Analysing Contemporary Metropolitan Spatial Plans in Europe Through Their Institutional Context,Instrumental Content and Planning Process

This article sets out to propose and apply a qualitative framework for thinking about how to analyse and compare metropolitan spatial plans in a milieu of divergent spatial planning traditions and discretionary planning practices. In doing so, the article reviews and develops an understanding concerning the institutional context, instrumental content and planning processes associated with four contemporary metropolitan spatial plans in Europe, namely those of London, Copenhagen, Paris and Barcelona. Through the results of a multiple case study and a subsequent cross-comparative analysis, the article stresses that contemporary metropolitan spatial plans tend to merge the characteristics associated with project-based and strategy-based spatial plans, thus contrasting with the typical land-use character of municipal plans and the often strategic, growth-oriented pursuit of regional plans in Europe. In this sense, the metropolitan scale is treated less explicitly as a planning scale per se; rather, it tends to emerge as a “concealed” scale between municipal and regional scales and also between local and regional knowledge in planning. Moreover, the analysis suggests that while metropolitan plans seem to converge in terms of their general themes, they cannot be ultimately “typified” in view of ad hoc variations related to their institutional contexts, instrumental contents and planning processes.     

Territorial development,planning reform and urban governance: the case of Ireland’s second-tier cities

The increased emphasis within Europe on the role of second-tier cities has implications for the ways in which these urban centres are considered within national spatial planning strategies. In centralized, monocentric states such as Ireland, there has been a general ambivalence towards urban policy for cities outside the capital city, and historically, this has prevented the development of a strong, diversified urban hierarchy undermining prospects for balanced regional development. This paper examines the extent to which a new found emphasis on Ireland’s second-tier cities which emerged in the ‘Gateways’ policy of the National Spatial Strategy was matched by subsequent political and administrative commitment to facilitate the development of these urban centres. Following a discussion of the position of second-tier cities in an international context and a brief overview of recent demographic and economic trends, the paper assesses the relative performance of Ireland’s second-tier cities in influencing development trends, highlighting a comprehensive failure to deliver compact urban growth. In this context, the paper then discusses the implications of current development plans for the second-tier cities and proposals for Irish local government reform for securing compact urban development.     

Veblen goods and urban distinction: The economic geography of conspicuous consumption

A fundamental observation of 21st century cities is that they have become great centers of consumption. In this paper, we seek to understand the geographic variation in consumer behavior. Using Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE), we analyze how consumption differs across 21 major U.S. metropolitan areas, and the association between urban characteristics and consumption. We extend previous geographic analysis of consumption to include luxury goods that are socially visible (conspicuous consumption) and luxury goods that are relatively less visible (inconspicuous consumption). Our analysis shows that conspicuous consumption is more sensitive to an urban context than is inconspicuous consumption.     

Nineteenth-Century London in William Godwin's Diary

The Leverhulme-funded editing of William Godwin's diary aims to ‘to construct a picture of London's literary and extra-parliamentary political life’, following the diary's ‘remarkably detailed map of radical intellectual and political life in the turbulent period of the 1790s’ <http://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/research/projects/godwin_diary/>. However, this map also extends far beyond the 1790s, with the diary's total span reaching from 1788 until Godwin's death in 1836. Critics and biographers have long assumed that Godwin's radical phase was over by 1800, and London to him was only ever a meeting point for free-floating, alienated intellectuals. By contrast, this paper presents new evidence showing his immersion in the material conditions and popular politics of nineteenth-century London. Following Godwin's movements in 1810 from his home and shop in Skinner Street, his perambulations around the city, and visits to dine with fellow radicals and publishers the article examines his immersion in the material conditions and popular politics of nineteenth-century London. It sees him campaigning against the abominable conditions in nearby Smithfield market; joining street protests to demand the release of Burdett from the Tower; and meeting Cobbett in Newgate. Godwin's circulations, recorded in his diary, bring to our attention the cross-fertilization between philosophic and popular radicalism and compel us to re-think the relationship between the conversations at private dinners and the protests in the streets in order to locate and better understand the nineteenth-century metropolitan critical public sphere.     

A Canadian Scholar'S Views on Geography in Canada and in the USSR

There has long been controversy over the exact location of the middle segment of the great medieval trade route from the Varangians (Northmen) in the Baltic to the Greeks (Byzantium) in the Black Sea. There is no ambiguity about the northern segment, between Novgorod and the Baltic, or the southern segment, from Smolensk down the Dnieper to the Black Sea, but authors have tended to disagree about the various rivers, lakes and portages used by traders in the Russian heartland between Novgorod and Smolensk. A Russian chronicle describing a campaign led by Aleksandr Nevskiy against a Lithuanian force in 1245 sheds light on the alignment of the middle segment of the trade route. It appears that the route originally passed through Velikiye Luki in the 10th century. As this area became embroiled in clashes between warring Russian principalities, the trade route shifted eastward to the Toropets area, which became dominant by the 13th century. The existence of two additional minor routes is also noted.     

