评《美国新城市化时期的地方政府:区域统筹与地方自治的博弈》

厦门大学王旭、罗思东教授的新著《美国新城市化时期的地方政府:区域统筹与地方自治的博弈》(以下简称《地方政府》)①值得我们关注。该著是王旭教授主持的国家社科基金项目"20世纪后半期美国大都市区化与大都市区管理模式"的最终成果,全书分为6章,共355页,     

当代美国大都市区社会问题与联邦政府政策

大都市区,一般由一到两个中心城市和周围数个甚至数十个城市及其郊区组成。自1940年美国大都市区人口接近全国总人12I的一半以来,大都市区就在美国社会经济生活中占据主导地位。到目前为止,美国已有268个大都市区,其人口占全国总人口的80％。所以,当代美国的所谓城市问题,主要在大都市区范围内,宜定义为大都市区问题①。     

当代美国大都市区交通拥堵的治理措施

20世纪70年代以来,交通拥堵已经成为美国大都市区最严重的社会问题之一,因而受到各级政府和社会各界越来越多的关注。为了解决交通拥堵及其产生的社会危害,美国各级政府、民间团体和私人企业等采取了一系列措施,比如扩建公路、发展公共交通、推行共同乘车计划、建立高密度混合开发且公交友好的社区等。然而实施这些措施并没有有效地缓解交通拥堵问题,其根本症结在于汽车、公路和城市低密度蔓延这三者间的互动关系没有得到根本的改善。     

当代美国大都市区的空间结构特征与交通困境

第二次世界大战后美国大都市区的交通拥堵现象越来越严重,而且从20世纪70年代以来出现了新的发展趋势,即交通拥堵由原来的中心城市不断向郊区延伸.美国大都市区交通拥堵的原因深深地植根于大都市区的空间结构之中,其中包括郊区的低密度蔓延、住宅和就业的失衡、社区土地利用模式的单一性、郊区社区的空间设计和道路系统等.由于这些结构性问题十分难以克服,美国大都市区的交通陷于困境之中.     

20世纪70年代美国的“逆城市化”现象及其实质

自20世纪初期美国大都市区形成以来,大都市区的发展成为美国城市发展的主导模式。然而,进入20世纪70年代以后,美国城市发展进程出现了“新”的现象,即非都市地区的发展速度超过了大都市区。据此,一些美国学者认为美国的城市时代和大都市区时代行将结束,“非都市化”时代或“逆城市化”时代即将来临。然而笔者认为,这种“非都市化”或“逆城市化”是城市扩张即郊区化进程的继续,是大都市区进一步膨胀的结果。     

浅析1970年以来美国中心城市的发展

1970年美国人口统计显示郊区人口已经超过了中心城市,这意味着美国城市化发展历程中的一个重大转折:中心城市失去了大都市区中的绝对优势地位,郊区成为大都市区发展的主体.此后,中心城市的发展日益陷入困境:人口大量流失、就业向郊区扩散、城市衰败贫困、社会问题严重.这一状况引起了美国社会各界的广泛注意.城市危机的恶化势必影响到民众的安居乐业和整个社会的稳定,因而战后历届美国政府都采取了振兴中心城市的措施,力图有所作为①.学术界人士则批评政府政策缺乏稳定性和可行性,效用有限.     

北美大都市区规划及其对珠江三角洲的启示

本文简要回顾了北美大都市区及大都市区规划的发展历程,重点讨论了当今大都市区规划的影响因素和力求解决的热点问题,并比较了未来大都市区规划的两种主要模式,最后提出了对于珠江三角洲大都市区规划的几点启示。     

20世纪后半期美国大都市区空间结构趋同现象及其理论意义

美国的大都市区化,反映了20世纪世界城市发展过程中不同于传统城市化的新的规律性现象。在这一过程中,大都市区空间结构出现趋同现象,其主要特点是分散化、多中心格局和大规模郊区化。这种现象对传统城市化理论提出挑战,并要求城市化概念的相应调整。在我国部分城市即将进入郊区化快速发展的关键时期,认识到这一点并在相关规划方面做出调整是很有必要的。     

当代美国大都市区城郊发展失衡现象及其影响

美国大都市区的长足发展,有其积极意义,但同时也产生很多负面效应.在其负面效应中,居主导地位的是城市与郊区发展失衡问题.这种失衡发展状态,对美国大都市区的经济、政治、社会和文化等方面都有深远影响.本文对此进行了梳理,以期促成更多的讨论和深入研究.     

