Living Environment Preferences of the Inhabitants of Istanbul: A Modified Hierarchical Information Integration Model

This paper presents a two-stage research to model the different priorities and expectations about living environment preferences of the inhabitants of Istanbul, Turkey's largest metropolitan with a population of 10 million. In the first stage, a modified hierarchical information integration approach was used to estimate the utilities of different attributes for each individual sampled from the inhabitants of Istanbul. This is a decompositional approach and involves measuring individual preferences. In this study, not only aggregate results are reported but also a segmentation study is carried out to explore the heterogeneity in respondents' preferences. Identification of such segments would help planner offer different planning options to groups with different preferences. Thus, the second stage of this study consists of identifying distinct groups of inhabitants with different preference structures by using cluster analysis. The resulting information is believed to be more useful especially to understand diverging demands of inhabitants of Istanbul.     

Satisfied Residents in Different Types of Local Areas: Measuring What’s Most Important

In efforts to enhance subjective urban quality of life (QOL), most empirical research focuses on measuring satisfaction. However, other research suggests most residents are satisfied with where they live because they choose local areas which satisfy them on attributes important to them, within the constraints they face. Thus residents choosing very different local areas tend to have similar satisfaction levels. Rather than focusing on residential satisfaction in local areas, it may be useful to focus on residential preferences to both characterize and improve subjective urban QOL in local areas. This study compares satisfaction and preference measures in four broad types of urban environment in South East Queensland, Australia. As expected, the results showed similar levels of satisfaction across these urban environments (spanning inner city, suburban, outer suburban, and coastal areas) with regard to three broad attributes (access to services and facilities, the natural environment, and the social environment). In contrast, the importance of these attributes for residents varied between these urban environments. Thus residential preferences may characterize subjective urban QOL in different urban environments better than residential satisfaction. Moreover, residential preferences provide additional guidance for maintaining and enhancing subjective urban quality of life in local areas. This paper argues for a renewed focus on importance measures in addition to the existing focus on satisfaction measures in subjective urban QOL research.     

Developing an Index to Measure Sub-municipal Level Urban Sprawl

The present study aims to develop an index composed of different spatial variables to measure the urban sprawl levels of a municipality located in Southern Spain. According to the findings, urban sprawl can be measured not only on the metropolitan level but also on a more detailed and precise level, such as sub-municipal. A group of experts chosen for their suitability in measuring urban sprawl select six spatial variables (population density, net residential density, coverage ratio, land use types, percentage of residential land use, and average year of construction). These variables are aggregated using Choquet integral, a technique that combines interactions between those variables providing greater coherence to the complexity that is inherent in the creation of composite sprawl indexes. This methodology has been demonstrated to be valid and appropriate in evaluating urban expansion at sub-municipal level, but can also be applied to other scales once it is clearly a phenomenon in which interaction between criteria exists. The resulting composite index allows the assignment of different levels of sprawl to the urban areas consistent with their morphology and landscape.     

Metropolitan school desegregation: Impact on racial integration of neighborhoods in the United States

Research on school desegregation in U.S. cities has focused on the issues of white flight and the potential for racial residential integration of segregated neighborhoods. There is also concern over the effectiveness of a metropolitan desegregation plan for racial integration as against a plan which encompasses only the central city of urban areas. This paper deals with a court-ordered metropolitan school desegregation plan in New Castle County, Delaware. The method used is an examination of 602 small geographic areas (grids); the objective is to examine the extent of residential out-migration of students from the central city and to examine whether there is any tendency toward racial residential integration in the county. Evidence suggests (a) that the central city grids are retaining white students but losing black students and (b) that the level of racial segregation of suburban neighborhoods is not declining.We conclude from preliminary data that with each succeeding year, internal relocation, rather than moves to private school and out-migration from the metropolitan area, will be the major characteristic of student redistribution. If this is the case, the extent to which intra-system relocation results in racially integrated and stable neighborhoods should be a major research and policy focus.     

