‘Mafia Baroque’: post‐socialist architecture and urban planning in Bulgaria

This paper traces the reception of the architectural style known as ‘Mafia Baroque’ within the professions of architecture and urban planning in Bulgaria. The debate within these professions was strongly linked to the general decline of power among former intellectual elites and the specific decline of architects and planners, who were sidelined as arbiters of ‘good taste’ and disempowered as regulators of urban growth. The reaction to this style also highlights the rise in public concern over corruption and organized crime and dissatisfaction with post‐socialist urbanization. This paper chronicles the extent of changes in construction and regulation in Bulgaria during the 1990s and argues that planners and architects were challenged not only by their professional marginalization but also by a deeper embarrassment over cultural change. It then relates this debate to broader post‐socialist anxieties over insufficient regulation of urbanization and fear of failing to meet Western European goals for economic and political change.     

Ethnicity and place in a ‘disturbed city’: ways of belonging in Imphal,Manipur

This article explores the relationships between ethnicity, place and belonging in the city of Imphal, capital of the state of Manipur in India’s Northeast border region. Manipur has experienced decades of conflict from ethno-nationalist separatism, inter-ethnic territorial disputes and counter-insurgency operations. These ethnic conflicts play out on the urban landscape of Imphal. Control of the city from above is diffused among the civilian government and the armed forces. Non-state actors such as insurgent groups and ethnic organizations exert their own control from below. On such unstable ground, struggles by residents seeking to create place and a sense of belonging affirm ethnic boundaries. These boundaries are not static and the lines between inclusion and exclusion are continually redrawn along existing and emerging fault-lines among the population. Yet these boundaries are also transcended in unusual ways that may seem trivial but in Imphal are essential to realizing alternative ways of belonging.     

Developing Age-Friendly Cities: Case Studies From Brussels and Manchester and Implications for Policy and Practice

Developing environments responsive to the aspirations of older people has become a major concern for social and public policy. Policies and programs directed at achieving “age-friendly” communities are considered to require a wide range of interventions, including actions at the level of the social and physical environment. This article compares the age-friendly approaches of two European cities, Brussels and Manchester, with a particular focus on policies and initiatives that promote active aging in an urban context. The article examines, first, the demographic, social, and multicultural contexts of Brussels and Manchester; second, the way in which both cities became members of the World Health Organization Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities; third, similarities and differences in the age-friendly approaches and actions adopted by both cities; and fourth, opportunities and barriers to the implementation of age-friendly policies. The article concludes by discussing the key elements and resources needed to develop age-friendly cities.     

河南省城镇、农村中学体育教育均衡发展研究——基于豫南8市的调查研究

通过对教育均衡发展内涵的理解延伸至体育教育均衡发展的解读,运用文献资料法、问卷调查法以及数据统计法对豫南8市城镇、农村中学体育教育现状进行探究,并提出构建自身发展模式,平衡城乡资源分配,建立资源共享模式,完善监督激励政策,为促进城乡之间的均衡发展提供一定的参考。     

千城一面——造城时代下的物竞天择

随着对城镇化质量的日益关注,媒体与学界对千城一面的批判愈演愈烈。然而,如果将城市看做是地球生态系统的一部分,遵循生物界优胜劣汰、适者生存的丛林法则,那么千城一面现象便是时代背景下环境选择的结果——特定的科技、经济、文化发展水平等客观属性,把在生存竞争中处于劣势的建筑形制与空间范式逐一淘汰,筛选出最符合时代需求与发展方向的特征传承下去。在理解千城一面的时代必然性的基础上,理性认识古典主义与现代主义、空间舒适性与独特性、空间使用者的主与客之间的辩证关系,才能走出"为批判而批判"的误区。     

Good Gay Buddies for Lifetime: Homosexually Themed Discourse and the Construction of Heteromasculinity Among Chinese Urban Youth

