Social change and segregation in Copenhagen

This article examines socio-spatial changes resulting from economic and social restructuring in Copenhagen in recent decades. The main features of these changes have involved a sharp decline in manufacturing employment, a rise in the participation of women in the labour market, increasing unemployment among unskilled workers, a growing number of immigrants in obsolete dwellings and social housing estates, a relative decline in the number of families, and a growth in the numbers of single parent households. Do these changes challenge the classic models of segregation, or can they still be considered valid? Empirical evidence is produced concerning the socio-spatial effect of these changes in Copenhagen. The conclusion is that the classical model of social segregation is still valid, although some additional dimensions must be included. Furthermore, the overall socio-spatial structure of Copenhagen remains relatively intact, largely because of the inertia of the urban landscape and its social relations. However, the radical nature of the restructuring processes can also be called into question.     

Governing Metropolitan Lisbon: A tale of fragmented urban governance

This article is concerned with the nature of the present governance framework in the Lisbon metropolitan area and with the conditions responsible for the lack of any consistent intergovernmental and inter-tier co-ordination. It shows how Lisbon, where a form of metropolitan government was introduced only in 1991, is different from other European cities, but at the same time similar with regard to the limits associated with the associative or (polycentric) model adopted. The article concludes by discussing alternative scenarios for the reform of metropolitan government as well as the institutional and policy challenges facing the Lisbon metropolitan area. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The rise and fall of the estuarine intertidal zone

Water level records from two study sites in Indian River Lagoon, along Florida’s Atlantic Coast, are used to characterize the vertical displacement of the estuarine intertidal zone in response to subtidal frequency forcing. A 22-year water level record indicates that the seasonal cycle has a range approximately one-quarter greater than the mean tidal range. The intertidal zone thus rises and falls to such an extent that over time scales in excess of several weeks there is no layer which consistently experiences an alternating exposure and inundation. Six-year sets of high and low tide extremes from the second study site are expressed in the form of cummulative histograms to determine the probabilities with which high tide and low tide levels lying outside of median values will occur in response to the interaction of tidal constituents and low-frequency forcing. High and low water values are then stratified by month, and probability distributions are recomputed for each subset. In this study area, unpredictable, low-frequency water level fluctuations perturb the intertidal zone to such an extent that the probabilities of extreme high and low water levels, in addition to mean high and low water, must be determined to characterize the stuarine intertidal zone adequately. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A01BY034 00002     

Milan: The city of constant renewal

Traditional models of urban development are no longer adequate to describe current metropolitan transformations. These are now at the centre of a debate concerning management and administration. In Italy, delays in resolving problems of urban and metropolitan government, despite the legal framework provided by Law 142/90, have weighed heavily on the larger urban areas of the country: Rome, Naples, Milan, which have not been able to tackle the issue of metropolitan government. Recent legislation, while not providing a pre-defined institutional solution, allows separate administrative districts to collectively establish metropolitan institutions of `variable geometry'. The Milan urban area is not one city, but a system of mutually-dependent cities, linked to each other and the rest of the world by a transport network still requiring much investment. The vitality of its economic structure (especially its small firms) is held back by seriously inadequate infrastructure and low external economic efficiency. The provincial capital may boast `historic centrality' but the most interesting potential for development is to be found on the periphery and in the administrative districts immediately surrounding it, in the recovery of derelict industrial areas and dormitory towns established in the 1950s and 1960s, especially to the north. Recovery of derelict areas, green areas, and better transport links within the urban area and with the outside world are the key elements in the reorganization of `Greater Milan'. In this situation of rapid transformation the most appropriate political strategies involve negotiated planning. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Local government, local economic development and quality of life in Poland

The establishment of local self-government was a key part of the post-1989 transformation in East and Central Europe. Local government in both Western and East and Central Europe has increasingly been expected to play a role in local economic development (LED). Local government is one important agent in the complex processes of building 'institutional thickness' to ensure the development of local economies and the quality of life of inhabitants. This paper presents the results of a national postal questionnaire survey of the LED role of the lowest level of local self-government in Poland, the gmina or commune. The paper establishes a baseline of knowledge regarding: the local economic problems faced by communes; their attitudinal, strategic and organisational responses; and the main factors which are hindering the communes' LED role. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Residential mobility in the Seoul metropolitan region, Korea

