Configurations of community in flood risk management

ABSTRACT

Despite a notable increase in the literature on community resilience, the notion of ‘community’ remains underproblematised. This is evident within flood risk management (FRM) literature, in which the understanding and roles of communities may be acknowledged but seldom discussed in any detail. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate how community networks are configured by different actors, whose roles and responsibilities span spatial scales within the context of FRM. Accordingly, the authors analyse findings from semi-structured interviews, policy documents, and household surveys from two flood prone areas in Finnish Lapland. The analysis reveals that the ways in which authorities, civil society, and informal actors take on multiple roles are intertwined and form different types of networks. By implication, the configuration of community is fuzzy, elusive and situated, and not confined to a fixed spatiality. The authors discuss the implications of the complex nature of community for FRM specifically, and for community resilience more broadly. They conclude that an analysis of different actors across scales contributes to an understanding of the configuration of community, including community resilience, and how the meaning of community takes shape according to the differing aims of FRM in combination with differing geographical settings.     

中国"互联网+"发展的空间关联网络及其影响因素——基于社会网络分析视角的实证研究

借助社会网络分析方法研究“互联网+”发展的空间关联网络特征,并利用QAP方法探究中国“互联网+”空间关联网络的影响因素。研究发现,“互联网+”发展的空间关联呈现显著网络特征,可划分为“净溢出”“经纪人”“主受益”以及“双向溢出”四大类型板块,并且板块内部具有较明显的“等级”属性。技术创新、基础设施、人力资本、市场发展、对外开放对“互联网+”发展的空间关联网络存在正向影响。地理距离对“互联网+”空间关联网络存在抑制作用,随着地理距离的不断增大,“互联网+”的知识溢出和流动效应逐步衰减。     

通勤时间、社区活动对社区社会资本的影响：基于北京26个社区的调查研究

城市扩张和郊区化显著增加居民的通勤时间,减少居民在社区内及周边开展的日常活动,进而可能对居民的社区社会资本产生消极影响。基于2017年北京市26个社区居民的社区融合与活动日志问卷调查数据,通过构建结构方程模型,探讨通勤时间、社区活动对社区社会资本的影响机制。结果发现,控制居民社会经济属性和社区区位后,长时间通勤会减少居民在社区及周边1 000 m范围内开展的活动,并进一步对社区社交网络结构、社会信任和共同价值等社区社会资本的不同维度产生负面影响。此外,社区活动中社交娱乐活动的中介效应显著,而个人和家庭事务活动中介效应不显著。最后,证实了促进职住平衡、减少职住分离的规划政策对于增加居民社区活动及培育社区社会资本的重要意义。     

物质地理学的研究进展和启示：追踪物质(following the things)视角

伴随着“文化转向”与“再物质化”思潮的出现,物质地理学已经成为西方社会文化地理研究中新兴且活跃的研究分支之一,而追踪物质(following the things)是物质地理学中重要的方法论视角,它强调人文地理学所重视的“流动性”,通过追踪特定物质在流动过程中物质性的变化以及能动性,揭示物质流动中的社会关系与文化意义。论文通过梳理和分析西方学界中物质地理学的相关文献,阐述了近年来的研究进展,同时指出现阶段在追踪物质视角下该领域的主要议题为：物质的象征研究、物质与认同研究、生产与消费研究以及权力博弈与协商研究等内容。最后,论文归纳总结了当下物质地理学存在的研究局限与空白,展望了未来中国物质地理学研究可进一步探索的话题与方向,以期打开未来中国与西方国家物质地理学的对话窗口。     

The Influence of Community Size and Location on Different Dimensions of Vulnerability: a case study of Australian coastal communities

ABSTRACT

Coastal communities are part of the Australian identity but little is known about their characteristics and their long-term prosperity prospects. Increased migration to coastal areas and increased exposure to extreme climatic events indicates a need for social and economic data to inform socio-ecological systems planning. Here, we undertake a geo-spatial analysis to develop a typology of Australian coastal communities and assess relative vulnerability to climate-driven environmental change for a range of social and economic indicators. The aim of this study is to understand how the vulnerability of Australian coastal communities varies with geographic location or community size, and in comparison to other community types. Results show that both the population size and location of a coastal community matter and that coastal communities overall are more vulnerable on some socio-economic dimensions to climate-driven environmental change than their rural equivalents. However, results also demonstrate that the smallest coastal communities are strong in some important aspects of the human, social and financial domains, putting them in a good position to deal with some changes. Scale-appropriate and context-specific social policies are needed to address identified socio-economic vulnerabilities, supported by a range of formal and informal institutional structures, such as strategies to improve education and female workforce participation, and encourage participation in volunteering to increase human and social capital.     