Starting as an Internet meme, the homosexually themed gao-ji discourse recently became popular among Chinese urban youth in describing intimate relationships among heterosexual men. Positioned within a body of scholarship on the interplay between language, homophobia, and the construction of heteromasculinity, this article suggests that the gao-ji discourse manifests a form of male homosociality, through which new boundaries of Chinese heteromasculinity may be renegotiated. Based on qualitative interviews with college students, the article first tracks the genealogy of the gao-ji discourse in the wake of China’s booming Internet culture. The main body focuses on unpacking the daily use of the gao-ji discourse, with an attention to the two latent functions it serves (i.e., expanding heteromasculine behaviors and reiterating heteromasculine identities). In conclusion, I argue that the prevalence of the gao-ji discourse mainly resolves straight men’s anxieties against the background of growing public awareness of homosexuality; therefore, it cannot necessarily translate into social acceptance of homosexuality.     

高铁网络下的中国十大城市群旅游交通格局及其经济联系的比较研究

旅游交通是旅游经济发展中重要的内容之一,通过对中国十大城市群城市旅游交通可达性、铁路交通流分布情况与旅游经济联系、总量和隶属度进行计算,借助Arcgis10.2对中国十大城市群交通空间流分布情况和旅游经济联系进行空间可视化处理,并对计算结果进行综合比较分析。研究发现:高铁使得中国十大城市群城市旅游交通可达性水平得到大幅提升,且交通流分布均衡。中国十大城市群城市可达性的提升给城市旅游经济带来了一定的积极影响。高铁网络下中国十大城市群旅游经济联系分布不均衡。     

Emancipatory engagement: An urban womanist social work pedagogy

ABSTRACT

Standing on the hope of the initial social work course from 1914 at Morgan College, this article provides insight into the significant learning outcomes of contemporary students in advanced social work practice with urban African American families. This research introduces the conceptual framework of urban womanist social work pedagogy as an inclusive practice-informed knowledge produced through the rituals, traditions, values, culture, and resilience of historically disenfranchised communities. Urban womanist social work teaching methods honor truth telling from the ones who have lived there. Urban womanist social work affirms transformative-centered research, teaching, and scholarship produced through institutions such as historically black colleges and universities (HBCU’s). The students’ reflective narratives reveal a process of transformation, centered in the freedom standpoint, which includes recognizing the location and context of their individual and collective identity as African Americans in the profession of social work. Urban womanist social work pedagogy cumulatively equips our students with intergenerational knowledge that inform their assessment of critical issues in Baltimore’s African American communities.     

近代城市空间改造的时空进程

近代城市人口的增长、城市职能的变化、市政机构的出现带来了城市空间的转变。２０世纪初，中国开始了大范围的城市基础设施改造与新建。其中最有代表性的是拆城、填濠、修筑环城马路的工程，此后全国大部分的城市改造都遵循了相似的模式。本文通过对近１２００座治所城市城墙变动信息的研究发现，２０世纪大规模的城市空间改造最初主要从东南沿海省份开始，３０年代末至４０年代的战争打破了这一过程，但随着新中国成立后城市建设的恢复，空间改造的进程继续向西部省份推进，总体上呈现由东向西，由中心向边缘发展的特点。     

Perceived Need for Home- and Community-Based Services: Experiences of Urban Chinese Older Adults With Functional Impairments

Guided by Cantor’s social care model, this study identified individual, family, and social support factors that influence urban older adults’ need for home- and community-based services, including medical and rehabilitation, instrumental care and support, and psychosocial services. The data were extracted from the Sample Survey on Aged Population in Urban/Rural China conducted by the China Research Center on Aging in 2006. Results from multiple logistic regression show that older adults’ need for medical and rehabilitation services is significantly related to instrumental activities of daily living, depression, not having filial children, friend support networks, and having a confidant. Older adults’ need for instrumental care and support is related to their educational attainment, financial strain, instrumental activities of daily living, not living with children, and friend support networks. Finally, older adults’ need for psychosocial services is significantly related to educational attainment, depression, not being married, friend support networks, and having a confidant. Implications for social service development are discussed.