空间稀缺性--公共政策地理研究的一个视角

空间稀缺性是人类经济活动空间需求的数量与质量的提高与空间供给的有限性的矛盾。产生空间稀缺性的原因有自然原因和经济原因。人类在经济活动中发展了应对空间稀缺性的各种措施，如以技术进步应对空间稀缺性、通过空间扩展应对空间稀缺性、优化空间组合应对空间稀缺性、通过政府管制应对空间稀缺性等。经济地理学应该致力于空间稀缺性研究，并从空间稀缺性的视角发展公共政策地理学。

SPATIAL SCARCITY--A PERSPECTIVE OF GEOGRAPHY OF PUBLIC POLICY

Geography of public policy, a branch of economic geography, not only should pay much more attention to the impacts of geography of public policy, but also should investigate how to design and reshape public policy. If economic geographers devote to geography of public policy more enthusiastically, geography of public policy will have growing influential with public policies and policy - makers. There are many perspectives from which to research geography of public policy. For example, one perspective is the impacts of geography of public policy, because spatial or non - spatial policies have different geographical implications and consequences; the other is the spatial combination and configuration of industry, urban and economic zones. In this paper, the primary debates on geography of public policy are from the point of view of spatial scarcity. Spatial scarcity comes from the fact that places are geographical foundation of mankind's activities, which can't be substituted by any other resources. Spatial scarcity can be divided into two kinds. One is related with natural resources; the other is related with activities of economic actors, such as households, firms and consumers etc. On the one hand, the spatial demand is ever increasing as economic development drive to more advanced stages. On the other hand, the spatial supply is limited. Thus, spatial scarcity is the contradiction between spatial demand and supply. Both natural causes and economic causes can produce spatial scarcity. As natural resources, aggregate of space is constant. The increment of spatial demand has no effect on the side of spatial supply. In additional, as economic resources, government has to distribute the land supply in a long (infinite) term, therefore, it is, obviously to intensify the spatial scarcity in short run. Moreover, because places can't be exchanged and moved freely, the degree of spatial scarcity can't be lowered easily by transaction . Man has developed various ways to deal with spatial scarcity. Firstly, technological progress becomes the main method of coping with spatial scarcity, but its capability of overcoming spatial scarcity is limited. Secondly, spatial expansion is a possible way to deal with spatial scarcity, however, it has only function of trade - off between different kinds of spatial scarcity. Thirdly, both improvement of spatial combination and governance are essential tools of coping with spatial scarcity. Geography of public policy from the perspective of spatial scarcity should pay more attention to several problems. Above all, strategies of coping with spatial scarcity are different on global, national, regional and urban scales. Next, it is necessary to regulate the relative changes of spatial scarcity and value. Finally, spatial scarcity can produce a series of problems of economic welfare, such as externalities and common goods, so governance should be an important tool to deal with spatial scarcity. Generally speaking, economic geography shoud study spatial scarcity, and develop geography of public policy from the viewpoint of spatial scaricity.