美国城市交通的发展与城市生态组织的变迁

芝加哥学派认为,城市内部存在的各种力推动着城市的生态组织结构的变迁,而城市交通是城市生态组织结构演变的一个最重要的决定力量。美国城市交通的发展和城市生态组织结构的演变深刻地体现了两者之间的密切关系：步行城市时代,城市的结构十分紧凑,没有区位功能的分化;城市有轨交通的发展,推动了城市区位功能的分化,大都市区的生态组织初步形成;汽车和高速公路的发展,推动了大都市区规模的急剧膨胀和向多中心结构演变,形成了规模庞大、结构复杂的大都市连绵区。     

Telling small stories: spaces of knowledge and the practice of geography

This article examines how the practice of learning geography, and the arenas in which knowledge-making takes place, can be usefully positioned within changing histories of the discipline. It contends that networks of action – understood through the intersection of social sites, subjects and sources – present a conceptual framework and narrative focus for the re-consideration of specific episodes from geography's past. The interventions made here are informed and illustrated by a 'small story' about the doing of geography. Based on different personal accounts, the story revives a series of events, encounters, dialogues and images dating back to the winter of 1951 at Glenmore Lodge, Scotland. This educational institution in the Cairngorm mountains offered children from urban areas the opportunity to learn field studies and the skills of 'outdoor citizenship'. Initially, the focus falls on Margaret Jack, a 14-year-old field-course participant. Her learning experiences are traced through personal letters, a diary and a field journal dating from that time, and her recent recollections of this event. Margaret's account dovetails with the story of her field studies instructor, Robin Murray. Robin's role is traced through his learning experiences as a geography undergraduate at Aberdeen University, and the recent recollections of Catriona Murray, his wife.     

Das Wissen der Schulden. Recht,Kulturtechnik und Alltagserfahrung im liberalen Kapitalismus

The Knowledge of Debt: Law, Media Technique, and Everyday Experience in Liberal Capitalism. Performing an object such as ‘the economy’ hinges on practices of formatting knowledge. The article proposes to look at such instituting moments in connection with social conflicts over the legitimate rules of exchange. This is exemplified by way of recounting the story of the codification of Swiss bankruptcy law in 1889. In order to homogenize the legal procedures of debt collection and bankruptcy, two subject categories were instituted: ‘merchants’ and ‘non-merchants’. These different categories were thought to account for the diverging temporalities and spaces of credit exchange in everyday economic life. The introduction of the commercial register, a media-technical apparatus, enabled a formal distinction between ‘merchants’ and ‘non-merchants’. However, this boundary was contested and proved to be porose.     

Two radiocarbon dates for freshwater shells from hierakonpolis: Archaeological and geological interpretations

Shells of two species of freshwater bivalve (Unio willcocksi Bullen Newton and Etheria elliptica Lamarck) from the predynastic Gerzean (Nagada II) Decorated Tomb at Hierakonpolis, Egypt have given dates of 5000±90 bp for the tomb, and 12,900±120 bp for an episode of Nile terrace accumulation (correlated here with the Sahaba-Darau aggradation event). The archaeological and geological significance of these results is discussed, together with an outline of problems associated with radiocarbon dating of shell. Comparisons are made with the few other radiocarbon dates available for the Predynastic period in Egypt and possible reasons for the presence of shells in the tomb are considered.     

Some chronological implications of a fossil molluscan assemblage from a neolithic site at Brook,Kent, England

The later post-glacial history of a valley in the chalk escarpment near Brook, Kent, is described, based on molluscan stratigraphy, archaeological evidence and radio-carbon dating. Differences in size and colour banding, respectively, of fossil and living representatives of two species of land snails, Pomatias elegans (Müller) and Cepaea nemoralis (L.), are correlated with climatic change during the post-glacial period. The problems of the use of fossil shells of these species as samples for radiocarbon dating are discussed.     

