Political geographies of urban demarcation: Learning from Nepal's state-restructuring process

In this paper we use the case of Nepal to advance political geographic analyses of how, during moments of rupture, territory act as an important political technology in state restructuring, and how urban demarcation along with other territorial structures of the state will play a significant role in this process. Nepal has experienced more than three decades of state-restructuring characterized by consecutive political and constitutional crises, including close to ten years of violent conflict. Within the brief period between 2014 and 2017, more than 230 new municipalities were demarcated on top of the existing 58. In our analysis we unpack why and how the number of municipalities is quadrupled at that particular moment of time and how this is shaped by and have implications for re-configurations of Nepal's territorial structures. This is achieved through a historical analysis of how the state's politico-administrative system has been mapped, reasoned and challenged. The analysis is based on official documents, such as census data and reports, legislative acts, public debates and academic analyses of processes of administrative and political reforms and conflicts in Nepal since the early 1990s. It therefore engages with a rich literature on conflict, the post-conflict situation and the restructuring of the state. Based on our findings we argue that urban demarcation is an important part of a states' political technology complex, and warn against trends in studies of urbanization to question the analytical bearing of differentiating the rural and urban. Showing that Nepal's recent urban boundaries have been justified by the need to achieve a better geographical balance, we conclude by arguing for the need for studies of urban transformations that critically examine whether and how the new territorial structures in their implementation contribute to balance geographical and social inequalities.     

旅游循环经济的发展理念与运行体系研究

发展旅游循环经济是旅游业中实现经济、社会、环境"三赢"的旅游发展模式。发展旅游循环经济可实现资源的持续利用,提升旅游产业效益,实现旅游可持续发展。发展旅游循环经济应树立系统观、新经济观、新价值观、新生产观和新消费观,构建起发展旅游循环经济的动力系统、支持保障系统、参与层面系统等,促进旅游循环经济的模式系统良性发展,达到旅游循环经济的目标系统。     

Lessons from COVID-19 can prepare global tourism for the economic transformation needed to combat climate change

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the cessation of almost all international travel in the first half of 2020. A return to pre-pandemic growth patterns will take time and depend on the depth and extent of the recession sparked by COVID-19. The recovery phase will overlap with global efforts to deal with the evolving climate crisis. For the tourism industry to thrive in a future world it must look beyond the temptation of adopting strategies based on a return to the pre-COVID-19 normal of the past and instead seek to understand how it should respond to the emerging transformation of the global economy to carbon neutrality. Many of the lessons that emerged from the pandemic can be applied to strategies to deal with climate change. Of most interest is the success of strategies such as “flattening the curve”. Application of similar strategies plus adoption of the circular economy model to wind back Green House Gas emissions will help avert the global environmental disaster that will occur if global temperatures continue to increase. These strategies point to what a future carbon-neutral economic production system might look like, the path to which could offer the tourism industry numerous opportunities to transform from the current model that favours a high resource consumption model to one that is environmentally friendly and resource neutral.     

Troubled kids? Locational disadvantage,opportunity structures and social exclusion

ABSTRACT

Young people growing up in poverty often have restricted access to out-of-school enrichment activities that are important for generating the soft skills that support post-school transitions. This paper compares young Australians’ accounts of their opportunity structures – their engagement with enrichment activities, their post-school aspirations, and their knowledge of routes to achieve them – in two suburb types – improver suburbs (close to the median on many indicators) and isolate suburbs (severely disadvantaged on most indicators). While young people in improver suburbs felt able to access facilities and networks in equally or more affluent neighbouring suburbs, young people in isolate suburbs felt excluded from neighbouring suburbs, and experienced more restricted opportunity structures than young people living in improver suburbs, even those who were themselves economically disadvantaged. The paper argues that this geographical experience of exclusion prevents many economically disadvantaged young people from accumulating knowledge and skills valued in post-school settings.     

