Polycentric development in the Cape Town city-region: Empirical assessment and consideration of spatial policy implications

The concept of the ‘polycentric urban region’ has been popularised both as a theoretical concept for understanding regional urban systems in an era of reduced transport and communication costs, and as a normative policy objective in its own right. This paper explores its relevance to the rapidly urbanising Cape Town city-region. First, empirical evidence for the emergence of polycentric regional development patterns was considered. Shifts in relative settlements sizes (morphological polycentrism) over the period 1991–2011 were examined using population data, and patterns of inter-settlement interactions (functional polycentrism) were explored by analysing commuting information. Contrary to expectations, trends toward polycentric development were found to be weak. Second, the paper considers the relevance and value of polycentric development thinking for regional economic and spatial planning policy, concluding that there are insufficient grounds for policy intervention aimed at encouraging polycentric regional development or countering the dominance of Cape Town in the region.     

气候障碍因子对城市绿化适生树种选择的 影响——以上海世博公园为例

通过对上海近30年的气候因子汇总分析，结合对上 海世博公园主要绿化树种生长状况调查和年度生物量计算，通 过典型相关性分析发现，极端高低温、强风和暴雨等5个气候 因子对树木的生长产生了不同程度的影响，有些因子严重阻碍 了树木的正常生长，成为障碍因子。经过10年的绿化实践验 证，上海世博公园对骨干树种的选择，以乡土树种为主，群落 结构较为稳定，且气候障碍因子对乡土树种的影响较小。在引 种外来树种时，采用气候相似植物区系法，结合植物耐寒、耐 热带图，把种源地划分为2个气候带和3个植物区系，并确定了 最南引种线，成功引种了红花槭等20种观花色叶乔木树种。     

The Urban–Rural Gap of Chinese Household Finance

Using data from a large household survey, we investigate the size of China’s urban–rural gap in ownership of bank deposits, risky financial assets, and credit cards. We further examine the factors underlying the gap using decomposition analysis. Compared to their urban counterparts, rural Chinese are much less likely to own a variety of financial products. Both demand-side barriers and supply-side barriers to financial inclusion exist in China. More, we use instrumental variable analysis to address the endogeneity of the local supply of financial service. Above all, our study indicates that a large financial services vacuum in rural areas needs to be filled.     

Being Good Parents or Being Good Citizens: Dilemmas and Contradictions of Urban Families in Middle‐Class Enclaves and Mixed Neighbourhoods in Germany

In recent years, cities have become ever more attractive to middle‐class families. On the one hand, middle‐class families tend to withdraw into (often newly built) socially homogeneous middle‐class neighbourhoods. On the other hand, they are also known to move into inner‐city and socially mixed areas, thus triggering processes of gentrification. Academic literature has often denounced these housing choices as being either ‘separatist’ or ‘revanchist’, more broadly categorized as strategies of ‘middle‐class disaffiliation’. Although there is a grain of truth in these interpretations, the reality is certainly more complicated. In our research on middle‐class parents’ housing and neighbourhood choices as well as their patterns of neighbourhood use, carried out in each of the two types of residential area mentioned above, we have only very rarely found an explicit desire to draw boundaries that exclude those ‘beneath’ them. We rather argue that the housing choices and neighbourhood‐related activities of middle‐class family households are heavily influenced by the specific dilemmas the interviewees face as (working) urban parents. While a significant number of respondents worry about the social sustainability, justice and cohesion of urban society, they are also concerned about the future prospects of their children. Many find it difficult to reconcile these conflicting normative demands under the prevailing circumstances.     

