Strategies for urban conservation: A case example of George Town, Penang

George Town, Penang has more than 200 years of urban history and the largest collection of heritage shophouses in Southeast Asia. These heritage buildings have remained unchanged since the 1800s in spite of the lack of conservation legislation. The objective of this paper is to determine which public policy instruments have been effective in protecting the urban heritage of George Town. In particular, the role played by the Control of Rent Act, 1966, is evaluated. Upon examination of records on property transaction, rent-control records, development applications and demographic trends, no conclusive evidence was found that this Act was instrumental in protecting heritage buildings. Instead it was the unintentional effects of various development policies that saved George Town's urban heritage.     

Urban resident attitudes toward rodents,rodent control products,and environmental effects

Rodent control in urban areas can result in the inadvertent mortality of non-target species (e.g., bobcats). However, there is little detailed information from urban residents about rodent control practices. We evaluated urban rodent control behaviors in two areas of California (southwestern Bakersfield and in proximity to Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SAMO)) where biologists have observed non-target mortality among carnivores resulting from exposure to anticoagulant rodenticides. Using a mail survey instrument, we asked residents about rodent control practices including products used and application, attitudes toward rodents, and concern about non-target mortality. Forty-one percent of Bakersfield (response rate = 20%) and 59% of SAMO (response rate = 31%) respondents reported rodent or other animal control on their property. Snap traps and anticoagulants were the most commonly used physical and chemical control products, respectively. Many respondents were unsure whether (12% Bakersfield; 17% SAMO) or which (39% Bakersfield; 46% SAMO) chemical products were used on their property. When told of possible non-target effects, a majority of respondents were either very or somewhat concerned. Attitudes toward rodents were relatively negative across all respondents. Respondents who applied control products themselves (as opposed to a third party) were most supportive of ensuring availability of rodent control products. Our results suggest that residents do not readily connect their personal or household activities with larger environmental effects, and highlight potential focal areas for policy evaluation related to wildlife management, such as providing explicit information about potential environmental effects of rodent control products.     

关于城市供水企业产权改革探讨

该文通过优化产权结构、规范产权置换体系等方面来探讨供水企业的产权改革。     

城市住宅物业矛盾社会化综合治理机制研究——基于1500份调查问卷分析

造成当前住宅物业管理矛盾纠纷难以解决的原因,既有社会客观性,也有行业特殊性.业主（业委会）、物业服务企业、政府部门在社区治理中各自承担着不同的功能,代表3方不同的利益主体,应将社区管理与物业管理有效地融合起来,形成业委会、居委会、物业公司“三位一体”的社会导向型物业管理模式,3方进行合作,各司其职,有效促进小区物业的健康发展.     

Life Histories from the Namibian Liberation Struggle

This paper unfolds in three parts. The first section argues that there has been an innovation in the rights of private property, especially in the area of residential property. Starting in the 1960s, though only really coming into its own in the 1980s, the rights of private property have been grafted onto a regime of communal ownership. Thus, during the very period of capitalist ascendancy, historically non-capitalist forms of sociability were being elaborated from within the holy ark of capitalism itself, the relation of private property. The second part shows that the condominium or sectional-title estate is transforming urban landscapes across the globe, generating novel urban constellations that are frequently imagined and lived as non-suburbs. Effectively, the growth of townhouses is associated with the decline of the traditional suburb as an urban phenomenon. The third part of this essay focuses on a South African case study, where condominiums (or townhouses under sectional title) have become important sites of uncanny, post-apartheid community. Using the example of Roodepoort, this paper argues that body corporates are elaborating domains of post-apartheid sociality that are largely unrecognisable and even uncomfortable from the dominant, normative tropes of post-apartheid life: non-racialism, cosmopolitanism, constitutionalism.     

“公交优先”策略的伦理蕴涵与国际视域

＂公交优先＂作为当代全球性的城市交通发展理念,蕴涵着深刻的伦理诉求。城市交通的伦理性源于对最低收入者生存权利的人文关怀,表现为它是一种具有公益性的公共产品;城市交通的公共属性要求在城市交通的规划与发展过程中,重视当代人＂可达性权利＂的平等性和重点关照性。当代发达国家＂公交优先＂的普遍经验证明,＂公交优先＂是中国城市交通发展不可替代的策略抉择。     

Challenges, threats and opportunities in post-conflict urban development in Kosovo

This paper reports on a special case of restoration of municipal urban planning practice in a post-conflict context. In Kosovo, the administrative environment in which the practice of urban planning and mobility management is embedded is characterized by a high degree of instability. The main reason for this is the transition from a rather centralized form of urban planning, a typical aspect of the Yugoslav planned economy, into a markedly free form of development, characterized by loose control by the authorities. Although this trend can be observed to some extent in many former socialist countries, the Kosovo war in 1999 has dramatically accelerated this process. Given the very European-oriented historic settlement structure, based on a hierarchy of relatively small and compact cities, this trend entails many problems in the areas of environment, infrastructure, mobility, landscape, and property rights.This paper gives an overview of the reasons for this evolution and assesses possible solutions based on field experience from two support programmes (MuSPP by UN-Habitat, and MobKos by the Flemish Government (Belgium)) that are operating in the regional city of Peja/Pe?.     

