Proximity and the trust formation process

Trust is a key mechanism for explaining the ease and frequency of knowledge spillovers within regions. While the importance of trust is virtually uncontested, there have been few attempts to rigorously disentangle the way in which trust formation is related to space and proximity. The aim of this paper is to advance the understanding of trust formation in terms of its main antecedents within the context of regional studies. This is done by reviewing the rich literature on trust formation from psychology, sociology, and organization studies and connecting it conceptually to different types of proximity. In doing so, the paper maps out a number of avenues for future research on trust and geography.     

Local and nonlocal knowledge typologies: technological complexity in the Irish knowledge space

This paper advances a measure of knowledge complexity to analyse for Ireland whether more complex knowledge is generated by local or foreign firms. Information on assignees, technological structure and global ownership contained within a recently developed Irish patent database forms the basis for distinguishing between technologies developed by local and nonlocal firms. Thereafter, our knowledge complexity index uses a modified bipartite network to link these technologies to their country of origin, i.e. local or nonlocal. Our results indicate that the most complex technologies tend to be produced in a few diverse regions. Furthermore, the majority of complex knowledge is generated in technology classes where the share of foreign activity is greater than local firms.     

Circular cities: exploring local government strategies to facilitate a circular economy

ABSTRACT

Cities are growing rapidly, and the systems of production and consumption that support this growth are contributing to the depletion of natural resources and pollution of the environment. The circular economy model offers an alternative to the predominant take-make-dispose economic system. Local municipalities are seen to have the capacity to encourage sustainable development of the built environment. This paper aims to explore the role of strategic planning in facilitating a circular economy in urban settings. In particular, this research asks: How are local governments facilitating circular economy initiatives through strategic planning? What are the opportunities and barriers when applying circular economy principles through local strategic planning? The research approach used for this paper is a comparative case study of two international municipalities: the City of Melbourne, Australia and the City of Malmö, Sweden. Current strategic planning practice was examined with a focus on circular economy themes. The findings reveal that strategic urban planning can translate circular economy objectives into actions within specific urban areas, although barriers still exist to fully integrating the circular economy model.     

Petra,taxes and trade reconsidered in the light of the Petra Church archive

Much has been written about the Petra Papyri since their discovery in 1993. However, little has been published on their connection with taxes, and our understanding of Petra and trade has changed considerably in the last couple of decades. The papyri provide plenty of information concerning the material culture of Byzantine Petra. The purpose of this paper is to review the economic and historical information in the papyri related to taxes on the land, and to understand the economic reality in Petra and its hinterland during the Byzantine period. The papyri indicate the existence of a stable society and continuity of human settlement in Petra and its neighbouring areas such as Udhruh and Al-Sadaqa, especially after the frequent earthquakes that threatened the region between the fourth- and seventh-centuries AD. It is clear from the papyri that there is an advanced tax system in the Petra region during the sixth-century AD.     

Marketplaces and Morality in Papua New Guinea: Place,Personhood and Exchange

In Papua New Guinea (PNG) more rural people, and especially rural women, earn cash from selling in marketplaces than from any other source. PNG's marketplaces are critical for food security, and for the redistribution of wealth. They are also important meeting places where people gather to see friends, hear the latest news, attend court cases, play cards and be entertained. This introduction to this special issue on ‘Marketplaces and Morality in Papua New Guinea’ reviews the history of PNG marketplaces and their contemporary forms. It charts their transformation from introduced colonial spaces into dynamic Melanesian places, which, as places to buy, sell and socialise, have become pervasive institutions in the lives of both urban and rural Papua New Guineans, and places where people interact with both known and unknown others. From this, marketplaces emerge as important spaces of moral evaluation and contestation in relation to what constitutes morally acceptable exchange and what practices are acceptable in these places. The paper demonstrates that exchange in the marketplace should not be reduced to commodity transactions, and questions assumptions about the types of people marketplaces create. It argues that the country's marketplaces are productive sites to consider ideas of exchange, social relations and social personhood, and that there is a critical need to understand the concrete details of what takes place in contemporary marketplaces.     

Wissenschaftsstädte – Zur Bedeutung des Topos der ‘kreativen Stadt’ für die Wissensproduktion

Science Cities: What the Concept of the Creative City Means for Knowledge Production. – The article aims to show that the relationship of science and the city has changed since the 1970s in the context of the knowledgeable society. While cities have principally been regarded as the typical space of science, of new ideas and innovation for centuries, since the 1960s and 1970s universities, research institutes as well as industrial research institutes have relocated to the periphery of cities. There, however, these sites of knowledge have been organized in an ‘urban mode’. That means that the concept of the city as a place of science and innovation has determined the architectural, spatial, and social organization of these sites on the periphery of cities. Certain features of the city have been copied, such as social infrastructures, places of communication, restaurants, cafes etc., while others have been left out – housing, cinema, theatre etc. An ‘urban mode of knowledge production’ in the sense of a very stylized model of the city has become a tool to enhance the production of scientific and technological knowledge. – The article exemplifies this by focusing on a case study, namely of the so‐called ‘Science City’ of the Siemens Company in Munich‐Neuperlach.     

"每欲追风去,甘为汗漫游"——试论陶澍和魏源

陶澍、魏源都是中国近代史上最杰出、最有影响的人物,一个是道光年间最杰出的封疆大吏,一个是道光年间最杰出的思想家.他们都生长于湖南的资江之泮,既有深厚的友谊,又以幕主和僚属的关系长期共事.陶澍事业的成功,有魏源参赞谋划之力;魏源思想的成熟,则有陶澍提携培养之功.     

中日邦交正常化之前的"政经分离"与"政经不可分"之争

上世纪五、六十年代,日本政府在对华关系方面曾推行过“政经分离”政策。其核心是:政治台湾,经济大陆。即只承认台湾当局,不承认中华人民共和国。对此,中国政府提出了“政治三原则”和“政经不可分原则”,与日本方面旨在搞“两个中国”的图谋进行了针锋相对的斗争。在中日复交35年后的今天,“政经之争”早已不再是中日之间争论的焦点。但对如今时而“政冷经热”、时而“政经双冷”的中日关系来说,重温这段“政经之争”的历史,无疑具有特殊的意义。     

Scoping and conceptualising retailer internationalisation

The impacts and activities of international retailers have beenlargely ignored in the globalisation discourse. A possible reasonfor this is the absence, in international retailing, of conceptand theory that does not hang on the coat-tails of internationalproduction. The paper attempts to consider international retailingin its own right. Three linked questions are explored. Has theinternationalisation process of the large retailers resultedin an increase in the global concentration of sales? In whatways does the process of retailer internationalisation differfrom the internationalisation of production? What does the committedinternational retailer transfer to the host country during theinternationalisation process?     

论长江中游地区新石器时代晚期的生计经济与人口压力

长江中游地区新石器时代晚期的主要生计方式是稻作农业,因渔猎所占比重不同而又可细分为山地型与平原型。水田稻作农业具有集约化程度高,产出也较高的特点。稻田耕作系统的形成与维护需要大量劳力,从而刺激人口迅速增长,结果造成人口压力。自然环境的数次波动更加剧了这种压力。因人口压力而引发的移民、战争和社会重组等,成为推动初期社会复杂化进程的主要原因。