Den Metropolen mehr Aufmerksamkeit schenken

Zusammenfasung  Im Herbst 2006 hat die Bundesregierung die „Neuen Leitbilder der Raumentwicklung“ verabschiedet. Die drei Leitbilder „Wachstum und Innovation“, „Daseinsvorsorge sichern“ sowie „Ressourcen bewahren, Kulturlandschaften gestalten“ sollen helfen, wichtige Probleme des Landes zu l?sen und Deutschland fit für die Zukunft zu machen. Im Leitbild „Wachstum und Innovation“ spielen insbesondere elf so genannte „Europ?ische Metropolregionen“ (EMR) eine wichtige Rolle. über die Metropolregionen und den Raum dazwischen sprach Dipl.-Geogr. Ute C. Bauer mit Manfred Sinz. Der Ministerialdirigent im Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung hat wesentlich an der Entwicklung der Leitbilder mitgewirkt und sie in vielen Runden vor Ort der raumplanerischen Fach?ffentlichkeit vorgestellt.     

Mut zum Risiko

Zusammenfassung Der im zweij?hrlichen Rhythmus stattfindende Geographentag hat sich als wichtigstes Gro?ereignis der Geographie in der Bundesrepublik l?ngst etabliert. In diesem Jahr wird der Kongress in Bayreuth ausgerichtet – unter etwas ver?nderten Rahmenbedingungen. Mit den Mitgliedern des Ortsauschusses Prof. Dr. Herbert Popp und Prof. Dr. Detlef Müller-Mahn sprach Dipl.-Geogr. Ute C. Bauer über die organisatorische Struktur und das inhaltliche Anliegen der Tagung.     

Performative Research for a Climate Politics of Hope: Rethinking Geographic Scale, “Impact” Scale,and Markets

Research is increasingly recognised as a generative and performative practice that contributes to shaping the world we come to live in. Thus part of the research “process” involves being explicit about the worlds we want our research to contribute to and reflecting on how the concepts we use might help or inhibit this agenda. This paper is based on our commitment to strengthening the contributions that grassroots renewable energy initiatives might make to a climate changing world. However, to detect the potential of these initiatives, familiar concepts of scale and markets have to be recast. This paper uses insights from the academic literature and research into grassroots renewable energy initiatives to show how scale and markets can be rethought, thereby making it possible to detect some of the ways that grassroots renewable energy initiatives are helping transform ways of living and working, and building hope in a climate changing world.     

Regional economic resilience: the role of national and regional policies

In recent years, economic resilience has become a popular term in both theory and policy practice. This interest was triggered by the fact that some regional economies were extremely vulnerable, while others have managed to overcome, more or less effectively, the worse consequences of the current economic crisis. Within this context, questions arise regarding the role that policies at both the national and subnational levels can play in shaping regional economic resilience. Although high in the academic and political agenda, understanding the policy and governance aspects of resilience still remains a relatively underdeveloped area. The paper contributes to this debate focusing on an area which has been most severely hit by crises, the Region of West Macedonia, in Greece. The case study builds on the historical trajectory of the region in order to explain how different types of policies have influenced the ability of West Macedonia to respond to economic slumps and crises of the last 30 years. Evidence suggests that national protectionist policies largely explain not only resilience of the region against previous crises, but also its vulnerability towards the still ongoing economic crisis.     

Obsidian hydration dating on the South Coast of Peru

We compare over 230 obsidian hydration readings from 30 individual site components from the Southern Nasca Region (SNR) with independent age estimates based on radiocarbon dates and temporally diagnostic artifacts. Although there are problems with small sample sizes, and readings must be adjusted for elevation, a very strong relationship accounting for nearly 90% of the total variation in the data set is found. This suggests that obsidian hydration dating (OHD) works in the SNR and is a viable means of independently estimating age. Residual values from our regression suggest that hydration age estimates are usually within 15% of the radiocarbon estimates. Finally, we present an equation other scholars can use to estimate age for Quispisisa obsidian in the SNR.     

The 'external dimension' of EU immigration and asylum policy

Since the late 1990s, the EU has sought to develop the so-called 'external dimension' of cooperation on immigration and asylum: attempts to manage migration through cooperation with migration sending or transit countries. However, one can discern two rather distinct concepts of the 'external dimension'. The first involves attempts to externalize traditional tools of domestic or EU migration control; the second to prevent the causes of migration and refugee flows, through development assistance and foreign policy tools. Both are based on different assumptions about how best to influence migration flows, and will have divergent impacts on migration flows, refugee protection and relations with third countries. It therefore makes a big difference which of the two is likely to emerge as the predominant pattern of cooperation in the future. This article looks at the factors influencing the emergence of both concepts, focusing on three central determinants: the potential of such approaches to meet migration policy goals; the institutional context; and domestic political—electoral pressures. It argues that the two last factors have militated in favour of the prevalence of externalization approaches to the detriment of longer-term strategies of migration management, refugee protection and relations with third countries.     

Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser,

Ohne Zusammenfassung