. Porter, eds. Environmental Aesthetics: Essays in Interpretation . Barry Sadler and Allen Carlson, eds. Earthwatch . Charles Sheffield. Field Techniques and Research Methods in Geography . Robert H. Stoddard. Haiti: Land of Poverty . Robert J. Tata. Weathering and Erosion: Sources and Methods in Geography . Stephen T. Trudgill. Once Beneath the Forest. Prehistoric Terracing in the Río Bec Region of the Maya Lowlands . B. L. Turner, II. The Historical Geography of Scotland since 1707 . David Turnock.