FLAGSHIP DEVELOPMENTS AND THE PHYSICAL UPGRADING OF THE POST-SOCIALIST INNER CITY: THE GOLDEN ANGEL PROJECT IN PRAGUE

Over the past few decades many urban leaders have searched for an appropriate policy response to tackle urban decay. Various kinds of flagship projects emerged in many cities as the products of a property‐led approach to the regeneration strategies adopted by local governments in North American and European cities. It was expected that the creation of high‐profile milieux would launch chain reactions which would eventually lead to the regeneration of declining neighbourhoods. The focus of this study lies in the anatomy of physical transformation in an inner city neighbourhood within the context of post‐socialist transition. In particular, the paper discusses the flagship role of the Golden Angel commercial centre in the physical upgrading of the Smíchov district in Prague. The case study contributes to the understanding of complex circumstances and mechanisms of revitalization in the post‐socialist inner city. The empirical material is based on field observations, expert opinions and existing documents. The paper shows that a high‐profile project can be one of the driving forces in physical revitalization through the provision of symbolic power, credibility and appeal to a declining neighbourhood. At the same time, it is emphasize that physical transformation is a multi‐conditional and context‐related process rather than an automatic and straightforward outcome of flagship developments. Successful revitalization depends on a favourable constellation of various factors. On the local level, the key factors include the development potential of the location, the attitude of the local authorities and the commitment of all involved actors.     

French military officers and the mapping of West Africa: the case of Captain Brosselard-Faidherbe

Through the study of projects conceived to shape colonial space, this article aims to reconsider the motives and means of French colonial expansion in West Africa in the 1880s and 1890s. The Plan Faidherbe, designed by the Governor of Senegal in the 1860s, outlined a plan for eastward development, including a road and rail link between the Senegal and the Niger Rivers (and beyond, between Algeria and Sudan). The implementation of these routes of penetration called for a number of military-led topographic missions. The study of these missions and of the maps that were produced at the time reveal how such projects and their implementation were mediated by both cartographic and field practices. The case of Captain Henry Brosselard (1855-93), General Faidherbe’s son-in-law, is an interesting example because of the diversity of the missions he led and the extent of territory which he traversed and mapped. This case also shows how, in the course of a career, an officer could assume several different functions and come to conceive the process of building colonial territory from different perspectives. This paper questions a common view of the military as having a purely strategic vision of space as a field of conquest, a view which reserves a more development-oriented outlook for civil administrators and the business community. Indeed, Brosselard’s varied career somewhat blurs the conventional divide between civilians and soldiers, requiring us to reconsider accepted ways of categorising colonial actors.     

东北地区装备制造业的地位及其变化研究

国家振兴东北老工业基地计划的实施,为东北的振兴、特别是制造业的振兴带来了一定的机遇,但要恢复到原先的辉煌地位已不可能。东北地区装备制造业相对衰退的原因是多方面的,其中结构是基础,体制是关键,观念是根本。东北振兴、东北装备制造业振兴,必须抓住结构调整主线,彻底解决体制和观念障碍。本文以统计数据为基础,通过与长江三角洲、珠江三角洲的对比,揭示了东北装备制造业的现状特征和未来态势,剖析了东北装备制造业相对衰退的原因,提出了振兴东北装备制造业的政策建议。     

City–suburban electoral polarization in Great Britain, 1950–2001

The degree to which residents of British inner cities and suburbs have diverged in their voting behaviour over the post-war period is analysed in this article. Examining aggregate election results by constituency, it is demonstrated that residents of inner cities and suburbs are indeed polarizing in their electoral choices. OLS regression analysis is conducted using constituency-level data to determine the relevance of intra-urban differences for understanding geographic variation in the vote in relation to those for region, size of conurbation and urban–rural distinctions. Results show that urban place of residence is particularly important for understanding the shifting geography of Conservative support. The implications of this research for electoral change in Britain are discussed.     

The Upriver Reach of a Delta Town: Jiujiang Migrants in the West River Basin,Sixteenth-Nineteenth Centuries

This article situates the Pearl River delta market town of Jiujiang within a system of market towns and cities along the West River and its tributaries in southern China. Exploring the history of this town as an emigrant community, this article follows the upstream movement of officials, civil service examinees, merchants, and permanent settlers along the West River basin between the sixteenth century and the nineteenth century. The trajectory of migration from this market town was shaped by the geographical factors of the West River system. At the same time, migration, which was related both to strategies that Jiujiang families embraced for socioeconomic advancement and to policies that the Ming and Qing states adopted for controlling the southwestern frontier, played an important role in the historical construction of a unified region linked by economic ties and personal networks.     

乡村地区路网通达性研究——以陕西省丹凤县为例

通达性是指交通网络中各节点相互作用的机会大小,也是从出发地前往目的地的方便程度。道路网络是支撑乡村地区经济社会发展的基础,而通达性则是反映道路网络水平和质量的有效评价指标。本文以位于陕西秦巴山区的丹凤县为例,基于第二次土地利用现状调查和实际考察资料,分别以乡镇和行政村为单元,以GIS方法为支撑,采用道路临近性、乡镇内部可达性和道路衔接性三项指标,分析和评价了丹凤县乡村地区路网通达性。本研究对陕南秦巴山区乡村路网建设和移民搬迁工程有一定指导作用,对乡村地区路网通达性分析和评价方法进行了有效改进。     

流域中心城市的区位特征——以南昌为例

作为区域中心城市(省会),南昌体现出居中性(离几何中心、人口中心、经济中心相对较近)的明显区位特征;作为流域中心城市,南昌位于赣江流域最大的支流抚河与干流的交汇处,这同样符合流域中心城市产生的一般规律;作为赣江三角洲的顶水点,南昌获得了更大的发展空间。这一区位特性却为一般流域中心城市所缺失。这样,居中性、干支流交汇处、三角洲顶水点的综合区位优势,奠定了南昌在赣江流域当之无愧的中心城市地位。本文所揭示出的三角洲顶水点城市的概念,对流域空间结构的综合分析,具有重要的理论意义和应用价值。     

论康熙朝北京内城旗人的外迁及其影响

本文以康熙三十四年（1695年）北京内城一部分旗人由于生计问题移居城外各教场周边地区这一事件为切入点,深入探讨此次事件的历史意义和影响,阐明北京＂城外八旗＂作为一个范围从九门外驻防营房到教场地区营房的整体的形成过程,分析由此形成的清代中期北京城八旗分布不同于以往＂内外城旗民分居＂旧格局的三层新格局,即内城核心八旗驻防区...     

Eco-sites,Song Traditions and Cultural Heritage in the Lower Yangzi Delta

This study explores the struggle to preserve both the cultural heritage and the eco-sites associated with heritage in one of the most affluent and economically developed regions in China. In the twenty-first century, the introduction of global norms deriving from UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage and World Heritage Sites has led to a series of measures at the local level to preserve items of cultural heritage that are likely to vanish due to the accelerated pace of development in the lower Yangzi delta. This study focuses particularly on Wu Songs, the traditional songs of delta populations, now entered into the national register for Intangible Cultural Heritage. Wu Songs were associated with labour in the rice paddies and travel along the waterways. The rice paddies and waterways were both essential elements of the traditional ecosystem, but are now imperilled in various ways by the impact of modernisation and globalisation. Issues of heritage value arise in different forms in the more affluent regions of China. As argued here, contention between ethnographers, land developers and municipal authorities, as well as commercial land use imperatives, dominate the conservation of eco-sites and Intangible Cultural Heritage in the delta region.