Time-space compression in the context of globalization leads to declining costs of communication and transportation and increasing transnational activities. The emergence of multi-national firms and international organizations, in accordance with increasing boundary-crossing activities, has simultaneously weaken the power of state on economic, political, and cultural processes within its territory. Under such circumstances, some researchers assert globalization as "the end of geography", which sounds like an argument of hyper-globalist. In light of scale construction, human geographers are engaged in reconstructing the global scale and relating it to other scales. It turns out that space matters in the process of globalization. Two key points emerge: (1) Scale construction is not necessarily with hierarchical structures. Relation-based scales provide a better model for globalization, which is featured with horizontal communication rather than vertical regulation. (2) Global shifting exhibits trends both towards globalization and localization simultaneously, much of which appears to be global-local nexus rather than simplex globalizing process. These findings introduce new perspectives into globalization research in human geography: framework based on relational network makes it possible to conduct a trans-territorial analysis and to depict a big picture of the reshaping pattern of global economic landscape. On the other hand, in light of localized globalization, researchers set out to refer regional development to global-local interactions other than local embeddedness and endogenous factors, which offers insight into urban and regional governance in the context of globalization.
Labor migration is becoming more frequent in the era of globalization and regional economic integration and involves the parallel processes of out migration and return migration. As a developing country with the largest population in the world, China's return migrants in rural areas have been increasing in number and the trend of bi-directional labor migration is increasingly clear. This article provides a comprehensive overview of international and Chinese research on return migration based on labor return migration theories, motivation of return migration, and employment behavior and mechanism of returnees. We found that the economic theory of success-failure dichotomy was dominant in theoretical explanations of the phenomenon of return migration in the past, but this dichotomy has been increasingly challenged by sociology and other theories. Among the driving factors of return migration, migration duration, wage, and human capital characteristics significantly influence the likelihood of return, but social ties to areas of origin and socioeconomic policy context at home also play an important role in the process of returning home.Returnees have better economic performance because of their accumulation of savings and skills and their entrepreneurial projects improve living conditions and income of the family and promote economic diversification of the home areas. Because of the differences in institutional environment and stage of economic development, return migration within China differ from other countries with regard to driving factors and occupational choice. Finally, perspectives of research on return migration in China were put forward in respect to theory, spatial effects of return migration, and return of new generation rural migrant workers.
With the economic development and enhanced individual self-awarenes in post modern society, searching for a better way of life—lifestyle-related migration has become an important form of mobility and has been highly concerned by international scholars. In China, lifestyle mobility is emerging; yet, it has not caught the attention of the Chinese researchers except that a few articles have been published on lifestyle entrepreneurs. Although the international studies on lifestyle migration cover a wide range of activities, such as tourism retirement migration and lifestyle tourism entrepreneurial migrants, there has not been an agreement on the definition and typology of lifestyle migrants. Based on a review of existing studies, this article introduces, clarifies, and analyzes the studies on lifestyle migration. It first identifies the conceptual framework of "lifestyle migration." A typology of lifestyle migration according to their differences on the spatial and temporal arrangements of consumption and production is proposed. Behaviors of each type of migrants and their impacts on the destination are summarized. This articles aims to raise awareness of the Chinese scholars to pay attention to this emerging field of study.
Suitability of spatial development and construction land (SSDCL) is the scientific foundation for spatial development optimization and selection of space for building. This article introduces the SSDCL's concept and connotation, and summarizes case studies on this topic from multiple perspectives. It then analyzes and comments on the factors, indicator systems, and evaluation methods of SSDCL. The review shows that indicators for evaluation include physical geographic, ecological, economic, institutional, and social factors.Chinese scholars have not been paying enough attention to the social and behavioral factors and attitude and preference of the public. At present, there is a general lack of theoretical basis for the selection of indicators and classification of suitability, which compromise the scientific quality of SSDCL evaluation. Four evaluation frameworks have been used in evaluating suitability of spatial development and construction land. These include integrated overlay analysis of multiple indicators; simulation of spatial interaction and trend; suitability analysis based on ecological niche; and participatory comprehensive evaluation. Integrating the various evaluation frameworks to develop a system that takes into account both relationships among different stakeholder groups and the human-environment relationship should be emphasized in future research. The following measures can be implemented to promote the progress of SSDCL: (1) Establish an improved evaluation system of SSDCL and strengthen theoretical research to form a stronger foundation for an improved indicator system. (2) Improve the evaluation frameworks, technical methods, and standardization to increase the scientific quality of SSDCL evaluation. (3) Develop a classification system that meets the demands of spatial governance policy. (4) Expand the scope of SSDCL case study and applications. (5) Integrate the macro-scale territorial spatial development suitability evaluation and the micro-level construction land suitability evaluation in order to meet the practical requirements of multi-level plan integration.
