Traditional Retail Markets: The New Gentrification Frontier?

This paper presents traditional retail markets in the UK caught between a narrative of decline and revival, on the edge of a gentrification frontier. Traditional indoor and outdoor markets have become somewhat residual in many British cities but essential for many low‐income citizens that rely on their affordability. At the same time, the market is being reinvented for a wealthier type of customer interested more in local, environmentally friendly, ethical and “authentic” shopping experience. We take the case of Kirkgate Market in Leeds, the largest of its kind in Britain to analyse the process of disinvestment by the local authority, displacement of traders and customers and rebranding of the market for a new wealthier customer base. The paper is based on an action‐research project on which one of the authors is involved alongside traders and other campaigners to defend the public nature of Kirkgate Market in Leeds.     

Internationalising the University Curriculum

Many Western universities are responding to the demands of globalisation by attempting to internationalise their curricula—that is, to introduce an element of multiculturalism. This project derives its rationale from three assumptions: (1) the globalisation process is a viable agenda for a sustainable and just future for all people; (2) it is the responsibility of the university to respond faithfully to current demands of Western society—that is, in this case, to the demands of globalisation; and, (3) given the first two assumptions, internationalisation of the curriculum is a logical response. It is argued that the first two assumptions need to be explicitly recognised and then rigorously questioned. This must be done by academics themselves, and as a joint project with students in the classroom. This questioning amounts to challenging the foundational concepts of contemporary Western civilisation. New directions for the future may thus emerge from the classroom. The core concepts of other cultures may be seen as an asset in this process, giving an entirely new meaning to the term ‘internationalisation of the curriculum’.     

商业微区位空间关联类型与测度

商业微区位空间关联是指城市街区范围内商业设施之间以及商业设施与其他城市设施之间的空间关系,是一种外部经济性现象。论文将空间关联划分为消费者主导型、商品主导型、结构主导型等。论文讨论了空间关联的测度指标,将关联度分为共栖型、依附型和区域型。共栖型表示商业设施之间的关联程度,依附型表示商业设施之间的依附程度,区域型表示区域内商业设施的总体关联程度。论文阐述了商业微区位空间关联分析的意义。     

商业业态及其对城市商业空间结构的影响

商业业态是商业的经营形式与状态,不同业态的商业企业具有不同的市场定位与地理定位,其区位选择的结果形成了特定的商业空间结构。本文探讨了不同时期的商业业态所对应的商业空间结构,揭示了商业业态与商业空间结构具有极大的相关性。     

THE CHANGING COMMERCIAL STRUCTURE OF NON-METROPOLITAN URBAN CENTRES AND VACANCY RATES

Utilizing data from 100 percent store-by-store surveys of five local communities undertaken by student interns during July in 1995 and 1997, the commercial structures of five non-metropolitan centres in Ontario – Sturgeon Falls, Port Hope, Collingwood, Cobourg, and Sault Ste. Marie — are established and compared. The surveys include information related to store type, space, specific location, and employment. Trends in vacancy rates for the major components of the commercial structure (downtowns, shopping centres/plazas, arterial strips, and freestanding locations) in each community are established and discussed in the context of changes in: (1) demand, that is, market size as reflected by population and gross income; and, (2) supply, that is, competition generated internally from new commercial elements established locally, or externally from the more attractive commercial facilities in larger metropolitan centres. While vacancy rates indicate a degree of over-storing they vary considerably. In general, the downtowns in these communities are not dead, and it is shopping centres/plazas that are suffering the most from internal and external competitive supply-side pressures. On a établi et comparé la structure commerciale de cinq centres non métropolitains de l'Ontario – Sturgeon Falls, Port Hope, Collingwood, Cobourg et Sault-Sainte-Marie – et ce à partir de donnees tirees de sondages effectués auprès de tous les magasins des cinq villes par des étudiants en juillet 1995 et 1997. L'information ainsi recueillie portait sur le genre de magasin, l'espace, l'emplacement et la main-d'oeuvre. On a indentifié les tendances dans les taux d'inoccupation des composantes majeures de la structure commerciale (centres-villes, centres commerciaux, voies à grande circulation, emplacements autonomes), dans le contexte de modifications dans: (1) la demande, soit la taille du marché selon sa population et le revenu brut, et (2) l'offre, soit la concurrence produite à l'interne par de nouveaux éléments établis localement, ou encore a l'externe par les installations commerciales plus attrayantes des grands centres métropolitains. Si les taux d'inoccupation reflètent un certain excédent dans le nombre de magasins, ils varient considérablement. En général, les centres-villes de ces communautés ne sont pas inertes, et ce sont les centres commerciaux qui souffrent le plus des pressions concurrentielles internes et externes provenant de l'offre.     