城市流动人口社会融合的过程、测量及影响因素

本文提出流动人口的社会融合是一个逐步同化和减少排斥的过程,是流动人口对城市的主观期望和城市的客观接纳相统一的过程,是本地人口和外来移民发生相互交往和构建相互关系的过程。本文通过模型分析,验证了流动人口社会融合影响因素的三个假设,即流动人口的个人和家庭状况影响社会融合;流动人口的社区参与和社会资本影响社会融合;城市的制度安排影响流动人口的社会融合。     

上海浦东城乡医疗保障体系一体化的发展策略——城乡阶梯式医疗保障体系的构建

由于城乡之间卫生体制的差异,卫生资源城乡分布不均,历史上浦东新区城乡形成了各自独立的两大医疗保障格局。新区农村实行的主要是合作医疗的保障制度,与城市相对完善的基本医疗保障体制相比,二者的保障水平存在一定差异。随着浦东城市化进程的加快,现有的城乡两大体系已越来越不适应浦东城乡一体化的社会发展趋势。本文较系统地提出了上海浦东城乡医疗保障体系一体化的发展策略,通过积极的制度创新,为二元结构向一体化结构的转变搭建过渡的阶梯。     

How Social Relations and Structures can Produce Happiness and Unhappiness: An International Comparative Analysis

In this paper, subjective well being, as measured by survey questions on happiness and life satisfaction, is investigated from a sociological-comparative point of view. The central thesis is that happiness and satisfaction must be understood as the outcome of an interaction process between individual characteristics and aspirations on the one side, and social relations and macrosocial structures on the other side. A distinction is made between life satisfaction and happiness; the former is more seen as the outcome of an evaluation process including material and social aspirations and achievements, the latter as an outcome of positive experiences, particularly close personal relationships. The focus of this paper is on micro- and macrosocial conditions favouring or inhibiting the emergence of happiness and satisfaction. It is hypothesized that dense and good basic social relations, occupational involvement and success, sociocultural (religious and altruistic) orientations and participation are conducive to happiness and life satisfaction; the same should be true at the macrolevel for economic prosperity, relatively equal social structures, a well-established welfare state and political democracy. The latter conditions, however, should be more important for life satisfaction than for happiness. A comparative, multilevel regression analysis of happiness in 41 nations around the world is carried out (using the World Value Survey 1995–1997). Both our general assumption and most of the specific hypotheses could be confirmed. It turned very clearly that “happiness” and “life satisfaction” are two different concepts. It could be shown that microsocial embedding and sociocultural integration of a person are highly relevant for happiness. However, contrary to earlier studies, we find that macrosocial factors like the economic wealth of nation, the distribution of income, the extent of the welfare state and political freedom are also relevant, particularly for satisfaction. What counts most is the ability to cope with life, including subjective health and financial satisfaction, close social relations, and the economic perspectives for improvement in the future, both at the level of the individual and at that of the society. These abilities are certainly improved by favourable macrosocial conditions and institutions, such as a more equal income distribution, political democracy and a welfare state.     

Coresidential Patterns in Historical China: A Simulation Study

The controversy regarding China's historical residential patterns is related to the lack of investigation into demographic influences on past kinship structures and household formation. This study uses computer micro‐simulation to examine demographic feasibility of people living in large multi‐generation households under the demographic conditions close to those recorded in Chinese history. It investigates both the composition of households in which individuals live at a particular point in their life course and the transition in their household structure and the length of time they spend in households of different types. The simulation exercise suggests that demographic regimes and household formation systems similar to those operating in China in the past produce diverse residential patterns, in which individuals could experience different household forms at different stages of the life cycle.     

Spatial Differentiation and Driving Forces of Migrants’ Socio-Economic Integration in Urban China: Evidence from CMDS

Migrants’ socio-economic integration is a major theme in migration research, which can provide economic and cultural benefits. And it will contribute to social stability. The investigation from the spatial perspective should also be considered. This paper aims to examine the spatial differentiation of the socio-economic integration of migrants and identify its driving forces to provide crucial evidence and policy recommendations to urban policymakers and further improve migrants’ socio-economic integration. Based on the latest China Migrants Dynamic Survey, this paper uses global Moran’s I index, hot spot analysis and GWR model to explore spatial differentiation and driving forces of the socio-economic integration of 155,789 migrants in 291 cities at prefecture level and above in China. The results show that: (1) The socio-economic integration of migrants consists of five dimensions, which are economic integration, cultural integration, social security, social relation and psychological integration. Among them, psychological integration is the highest (73.16) and economic integration is the lowest (13.38). (2) The socio-economic integration of migrants is mainly influenced by their own characteristics instead of the destination characteristics. Four factors (age, education, length of stay and population growth rate) positively affect migrants’ socio-economic integration, while three factors (inter-provincial mobility, proportion of tertiary industry in GDP, and ratio of teacher to student in middle school) negatively impact the socio-economic integration of migrants. (3) The socio-economic integration of migrants shows the distribution pattern of agglomeration. And the integration also presents a significant spatial heterogeneity. The driving forces of the socio-economic integration exhibit various zonal spatial differentiation patterns, including “E–W”, “SE–NW”, “NE–SW”, and “S–N”. Finally, some useful recommendations are given for improving migrants’ socio-economic integration.

