Respectability,morality and disgust in the night‐time economy: exploring reactions to ‘lap dance’ clubs in England and Wales

The night‐time economy is often described as repelling consumers fearful of the ‘undesirable Others’ imagined dominant within such time‐spaces. In this paper we explore this by describing attitudes towards, and reactions to, one particularly contentious site: the ‘lap dance’ club. Often targeted by campaigners in England and Wales as a source of criminality and anti‐sociality, in this paper we shift the focus from fear to disgust, and argue that Sexual Entertainment Venues (SEVs) are opposed on the basis of moral judgments that reflect distinctions of both class and gender. Drawing on documentary analysis, survey results and interview data collected during guided walks, we detail the concerns voiced by those anxious about the presence of lap dance or striptease clubs in their town or city, particularly the notion that they ‘lower the tone’ of particular streets or neighbourhoods. Our conclusion is that the opposition expressed to lap dance clubs is part of an attempt to police the boundaries of respectable masculinities and femininities, marginalizing the producers and consumers of sexual entertainment through ‘speech acts’ which identify such entertainment as unruly, vulgar and uncivilized. These findings are considered in the light of ongoing debates concerning the relations of morality, respectability and disgust.     

漂泊的洞察——我的学术研究之路

本文作者作为中国恢复高考制度后的第一届大学生,以亲身经历讲述了其学术成长之路。其学术研究从五个方面概括:一是都市人类学,包括乡村都市化、城市少数民族以及传统乡村研究主题在城市的延续;二是农民工研究,从发起农民工研究,到散工研究,从"二元社区"研究到"打工经济"研究等;三是乡村研究,以凤凰村为起点,研究了岭南、中部以及西部的乡村社会;四是族群研究,以澳门族群研究为起点,对中国族群认同与关系作研究;五是应用研究。     

Black men teaching: toward a theory of social isolation in organizations

ABSTRACT

While there continues to be increasing research about Black male teachers’ school-based experiences, there is less empirical evidence on the variation in these experiences for this subgroup. Drawing on Kanter’s Theory of Numbers and Group Composition, the researcher used the qualitative method to compare the perceptions of Black male teachers in schools that employ just one Black male teacher versus schools with larger numbers of Black male teachers. A theory of social isolation in organizations is proposed to explain differences in the variation of school-based experiences for Black male teachers. When compared to Black men in schools with larger percentages of Black male teachers on the faculty, those Black men who were the only Black male teachers on their faculty were more likely to describe feeling socially isolated and disconnected from their colleagues.     

Fear and Urban Planning in Ordinary Cities: From Theory to Practice

The paper complements Abu-Orf's theory about violent settings by setting out a theory of fear in urban planning in ordinary urban contexts around three arguments: spatialization of fear; (modernist) spatialities and the encounter and political economies of urban fear. The three theoretical arguments are used to re-frame the planning history of Chelas, an affordable housing district in Lisbon, Portugal, and debate the way fear shapes, and is shaped in turn by, planning practice. Confirming that (growing) fear in ordinary urban contexts is not just an effect of the contemporary organization of cities, the paper argues for a theorization of fear that combines global (hegemonic) and a local (discursive/contingent) perspectives in the theorization of urban fear, and advocates for the need to put fear, and its capacity to create a crisis in urban policy, at the heart of planners' agendas.     

The Inherent Politics of Managing the Quality of Urban Green Spaces

Although the term ‘quality’ has a universal positive connotation and typically is framed by a focus on improvements, its application includes as well as excludes the access, values and world views of particular actors and interests. In this article, we highlight the relevance and implications of such ‘inherent politics’ through a case study of a widespread approach to operationalizing quality in urban green space management. We conclude that adoption of any quality model has both limiting and enabling implications for public participation and decision-making and that a critical stance is needed within both research and practice for the development of quality models that connect to values of broader societal relevance.     

Large-Scale Urban Projects in Smaller Metro Areas: Towards a Broader Conceptual Perspective

Large-scale projects seem to be as popular in urban politics as they are risky in implementation. Existing research shows a certain bias towards studying projects in large metropolitan regions. The paper aims at extending the scope of research on large-scale urban projects by analysing such projects in a smaller metropolitan area. The case of the city region and country of Luxembourg shows that decision-makers in small metropolitan regions also make use of large-scale urban projects as a planning and place-making instrument. The case is also used to explore methodological approaches of examining the symbolic nature and discursive place-making dimension of planning large-scale projects, and proposes a methodological approach based on constructivist grounded theory and situational analysis of discourses.     

Carry on Shrinking?: The Bankruptcy of Urban Policy in Detroit

Much attention has recently been focused on the bankruptcy of the City of Detroit in 2013 and the reasons for the largest municipal fiscal melt down in US history. Contrary to a view gaining currency, which dismisses Detroit as the product of exceptional forces and largely calls it the architect of its own collapse, this article argues the case that Detroit conveys more general lessons for European cities struggling with decline, not least of which is the need for interventionist regional planning to avoid predictable but avoidable urban distress. The article briefly reviews the well-documented decline of the city of Detroit measured against population, economic, fiscal and image impacts. It considers five current misreadings of the reasons for Detroit's predicament and implicit signposts for European practice before concluding with an assessment of what has been hailed as the shoots of yet another possible renaissance in the originally proclaimed Renaissance City over 40 years ago.     

国内外城市游憩用地管理与研究动态

随着社会经济的发展和城市功能的拓展,城市游憩用地在城市空间中的作用越来越重要,然而受制于游憩用地管理体制和规划实践滞后的局面,我国城市游憩用地研究还有待突破。通过对国内外城市游憩用地相关领域的研究综述,找到国内城市游憩用地研究的薄弱环节和可能的研究方向。梳理了目前国内外游憩用地管理的体制,归纳出了目前国内外城市游憩用地研究的5个内容:概念和内涵的探讨、理想模型的构建、城市游憩用地需求的研究、城市游憩用地指标的研究和城市游憩用地的分布规律研究。通过对比发现,国内研究与国外研究还有较大差距,尤其体现在理论构建、需求和指标研究方面。指出了国内游憩用地未来可能的4个研究方向——指标体系、游憩需求、布局规律和驱动因子。     

城市社区公共物品多主体协同供给：现状评估及影响因素分析

城市社区公共物品多主体供给是社区公共物品供给建设的发展趋势。基于五省市626份社区样本实地调查数据,深入分析城市社区公共物品多主体协同供给现状及影响主体间有效协同的制约因素。研究发现：我国城市社区公共物品多主体协同供给总体满意度较高,但是多元主体在供需匹配性、效率性、合作性等方面问题凸显。回归分析显示,业务流程关系、信息沟通反馈、主体间的互信程度对城市社区公共物品多主体协同供给具有显著正向影响,自身利益关注程度具有显著负向影响。     

中国城市群服务业发展的影响因素研究

从服务经济理论和新经济地理学出发,探讨了城市群演进对服务业发展的作用机理,建立了城市群演进对服务业发展影响的分析框架,从城市群的专业化分工、市场规模和区域协调三条路径分别进行阐述。对中国五大城市群的实证研究发现城市群的经济联系总强度、地区专业化系数和运输联系强度对服务业的发展水平有显著的正向影响。最后,根据本文的研究结论,结合中国城市群的发展现状提出了几点促进城市群服务业发展的建议。