The spatial pattern of residential mobility in Korea is found to be one of intraregional rather than interregional movement. Net inmigration has taken place only in the Seoul metropolitan region (SMR) since 1970. People from the Cholla region have formed the main stream of net inmigration into the SMR. The decentralization of population from Seoul to Kyonggi and Inchon has generated a transformation of the Seoul urban fringe since 1970. This metropolitanization process is accompanied by residential and employment suburbanization to 45kms from the center of Seoul. Residential mobility in the SMR is the result of metropolitan job opportunities, availability of housing, and the effects of the various regional policies. Availability of transportation between Seoul and its urban fringe encouraged the wide expansion of the urban areas and population redistribution within the SMR.     

Declining groundwater level and aquifer dewatering in Dhaka metropolitan area,Bangladesh: causes and quantification

Large abstraction by water-wells has been causing a linear to exponential drop in groundwater level and substantial aquifer dewatering in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The city is almost entirely dependent on groundwater, which occurs beneath the area in an unconsolidated Plio-Pleistocene sandy aquifer. Analysis shows that the pattern of water-level change largely replicates the patterns of change in the rate of groundwater abstraction. Contribution of the aquifer storage to the abstraction is estimated to be more than 15% in the year 2002. This abstraction has caused a sharp drop in water level throughout the city and turned into two cones of depression in the water level. Upper parts of the aquifer are already dewatered throughout the area, with the exception of part of the northeast and southeast corner of the city. It is calculated that about 41 million cubic metres (MCM) of the aquifer dewatered by the year 1988, which increased to 2,272 MCM in the year 2002. Water-level decline may increase non-linearly due to limiting vertical recharge in areas where the aquifer is dewatered and may severely threaten the sustainability of the aquifer.     

The spatial implications of the functional proximity deriving from air passenger flows between European metropolitan urban regions

Until recently the traditional spatial configuration of the European geography was based upon the core-periphery model. The ‘pentagon’, broadly defined as lying between London, Paris, Milan, Munich and Hamburg, was seen as the core area characterised by having the highest concentration of economic development in the European Union (EU), with the remainder of the European territory viewed as peripheral, albeit to varying degrees. In a number of cases such peripheral areas equated with clear regional disparities. The elaboration of the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) (CEC, European spatial development perspective, towards balanced and sustainable development in the territory of the European Union, 1999) challenged this core-periphery model. European spatial planning policies, aimed at encouraging social and economic, and with ever increasing importance, territorial cohesion, seek amongst other aspects to encourage the development of a balanced and polycentric urban system. This paper adopts a network analysis approach to the analysis of air passenger flows between some 28 principal European metropolitan urban regions. The evaluation of these flows contributes to an enhanced comprehension of the spatial dynamics of the European metropolitan territory which goes beyond that deriving from the more standard analyses of the individual components of the urban system. Several indicators are used, deriving from gravitational modelling techniques, to analyse the complexity of the air passenger flows. A multidimensional scaling (MDS) technique is introduced in order to interpret and visualise the resulting spatial configuration and positioning of the different metropolitan centres within the conceptual European ‘space of air passenger flows’, thereby contrasting with the more traditional map-based geographical image of Europe, based upon Cartesian coordinates.

Globalisation and regional integration: the case of the Italian urban system

A recent study on the European integration of the Italian urban system shows that globalisation processes do not necessarily separate cities from their regional networks. The most successful cases of recent urban development in Italy are associated with the formation of metropolitan networked regions in which a major metropolitan centre is linked with cities of a lower level by hierarchical, complementary and synergetic relations. The paper examines the result of an analysis carried out on 148 major Italian daily urban systems. It takes into account two sets of indicators: one referring to the supraregional network interactions, measuring the degree of globalisation, and one referring to the proximity interactions inside the regional networks, measuring the degree of regional cohesion. They allow the definition of typologies of urban systems founded on a (normally positive) correlation between supraregional functional openness and regional integration.     