Social networks and healthy cities: spreading good practices based on a spanish case study

The city of Vitoria‐Gasteiz in Spain is considered a “healthy city” and has implemented sustainable actions to increase the mobility of its healthcare professionals. The objectives of this study are firstly to account for the use of bicycles at work as a strategy for a healthy city and secondly to propose a conceptual framework for analyzing this network and its capacity to spread their practices The paradigm proposed is that of social networks, within which sharing between contacts is explained by means of two models: the “threshold model” and “opinion leaders”.     

Creative democracy and the quiet politics of the everyday

John Dewey envisioned creative democracy as a process of agonistic engagement, and Bob Lake shares Dewey’s optimism for the possibilities of creative democracy. In this response, I suggest that scholars should look beyond the obvious moments of democratic political engagement, whether activism in the public square or in the occupied park, to pay attention to the quiet politics of the everyday, where everyday decisionmaking by individuals and communities can gradually, episodically, change dominant hegemonic norms and understandings, proviing new understandings for social change. I highlight several examples, including the Settlement house movement from the late 19th century and intentional neighboring from the twenty-first century, that illustrate the kind of daily work that brings together different social classes and ethnicities in a situation of sharing and working toward conditions of equality and new ways of living in the world.     

Fishing in the Amazonian Forest: A Gendered Social Network Puzzle

We employ social network analysis (SNA) to describe the structure of subsistence fishing social networks and to explore the relation between fishers’ emic perceptions of fishing expertise and their position in networks. Participant observation and quantitative methods were employed among the Tsimane’ Amerindians of the Bolivian Amazon. A multiple-regression quadratic assignment procedure was used to explore the extent to which gender, kinship, and age homophilies influence the formation of fishing networks. Logistic regressions were performed to determine the association between fishers’ expertise, their sociodemographic identities, and network centrality. We found that fishing networks are gendered and that there is a positive association between fishers’ expertise and centrality in networks, an association that is more striking for women than for men. We propose that a social network perspective broadens understanding of the relations that shape the intracultural distribution of fishing expertise, as well as natural resource access and use.     

An Integrated Moral Obligation Model for Landowner Conservation Norms

This study applies an integrated moral obligation model to examine the role of environmental and cultural values, and beliefs in the activation of landowner conservation norms. Data for this study were collected through a self-administered survey of riparian landowners in two Minnesota watersheds: Sand Creek and Vermillion River watersheds. Study findings suggest that collectivistic and biospheric–altruistic values form the bases for the activation of personal norms. Further, beliefs about local responsibility and ability to act influence personal norms to protect water resources. Findings suggest that landowners’ personal norms of water conservation are more likely to be activated by conservation strategies that appeal to biospheric–altruistic and collectivistic values, emphasize adverse consequences of water pollution, highlight water resource protection as a local responsibility, and provide the resources needed to protect water resources.     

平遥票号传统建筑空间研究:基于空间句法的分析

建筑是体现与传承文化的物质载体,它将一定的社会文化、准则、习俗固化于其形态之中。平遥票号作为晋商建筑的典型代表,其内部空间组构特征体现了一定时期、地域的文化逻辑及生产、生活方式。空间句法作为一种分析空间与其所承载社会逻辑之关系的理论,为深入分析建筑空间形态与组构、功能、内在的文化逻辑提供了新的视角。通过田野调查、访谈及句法软件等分析方法,对不同类型的票号建筑空间分析后发现:平遥票号是晋商建筑的典型代表,其空间的文化逻辑主要通过空间整合度和视觉差异来体现,社会文化也正是通过空间的组构特征来传达;由不同性质建筑改造来的票号反映出不同的空间等级和社会文化,具体体现在整体布局、空间等级、院落布局、对外联系及功能布局等方面。这些发现为理解建筑形式与功能提供了新的思路,为传统建筑票号空间的保护与修复提供了科学依据,同时也可以提高文化遗产地遗产解说系统的科学性。