Agriculture and the city: A method for sustainable planning of new forms of agriculture in urban contexts

Contemporary cities are threatened by urban development decreasing the overall environmental quality and fragmenting natural and agricultural landscapes. As a result of this fragmentation the number of Non Urbanized Areas (NUAs) present in urban contexts is dramatically decreasing. These areas include cultivated land, Abandoned Farmlands, Grassland, Woods and Shrubs that are often located at the peri-urban cities’ fringes. Among NUAs, farmlands and other forms of urban and peri-urban agriculture provide all three major categories of ecosystem services, provisioning, regulating and cultural services. Recently, New Forms of Urban Agriculture (NFUA) have gained increasing attention from researchers for their promising multifunctionality. Incorporating NFUA into the urban environment will thus improve the sustainability of cities, taking advantage of the multiple benefits and services they can provide.This paper presents a method for the characterisation of NUAs in terms of their physical, ecological and social features. These areas are analysed with different criteria and related indicators structured according to a GIS-based Multi Criteria Suitability Model. The proposed model checks the suitability of transformation of the NUAs toward NFUA, thereby enhancing their ecological and social function as well as accessibility and overall connectivity. Different scenarios of spatial configurations for NFUA have been explored with a sensitivity analysis on the values of used indicators. The method was tested for the municipality of Catania, south Italy, an urban context characterised by a relevant shortage of public green spaces and services.     

The Rise of Ethnicity under China's Market Reforms

This article investigates the dynamic relationship between economic development and the identification of ethnic minorities and argues that identification of China's ethnic minorities manifests itself at various levels. At the national level, the introduction of market mechanisms and economic growth initiatives have been concentrated predominantly in the coastal areas and metropolises, and are thus increasingly distant from ethnic minorities, a disproportionate majority of which reside in the western parts of the country. This growing regional disparity has placed ethnic regions and populations in a distinctly unfavourable position in terms of economic engagement and development. Regional development in the ethnic‐minority homelands has been characterized by the representation and reinvention of ethnic cultural traditions and the production of cultural economies. Unequal economic growth has resulted in a massive migration of ethnic minorities to the cities. Simultaneously, urban development has reinforced ethnic identity, particularly through urban labour‐market development. Urban and regional development has, in turn, led to the production, activation and magnification of ethnic identity at individual and group levels.     

A top-down creation of a cultural cluster for urban regeneration: The case of OCT Loft,Shenzhen

Researchers of related topics agree that the large-scale top-down development of a creative cluster by a real estate developer may obstruct rather than facilitate creativity and creative entrepreneurialism. OCT Loft, a design industry park in Shenzhen, China, is being celebrated as an exception. Based on analyses of primary and secondary data, we find that the Loft’s success can be attributed to two factors. First, the choice of design as the target industry was appropriate. Design is a fast-growing industry and thus needs space for expansion. Second, the developer chose tenants with good reputations in the industry rather than those offering the highest rent. Both these factors are difficult to implement. First, a growing industry is hard to find in a city where urban regeneration is needed. Second, the majority of developers cannot pass up maximising rent for a good reputation as OCT did. Indeed, OCT was able to pursue the Loft’s creative success because giving a good impression to potential clients was expected to result in future opportunities that would raise profit further. In sum, a large-scale top-down development can facilitate creative entrepreneurialism but only when the developer is not hasty in demanding an immediate return on investment.     

The ‘credibility thesis’ and its application to property rights: (In)Secure land tenure,conflict and social welfare in China

Debates over tenure insecurity have been divided between those favoring private, marketable, and formalized property rights versus champions of grassroots’ customary and communal arrangements. By positing the “credibility thesis”, this article argues that it might be more insightful to move beyond concepts of formal and informal, private and common, or secure and insecure institutions, to leave the discussion about institutional form for a discussion about function. The notion of credibility does so by drawing attention to institutional function over time and space rather than to a desired form postulated by theory or political conviction. Apart from furthering the theoretical foundations on credibility and institutional functionalism, this article aims to develop its methodology and empirical study by taking China as a case study, with particular reference to its rural land-lease system, which is perceived to be highly insecure due to forced evictions and government intervention. Paradoxically, the study finds significant social support for the rural land-lease system and a low level of conflict. These findings might indicate that the form of the Chinese rural lease system (insecure tenure) is the outcome of its present function (provision of social welfare). Simultaneously, it was also found that when conflict does occur expropriation is a prime cause for it.     

