The ‘natures’ of planning: evolving conceptualizations of nature as expressed in urban planning theory and practice

Over the course of the past century, the idea of nature in the city has become increasingly intricate, evolving from being viewed as a refuge separate from the city to being understood as an essential component of dynamic urban systems. As such, attempts are currently being made to ‘re-nature’ cities to support local and global ecosystems, increase human well-being and address environmental issues such as climate change. While the literature has examined changing assumptions about society–nature relationships in planning, a dearth of knowledge exists relating to the changing conceptualization of nature’s relationship with the ‘city’ and how this has influenced how urban planning with respect to ‘nature’ has evolved in both theory ‘and’ practice. In this paper, we address this lacuna by tracing the history of the entwined relationship between nature and city planning. The conceptual framework developed from this review is subsequently employed as an analytical lens through which to investigate an illustrative case study of planning for nature in Dublin City, Ireland. The paper concludes by reflecting on how exploring the natures of planning provides scope for greater critical attention to what we do as planners when we seek to address the challenge of safeguarding nature through policy.     

新西兰中国大陆新移民初探

论文基于统计数字,分析了新西兰移民政策对中国大陆移民的影响、中国大陆移民在新西兰的定居状况以及近期新移民的政治诉求。得出结论,新西兰中国大陆新移民群体的形成始于新西兰在1987年所颁布的新移民法案,此后分别于20世纪90年代中期和2000年以后共两次大批的中国大陆人士移民新西兰;近年的新移民包括数以万计的留学生转化的移民以及数额可观的商业移民,尤其是投资移民;如此数万之众的留学生和新移民的到来,对新西兰华人社会经济产生了巨大影响;很多中国大陆新移民对参与新西兰政治表现出了浓厚的兴趣;未来的研究应做多角度和深度研究,如探讨新西兰中国大陆移民的身份认同问题,他们与其他华裔移民及土生华裔的关系以及这个群体中的＂空中飞人＂和海归现象等。     

Hopeful possibilities in spaces of ‘the-not-yet-become’: relational encounters in volunteer tourism

Volunteer tourism has rapidly emerged as a pervasive form of contemporary global tourism. This paper examines the importance of incorporating non-representational theories into analyses of volunteer tourism. Discussions of volunteer tourism are often framed within fixed notions of culture, identity and power relations. In this paper I argue that attention to embodiment, affect and emotion can provide more nuanced insights into the ambiguities of volunteer experiences and encounters. Drawing on fieldwork from a small coastal town in Peru, the study focuses on the encounters between volunteers and locals and the role of emotions in the framing of their experiences. While emotions and expectations are often framed by development aid discourses that characterise volunteers and locals into neo-colonial binaries, there are also numerous possibilities for how volunteers and locals are ‘affected’. By attending to the ‘more than rational’ dimensions of the volunteer tourism experience I draw out the relationship between embodiment, affect and what philosopher of hope Bloch (1986) calls the ‘ontology of the-not-yet’. It is within the embodied encounters in spaces of ‘the-not-yet-become’ where hopeful possibilities in volunteer tourism are found’ This opens up new ways of understanding volunteer tourism. This may, in turn, facilitate more responsible and equitable practice in volunteer tourism projects.     

保皇会在澳洲的兴起——基于《东华新报》的媒体传播理论与量化分析

论文对澳洲华侨史上最具影响力的报纸——《东华新报》的内容进行了量化分析,并重点考察了保皇会运动在澳洲的兴起背景。认为从海外华人世界看中国,《东华新报》为我们了解晚清帝国的内政外交,尤其是戊戌政变后风云变幻的混乱格局,开启了一扇别样的窗口。其报道的关于康梁保皇会在海外的活动,为我们进一步审视19世纪末澳洲联邦成立前后,当地新兴民族主义催生之排华情境下,澳洲华人如何处理跨国境遇以及反思他们的民族认同感,提供了新视角。     

Post COVID-19 ecological and social reset: moving away from capitalist growth models towards tourism as Buen Vivir

Abstract

Tourism has been one of the industries most highly affected by COVID-19. The COVID-19 global pandemic is an ‘unprecedented crisis’ and has exposed the pitfalls of a hyper consumption model of economic growth and development. The scale of immediate economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic has shattered the myth of ‘catch up development’ and ‘perpetual growth’. The Crisis has brought unintended degrowth, presenting opportunities for an economic and social ‘reset’. In terms of long-term thinking post COVID-19, it is time to change the parameters of how we imagine a trajectory going forward, to prefigure possibilities for contesting capitalist imperatives that ‘there is no alternative’. In relation to tourism, the pandemic provides an opportunity for reimaging tourism otherwise, away from exploitative models that disregard people, places, and the natural environment, and towards a tourism that has positive impacts. Non-western alternatives to neo-colonial and neoliberal capitalism, such the South American concept of ‘Buen Vivir’, can help us to shift priorities away from economic growth, towards greater social and environmental wellbeing, and meaningful human connections. Taking a Buen Vivir approach to tourism will continue the degrowth momentum, for transformative change in society within the earth’s physical limits. Yet Buen Vivir also redefines the parameters of how we understand ‘limits’. In limiting unsustainable practices in development and tourism, a focus on Buen Vivir actually creates growth in other areas, such as social and environmental wellbeing, and meaningful human connection. Buen Vivir can reorient the tourism industry towards localised tourism, and slow tourism because the principles of Buen Vivir require these alternatives to be small-scale, local and benefiting host communities as well as tourists to increase the wellbeing for all.