A Debt to the West: Recent Developments in the International Financial Situation of East-Central Europe     

《The Professional geographer》2013,65(3):260-271

East-Central Europe is undergoing a rapid political and economic transformation. The unprecedented depth and speed of the economic reforms have produced serious questions about the stability of the region, and its future relations with western Europe and the world economy. This paper surveys and evaluates the size and character of existing debt stocks owed to the West by Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. The future political and economic stability of East-Central Europe and the European Community depends, to a large extent, on the ability of the Western financial system to respond to the long-term needs of the region.  相似文献   

Constructing Alterity in Ile De France?     

Anne-Marie d'Hauteserre 《Urban geography》2013,34(6):864-886

Abstract

The aim of the article is to determine whether the Walt Disney Company has manufactured a landscape “other” to French culture around its parks in the Eastern Paris Basin. Val d'Europe is contentiously constructed by three main groups, not just one enterprise: the French state, the Walt Disney Company and local and regional governments, as well as by present and future residents, within the constraints of a contract based on French laws. The Company's investment has been a tremendous boost to the French state's project but did not lead to Disneyfication of the Briard landscape of agricultural lands in the Eastern Paris basin. In Val d'Europe the French state did not abdicate its authority in favor of commoditization of Paris as a global metropolis. The French state and French culture were never “weak” and overwhelmed.  相似文献   

Population distribution and urban growth in Southern Italy, 1871–2011: emergent polycentrism or path-dependent monocentricity?     

Luca Salvati 《Urban geography》2013,34(3):440-453

This study assesses changes in population distribution and the expansion of urban settlements in Southern Italy between 1871 and 2011. Four demographic phases are identified: (i) spatially balanced, mild population growth (1871–1921); (ii) moderate population increase concentrated in coastal and lowland areas (1921–1951); (iii) rapid and diffused population growth (1951–1981); and (iv) population stability with settlement dispersion (1981–2011). While urban growth in the years preceding the 1980s reinforced the polarization in rich and poor areas along the urban-to-rural gradient, since the early 1990s both urban and rural areas showed population dynamics that consolidated low-density settlements scattered around the largest cities. This path, however, does not reflect the evolution towards a more spatially balanced urban development, as observed in other European regions. Causes and consequences of the persistence of a fragmented urban hierarchy with dense settlements and sprawl concentrated around the main cities are finally discussed.  相似文献   

Sprawl Without Growth in Eastern Germany     

《Urban geography》2013,34(1):105-128

This article examines sprawl without growth in former East Germany at a number of different metropolitan scales using a dataset from the Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung (Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning). Specific political, social, and economic circumstances in eastern Germany following reunification distinguish it not only from other declining regions, but also from some of its post-socialist neighbors that underwent similar urban spatial transformations after the fall of communism. Explanations for this phenomenon include: increasing incomes and latent demand for housing, which remained suppressed under communism; specific policies adopted after reunification that subsidized greenfield development at the metropolitan fringe; a lack of planning at the local, regional, and state levels in the immediate aftermath of reunification; and changing demographic patterns. Although a number of the factors exacerbating sprawl in the post-reunification period have disappeared, overall demographic decline in eastern Germany continues.  相似文献   

The geography of megatrends affecting European agriculture     

《Global Environmental Change》2022

A range of intensifying pressures is making the future of European agriculture dynamic and contested. Insights into these pressures are needed to inform debates about the future of the sector. In this study, we use a foresight approach to identify, quantify and map megatrends. Megatrends are long-term driving forces which are observable today and will likely have transformational potential in the future. By mapping these megatrends at the regional scale, we establish a geography of megatrends and detect where they coincide. Four megatrends significant for the future of European agriculture at the regional scale are assessed: Climate change, demographic change, (post-) productivism shifts, and increasingly stringent environmental regulations. The direction and intensity of these megatrends differs between regions, which drives regions into different systemic lock-ins or dynamics. In most regions, megatrends converge to destabilize the current system, forewarning impending systemic changes. While the specific megatrends contributing to this instability differ regionally, this result highlights that many regions are on a dynamic rather than stable trajectory, and the governance challenge is to steer these dynamics towards a desirable future. However, some regions are found to be highly persistent, indicating that megatrends reinforce business as usual, and change needs to be triggered through purposeful governance. In a minority of regions megatrends may drive marginalization as the current system becomes increasingly unviable. We argue that research and policies concerning agricultural sustainability transitions should be cognizant of the regional diversity of European megatrends and the pressures they create.  相似文献   

Classifying knowledge on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability in Europe for informing adaptation research and decision-making: A conceptual meta-analysis   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

Mareen E. Hofmann  Jochen HinkelMarkus Wrobel 《Global Environmental Change》2011,21(3):1106-1116