     

关于构建农民工社会保障体系的思考

作为边缘人口的农民工,他们既被城镇社会保障体系所排斥,又与传统意义上的农民存在着隔阂,其生活状况令人担忧。要保障农民工的基本生活权益,必须建立一套既针对农民工自身特点,又与城镇社会保障体系相联系的过渡性社会保障制度,以便为将来建立全国统一的社会保障体系提供实践经验。     

Does Black Socioeconomic Mobility Explain Recent Progress Toward Black-White Residential Integration?

Studies of racial residential segregation have found that black-white segregation in U.S. metropolitan areas has declined slowly but steadily since the early 1970s. As of this writing, black-white residential segregation in the United States is approximately 25 % lower than it was in 1970. To identify the sources of this decline, we used individual-level, geocoded data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to compare the residential attainment of different cohorts of blacks. We analyzed these data using Blinder-Oaxaca regression decomposition techniques that partition the decline in residential segregation among cohorts into the decline resulting from (1) changes in the social and economic characteristics of blacks and (2) changes in the association between blacks’ social and economic characteristics and the level of residential segregation they experience. Our findings show that black cohorts entering adulthood prior to the civil rights movement of the 1960s experienced consistently high levels of residential segregation at middle age, but that cohorts transitioning to adulthood during and after this period of racial progress experienced significantly lower levels of residential segregation. We find that the decline in black-white residential segregation for these later cohorts reflects both their greater social and economic attainment and a strengthening of the association between socioeconomic characteristics and residential segregation. Educational gains for the post–civil rights era cohorts and improved access to integrated neighborhoods for high school graduates and college attendees in these later cohorts were the principal source of improved residential integration over this period.     

Social Bonds and the Migration Intentions of Elderly Urban Residents: The Mediating Effect of Residential Satisfaction

Under the incorporation of social bonds within the residential satisfaction model, this study has attempted to examine why the elderly living in neighborhoods consider moving. The main hypothesis proposed in this study is that the four social bonds (friendship, social cohesion and trust, informal social control, and neighborhood activities), combined with residential satisfaction, affect the mobility intentions of elderly urban residents. This hypothesis is tested by survey data collected in 1995 from 1123 Chicago residents age 65 and over. The results support the hypothesis that strong social bonds, combined with residential satisfaction, are working as important factors when the mobility intentions of elderly urban residents are deterred.     

Different Predictors of Quality of Life in Urban Environment

The present study aimed at comparing the effects of different sets of predictors on quality of life in an urban environment. We used secondary data collected by means of a self-report questionnaire on a sample of 343 residents of a big Italian city. The questionnaire included a multidimensional scale elaborated by the World Health Organization (WHOQoL brief scale) assessing quality of life in terms of four different evaluations concerning distinct aspects of life: physical health; psychological status; social relationships; environment. Four different types of predictors were considered: (1) socio-demographic characteristics; (2) quality of social relations (perceived social support); (3) place attachment; (4) healthy lifestyle. To test the influence of different groups of predictors on the dimensions of WHOQoL we performed four hierarchical regression analyses. Several significant influences were found. In particular the results pointed out the great role of perceived social support and place attachment in promoting quality of life. That result suggests the importance of community interventions in urban environment.     

Soziologische Emotionskonzepte und ihre Probleme

The sociology of emotions not only faces the challenge to develop an analytical theory framework by which emotions and their significance for social behavior and social relations can be analyzed, it has also to account for the complexity of emotions as far as ‘emotions’ constitute a diverse, heterogeneous phenomenon area which can be identified only in functional respect. However, in sociology as well as in emotion research in general, very often a rather reduced, single-sided understanding of emotions occurs that is based on everyday concepts. As a result, the relationship between emotionality and sociality can be grasped only sub-complexely. The following article presents a modular theory of the sociology of emotions which integrates different levels of emotions in the form of base emotions and cognitive emotions and by which different forms of social and cultural influenceability of emotions can be identified. With the example of the theory of the structure theoretical individualism of Hartmut Esser we examine how such a modular theory can be integrated into a sociological theory framework in an analytically sound way.     

