Obsidian sources and distribution systems in Island Southeast Asia: new results and implications from geochemical research using LA-ICPMS

This paper discusses new evidence of long-distance interaction networks in Island Southeast Asia obtained from geochemical analyses using SEM-EDXA and LA-ICPMS of 101 obsidian samples from 25 locations including seven obsidian sources and 19 archaeological sites. Given that there are obsidian sources distributed throughout much of Island Southeast Asia, the potential for obsidian studies to provide greater understanding of patterns of mobility and exchange in the Pre-Neolithic and Neolithic periods would seem to be considerable. This potential, however, remains largely unrealised as obsidian sourcing has hitherto only been carried out intermittently in Island Southeast Asia using PIXE-PIGME, XRF and other methods.     

Networking and learning for tourism innovation: evidence from the Western Cape

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the nature of networking and learning by tourism firms in relation to accessing knowledge for innovation. In particular, the nature of tourism learning and networking, geography of networking linkages, and systemic characteristics of relationships between tourism firms, government agencies, higher education institutions, and other organisations in the Western Cape tourism system are examined. The analysis draws on 182 tourism firm, tourism system, and contextual interviews. This investigation demonstrates that even though tourism firms mostly use internal resources for innovation, external, non-local knowledge is significant for enhancing novel innovation. It is disclosed that whilst local network linkages are dense, loose, and of importance for business and marketing purposes, extra-regional network relationships are imperative for learning in relation to innovation. As further observed, network linkages between local and regional actors for supporting tourism innovation in the Western Cape are generally weak which points to the underdevelopment of local and regional innovation networks or systems. The paper provides planning recommendations for enhancing the competitiveness of tourism firms towards fostering development and growth in the regional tourism economy. Specifically, support for stimulating learning networks as well as strengthening systemic relationships in the Western Cape tourism system are recommended. It is underscored that strategic relationships with non-local partners need to be nurtured towards fostering tourism innovation and enhancing regional competitiveness.     

Geographies of tourism development and planning

ABSTRACT

Development and planning have long been a focus of tourism geographers. Although the ideas of development and planning are complex and challenging to define and study, there is a strong agreement on the academic and societal relevance of their research in tourism geographies: tourism is a growth industry which requires holistic and future-oriented planning measures that minimize the negative externalities of tourism and guide the industry's growth towards a development path. A brief overview of early phases and current directions of development and planning approaches in geographical tourism research shows how traditional approaches are still relevant. There is, however, a need to recognize distinct contextual and historical dimensions around the geographies of tourism development and planning in versatile research contexts. These historic and contextual elements influence the present and future characteristics and power relations of tourism in place and can help us to understand how tourism works with localities and localities with tourism.     

Plot by Plot: Plotting Urbanism as an Ordinary Process of Urbanisation

With this paper, we analyse an ordinary urban process, which has received little attention so far, and propose a new concept to take account of it: plotting urbanism. It is usually subsumed under terms like “urban informality” or “incremental urbanism” and not studied as a distinct process. In comparing Lagos, Istanbul and Shenzhen we captured four defining features of plotting urbanism: first, it unfolds in a piecemeal fashion with limited comprehensive planning. Second, it emerges from specific territorial compromises often resulting from conflicts between overlapping modes of territorial regulation, land tenure and property rights. Third, plotting is based on commodification of housing and land, which might accentuate socio-economic differentiations between property-owners, who often live in the same area, and their tenants. The term “plotting” highlights the key role of the plot in the process. It also alludes to strategic acts of collaboration for individual and collective benefit.     

The rise and ruin of a medieval port town: A reconsideration of the development of Julfar

Julfar was a major port town of the Persian Gulf during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries AD. A possession of the Hormuzi empire, it was a lucrative source of taxes and pearls, and a port of trade for northern Oman, tapping into maritime trading networks connecting the Middle East with Africa, India, Southeast Asia and China. The site is found north of modern Ras Al-Khaimah, UAE. Julfar Al-Nudud was previously considered to be a late suburb of an urban core, Julfar Al-Mataf, and is located on a creek opposite the latter. However, excavations in 2010 indicated that Al-Nudud was part of the original urban core, which had grown up on either side of the creek. Moreover, re-examination of previous work in Al-Mataf, where a large mosque and fortification were excavated (by British and French teams), shows that the two areas followed different trajectories. Significant occupation in Al-Nudud and southern Al-Mataf (revealed by previous Japanese excavations) ended before the start of the sixteenth century, while use of the mosque and fort in central Al-Mataf continued into the seventeenth century, albeit discontinuously. A revised concordance of the phases derived from the work of various archaeological teams is therefore proposed.     

The development of metropolitan regions in Germany in light of the restructuring of the German states: two temporally overlapping discourses

The topics of the territorial structure of the German states and the strategic development of the metropolitan regions are at first glance two completely separate discourses. However, this paper demonstrates that the development of the metropolitan regions in Germany, supported by Federal Spatial Planning, has at least in some cases been influenced by the possibility of offering an alternative to state restructuring and that the metropolitan regions today continue to represent a basis for interstate cooperation. The in-depth observation of four cross-state metropolitan regions makes clear that different development paths have been followed. Thus, while certain metropolitan regions have distanced themselves from issues relevant to interstate cooperation, the examples of Hamburg and Berlin-Brandenburg show the value of metropolitan regions for cooperation between states and as an alternative to state restructuring.     

Tourism global production networks and uneven social upgrading in Kenya and Uganda

This paper addresses how the growth of tourism global production networks (GPNs) based in Kenya and Uganda created uneven social upgrading outcomes for workers and communities. A tourism GPN and social upgrading framework follows a global political economy approach to analyzing tourism development and labor in diverse tourism geographies. Two tourism GPNs are investigated: Mombasa, Kenya, and Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda. Four main findings emerge: (1) governance relationships between tour operator and accommodation firms directly impacted social upgrading outcomes for hotel workers and indirectly for excursion workers; (2) excursion workers and community members had precarious connections to tourism GPNs; (3) public governance and collective power were key components to social upgrading while supporting its unevenness; and (4) societal embeddedness constructions around gender and regional space influenced worker and community social upgrading potential. Social upgrading is shaped by a confluence of firm, institution, geography, and labor conditions that differentially materializes in specific tourism GPN arrangements.