Along with the rapid development of airport economy, airport-related economic zone (AEZ) is becoming a vital force for promoting urban growth. At present, AEZ in China is characterized by early stage of development and there is a general lack of systematic theoretical research and planning practices; different types of planning lack of necessary coordination. Through a literature review and empirical research, this study differentiates and analyzes the connotations and characteristics of AEZ, and puts forward the concept of generalized AEZ. Based on the numerous, multiple types of existing AEZ planning, this study summarizes the AEZ-related Chinese legal spatial planning system (urban master planning—comprehensive planning of AEZ—regulatory planning of AEZ—site planning of AEZ). Combining with the current planning practices, this article identifies and analyzes the important contents of different levels of spatial planning. In the final part, it puts forward five suggestions: clarifying the functional position of AEZ; reserving industrial space; improving service facilities; setting up a high-level management bureau; and achieving a health balance between work space and housing.
At present, urban life on Earth has been greatly improved, and advanced human modernization and diverse opportunities and cultures are prospering. Along with these progresses, over-exploitation of energy and resources, massive destruction of natural ecosystems, worsening pollution of various kinds, and a series of "urban diseases" have appeared. In order to change the imbalance between our natural resource base and environment and socioeconomic development, and facilitate their effective coordination so that modern cities can be healthy and sustainable in the future, with the help of new generation information technology, research and practice about a new type of city—smart low-carbon city—has been started. As one of the academic research hotspots and frontiers, research on smart low-carbon city would be an important field that needs urgent exploration. Therefore, by using bibliometric method and summarizing existing studies, this research conducted a literature review on smart low-carbon city research, including general progress, the concept, the assessment methods and index systems, application practice, basic patterns, and major policies. The results show that: (1) research on smart low-carbon cities is still in its infancy and there is no clear and universal accepted definition; (2) research on the key issues such as methodology, proper model, index system, and assessment criteria are inadequate, and there is no universal and authoritative index system for evaluation; (3) policy supports are gradually improving and the application practices are stepping into the planning, demonstration, and pilot stages; (4) research perspectives are limited, innovative studies from perspectives of other disciplines are far from adequate; and (5) there are still research gaps in the field of smart low-carbon city dynamic mechanism, interaction mechanism, development paths, and patterns. In the future, greater emphasis should be placed on a clear definition of the concept, more appropriate assessment methodology and index systems, the internal dynamic mechanism, formation and evolution mechanism, development paths and patterns, and their optimization and regulation, which can provide a scientific basis for a healthy and sustainable urban development in China.
River sediments respond sensitively to the basin environmental changes and particle size parameters can reflect the hydrodynamic environment. This article takes the Lancang River as a case to explore the response of river sediment grain size to the basin environmental changes. River sediment samples were collected from 19 sections along the mainstream of the Lancang River, and sieving and pipette methods were applied to measure the particle size. Spatial and temporal variations of grain size parameters and their responses to the anthropogenic environmental changes of the basin through hydropower development were analyzed. Our results indicate that: (1) Spatially, the upstream of the Lancang River flows through the Tibet plateau region where the river valley is wide and flat, downward erosion is weak, and the sediments are characterized by small grain size and well sorted, with small kurtosis and negative skew or nearly symmetrical distributions; the middle part of the river flows through the alpine valleys, where the river flows fast, the grain size of bed sediments is coarse and poorly sorted, and the grain size distributions are more positively skewed with sharp kurtosis; in the lower reach of the river among the low and middle mountains and wide valleys sediment grain sizes are affected by the cascade dams, riverbed sediments' median and average grain sizes increased abruptly, especially the average grain sizes, with poorly sorted sediments, positively skewed grain size distribution and acute kurtosis. (2) On the temporal scale, grain sizes of sediments from different time periods indicate that the cascade dams increased the median and average grain sizes of the downstream sediments, especially the median increased dramatically. The sediments are poorly sorted, with positively skewed grain size distribution and acute kurtosis. The results accord with the normal pattern of distribution of sediment grain sizes in rivers, also reflect the impact of environmental changes on river sediment grain size composition.
Drought is a complex natural hazard that is difficult to define and assess. By considering the hydrological cycle of river basins, a drought evaluation model SWAT-PDSI was constructed based on the Palmer Drought Severity Index(PDSI) and simulated results of SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) in the Weihe River Basin. Moreover, characteristics of the spatiotemporal distribution and frequency of drought hazard in the basin were analyzed. Results showed that: (1) The calibrated and validated SWAT model can be used to predict the hydrological process in the Weihe River Basin since it results in similar simulated trend of change as the observed data; (2) The SWAT-PDSI model based on SWAT and PDSI well describes the characteristics of drought in the Weihe River Basin as verified by the drought indices in 1995; (3) Temporally, the Weihe River Basin, Weihe River mainstream, and Jinghe River Basin showed a drying trend and the Beiluohe River Basin showed a wetter trend, but these were not statistically significant at the 0.05 confidence level; (4) Spatially, the annual average of SWAT-PDSI was between -1 and 1 in most subbasins; (5) High frequency drought areas were mainly distributed in the upstream of the Beiluohe River Basin and the Jinghe River Basin.