苏南都市圈城市地下空间资源开发利用现状与地质调查对策

地下空间资源是地表基质层中宝贵的自然资源之一,其作为城市有机体的重要组成部分,在未来城市建设中起着举足轻重的作用.苏南都市圈城市地下空间资源开发在全国处在领先地位,地下空间规划管理方面已形成较为完善的体系,城市地质调查也在全国率先实现全覆盖.依据地下空间资源开发现状和地质结构"软硬"两个方面条件对苏南都市圈城市地下空间...     

苏南都市圈城市地下空间资源开发利用现状与地质调查对策

地下空间资源是地表基质层中宝贵的自然资源之一,其作为城市有机体的重要组成部分,在未来城市建设中起着举足轻重的作用。苏南都市圈城市地下空间资源开发在全国处在领先地位,地下空间规划管理方面已形成较为完善的体系,城市地质调查也在全国率先实现全覆盖。依据地下空间资源开发现状和地质结构 “软硬”两个方面条件对苏南都市圈城市地下空间资源进行分类,划分为宁镇丘陵岗地型、苏锡常平原型和长江中下游冲积平原型三种类型。不同类型城市地下空间资源开发的地质背景和城市需求不尽相同,需根据实际情况定制不同的地下空间调查、规划、建设、管理体系。城市地下空间资源地质调查作为城市地质调查工作的延伸,需要提出更高的要求。本文从城市地下空间资源地质调查精度和深度、多参数多尺度一体化建模、地下空间资源评价、多种地下资源协同利用、地质资料信息数据库与平台建设等方面提出对策建议,用于指导未来城市地下空间资源调查的工程实践,为地质调查成果支撑城市地下空间全生命周期发展提供借鉴意义。     

Role of climate in the rise and fall of Neolithic cultures on the Yangtze Delta

Climatic changes in the Yangtze Delta have played an important role in the emergence, persistence and collapse of civilization. Archaeological excavations in the region over many years have demonstrated that there are several layers of fine sand or organic mud that interrupt the consecutive culture strata in a number of Neolithic culture sites. Continuous biostratigraphical and sedimentological records from the Maqiao cultural site, Shanghai, suggest that the fine sand and organic mud units resulted from expansion of water bodies both by sea-level fluctuations and from increased flooding during cold and humid episodes of Holocene climates. The absence of human settlement from 7240 BP to 5320 BP in the region was mainly caused by higher sea levels resulting from a warm and humid climate. The Neolithic cultures developed under conditions of lower and more stable sea level as well as warmer and dryer climates between about 4410 BP and 3250 BP. A flood-induced lake expansion interrupted the civilization in the region at about 4200 BP. Later, higher water tables and expansion of lakes between 3250 BP and AD 618 under a cold and moist climate temporarily terminated settlement on the delta. Later, during the Tang Dynasty, beginning at about AD 618, the region again became suitable for human settlement under conditions of more favourable climate and lower water tables.     

The spaces of modernisation: Outcomes, indicators and the local government modernisation agenda

The modernisation of local government has attempted to reinvent central-local government relations by offering freedoms and flexibilities to facilitate the governance of local issues. At the same time, a shift to outcome focussed targets as a new form of governmental rationality allows central government to delimit these opportunities. Drawing on aspects of governmentality and actor-network theory, the paper explores the tensions between these modes of government. It argues that outcome focussed targets circumscribe the limits of local governance by offering a despatialised technology of government. Using a case study of Local Public Service Agreements, the paper highlights the problems 10 English rural local authorities have experienced in their attempts to construct and negotiate a series of local policy targets with central government. The paper shows how the spatial limitations of statistical governance conspire against the construction of targets which reflect local policy priorities. In conclusion we consider the extent to which these limitations are a deliberate act of control and consider the implications for agency within networks of governmentality.     