城市家庭住房不平等:户籍、禀赋还是城市特征？——基于广义有序模型与Oaxaca-Blinder分解

基于中国劳动力动态调查（CLDS）数据，运用广义有序Logit模型实证分析户籍、家庭禀赋和城市特征三类因素对城市家庭住房不平等的影响；运用夏普利值分解、Oaxaca-Blinder分解区分"努力"和"环境"因素、户籍歧视和禀赋效应的贡献。研究发现：户籍可解释住房等级不平等的54.2%；"努力"因素对住房水平起正向作用；在户籍间住房等级不平等中户籍歧视效应占主导，在住房面积不平等中禀赋效应占主导，外地户口居民住房水平低源于"环境"因素趋弱，农业户口居民则源于"努力"和"环境"因素叠加趋弱；由于生活成本效应占主导，城市规模和流动人口占比越大，居民住房等级趋低，而城市土地供给增长有助于提升住房水平。     

城镇居民生活用水影响因素的实证分析——以成都市为例

通过分析影响城镇居民生活用水的因素,根据成都市城镇居民生活用水现状,采取城镇人口数﹑人均日生活综合用水量﹑人均可支配收入﹑水价4项具有代表性标量,通过平稳性检验和协整分析,采用科克伦—奥克特迭代法修正法建立回归模型。结果表明:①城镇居民用水人口数增加1%,用水需求则会上升0.943个百分点。②水价上升1%,居民对水的需求减少了0.016%,而居民收入增加同等的比例,用水需求则会上升0.232%。③城镇人口数对生活用水量的增长最显著作用,水价上涨对用水需求的抑制作用比收入增加对用水需求的拉动作用要小很多。为此为有效管理城镇居民生活用水,给出从完善阶梯水价、加强宣传、健全法规、推动节水技术等方面提出建议。     

Cultural Preservation and Urban Development: Case Studies on Chinese Old Brand Enterprise

Abstract

When we talk about “City Development, Preservation, and Hospitality”, we do not forget to discuss Chinese Old Brand Enterprises. These enterprises, labeled with distinctive historical character, enjoy high reputation and wide recognition, are very important parts of urban cultural preservation and economic development. Nowadays, China is called an emerging economy in the world. In fact, China has a long history of business tradition for thousands of years. Especially, Chinese Old Brand Enterprises are those that inherit Chinese traditional culture and bear unique techniques, products, and services in their operations. The urban system in most countries is influenced by market forces and enterprises. Cities that produce goods and services that are in demand and attract people to live in them will have faster growth than those that do not.     

城市轨道交通出行幸福价值评估研究-以长沙地铁为例

基于计划行为理论,构建城市轨道交通出行选择框架,依据长沙地铁出行SP调查数据,运用因子分析法,考量城市轨道交通出行幸福价值指数和出行幸福价值.结果发现:客观价值、主观价值、主观感觉、出行者特征和出行特征等功能因子决定地铁出行幸福价值;部分常用出行选择决定因素没有得到认同;出行幸福价值中部分客观价值与主观价值的认知存在不一致.鉴此,应在线路成网、改善交通接驳和最后一公里的方便性、增加发车频次、优化公共交通等级计费、传播城市轨道交通优势等方面提高出行幸福价值.     

Reducing the ecological footprint of urban cars

This study develops the policy-making capabilities of the Ecological Footprint. The new capabilities we introduce in our Ecological Footprint model allow us to clarify policy options in the face of the increasing management complexity due to a more interconnected and uncertain world. We investigate the effectiveness of three illustrative policy options for reducing the Ecological Footprint of urban car transport: (1) improvements in efficiency/technology, (2) substitution with alternate fuel mixes, and (3) the reduction in demand by altering urban form. We investigate the success of policy options for a subnational case study jurisdiction in Australia, but in the uncertain global context. We use a resilience framework that considers critical social, economic, and environmental variables, multiple scales, and multiple possible futures. We find that delaying policy options to mitigate CO₂ emissions from the transport sector will increase the risks borne by society as a result of future global uncertainty, the uncertain timing of globally coordinated action on climate change and the timing of peak oil. We also find that the success of local policy is affected by the global future which prevails. The use of the Ecological Footprint allows policy to be informed by the consequences of both CO₂ emissions and increasing demand for land. The study provides a decision-making framework that allows local decision makers to make robust policy despite global uncertainty. This framework has wider applicability to other nations and/or subnational jurisdictions worldwide.