Urban containment in action? Long-term dynamics of self-contained urban growth in compact and dispersed regions of southern Europe

The present study illustrates an indicator of self-contained urban growth derived from official statistics with the aim of verifying if a shift from compactness towards settlement diffusion has occurred in cities with different socioeconomic and morphological characteristics. According to this approach, changes in settlement's distribution and density were assessed in four Mediterranean cities (Lisbon, Barcelona, Rome, and Athens) during 80 years between 1919 and 2001. Results indicated that settlement distribution, building density and self-contained urban growth diverged in the four regions since the early 1980s. However, cities with a compact form showed an higher self-contained growth rate than cities with dispersed form. These findings contrast with the similarity in settlement characteristics, population trends, and spatial organization of economic activities observed during the ‘compact growth’ phase (1950–1980) in all examined regions. Comparative analyses of exurban development through morphological indicators may inform strategies promoting self-contained urban growth.     

Relationship between positive psychological capital and creative performance

Despite considerable attention to the creative process and its relationship with personal characteristics, there is no published study focused directly on the relationship between the recently recognized core construct of psychological capital (PsyCap) and creative performance. Drawing from a large (N = 899) and heterogeneous sample of working adults, this study investigates PsyCap and its components (i.e., efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience) as predictors of creative performance. Overall PsyCap predicted creative performance over and above each of the four PsyCap components. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are considered. Copyright © 2010 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基本公共服务均等化如何促进了个人创业--来自医保改革的证据

在高质量发展目标下,推行基本公共服务均等化、促进大众创业是中国经济新常态下的工作重点。基于中国城镇职工基本医疗保险在创业者和非创业者之间可得性的外生差异,本文使用中国健康与营养调查(CHNS)的微观数据,研究社会保险这一基本公共服务在创业者和非创业者之间的相对可得性如何影响个人的创业决策。我们发现,如果城镇职工基本医疗保险对于非创业者更可得,将成为“创业枷锁”,降低个人选择创业的可能性;如果城镇职工基本医疗保险对于创业者更可得,将成为“创业催化剂”,提高个人选择创业的可能性。此外,我们发现,城镇职工基本医疗保险的“创业催化剂”作用对于来自中等收入家庭和小家庭的个人更为显著,而“创业枷锁”效应则更多地影响城镇职工基本医疗保险在薪酬体系中重要性更高的个体。本文认为中国的社会保险对于大众创业具有积极正面的影响。这对于我国社会保险制度的设计和促进经济高质量发展具有重要意义。     

高铁开通与城市创新研究综述

高铁网络的建设大大提高了中国铁路运输的效率,缩短了不同城市之间的时空距离,使居民在不同城市工作和消费成为可能。同时高铁服务通过加速人口和要素在区域间的流动,对城市之间的空间联系和城市社会经济的发展产生了重要的影响。高铁在影响经济格局的同时也深刻影响了区域的创新格局,现通过梳理相关文献,整理归纳了高铁开通对城市创新的影响及其作用机制,并对现有的实证研究方法进行总结。在此基础上提出目前存在的问题,为后续的研究指明方向。     

基于多源数据的环长株潭城市群县市区活跃度测度与分析

了解一个城市群内各县(市)区的活跃度可以为该城市群服务设施的配置及等级结构的优化提供依据。基于环长株潭城市群夜间灯光数据、客流量数据以及新浪微博签到数据,利用数理统计分析,对环长株潭城市群内64个县(市)区的活跃度进行测度,并对经济活跃度和人口活跃度的组合状况进行分类分析。结果显示:长沙市内五区的活跃度居前五位,而距离各中心城区较远的县市区活跃度较低,总体上呈中心-外围的圈层分布,且具有沿轴向扩展与多极点并存的空间分布格局;核心区的经济活跃度与人口活跃度基本一致,而外围区则不一致;从经济活跃度和人口活跃度的组合关系来看,表现出高-高、高-低、低-高及低-低等4种类型。     

城市土地整理的长效运作制度创新

市地整理是对城市原有的土地利用方式的一种改变与提高,从而有助于提升市地的经济自然环境以及景观美感的多目标体系的综合效益.以科学发展观为指导,建立健全科学的市地整理长效运作制度,有利于处理好城市发展与城市用地总量与结构平衡,实现城市土地整理区城内的社会经济协调发展.