Knowledge on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability is fragmented, because it is found in disparate case studies which use inconsistent terminology and focus on distinct aspects relevant to adaptation. While large-scale syntheses such as the Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change provide a high level overview and are useful for international decision-making, there is a need for systematic and flexible access to this research-based knowledge in order to aid future adaptation research and decision-making. Against this background, we present a ‘conceptual’ meta-analysis, a novel approach to meta-analyse studies on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability in Europe. The meta-analysis results in a classification scheme for relating the diverse studies. This scheme consists of (i) a classification of studies according to the type of adaptation-relevant results they produce and (ii) a hierarchical classification of the regional and thematic context of studies. The implementation of this scheme, for example in the form of a database, overcomes some of the identified gaps of current adaptation knowledge representation. We furthermore present a quantitative analysis of the classified studies that exemplifies how the developed classification scheme can be applied to get a systematic and quantitative overview of the knowledge they contain. Thus, the conceptual meta-analysis and the classification scheme represent a first step towards a systematisation of knowledge on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability and may be seen as a useful complement to qualitative literature reviews.  相似文献   

GPS接收机仪器偏差的长期变化特性分析   总被引：3，自引：1，他引：2  

周东旭  袁运斌  李子申  刘西凤 《大地测量与地球动力学》2011,31(5):114-118

基于欧洲定轨中心2001-2009年发布的部分IGS测站接收机仪器偏差估值,分析了不同类型接收机DCB的长期变化特性.结果表明:各类接收机DCB的长期时变特征均具备一定的周期性,其中以月和年周期最为明显;接收机DCB的长期变化中还存在一定的波动,部分接收机DCB的稳定性随时间积累逐渐变差,甚至存在偏移.  相似文献   

BOOK REVIEWS     

《The Professional geographer》1988,40(2):248-258

Book Reviews in are this Article Northern Waters . Clive Archer and David Scivener , EDS. Principles of Geographical Information Systems for Land Resources Assessment . P. A. Burrough . The Great Lakes: An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book. Environment Canada , United States Environmental Protection Agency , Brock University , AND Northwestern University . Uneven Development in Southern Europe: Studies of Accumulation, Class, Migration and the State. Rays Hudson AND Jim Lewis , EDS. Hazards: Technology and Fairness. Robert W. Kates and Alvin M. Weinberg . The Price of War. Urbanization in Vietnam 1954–85. Nigel Thrift and Dean Forbes . Population Structures and Models: Developments in Spatial Demography. Robert Woods and Philip Rees , EDS. Evaluating Earthquake Hazards in the Los Angeles Region-An Earth-Science Perspective. J. I. Ziony , ed .  相似文献   

How good is good? Human values and Europe's proposed Marine Strategy Directive   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Mee LD  Jefferson RL  Laffoley Dd  Elliott M 《Marine pollution bulletin》2008,56(2):187-204

The adoption of the proposed European Marine Strategy Directive is an opportunity for a comprehensive policy for protecting, improving and sustainably using Europe's environmentally degraded seas. It calls for an ecosystem-based approach to management where humans are regarded as a key system component. Although the proposed wording has been the subject of fierce debate, the central policy goal remains achieving "Good Environmental Status". The interpretation of "good" is key to implementation and relates to human values and worldviews. We demonstrate how these vary widely across Europe. Solution of fundamental considerations such as the assignation of reference states, the balance between precautionary and evidence-based action, the degree of subsidiarity, and conservation strategies including marine protected areas, will ultimately depend upon public understanding, involvement in and support for the Directive. The social element, critical to effective adaptive management, requires greater attention within the context of a regional seas geographical framework.  相似文献   

East-Central Europe's changing energy landscapes: a place for geography     

Stefan Bouzarovski 《Area》2009,41(4):452-463

Energy developments in the post-Communist states of Eastern and Central Europe (ECE) have a major impact on global energy security and sustainability, thanks to this region's key geographical position between the energy-exporting states of the former Soviet Union, on the one hand, and the energy-importing states of Western and Southern Europe, on the other. At the same time, post-socialist reforms of energy industries in this region provide unique insights into the complex relations of power, economic transformation and spatial inequality that govern energy production and consumption. This paper therefore aims to provide an initial look at some of the theoretical and policy issues that underpin the emergent 'geographies' of energy reform in ECE, as well as their embeddedness in relations of power stemming from organisational, infrastructural and economic inequalities in the region. It employs an analysis of local news reports, policy papers and statistical data to examine the intricate institutional networks and spatial formations that have governed the energy transformation process. In broader terms, the paper aims to emphasise the important role that human geography can play in making sense of the territorial differences and frictions that have emerged during the post-socialist reform process, while challenging the idea of a 'neat' neoliberal transition from a centrally planned to a market-based mode of energy regulation .  相似文献