Assessing the sustainability of tourism-related livelihoods in an urban World Heritage Site

The relationship between UNESCO World Heritage Sites and tourism has been described as a double-edged sword, with the benefits of tourism countered by its adverse impacts. To the extent that tourism-related livelihoods are dependent on World Heritage status, the loss of that status may have significant adverse effects, especially for poor people. The Sustainable Livelihood Framework has been used to analyse the development, or otherwise, of rural communities in poor regions of the world. This paper uses this approach to examine the urban poor of a World Heritage Site in Thailand, The Historic City of Ayutthaya. As a consequence of tourism and urban industrial development, not only has there been conflict between the urban poor and the Thai government within the designated heritage area, there is also conflict with the neighbouring industrial zones. This has resulted in fears that World Heritage status may be lost. Viewed within DFID’s Sustainable Livelihood Framework, lack of capital and little community participation are factors which contribute significantly to an unsustainable livelihood. However, this research concludes that using self-reliance as a measurement of people’s livelihood to determine ‘sustainability’ is inappropriate in an urban-tourism context because people living in urban areas rely heavily on external sources.     

珠三角城市群物流竞争力评价

以珠三角城市群物流产业竞争力为研究对象,进行城市物流竞争力评价指标体系构建,采用因子分析法和聚类分析法对样本变量数据进行评价研究,进行城市物流竞争力影响因素分析,从量化的角度了解珠三角城市群物流产业状况。结果表明,广州和深圳物流竞争力很强,东莞和佛山物流竞争力较强,惠州、中山及江门物流竞争力一般,珠海、河源等8个城市竞争力较弱。通过对评价结果的分析为珠三角各城市明确自身物流产业现状提供参考,也为各城市物流产业未来的发展提出了若干建议。     

Urban greening: A new paradox of economic or social sustainability?

Cities globally have incorporated sustainable development into their planning, and led the way in responding to the world’s ecological crisis by “going green”. Urban green space accessibility is considered as the key to urban sustainability progress, not only environmentally, but also economically and socially. However, previous research rarely considers the latter two dimensions together. This study therefore joins the sustainability discussion from a new perspective, in particular the debate concerning the value of urban green spaces and whether and how they contribute to the variegated sustainability agenda? Based on data for 76,595 residential housing units in New York City, measuring the economic gains and equity losses from current urban green space accessibility reveals a paradox in sustainable development where the economic and social benefits of urban green space accessibility are seldom compatible, tending to involve a trade-off of some kind. In response, it is proposed that the spatial patterns of land use can represent a step towards multifaceted aspects of sustainability, with the provision of numerous small green areas that are “affordable and accessible” throughout the city being a more appropriate policy agenda than a few vast parks. Such a policy approach, it is argued, will provide a ‘win-win’ situation in terms of simultaneously contributing to both economic prosperity and the social justice of sustainability. This research also provided evidence for the institutional-driven countries such as China on how to learn from western experiences on planning land use patterns that are sustainable for individuals.     

地方金融发展能够影响FDI的区位选择吗?——一个基于城市商业银行设立的准自然实验

本文以城市商业银行的设立为自然实验,结合1990-2015年中国295个地级市数据以及成立的184家城市商业银行,运用双重差分方法系统考察了地方金融机构对FDI区位选择的影响。研究表明,城市商业银行的成立显著促进了城市FDI的流入;经过一系列稳健性检验和进行倾向得分匹配(PSM)估计之后,这一结论依然成立。结合企业数据证实城商行的设立提升了企业从银行获得贷款的可能性,能够通过缓解企业融资约束而影响FDI的区位分布。对城商行兼并和异地扩张行为的进一步分析表明:城商行经营规模的扩张,无论是对属地还是异地城市FDI的促进作用均不明显,而城商行资金规模的扩张对FDI有明显促进作用。这些发现将为我国完善金融体系和升级银行业结构、吸引FDI促进区域经济协调发展提供理论和经验支持。     

山东省泰安市建筑行业农民工社会保障现况研究

以问卷及现场访谈的方法调查山东省泰安市50名建筑行业农民工的社会保障现状，对现存问题提出解决思路和方法，为相关部门制定政策提供依据。经调查所得，山东泰安建筑行业为代表的农民工群体社会保障问题突出，应需从多方面着手有效维护农民工合法权益。     

重庆高等教育布局结构优化路径探析

重庆市的经济转型、科技创新、文化传承和民生改善离不开高水平的高等教育给予源源不断的人才和智力支持.重庆高等教育尽管取得长足进步,但还不适应新形势和新发展的需要,加快发展重庆高等教育需要从优化布局结构方面寻找新举措和新路径.     

An empirical Coasian study on the socio-economic profiles of two politically sensitive informal settlements: Kowloon Walled City and Rennie’s Mill

Informed by the “corollary of Coase Theorem” (Lai and Hung, 2008; Lai et al., 2007), for a better understanding of the self-help post-war development of two politically sensitive and vanished places in Hong Kong, the so-called “Kowloon Walled City” (Lai, 2016; Lai and Chua, 2017; Lau et al., 2018) and Rennie’s Mill (Lan, 2006), which have attracted academic interest but remained under-researched in terms of empirical scrutiny, this study:

• •Identify and compare their institutional arrangements by archival research;
• •identify and compare their development outcomes, as measured by census and other official data including mapping and photographic information, supplemented by published oral history of witnesses; and
• •establish and discuss the relationship between the differences in institutional arrangements and development outcomes in terms of a landlord-tenant analogy.

     

小城市旧住宅区专项整治规划思路探索——以临安市旧城区改造为例

本文通过对临安市旧住宅区的实地调研和科学分析并结合社会的意见提出了临安市旧住宅区改造的时间顺序表以及年度要开展的改造项目和未来改造储备项目,为临安市旧住宅区的改造提供了科学的指导方向。     

生态体验景观感知测评

生态体验景观属性是景观行动者—网络空间过程的表现,是生态体验过程价值实现的重要基础。文章以辽宁丹东的乡镇为例,采用结构方程模型验证了生态体验景观中乡镇生活、生态环境、休闲体验及产业发展等网络行动者属性的结构关系。在模型验证过程中,运用SPSS11.0及AMOS6.0软件测试景观网络行动者的结构关系模型及相互作用的路径系数;拟合度检验表明,结构方程模型具有较高的可靠性。     

后农业税时代河西走廊农户农地流转意愿及其影响因素分析——以张掖市为例

以河西走廊张掖市农户调查为例,采用Logistic模型对取消农业税后农户农地流转的意愿及其影响因素进行定量分析。研究表明：农地流转交易价格是影响农户农地流转的主要因素;家庭非农收入比例也对农户农地流转有较显著的影响作用;农业补贴额作用着农户农地流转;＂农户对农业税费减免政策的效应感知＂在一定程度上也影响农户农地流转。最后,提出了相关的政策建议。