China's Dynamic Industrial Sector: The Internet Industry

A Singapore-based economic geographer explores and analyzes the spatially uneven evolution of the Internet industry in China, arguing that the country's immense regional disparity in the provision of Internet services is best explained by the interplay of place- and path-dependence. The author demonstrates how the highly uneven regional endowments in relevant industrial and entrepreneurial resources have led to the substantial and persistent regional imbalance within China's emerging "new economy." His initial survey of the country's 100 leading Internet content providers (firms), identified from a listing of ca. 11,700 commercial websites, is selectively augmented to reflect an increase of over 70 million Internet users in 2007, reaching a total of 253 million in June 2008, and thus overtaking the United States as the world's largest Internet market. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: L10, L86, O30. 6 figures, 1 table, 53 references.     

The 1911 International Exposition in Rome: architecture, archaeology, and national identity

This paper discusses the 1911 International Exposition in Rome and illustrates how this patriotic celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Italian Sate utilized symbolic landscapes of architecture and archaeology to promote nationalist sentiments of italianità and romanità centered on the young capital of Rome. Through modern art exhibitions at the Valle Giulia, scientific conferences at the Castel Sant’Angelo, archaeological exhibits on the Roman Empire in the Baths of Diocletian, and regional Italian pavilions in the Piazza d’Armi, exposition officials offered a complex representation of Italian national identity that was modern yet ancient, cosmopolitan yet bucolic, European yet regional, and imperial yet developing.     

The Rise and Fall of Alexander the Great – The Need for Medical Analysis: Reply to Commentaries

Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C. from an unknown cause. By elucidating the nature of his death, we can better interpret various aspects of Alexandrian history. Alexander’s death may have ensued from the sequelae of a congenital scoliotic syndrome. It would therefore be of significance to note that one of the greatest leaders in history who conquered much of the then known world may have been suffering from a physical disability.     

The Chemists' Style of Thinking

Der Denkstil der Chemiker. Der Aufsatz diskutiert die Tragfähigkeit des Begriffes “Denkstil”, wie er von Alistair Crombie eingeführt und Ian Hacking aufgegriffen wurde, für das Verständnis dessen, wie das Fach Chemie historisch seine Identität ausgeprägt hat. Obwohl weder Crombie noch Hacking den Begriff “Denkstil” in Bezug auf einzelne Disziplinen verwendet haben, erscheint im Fall der Chemie seine Anwendung besonders vielversprechend, weil er hier hilft, ein zentrales Problem zu thematisieren – nämlich die Frage, wie es Chemikern trotz wechselnder Gegenstandsbereiche und theoretischer Umbrüche gelang, eine eigenständige und stabile Identität auszubilden. Nach einer Einführung in den Begriff “Denkstil”, argumentiert der Aufsatz, dass die Beständigkeit der Chemie als eines Faches wesentlich in ihren Laborpraktiken gründet, die ihrerseits wiederum die spezifische Art der Fragen bestimmten, die Chemiker in ihren Forschungen stellten bzw. die Form der Antworten, nach denen sie suchten. Folgende Merkmale kennzeichnen diesen “chemischen Denkstil” (1) eine spezifische, im Herstellen begründete Form des Wissens, (2) die Befassung mit einzelnen Stoffen und Materialien statt mit Materie im Allgemeinen und (3) eine Beobachtung von Natur besonders im Hinblick auf Transformationsprozesse. The Chemists' Style of Thinking. This paper discusses the relevance of the notion of “styles of scientific thinking” introduced by Alistair Crombie and revisited by Ian Hacking, for understanding how chemistry shaped its identity. Although neither Crombie nor Hacking applied this notion to individual disciplines, it seems appropriate to use it in the case of chemistry because it helps to address a puzzling issue: how did chemists manage to shape an identity of their own, despite shifting territories and theoretical transformations? Following a presentation of the notion of style, I will argue that the stable identity of chemistry is rooted in laboratory practices, which determined the specific questions that chemists put to nature as well as the answers to their questions. The “chemical style of thinking” is characterized by i) a specific way of knowing through making, ii) the concern with individual materials rather than matter in general and iii) a specific commitment to nature.