Axial Force Estimation in Historical Metal Tie-Rods: Methods,Influencing Parameters,and Laboratory Tests

This research focuses on estimating the axial force of historical metal tie-rods by means of non-destructive testing (NDT) which provides useful information for calibrating structural models. The first part of this work describes the behavior of tie-rods, emphasizing the key role played by cross-section stiffness, which is usually neglected in the case of cables. Particular attention is then given to common effective parameters and dynamic aspects in terms of acquiring the set-up and which modal parameters to examine.

For new insights into methods for assessing historical tie-rods and evaluating the reliability of analytical and numerical predictions, laboratory tests on four samples with typical cross-sections were carried out on historical metal tie-rods. A set of 224 configurations, including various methods of excitation, boundary conditions, and stress states, were analyzed. In addition to laboratory parameters, this analysis also includes details of sensor positions and number of modes to be examined, and proposes a simplification for less time-consuming tests on-site.     

Redesigning collaborative governance for refugee settlement services

ABSTRACT

Processes of collaborative governance, also known as network structures or joined-up approaches, have been embraced increasingly by policy makers responding to complex and intractable problems. In 2015, a collaborative governance approach was applied in New South Wales to facilitate settlement of 12,000 additional refugees from Syria and Iraq, under the leadership of the Coordinator General for Refugee Resettlement, Peter Shergold. This article examines the success of the initiative, using criteria drawn from collaborative governance and meta-governance literature and evidence from interviews with people working in the refugee sector who were involved in the project. The article concludes that initiative has improved the experience of newly arrived refugees, and identifies some reasons for success, including the existence of a facilitative or collaborative leader. It argues that greater emphasis in collaborative theory be placed on individual capacity, given such a leader’s ability to influence both interpersonal and structural determinants of policy success.     

Recently Discovered Lords' Lists and their Uses, 1833–42*

This note deals with previously unpublished lists which identify the party affiliations, whig, Liberal, and Conservative, of members of the house of lords from 1833 to 1842. They were prepared by the chief whips (or in one case the party leader) of their respective parties, and can thus be considered authoritative. Such information is invaluable in properly understanding the political history of the house of lords, and therefore of the nation.     

Numerical Modeling of a Church Nave Wall Subjected to Differential Settlements: Soil-Structure Interaction,Time-Dependence and Sensitivity Analysis

ABSTRACT

Historic masonry structures are particularly sensitive to differential soil settlements. These settlements may be caused by deformable soil, shallow or inadequate foundation, structural additions in the building and changes in the underground water table due to the large-scale land use change in urban areas.

This paper deals with the numerical modeling of a church nave wall subjected to differential settlement caused by a combination of the above factors. The building in question, the church of Saint Jacob in Leuven, has suffered extensive damage caused by centuries-long settlement. A numerical simulation campaign is carried out in order to reproduce and interpret the cracking damage observed in the building.

The numerical analyses are based on material and soil property determination, the monitoring of settlement in the church over an extended period of time and soil-structure interaction. A sensitivity study is carried out, focused on the effect of material parameters on the response in terms of settlement magnitude and crack width and extent. Soil consolidation over time is considered through an analytical approach. The numerical results are compared with the in-situ observed damage and with an analytical damage prediction model.     

Structural boundaries that effect the representation of gender and disability in works of fiction from the United States and United Kingdom

Abstract

Discussions of intellectual disability are found in medical journals, published biographies, and disability research. However, outside the realm of medicine or personal reminiscence intellectual disability struggles for spaces of social, historical, cultural and imaginative representation. This article addresses these struggles for space and specifically focuses on the imagined space of narrative fiction. Being imagined spaces they should easily be able to accommodate people with disability, and yet, very few characters with intellectual disability are represented or more importantly have agency in narrative fiction. Drawing on work from feminist geographies and literary geographies this article addresses the limiting narrative structures that have been used against fictional characters who have a disability and ways authors may move beyond these limitations. Reconciling feminist geographies and literary geographies allows new critical spatial knowledge around disability to emerge. It is not enough to write characters with disabilities into narrative fiction if the structures surrounding them remain limiting and prejudiced. This article discusses the three main limiting structures in narrative fiction: character representation, narrative voice and genre. Looking at narrative fiction through feminist and literary geographies reveals how these limiting structures function as power hierarchies, and importantly, shows how these imposed structures can be subverted and changed.