Long-term land-use changes in small/medium-sized cities. Enhancing the general trends and local characteristics

Small and medium-sized cities represent the backbone of the European territory, promoting cohesion and an economic base for development. The study compares the spatial and temporal trajectories of land use in three small/medium-sized cities located in central Portugal, between 1958 and 2011. The cities of Viseu, Leiria and Castelo Branco were chosen because they are located in different urban sub-systems and because of the different factors that frame their alterations in land use, occupation and consequent urban development. The research evaluates the transformations, supported by indicators to explain the spatial dynamics of losses and gains and a principal component analysis compares the land-use trajectories for the three cities. The general results reveal an increase from the central part of the study areas to the periphery, contrasting with a continuous decrease of the agricultural parts, illustrating peri-urbanization and rururbanization processes. The study allows identification of the dynamics in the three analysed areas, highlighting the different rhythms of change and relating them to the particularities that exist in each city. The methodology represents an advantage for the analysis and evaluation of territorial dynamics related to land-use change, and made possible the identification of the different forces.     

再论唐六胡州城址的定位问题——兼谈历史地理学研究方法

六胡州是唐初为安置突厥降户而设置的鲁、丽、含、塞、依、契六个羁縻州府,由于其在历史研究上的重要意义,一直受到学术界关注,并取得诸多进展。但六胡州城址地望长期以来完全处于悬而不决的状态。近年来部分综合交叉研究在定位六胡州城址上取得了创建性成果,同时也引发了一些学术争议。本文拟通过历史文献考证与野外实地考察相结合的研究方法,运用城市地理学原理和3S技术手段,对相关争论进行梳理,并对其中一些城址进行了再次定位。研究认为,六胡州中鲁州确应在今宁夏盐池兴武营城址处;而匡州城址、故宥州城址和兰池都督府均处于查干巴拉嘎素古城所在,且沿用的是六胡州中的丽州或契州。     

Becoming a ‘Cultural Destination of Choice’: lessons on vernacularization from Beirut and Buenos Aires

ABSTRACT

This article builds upon the concept of vernacularization as a way to better understand the circulation and implementation of global policy assemblages. The added value of a vernacularization approach is that it combines under one analytical umbrella the separate but interdependent factors which affect policy travel and use including: (a) positionality or the social and spatial status of actors, institutions and localities, (b) processes of communication that go beyond translation to make ideas and practices understandable, resonant, and useful, (c) the resulting vernacularization of aspirations and goals, and (d) the ways in which these factors change over time as policies come to ground, are modified, and circulate once again. Each aspect of vernacularization relies deeply on meaning making and remaking, whether it be the identity of the vernacularizer herself or of the institutions and cities where she is located.