CONCEPTUAL PROBLEMS IN NEO-MARXIST INDUSTRIAL GEOGRAPHY. A CRITIQUE OF THEMES FROM SCOTT AND STORPER'S: PRODUCTION, WORK, TERRITORY

The publication of Scott and Storper's Production, Work, Territory symbolizes the intellectual maturation of the new industrial geography. But problems of relating human action to structural necessity and local events to global processes continue to plague the discourse. This paper critically examines these related themes in the work of Scott and Storper, and Lipietz, pointing to the uneasy relation between structural inevitability and contingent spatial outcomes, and offers an alternative reading of structuralism as a contribution to the ongoing debate.     

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED: REFLECTIONS ON A CAREER IN GEOGRAPHY

'The Road Not Taken'
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveller, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -I took the road less travelled by, And that has made all the difference.     

"SCENOPHOBIA", GEOGRAPHY AND THE AESTHETIC POLITICS OF LANDSCAPE

Recent critiques of the nature–culture dualism, influenced by diverse theoretical stances, have effectively destabilized the “naturalness” of nature and highlighted its pervasive and intricate sociality. Yet the practical, ethical and political effects of this theoretical turn are open to question. In particular, the emphasis on the sociality of nature has not led to reinvigorated environmental or landscape politics. Meanwhile, the need for such politics has if anything increased, as evident when ongoing and, arguably, accelerating landscape transformations are taken into account. These concerns are illustrated in the paper with an example from Iceland. In its uninhabited central highland, serious battles are now being fought over landscape values. Capital and state have joined forces in an investment‐driven scramble for hydropower and geothermal resources to facilitate heavy industry, irrevocably transforming landscapes in the process. Dissonant voices arguing for caution and conservation have been sidelined or silenced by the power(ful) alliance. The author argues for renewed attention to the aesthetic, including the visual, if responsible politics of landscape are to be achieved. Aesthetic appreciation is an important part of the everyday experiences of most people. Yet, enthusiastic as they have been in deconstructing conventional narratives of nature, geographers have been rather timid when it comes to analysing aesthetic values of landscape and their significance, let alone in suggesting progressive landscape politics. A political geography of landscape is needed which takes aesthetics seriously, and which acknowledges the merit of engagement and enchantment.     

文化经济地理学进展与“项目网络地理学”的提出

文化经济是发达资本主义国家从工业社会向知识经济转型的重要标志。本文回顾和评论了西方经济地理学、城市地理学、文化地理学等学科,在文化创意产业研究方面的进展和贡献。从目前人文社会科学领域在文化经济研究方面的知识积累来看,拥有独特"空间"视角的地理学,尚有很多议题未予涉足,特别是在中国,地理学家对文化经济的知识建构和政策影响,相对较小。西方地理学界最近出现"文化经济地理学"分支学科的说法,反映了地理学界对于文化经济的积极参与。为推进和深化"文化经济地理学"相关研究,地理学家应关注文化创意产业基于"项目"和"项目网络"的独特生产方式,在充分发挥地理学"空间转向"影响力的基础上,开展跨学科研究,有望建立新的分支学科"项目网络地理学"。     

西方"新区域地理学"的发展及其对我国区域经济地理研究的启示

近20年来,西方区域地理学发生了巨大变化。从80年代开始,出现了一种新的区域地理学。与传统区域地理学相比,新区域地理学倾向于结构主义、现实主义和后现代主义的哲学思维。强调区域的个性,强调人的能力及角色与社会结构在区域特性的形成与发展的作用。新区域地理学的核心概念是“地方”、“行为主体”、“体系”。在具体的区域研究中,它不仅注重当地的人及其它因素的重要性,也很重视“人”的各种行为背景,并且也重视来自“体系”的外部大环境的影响。本认为,新区域地理学的研究观点和方法对我国区域经济地理的研究具有启示意义,并主张在我国的区域研究中,应从对“地”的关注转向对“人”及“人地关系”的关注,发展中国的新区域地理学。     

服务业地理学的理论与人文地理学方法论革新探讨

长期以来,对服务业地理学的理论研究、特别是研究方法论的哲学探讨往往重视不够。文章探讨了服务业地理学研究的一般意义和特殊意义,在此基础上,对服务业地理学方法论进行了深入探讨。从而得到了人文地理学方法论研究的几点启示。研究结果表明:借助人地全息统一论与城市全息地域结构的研究成果,并从信息哲学的角度,对服务业空间规律的分布、服务业空间组合与形态、服务活动区位等进行研究,将是一个重要的研究思路和方向。     

'GOOD' AND 'REAL' PLACES: A GEOGRAPHICAL-MORAL CRITIQUE OF TERRITORIAL PLACE-MAKING

As a spatial strategy to control people by controlling access to space, gated communities are territorial place-making devices par excellence. While gated communities often conjure up images of extreme urban inequality and social–spatial segregation, relatively few works have actually engaged in more normative analysis and debates on these contentious urban forms. Addressing this lacuna, this paper will critically examine the geographical-moral dimensions of gated communities by adopting Sack's (2003) theoretical framework on 'good' and 'real' places. Specifically, the paper seeks to underscore the geographical-moral significance of place by considering gated communities as a key site for the critical reflection on the moral content of urban development driven by ideologies of privatism and neoliberal market logic.