The changing face of Canada: the uneven geographies of population and social change

This paper attempts to convey a sense of the increasing importance of the population question for the future of Canada and its social geographies. This future will be shaped as much by changes in population processes and living conditions as by economic and political factors. Specifically, four transformations are rippling through the country's social fabric and urban landscapes: slow growth and the demographic transition modifications to family forms and living arrangements; increasing ethnocultural diversity; and the shifting relationships among households, labour markets and the welfare state. There is increasing unevenness of population growth, juxtaposing localized growth and widespread decline, massive social changes, the concentration of immigration and new sources of diversity in metropolitan areas, and fundamental shifts in social attitudes concerning family, work and gender relations. Deepening contrasts in living environments and economic wellbeing flow from these trends, and the varied challenges they pose for private actors, governments and service-providers. Questions relating to the country's future population geographies and social structures are complex, analytically difficult, and politically charged, but are too important to ignore.     

基于信息流的武汉城市圈城乡文化空间结构研究

信息流动空间的支配性功能实质性地改变了现代城乡文化的空间结构。基于文化信息流的表征,通过构建武汉城市圈城乡文化节点的结节性测度指标体系,运用建模将文化节点的影响范围转化成结节性指数、文化节点等级与文化传播方式相结合的函数,发现信息化背景下武汉城市圈城乡文化的空间结构有三个特征:1城乡文化节点呈现以"京广"铁路为界东高西低的等级体系,其功能趋于软化;2文化廊道日益凸显,城乡文化空间结构的弹性逐渐增强;3城乡文化空间结构趋于网络化。信息化背景下应充分利用市场配置规律,发挥文化廊道的正效应,构建公共文化设施网络,优化文化信息流动空间,重塑现代城乡文化的空间结构。     

基于空间分析方法的武汉市创意产业空间集聚演化研究

通过ArcGIS利用区位商、最近邻距离分析、核密度分析与定向分布分析等多种方法综合分析武汉市创意产业空间集聚的演变特征。结果表明,武汉市创意产业总体呈集聚状态,依据发展水平差异可分为核心区、潜力区与待发展区,并主要集聚在汉口"核心圈"与武昌"潜力轴"上。城市内创意产业功能分布与集聚分布主要呈由内向外扩展的演变特征。但根据产业特征、发展基础与发展阶段的不同,不同创意产业部门在不同区域的集聚形态、集聚强度、空间演化过程及发展趋势存在差异。这些差异与创意人才机构、文化传播设施以及创意交流空间集聚存在密切联系。     

武汉城市圈城乡道路网供需系统的时空协同演化

将城乡道路网系统解构为需求、供给两个子系统,构建系列评价指标体系和引入耦合协调度模型,从地市、县市层面揭示了1995-2012年武汉城市圈城乡道路网供需系统的时空协同演化格局:地市层面上,武汉城市圈城乡道路网供给系统呈现出"核心-边缘"的空间生长趋势,需求系统呈武汉"一城独大"格局。城乡道路网供需系统耦合度由低水平向高水平发展,空间差异较小,协调度由失调向良好协调发展,呈现出同步进阶的态势;县市层面上,供给系统县际差异趋小,呈现等级圈层式的空间发育格局,需求系统也发展较均衡,呈板块集聚特征。城乡道路网供需系统耦合协调度整体水平不高,"核心-边缘"格局显著。     

武汉都市圈经济联系时空演变特征分析

城市化、信息化、工业化进程的不断加速,城市群体化现象的大量涌现,使得以特大城市为核心的都市圈经济联系及其复杂性成为当前地理学研究的前沿与中心。基于经济联系发展与空间结构演替的共轭关系,通过相关统计资料统计分析,从城市化、交通化、工业化、信息化、服务产业化五方面归纳了建国来武汉都市圈经济联系的发展历程:波动发展阶段(1949-1965年)、停滞不前阶段(1966-1978年)、快速发展阶段(1979-1989年)、全面发展阶段(1990年至今);从经济联系作用的交通扩展与功能集散角度分析了武汉都市圈地域结构形态演变特征,揭示出武汉都市圈经济联系空间结构在城市扩展方向上呈现孤立-向心-离心-圈状-轴向变化,在空间形态上则表现为块状-星状-组群-圈状-带状演替,并对其未来高级形态--中部都市带发展提出空间组织构想。