Ethnic cultural compensation is an institutional arrangement that takes the protection, inheritance, and innovation of ethnic culture as the purpose, which adjusts the interest relationship between stakeholders of ethnic culture in ethnic tourism villages by means of government regulation and the market. Residents' cognition towards ethnic cultural compensation is an important basis for the construction and key for the implementation of ethnic cultural compensation. Taking Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village as a case, this study divides the residents into insiders and outsiders, and investigates their cognition towards ethnic cultural compensation through a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews. This research focuses on the spatial characteristics and influence mechanism of the residents' cognition towards ethnic cultural compensation. The results are as follows: Spatial differentiation of residents' cognition towards ethnic cultural compensation does exist in the ethnic tourism village. The spatial characteristics of residents' cognition towards ethnic cultural compensation are not fully consistent with the core-periphery relationship. The spatial characteristic of insiders' cognition towards the cultural value is consistent with the core-periphery relationship, but the spatial difference of willingness to accept for the compensation is not statistically significant. The spatial characteristic of insiders' cognition towards compensation standard shows an inverted "U" shape. The spatial difference of residents' cognition towards ethnic cultural compensation is influenced by the "cultural distance", interest relationship, tourism interference intensity, and traditional values. "Cultural distance" is the essential reason of residents' cultural value cognition. Residents' willingness to accept for the compensation is affected by interest relationship and tourism disturbance. Compensation recipients and forms are influenced by traditional values. In order to prompt the inheritance of ethnic culture and the sustainable development of tourism, the ethnic tourism village should actively implement cultural compensation, clearly distinguish the providers and recipients of the compensation, decide the compensation standards based on residents' willingness to accept and village development, and apply different compensation standards to the residents.
Exploring the effects of market-oriented land reforms on the scale of industrial land use has a important theoretical and practical significance for promoting the reform of land market in China and optimizing the configuration of industrial land use. Based on an examination of the influence mechanism of market-oriented land reforms on industrial land scale, this study built an econometric model with the panel data of 46 cities in mainland China from 2000 to 2012, and tested and analyzed the specific effects of land marketization progresses on industrial land scales. The results show that, with the improvement of marketization level of industrial land transfer, open and transparent market mechanism played a certain role in restraining the increase of industrial land scale, while the government's increased land delivery owing to the financial revenue stimulus also had certain effect on the expansion of industrial land, therefore change in industrial land scale was driven by market mechanism and government management. In the cities with a dominant tertiary industry, the constraining effect of land price on industrial land scale expansion was obvious. While for the cities with a dominant secondary industry and a relatively low land price, the government's land delivery under financial revenue consideration played a main role on the expansion of industrial land scale. In order to optimize the industrial land configuration, it is recommended that industrial land transfer market mechanism should be improved as soon as possible.
Residential care, as an option for elderly care, has developed at a fast speed in Beijing while the elderly population rapidly increases and available family care resources diminish. This study examines the spatial evolution of residential care facilities (RCFs) and impacts of government policies on their development in Beijing. Government documents, statistical and GIS data, literature analysis, and spatial analysis were used for the analysis. The results show that: (1) the development of residential care in Beijing has gone through four stages, including infancy(1953-1959), stagnation (1960-1977), growth (1978-1995), and prosperity (1996-2012).In each of these stages the facilities had different patterns of spatial distribution. (2) At the district/county level, the development and spatial distribution pattern of residential care facilities vary in time and space. At present, the RCFs in Yanqing, Huairou, Shunyi, Miyun, Pinggu, and Mentougou are in the growth stage and the spatial distribution patterns of RCFs in these districts (counties) exhibit typical characteristics of this stage. On the other hand, the RCFs in Changping, Fangshan, Daxing, and Tongzhou are in the stage of prosperity and the spatial distribution patterns correspond to features of this stage. (3) Government policies have impacts not only on the size of the RCFs, but also the development process and spatial distribution of RCFs. The distribution of public RCFs is more dispersed and the iragglomeration is not clear, while the private RCFs are relatively concentrated and mainly distributed in the six central districts, surrounding suburban districts, and some areas with attractive natural environment in the remote suburban districts. Agglomerations of private RCFs have been formed in Changping District and the northwestern area of Haidian District. The results of this study will provide knowledge for the future planning and policy making of RCFs in Beijing.
The National New Urbanization Planning (2014-2020) is regarded as the top institutional policy design to deal with urbanization-related issues at the national level. With the deepening of the reform and opening-up, policy advantages of economic and technological development zones have been gradually diminishing, and their comprehensive competitiveness and vitality have dropped. Using a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews and based on the analysis of different interest groups, this research found that the development of the Private Science and Technology Park not only promotes the transformation from low-level urbanization to new urbanization for implementing the national new urbanization policy, but also should put forward development strategies to move from "manufacture" to "innovation" , so as to reshape the competitiveness and transformation from manufacture to innovative industry. This article may provide some references for the sustainable development of Chinese economic and technological development zones in the transitional age.
