The Ordinary City

As debates on globalization have progressed from an earlier phase in which commentators saw the intensification of world-scale flows and processes as the negation of local identities and autonomies, the city has been 'rediscovered' as the powerhouse of the globalized economy. Against the view that questions, for example, the continued specificity of the urban in an era increasingly mediated by locationally liberating, advanced telecommunications and rapid transport networks, some strands of urban research assert that cities are becoming more important as the key creative, control and cultural centres within globalizing economic, cultural and social dynamics. Building on these strands, this paper evaluates the assets that cities and metropolitan regions provide in an era of globalization. It attempts to develop an alternative perspective on the city based on the idea that contemporary urban life is founded on the heterogeneity of economic, social, cultural and institutional assets, and concludes by using this perspective to develop implications for urban policy and the quest for social and territorial justice.     

Poesis and Immediacy: A Reply to Davis

Abstract

It is argued here that the Christian doctrines of Trinity and creation make imperative the notion of "mediation" as God's mode of existing in himself and toward us, as well as our mode of existence in God's grace. This is the case in Saint Thomas's account of grace, and it is also the basic configuration of Sergei Bulgakov's sophiology. Josh Davis's understanding of grace, by opting for immediacy as our mode of dependence on God, ultimately fails to give a full account of human cooperation, and in so doing establishes a competitive relation between human and divine agency.     

中华民族精神在汉代的发展

中华民族精神既有其核心的内容,又有在不同历史阶段多样的表现,研究者应当从历史进程中深入探讨民族精神的提升和发展.在中华民族进化史上,汉朝是一个富有活力的重要时期,中国的民族精神在这一时期获得了重大发展,研究这个问题内涵丰富,意义深刻.其中较为突出的三项是:一,汉代社会呈现出蓬勃的创造力,显著地表现在社会经济迅速发展和各方面有作为的人物大量涌现.二,汉代政论家为了国家民族的利益,"引义慷慨",勇于建言,毫无忌讳地对重大问题提出切中要害的批评.三,汉代人物如董仲舒、司马相如、司马迁等人建构的学说体系,撰写的宏文典册,为推进国家统一和民族关系的发展作出了卓著贡献.     

基于文化创意产业的历史街区提升改造研究——以南锣鼓巷为例

本文以南锣鼓巷为例,剖析了基于文化创意产业的历史街区改造与提升方式。分析结果显示:在历史街区发展文化创意产业是一种新型的改造与提升方式,二者关系密切,互利共生;发展文化创意产业需以不破坏历史街区风貌为前提,主要应该注意开店位置、扰民现象、墙体的颜色、门窗的颜色及质地、遮阳棚放置、空调等、灯光强度等因素;发展本地文化为主要创意来源的文化创意产业是避免\"千城一面\"的绝佳途径,不仅可以传承保护当地文化特色传统,还可以有效避免其他城市或地区的抄袭和复制。