城市新移民的社区融入与社会排斥——成都市社区个案研究

本文以社会排斥理论作为概念工具,对城市新移民的城市社区融入问题进行研究。笔者从新移民和城市居民两个不同的角度收集资料,根据新移民的职业、在城市的居住时间和长期居住意愿选取典型个案。笔者从经济排斥、社会关系排斥和文化排斥三个方面进行分析。认为社会排斥是新移民社区融入的壁垒所在,缓解消除社会排斥,实现社区参与、社会交往的“破冰”,是形成社区内社会关系“互构共变”的基础,是城市新移民真正融入社区的前提。     

Exploring patterns of environmental injustice in the Global South: <Emphasis Type="Italic">Maquiladoras</Emphasis> in Ciudad Juárez,Mexico

Decades of research in countries of the Global North have revealed distinct environmental injustices whereby industrial hazards tend to be located in poor and minority neighborhoods; few studies have investigated similar relationships between humans and hazards in the Global South. This study uses conventional quantitative environmental justice methodology to investigate spatial relationships between residential socio-demographics and maquiladoras (i.e., final assembly plants) in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. When predicting maquiladora density using percent children and social class in a spatial error regression model, we find that percent children was a positive and significant predictor, while social class was not significant. Adding formal residential development to the model, social class becomes a negative and significant predictor. Formal residential development and percent children are also positive and significant. As is the case in the Global North, relationships between neighborhood characteristics and transnationally operated maquiladoras along the northern border of Mexico are linked to urban development.

The residential segregation of mixed-nativity married couples

This article examines the ways in which mixed-nativity marriage is related to spatial assimilation in metropolitan areas of the United States. Specifically, we examine the residential patterns of households with a mixed-nativity—and, in some cases, interracial—marriage to determine whether they are less segregated from the native-born than entirely foreign-born households. Using restricted-use data from the 2000 census, we find that compared with couples in which both spouses are foreign-born, mixed-nativity couples tend to be less segregated from various native-born racial and ethnic groups. Further, among both foreign-born Asians and Hispanics, those with a native-born non-Hispanic white spouse are considerably less segregated from native-born white households than from other foreign-born Asian and Hispanic households. We also find that even though nativity status matters for black couples in a manner consistent with assimilation theory, foreign-born and mixed-nativity black households still each display very high levels of segregation from all other native-born racial/ethnic groups, reaffirming the power of race in determining residential patterns. Overall, our findings provide moderate support for spatial assimilation theory and suggest that cross-nativity marriages often facilitate the residential integration of the foreign-born.     

Your House,Your Car,Your Education: The Socioeconomic Situation of the Neighborhood and its Impact on Life Satisfaction in Germany

This study deals with the impact of socioeconomic conditions and social integration into a local neighborhood on individual life satisfaction in Germany. While the majority of ecological studies to date are based on very broad neighborhood concepts, using large research units for defining neighborhood the present study contains micro-geographic information on a representative sample of private households in Germany, including features of their respective residential environments. The data was derived from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study and enriched with data from the Micromarketing-Systeme and Consult GmbH (microm) for the years 2000–2006. Our analyses reveal neighborhood effects on various facets of life satisfaction. Controlling for several covariates at the household and individual level, life satisfaction increases when a person lives in a neighborhood with a higher socioeconomic status. In addition, the individual gap between a person’s economic status and the status of the neighborhood also affects individual well-being. However, when comparing with other neighborhood aspects, the strongest effects on individual life satisfaction have social networks.     

基于大数据的城市人口社会经济特征精细时空尺度估计——数据、方法与应用

随着时空大数据的出现和数据挖掘技术的发展,学界在精细时空尺度上对城市人口社会经济特征分布的研究中取得了长足进展,有效弥补了传统数据时效性差、空间精细度低等不足。但这些研究集中在城市信息学、计算社会科学、地理学等领域,其成果尚未广泛应用于以城市人口时空分布为决策依据的资源配置研究中,以解决制约城市精细化管理实践深入的科学问题。为促进信息沟通和学科间对话,就城市人口社会经济特征精细时空尺度估计的数据源、估计方法与模型、结果验证与模型评估、较成熟的人口特征分布数据集、精细尺度人口特征数据的应用背景和主题等展开分析,并展望了相关研究的前景与面临的挑战。分析发现:城市人口特征的精细时空尺度估计所运用的方法包括空间回归、机器学习以及神经网络等。在诸多社会经济特征中,人口数量的时空分布研究最为成熟,经历了从单一数据源到多种数据源、从一般格网化到带有空间信息的格网化、从低时空分辨率到高时空分辨率的发展。城市人口的性别、年龄、种族和教育程度等特征可基于社交媒体数据预测,但尚不成熟。人口特征的精细尺度数据应用主题日趋丰富,包括疾病防控、贫困识别、气候变化应对、城市风险识别、城市发展历程回溯、城市社会空间结...