上海城乡统筹发展的路径和突破口研究

上海城乡二元结构的深层次问题突出表现为:城乡居民收入差距仍然明显,促进农民增收的难度加大;郊区人口持续导入,对公共服务和社会管理的要求提高;农村土地和产权制度改革滞后,深化改革的条件尚不成熟;郊区城市化进程加速,管理体制和管理模式亟待转变;新城和小城镇等城乡统筹载体建设有待加强。上海城乡统筹发展要牢牢把握公共服务均等化、发展成果共享化、发展权利平等化内涵,坚持以城带乡、城乡一体、互动发展,以推进新型城市化战略为主攻方向,以加强城乡规划一体化为前提,以加快新城开发建设为突破口,以土地管理、集体产权、社会管理制度改革为支撑,以基本公共服务均等化为着力点,大力推进工业向园区集中、居住向社区集中、农业向规模经营集中,努力实现优化农村土地资源配置方式、优化城乡资源要素流动方式、优化城乡统筹发展方式,推进城乡一体化发展。     

基于行政权力干预的城市空间布局研究

城市空间布局是一个基于城市开发、居民迁移、社区重构的复合概念,关系到经济、交通、就业等居民生活的诸多方面。在空间产权能够私有化的国家和地区,空间布局的结果可以简化为买卖双方权衡利弊后的市场均衡,但在我国土地产权国有化的前提下,空间买卖和使用都受到来自政府的行政权力干预,使得其结果偏离正常的市场均衡。本文给出基本的市场化假设,进而讨论行政权力干预从各因素上如何对市场均衡造成影响,并说明在这种情况下空间布局的可能发展趋势。     

Circuits of education,rural gentrification,and family migration from the global city

Although there is recurring empirical evidence of gentrifier families with young children, the importance of education-related factors in the migration and residential decision-making of rural gentrifiers have yet to be fully examined. Using the case study of Cranbrook, Kent, processes of education-led rural gentrification are revealed that are dominated by ‘counter-Londonising’ in-migrants paying premium property prices to buy into exclusive rural school catchment areas. A rural expression of circuits of education is identified, which, to date, are represented as urban-specific strands of gentrification. Conceptually, the paper sheds light on links between education-led urban and rural gentrification; illuminating counterurban population movements tied to the prioritisation of familial relations and domesticity in perceived child-friendly rural environments.     

“Earn Your Penny Elsewhere”: Banishment,Migrant Laborers,and Sociospatial Exclusion in Sixteenth‐Century Ulm*

Abstract The town council in Ulm, Germany banished over a thousand offenders in the course of the sixteenth century. Examination of the banishment verdicts issued by these magistrates reveals how they used expulsion to regulate both the physical borders of their territory and inclusion in the urban commune. In banishment cases involving resident aliens, the local authorities sought to expel resident aliens who seemed to threaten the community's property or its purity, using purgation to police the margin between legal and physical inclusion and exclusion. Finally, the local magistrates used the public expulsion rituals that accompanied banishment to display their role in regulating these boundaries before their subjects.     

Region,Social Identities,and Disclosure Practices as Predictors of Heterosexist Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities in the United States

Exposure to heterosexist discrimination may vary by a person's place of residency. Utilizing a minority stress perspective, an online survey of self‐identified lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals (n = 285) examined whether rural and small town inhabitants experienced greater exposure to six types of enacted stigma. After comparing the frequency of enacted stigma by community type, findings demonstrated that rural LGBs reported experiencing more homophobic statements, property damage, and employment discrimination than urban LGBs. Small town LGBs also encountered additional amounts of housing discrimination and were more often chased by strangers compared with urban sexual minorities. Finally, disclosure practices and hierarchies based on race and social class also influenced exposure to discrimination. The importance of spatial factors often intensified when respondents disclosed their sexual identity more publicly. When exploring racial and class differences, affluent sexual minorities experienced less employment discrimination and white sexual minorities were less likely to experience several forms of heterosexist events (especially being punched and kicked).     

