Modern observations: new ornithology and the science of ourselves, 1920–1940

The emergence and organisation of amateur networks of observation in Britain in the period between 1920 and 1940 are addressed in this paper. It examines the geographical, organisational and epistemological associations between networks of ornithological observation (traced through the British Trust for Ornithology), which emerged from the 1920s, and amateur ethnography (traced through Mass-Observation) which emerged in the late 1930s. I approach these ‘observational cultures’ as spaces which brought together new concepts of the local, of everyday nature and society, as well as the possibilities of changing the everyday. The paper suggests that popular observation during the period partly constituted a reframing of ways of knowing Britain differentiated through the everyday production of natural and social knowledge and the construction of the active citizen and new communities of practice.     

A HISTORIC NEIGHBOURHOOD AS ARTS SPACE: THE LITTLE INDIA EXPERIENCE

Many cities around the world are redeveloping their neighbourhoods as arts and cultural precincts. Urban industrial zones and lower‐income residential areas have taken on new life as arts neighbourhoods in a bid to attract high‐yield visitors, propel their creative industry and brand themselves as attractive to investors and residents. This article has two aims. Conceptually it explores the notion of arts urbanization – the creation of arts spaces in cities and the socio‐spatial dynamics which they embody. Empirically, the concept is tested using the case of Singapore's Arts Housing Scheme. Under this scheme, historic ethnic precincts take on new roles as arts and creative belts. While the scheme has yielded some success by way of fostering spaces of identity and inspiration for artists, it has also generated social concerns and spatial challenges. Singapore's Little India offers an empirical setting to explore this concept. The paper argues that geography matters to the arts and that arts‐led urbanization creates distinct spatial configurations in cities. For this reason, a greater understanding of and research into arts neighbourhoods and their socio‐spatial dynamics are essential if we are to aspire to sustainable and sensitive development of cities and their creative communities.     

PRACTICING THE CULTURAL GREEN ECONOMY: WHERE NOW FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIAL SCIENCE?

Debates concerning the development of the green economy necessarily focus on “upstream” issues that underpin the re‐structuring of national and regional economies through the lenses of financial, institutional and regulatory change. However, the growing interest in the cultural green economy requires a re‐scaling of debates surrounding the links that occur in complex socio‐technical systems, notably between individual consumers, social units and the architectures of the developing green economy. This necessitates a research and policy agenda that is attentive to both the complexities of such interactions (between structures, processes and practices) and the imperative to foster change in practices within wider society. This article explores the ways in which environmental social scientists have examined and evidenced these issues, arguing that two major barriers still exist for creating adequate understandings and opportunities for change. First, the overt focus on the individual consumer as a unit of measurement and political attention has stifled debate concerning the ways in which environmentally related social practices have developed in association with wider economic contexts. In this way, environmental social scientists have often failed to make the connections between individuals, practices and the economic system. Second, in adopting a largely individualistic perspective, environmental social scientists have tended to focus their attention on incrementalist and narrowly defined views of what ecological citizenship might look like and constitute in the green economy. The article therefore argues that environmental social scientists need to constructively engage in a new inter‐disciplinary dialogue about the role, purpose and ethics of citizen participation in developing and sustaining the green economy in an age of climate change and potential resource scarcity.     

旅游中的山水景物审美--对中国旅游地理学中美学理论的研究

山水风景作为审美客体,是一个形象丰富、有声有色,动静结合,自然与人文相互渗透的景观空间,其所具备的美学和历史文化价值,陶冶了人的情操,满足了人在精神文化方面的需求,而人在与大自然复杂的交往过程中所形成的精神文化需求构成了山水风景审美的特有内涵.     

市场经济与社区建设

市场经济与枉区建设是一种相辅相成、相互促进、缺一不可的关系。市场经济的发展历程告诉我们,市场经济发展到一定历史阶段,需要一个强有力的市民社会的支持。否则,经济的发展是无法深入持久的。枉区建设是我国大规模深层次社会改革的起点,它为打遣中国的市民枉会提供了最好的平台和契机。市场经济改革为枉区建设提供不竭的动力资源和物质基础,社区建设则为市场经济提供强有力的社会保障;市场经济是枉区建设的逻辑前提,社区建设则是市场经济的必然结果。     

城市社会区域体系结构公正配置的空间控制原理与路径

从现代人本主义思维出发,以城市社会地理学原理,即从社会空间结构与社区规划角度,探讨城市居民的生活空间的质量构成,体现在城市要满足各阶层居民(社会)生活的空间结构上。而城市(社会)生活的空间结构的健全与否取决于生活空间行为的社区体系与场所体系的空间构成上。主要体现在居民以居住为主的生活行为对立的居舍类型的可获性上。由此,不同阶层居舍类型体系是城市(社会)生活空间质量的区域基础,其空间分布类型的可获性决定对应阶层人群能否获得以居舍为主的生活空间。本文首次从居民选择居住地行为规律以及形成的城市居舍类型空间结构演化的理念下论及城市社会区域空间体系公正配置与空间控制原理。     

构建社会主义和谐社会必须解决弱势群体问题

构建社会主义和谐社会必须解决弱势群体问题,这是巩固中国共产党执政地位的需要,是社会主义题中应有之义,是使整个社会充满刨造活力的需要,也是维护社会稳定有序的需要。在构建社会主义和谐社会的进程中,解决弱势群体的途径一是要建立和完善与我国经济社会发展水平相适应的社会保障制度,二是要发挥国家政策导向的作用,建立健全扩大就业再就业的政府主导机制。     

Scaling alternative economic practices? Some lessons from alternative currencies

This paper engages with recent geographical debates on alternative economic practices, arguing that insufficient attention has been paid to the scale at which they operate. Through an analysis of recent attempts to 'fix' economic activity at a scale felt to be normatively desirable through alternative currencies, the paper argues that when attempting to build non-capitalist practices, scale matters. The paper discusses processes of financial structuration that limit and channel these spaces through an analysis of localized alternative networks in the UK (Local Exchange Trading Schemes – LETS) and the geographically wider barter networks in Argentina.     

Queerly situated? Exploring negotiations of trans queer subjectivities at work and within community spaces in the UK

While traditional perspectives on transgender from some strands of feminism and within medical/psychoanalytical discourse have argued that transgender people conform to and reproduce gender stereotypes, queer theory has celebrated transgender as a site that highlights the social and cultural construction of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ and, moreover, as a symbol of transgressive gender possibility. Both of these readings ignore the complexities of lived trans experiences and identifications. By evaluating a queer reading of trans through recent empirical research into transgender identities, I suggest that while trans identifications certainly queer binary models of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’, such transgressions are materially, culturally, socially and spatially contingent. The article draws on empirical research to explore the ways in which access to queer subjectivities is constrained by, and negotiated alongside, the locales of the workplace and community spaces.     

Councils,consultations and community: rethinking the spaces for children and young people's participation1

The participation of children and young people in decisions that affect them is now mainstream in social and public policy in the UK. Yet for many young people formal participation opportunities are abstracted from everyday lives and concerns. Children may not feel empowered despite the existence of formal structures for participation. This raises questions about how ‘spaces’ for participation are constructed. This paper critiques prevailing models of participation in formal structures and instead, argues for the need to rethink children's participation as a more diverse set of social processes rooted in everyday environments and interactions.