线上和线下生活服务设施可达性及其协调关系——以生鲜果蔬店铺为例

作为智慧城市的重要组成部分,“新零售”得到蓬勃发展,提供当日配送服务的“新零售”深刻影响了城市生活服务的可获取性和时空可达性。本文以南京中心城区为例,运用两步移动搜索法、耦合协调度模型等方法,探究提供当日配送生鲜果蔬服务的店铺和传统生鲜果蔬实体店空间分布特征,分析线上和线下生鲜果蔬店铺的可达性及空间协调关系。研究发现,线上生活服务遵循技术扩散假说,强化了中心城区的生活服务集聚,同时线上生活服务集聚和可达性仍受实体地理空间约束;线上生活服务有悖于效率假说,对传统生活服务的空间分异具有加强作用,整体上没有提高生活服务的供给效率和空间公平性。研究结果可为新零售影响下城市生活服务设施的配置优化提供科学依据。     

Making gender–work practicable: situating men's reconstruction of ‘women's job’ in a Swedish supermarket's micro-politics

Based on empirical data from one Swedish supermarket, this article argues that men's reconstructing of ‘women's work’ in accordance with a masculinised sense of self what Simpson (2004, ‘Masculinity at Work: The Experience of Men in Female Dominated Occupations’, Work, Employment & Society 18, no 2: 349–368) calls ‘gender–work’ is not limited to individual men's perceptions and creations of self. Rather, by investigating the gendered boundary work in which the manager and other workers engage, this study shows how these reconstructions are legitimised and made practicable by organisational micro-politics. By emphasising the specific skills required by ‘their’ department – produce – the male workers distanced themselves from the routine and standardised stocking that dominated the work performed at the supermarket. This notion that working in the produce department required specialised knowledge was legitimised by the manager and the organisation of work at the supermarket. While at times, other workers (most of them women) challenged the boundaries of the produce department, they simultaneously re-established those boundaries by glossing over potential conflicts and maintaining equal treatment existed within the organisation.     

Competitive internationalisation or grassroots practises of internationalism? The changing international practises of German-language critical geography

International connections have always been essential in critical geography in Germany. This paper aims to examine the role of international connections in German critical geography as a step towards a history of critical geography in Germany. The paper suggests four periods of internationalisation: first, an internationalist phase from ca. 1920 to 1933, with the very first critical geographers in Germany who were highly connected and internationally oriented. Second, starting in the late 1960s, there was a phase of struggles within the national framework of the discipline, and in particular against a prevailing national focus of mainstream geography. Third, the late 1970s and the 1980s saw the emergence of an international orientation as a way to escape repression in German geography. People interested in critical approaches in geography left the country, finding inspiration or positions elsewhere, or sought out international contacts that challenged ‘mainstream’ geography. Finally, the paper will draw conclusions about the development of international connections in relation to national disciplinary control, the scales of struggles and (as a fourth phase) the current situation in German geography.     

From foodways to intangible heritage: a case study of Chinese culinary resource,retail and recipe in Hong Kong

Chinese foodways is a complex mix of regional elements including a wide range of ingredients and culinary skills, and is considered a system of knowledge not only inherited from the past but also determined by socio-political changes in different eras. Even though great differences can be found between northern and southern ingredients and culinary skills, there are common characteristics shared among cuisines in various regions through internal migration as well as importation of ingredients and cooking skills. Apart from studying Chinese foodways as regional traditions in the historical context, we should look at it as intangible heritage from the socio-political perspectives regarding the current debate on cultural preservation. In this article, I aim to investigate Chinese foodways related to heritage preservation focusing on culinary resource in agricultural and cultivation system, wholesale/retail trade network and family recipe, in order to have a better understanding of food heritage in the fast-changing Hong Kong society. With the three cases provided, I would draw attention to the paradox of defining heritage for preservation and the dilemma of whether we should preserve traditional foodways that have been modified for market interest as they are discredited for loss of authenticity.     

'Proactive fast-tracking' diffusion of supermarkets in developing countries: implications for market institutions and trade

Supermarkets have spread extremely rapidly in developing countriesafter the ‘take-off’ in the early to mid-1990s.Former analyses of supermarket diffusion have not adequatelyexplained the sudden burst and then exponential diffusion ofsupermarkets in the late 1990s and early 2000s. We argue thatrather than taking demand and market institutional and organizationalconditions as ‘exogenous’, as former analyses havetended to do, modern food retailers instead have treated localconditions as substantially ‘endogenous’. To enabletheir rapid growth, supermarkets undertake ‘proactivefast-tracking strategies’ to alter the ‘enablingconditions’ of entry and growth. Beside the retail investmentsthat have been extensively treated in recent literature, theseproactive strategies focus on improving the ‘enablingconditions’ via (i) procurement system modernization and(ii) local supply chain development. One important strategyretailers have used to facilitate (i) and (ii) is to form symbioticrelationships with modern wholesale, logistics and processingfirms. An example we address is ‘follow sourcing’,where a transnational retailer encourages transnational logisticsand wholesale firms with whom the retailer is working in homemarkets, to locate to the developing country. This is a spurto globalization of services in support of retail. Follow-sourcinghas been treated for example in the automobile manufacturessector (follow-sourcing from spare parts manufacturers)—butnot in the food sector. A second important strategy is thatof multi-network-sourcing, in which supermarkets source fromnational, regional and global networks. We analyze that strategyhere, adding to the literature which to date has touched onthis theme only scantly, and for the first time identify typicalpaths, present preliminary evidence (from Central America andIndonesia) concerning this multi-sourcing-network strategy anddiscuss trade implications. One of these is the move to primacyof South–South trade in supermarket sourcing—a newdimension of globalization. By introducing this link of retailertransformation and trade into the literature, we hope to spura new line of research that is timely in light of the trade,development and globalization debates in developing countries.