广州“村改居”面临的主要问题及解决思路

为适应城市化发展需要,近年来广州市逐渐推进"村改居"工作。在"村改居"进程中,面临着农民对"转居"愿望不强、"农转居"人员的社会保障水平偏低、原有的集体经济组织仍承担大量社会管理职责且负担较重、转制社区公共服务配套滞后、"农转居"人员再就业存在较多障碍、"城中村现象"仍然存在、集体经济组织产权制度改革和"公司化"转型困难等问题。本文针对广州"村改居"面临的主要问题提出解决思路与建议。     

Floristic composition and richness of urban domestic gardens in three urban socioeconomic stratifications in the city Heredia,Costa Rica

The urban domestic gardens that are part of urban green areas have become a very important element due to their ecosystematic benefits and the poor information about them. Information regarding the floristic richness of three socioeconomic stratifications from the city of Heredia, Costa Rica is presented in this study. Research was conducted from October 2011 to May 2012. Information was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire, which was provided to 61 garden owners, including the owner’s personal data, time living in the dwelling, area of the property and the garden, variation of its size in time and the garden’s location on the property. In addition, a floristic inventory was conducted in each garden as well as a taxonomic identification of all plants. Vegetative forms and substrates were also noted. Characteristics of the gardens and their owners were then analyzed to determine the relationship of species richness between the three sites studied. The number of plant species recorded was 618, corresponding to 102 families (19 % exotic). Regarding geographical origin, 64, 4 % were exotic, 35,6 % native. Orchidaceae (93 spp.) and Araceae (39 spp.) were the most dominant families. The variables of garden area and location and owner's age determined the garden’s floristic richness. In addition, the garden’s area and vegetative forms varied among the sites studied probably due to socioeconomic differences among them. Diversity of pioneer plants increased with the garden’s area. In sum, this research provides important floristic information of domestic gardens, since, being private property, data about them is scarce and municipal management guidelines are nonexistent.     

Social care and support for elderly men and women in an urban and a rural area of Nepal

This study has aimed to describe the care and support for urban and rural elderly people of Bhaktapur district, Nepal. Efforts were made to identify the feeling of some features of general well-beings associated to mental health, person responsible for care and support, capability to perform daily routine activities, sources of finance and ownership to the property. More than half of the respondents were found having single or multiple features of loneliness, anxiety, depression and insomnia. The rate of point prevalence loneliness was found higher in the above 80 years of age, urban respondents. Almost 9 in 10 respondents were capable themselves to dress, walk and maintain personal hygiene and majority of them were assisted by spouse, son/daughter-in-laws. Family support was common sources of income and ownership to the property was absolutely high.     

我国城市房屋征收补偿存在的缺陷与对策研究

随着国民经济持续高速发展和城市化脚步不断向前推进,城市建设中的房屋征收问题逐渐成为各方关注的焦点。在我国许多城市都出现了暴力强制征收的恶性事件,征收纠纷已成为一个日益严重的社会问题。对被征收人进行合理补偿可以在一定程度上缓和征收人与被征收人之间的矛盾。文章从我国城市房屋征收补偿存在的问题入手,对于完善我国城市房屋征收补偿制度提出了几点建议。     

Race,Class, and the Packaging of Harlem

In the 1970s and early 1980s, patterns of divestment dotted Harlem's landscape with abandoned buildings and the urban blight this engenders. With government subsidies, many of these properties have been refurbished and are now occupied by African American professional homeowners. Overall, capital investment in housing property is up and businesses are taking an interest in a community that was previously avoided. This article looks at the impact of gentrification in Central and West Harlem, New York. It identifies key actors and institutions involved in facilitating this transformation, examines social relations among black professional residents, and considers how these may be informed by class and race inequalities. This article is also critical of theoretical and ethnographic approaches to African American life that mythologize the middle class, erase the working class, and fail to acknowledge fragmentation in both groupings. It concludes with a brief discussion of some of the responses to this research that were shared by project participants and other anthropologists.     

Urban birds and planting design: strategies for incorporating ecological goals into residential landscapes

Urban Ecosystems - Private residential property occupies a major part of the urban land base, yet considerable potential remains for improving the ecological performance of private gardens and...     

谁能代表我们：转型期城市社区管治研究——基于南京梅花山庄社区物管纠纷的实证分析

在单位制城市社区向物业小区的城市社区转型中,业主、业主委员会、物业服务公司、居委会等利益相关者大量涌现,社区管治也随之出现。但转型期居委会基层组织和房地产行政主管部门“双线”管理的社区管治结构在物业管理纠纷时并非有效。本研究对南京市梅花山庄社区物业管理纠纷进行实证研究,透视转型期社区管治的问题,并对改善社区管治提出一些建议。     

Social care and support for elderly men and women in an urban and a rural area of Nepal

This study has aimed to describe the care and support for urban and rural elderly people of Bhaktapur district, Nepal. Efforts were made to identify the feeling of some features of general well-beings associated to mental health, person responsible for care and support, capability to perform daily routine activities, sources of finance and ownership to the property. More than half of the respondents were found having single or multiple features of loneliness, anxiety, depression and insomnia. The rate of point prevalence loneliness was found higher in the above 80 years of age, urban respondents. Almost 9 in 10 respondents were capable themselves to dress, walk and maintain personal hygiene and majority of them were assisted by spouse, son/daughter-in-laws. Family support was common sources of income and ownership to the property was absolutely high.