Subcultural enterprises,brand value,and limits to financialized growth: The rise and fall of corporate surfing brands

Geographical political economy increasingly scrutinises the socio-spatial contexts for brands and branding. Less understood is the influence of subcultures – neo-tribal groups sharing passions, a leisure pursuit or practice - on enterprise formation and the pathways through which brands emerge, trading on perceived authenticity. Subcultural contexts, we argue, unleash distinctive trajectories of enterprise formation, reputation-building, value-creation, global expansion and accumulation, and ultimately destruction. Here we focus on how particular subcultural values – of authenticity, competition, risk-taking, and active participation in ‘scenes’ – interact with capitalist growth dynamics, and where over time and space such intersections bring brands unstuck. Using the case of surfing subculture and collapse of corporate surf enterprises (Quiksilver, Billabong), we theorise subcultural brand value creation and its interaction with financialized expansion, culminating in destructive contradictions. Subcultural enterprises with ‘authentic’, ‘back-of-the van’ origins convert subcultural values of credibility, localism, risk-taking, and scene participation into brand value. Trading on place-origins and subcultural authenticity, enterprises expanded in two phases. First by widening distribution using specialist ‘surf’ retailers, and second by offshoring production, public floating, and debt-financing brand acquisitions and massive retail expansion. Dictates of shareholders and investment banks spurred market saturation, and high-volume/low-quality goods. Surfing’s cherished insouciance gave way to unhinged expansionism and unmanageable debt. The subcultural authenticity that spawned brand popularity was undermined, amplifying financial risk. Disenchanted consumers who once co-created successful brands also co-destroyed them. As subcultural brands proliferate, geographical political economy must be attentive to subcultures as spawning-grounds for enterprises with accompanying limits to market growth, (dis)connections, and values.     

The ?resund Area: Pre- and post-bridge cross-border functional integration: The bi-national regional question

Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmö in Sweden were connected in 2000 by the 18- km fixed Öresund link. This meant that the time distance-barrier was reduced dramatically and that the land-sea bottleneck was eliminated. High-profile pre-bridge expectations of a new regional development regime towards a functionally integrated, bi-national region are assessed in this paper. The paper relates to the continuing discussion on development of border-regions and bi-national cities. Data on cross-Öresund flows of people and vehicles, together with data on migration and commuting, indicates a modest post-bridge shift in the development of functional integration. The Öresund Area development towards a bi-national, integrated, functional urban region is in progress, but the progress is much slower than expected.     

The Öresund Area: Pre- and post-bridge cross-border functional integration: The bi-national regional question

Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmö in Sweden were connected in 2000 by the 18- km fixed Öresund link. This meant that the time distance-barrier was reduced dramatically and that the land-sea bottleneck was eliminated. High-profile pre-bridge expectations of a new regional development regime towards a functionally integrated, bi-national region are assessed in this paper. The paper relates to the continuing discussion on development of border-regions and bi-national cities. Data on cross-Öresund flows of people and vehicles, together with data on migration and commuting, indicates a modest post-bridge shift in the development of functional integration. The Öresund Area development towards a bi-national, integrated, functional urban region is in progress, but the progress is much slower than expected.     

基于“互联网+政务服务”的地质资料信息管理服务系统建设

围绕地质资料管理和公共服务需求,以提高地质资料管理效率和服务能力为目标,分析了地质资料信息管理服务现状和存在的问题,提出"用户为本、资源整合、业务协同、共享服务"的总体建设思路。地质资料信息管理服务系统建设以业务需求驱动应用集成,借鉴"互联网+政务服务"应用模式,以地质资料政务信息管理和公共服务为核心构建系统总体架构,实现全国地质资料管理和服务信息的"一站协同、一网通查、一码通管",推进全国地质资料管理和服务信息的共享利用,形成"全国统一、动态更新、多级联动、权威发布"的地质资料管理和服务体系,为地质资料汇交和社会公众提供更好的服务。