Discovering Price in All the Wrong Places: The Work of Commodity Definition and Price under Neoliberal Environmental Policy

Abstract: Price plays a unique role in neoliberal economic theory, quantifying value and providing markets with the information needed to produce equilibrium conditions and optimal social welfare. While the role of price is clear, the mechanisms by which prices are discovered, and by which the commodities they value are defined, are left obscure in neoliberal theory. Automatic price discovery, and self‐evident commodity identities, are assumed. Observation of newly created markets in ecosystem services suggests that this is a moment of significant tension within neoliberal practice, as potential market participants seek guidance from the state on appropriate commodity measures and pricing practices. Bureaucrats and economists, following the neoliberal preference for governance over government, turn the task back onto civil society. The invocation of abstract rules, instead of the formulation of practical guidance, by policymakers means that the neoliberal marketization of non‐market public goods is a contingent and sometimes rudderless task for those who must make markets work on the ground. This presents many opportunities for constructive engagement on the part of geographers and other critics of neoliberal strategy.     

近代台湾水利工程--以嘉南大圳为例

日本占据台湾后,为了满足本国粮食与糖类的需要,也为侵华战争提供粮食支持,加紧扶持台湾的农业生产。对此,日辖台湾总督府多次颁布有关农业发展的政策并采取一系列措施。在推广优质品种、实行强制性农会组织后,总督府逐渐将重点放到完善和修筑水利工程上。由于原有埤圳模式缺点的暴露以及政府期望更有力地控制公共资源,日辖台湾总督府开始实施官修埤圳政策。台南州的嘉南大圳正是这一时期的代表。     

THE VALUE OF WATER VALUES: DEPARTING FROM GEOGRAPHY TOWARDS AN INTERDISCIPLINARY SYNTHESIS

Water valuation represents both an opportunity and a challenge for interdisciplinary scholarly research, given that it can mobilize academic work beyond unnecessary cleavages between physical and social sciences. The article revisits the most common valuation approaches – namely, water as an economic resource, entangled in commodification strategies and embedded in cultural heritages – as important, but incomplete, considerations of the multitude of water values. While previous publications have dealt with the values held by different social groups and by the territorialized manifestation of water values, the limitations of prevailing valuation strategies are discussed here and a relational synthesis is proposed. As relevant as the examination of particular values (e.g. economic, non‐economic, religious, cultural, aesthetic values, etc.) is the realization that the valuation of water is articulated according to socionatural interdependencies and the historic‐geographical trajectories of individuals and groups. Water valuation is, therefore, premised on a relational, holistic ontology, in the sense that values are necessarily interrelated and emerge out of concrete, politicized socionatural interactions. Making use of relevant examples, it is argued that the valuation of water is ultimately a political statement that synthesizes mechanisms of cooperation and competition between individuals and social groups for the allocation, use and conservation of water. Such politicized understanding of the interconnections between water values provides a helpful entry point into the causes and consequences of water management problems. These are all profoundly geographical, but also interdisciplinary, questions, as water values reflect multiscale connections between local processes and wider relations of production, consumption and reproduction.     

The “Commons” Versus the “Commodity”: Alter‐globalization,Anti‐privatization and the Human Right to Water in the Global South

Abstract: In response to the growth of private sector involvement in water supply management globally, anti‐privatization campaigns for a human right to water have emerged in recent years. Simultaneously, alter‐globalization activists have promoted alternative water governance models through North‐South red‐green alliances between organized labour, environmental groups, women's groups, and indigenous groups. In this paper, I explore these distinct (albeit overlapping) responses to water privatization. I first present a generic conceptual model of market environmentalist reforms, and explore the contribution of this framework to debates over ‘neoliberalizing nature’. This conceptual framework is applied to the case of anti‐privatization activism to elucidate the limitations of the human right to water as a conceptual counterpoint to privatization, and as an activist strategy. In contrast, I argue that alter‐globalization strategies—centred on concepts of the commons—are more conceptually coherent, and also more successful as activist strategies. The paper concludes with a reiteration of the need for greater conceptual precision in our analyses of neoliberalization, for both academics and activists.     

行动者网络视角下江南水乡古镇空间演化路径——以周庄古镇为例

江南水乡古镇是江南地域社会经济活动的高度聚合体，而空间作为功能的载体，是古镇保护与发展中的关键一环。本文以周庄古镇为例，从行动者网络理论视角切入，解析不同旅游发展阶段古镇空间演化的行动者作用路径。研究发现，关键行动者意图、行动者网络结构的变化，推动了周庄古镇空间重构和演化。在观光旅游发展阶段，周庄镇政府为关键行动者，通过行政征召、专家带头征召等方式促成行动者网络的形成和发展，使古镇商业空间沿河街生长，文化体验空间呈团块状散布；在休闲度假转型阶段，市场力量开始发挥更大作用，行动者网络重新调整，进一步推动古镇商业空间网状渗透，文化体验空间条块衍生。本文认为古镇空间的实践建构应高度重视原住民这一行动者的作用。     

The Roads of Andalusia and Valencia. A Spanish Transport Legacy of the 18th and 19th Centuries

Roads designed by civil or military engineers for animal-drawn vehicles before the arrival of the railways constituted an essential factor for the movement of goods and people and for the economy and trade in different countries. The improvement in road construction techniques over the 18th and 19th centuries, following the creation of the first civil engineering colleges and institutions, allowed greater transportation at diminishing cost. Despite its significance, this heritage has received comparatively little attention from industrial archaeologists. As such, the object of the present article is to provide an overview of the development in road planning and construction in Spain over the 18th and 19th centuries, in order to demonstrate the historical and technological value of these roads. The article also presents two sections of Spanish roads corresponding to the start and end of the study period, and identifies some of the main archaeological elements dating to their time of construction that prove the evolution in road technology. This process has made it possible to create an inventory which incorporates the main elements that characterise this type of infrastructure.     

Cost-effective deep water archaeology: preliminary investigations in Trondheim Harbour

In the past few years there has been an increased interest in deep water archaeology, and a growing number of archaeological institutions now use remote sensing equipment and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to locate and investigate deep water archaeological sites. The article presents some important projects that have been carried out around the world. These include Norwegian projects. In Trondheim Harbour several shipwrecks have been located in relatively deep water. One of these wrecks was selected as an experimental site for testing new methods, and the results of this work, including documentation and excavation with ROVs and other robotic solutions, are presented. © 2000 The Nautical Archaeology Society