Geographische Zeitschrift

 

 

¥ homepage
¥ Richtlinien fŸr die Erstellung von BeitrŠgen

¥ Inhalt der BŠnde
¥ Gesamtinhaltsverzeichnis
¥ Abstracts
 

 

 

 

 

Inhalt des nŠchsten Heftes (Heft 4/2008)

 

ANDREI D…RRE und MATTHIAS SCHMIDT, Berlin

Vom Schutz und Nutzen von WŠldern: Kirgistans NusswŠlder im Lichte historischer und aktueller Schutzdiskurse

Forest conservation and utilisation: KyrgyzstanÕs walnut fruit forests in the light of historical and current conservation discourses

 

Discourses shape the perception, conservation and utilization of natural resources. This can be seen in the case of the globally unique Walnut-Fruit-Forests of southern Kyrgyzstan. This article shows the historical change of the discourse on protection of forests, as a natural resource, from the times of the feudal society of the Khanate of Kokand, to the eras of Russian colonialism, Soviet socialism, and up to present day post soviet capitalism. Due to the plentifulness of these forests, protection-concepts were developed long ago with the aim of implementing ãproperÒ utilizations. By applying methods of discourse analysis, the thesis will be proved that historical concepts for forest-protection did not arise from the understanding of an intrinsic value of nature as often assumed, but instead was formed through pragmatic arguments, which allowed human appropriations of these forests. Consequently, the present status of the walnut-fruit-forests is a result of the interplay of natural processes and anthropogenic interventions. Current conflicts between the local people and both scientists and conservationists over the usage of these forests make this article relevant. Understanding the history of the discourse and the history of forest usage can help shed light on these ongoing conflicts.

 

 

 

MARKUS HESSE, Luxemburg

Resilient Suburbs? Ungleiche Entwicklungsdynamiken suburbaner RŠume in Nordamerika im Zeichen der Kreditkrise

Summary

 

This paper discusses the context of spatial inequality, growth and decline in the case of suburban areas in the United States. For decades, the particular North American trajectory of urbanisation was characterised by declining inner-cities, the rise of the suburbs and emerging developments at the urban fringe and beyond. However, a substantial proportion of older, inner-ring suburbs in metropolitan areas now suffer from degradation and decay. Also, in the light of most recent developments on the real estate market, even newer sub- and exurban areas have experienced abrupt decline, due to imploding ÒsubprimeÓ mortgages and the effects of related foreclosures. According to some commentators, suburbs now represent despair and decline, or even the Ònext slumÓ. Against this background, the paper presents a case study of the Stockton Metropolitan Area, Northern California, one of the places most severely hit by the credit crunch nationwide. The findings of the case study are discussed in the context of cycles of urban change and the need for regenerating suburban areas as a core component of the North American city. For this reason, the paper finally depicts on the concept of resilience and seeks to assess how related short- and mid-term challenges of crisis and decline can be met by policy and planning.

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                       

OLAF K†HNE, SaarbrŸcken

Die Sozialisation von Landschaft – sozialkonstruktivistische †berlegungen, empirische Befunde und Konsequenzen fŸr den Umgang mit dem Thema Landschaft in Geographie und rŠumlicher Planung

The socialization of landscape – social-constructivistic considerations, empirical findings and consequences concerning the practice with the topic landscape in geography and regional planning

 

The present contribution deals with the question in which form landscape is socially defined. This article is based on a social-constructivistic scientific tradition. The social construction of landscape in its differentiation is subjected in this case to different stages of socialization. In the socialization of landscape of the child and youth age native and stereotype landscape purchases are erected. On the one hand these base on direct unsystematic observations and on second-hand information through school (systematized) and mass mediums (unsystematic). These lay purchases are continued in the adulthood. The socialization of landscape of the experts occurs through professional processing of the landscape topic in the adulthood. This processing of the landscape topic through is strong technically structured and characterized by a strong selectivity. In total the landscape consciousness is more strongly cognitive to that of the experts, that of the laymen more strongly emotionally shaped. It is spoken out in favour of a stronger integration of the landscape appreciation of laymen into the process of spatial planning, especially to improve the legitimization of planning.

 

 

 

Vorschau auf kommende BeitrŠge

 

Heft 1/2009 – Themenheft: European Heritage – in Europe and Beyond

 

Einleitung

Dietrich Soyez, Kšln

European heritage – in Europe and beyond

 

Greg J. Ashworth, Groningen

From unclaimed heritage to a European opportunity: the 1915 war cemeteries of Galicia

Vom unbeanspruchtem Erbe zur europŠischen Chance:  Galiziens Soldatenfriedhšfe aus dem Jahre 1915

There have been many cases of multiply claimed contested heritage but this article deals with discarded and unclaimed, potential heritage. It also treats the most sensitive of heritage resources namely, dead human bodies. A consequence of the Austro-Hungarian / German offensive at Gorlice-Tarnow in May-September 1915 was 2 million dead combatants. These, friend and foe alike, were buried by the KuK Department of war graves for the three military districts of Galicia in over 50 especially commissioned and designed war cemeteries with standard marking and inscription, in the then Austrian province of Galicia. The empires and dynasties for which they died ceased to exist in a few years. Neither the nation- state in which they are now located (Poland) nor the new successor states that came into existence had any interest in a legacy which was irrelevant or contradictory to their nationalist narratives. After 90 years of unclaimed neglect there are two options. First, do nothing and let the already advanced decay of the physical structures and the encroachment of nature, remove the last traces of a forgotten heritage. Secondly, take the unique chance to construct a new distinctively European heritage from the over 30 different nationalities represented and present the strongest component of European history, its internecine warfare. The centenary on 1st May 2015 would offer an unrepeatable opportunity to interpret our common European heritage.

 

 

Maggi W. H. Leung, Hong Kong

Fates of European heritage in post-colonial contexts: Political economy of memory and forgetting in Hong Kong

Schicksale des europŠischen Erbes in post-kolonialen Kontexten:

Die Politische …konomie von Erinnerung und Vergessen in Hong Kong

While heritage is always contested, colonial heritage in post-colonial contexts are particularly sensitive and political. A love-hate relationship with European heritages has generated tactics in selective remembering and forgetting concerning colonial heritage preservation and valorisation in post-colonial societies. Based on an analysis of official documents, tourist promotion materials, newspaper and media reports and site visits, this paper examines the fates of three colonial heritage sites in Hong Kong, namely that of the Marine Police Headquarter Compound, the Star Ferry Pier and QueenÕs Pier, and the Central Police Station Compound. The three heritage tales demonstrate how these sites are not merely remains of the cityÕs colonial past, but lively space where contemporary power struggles are played out, and local identities and interests are negotiated among different players from the state, business communities and the civil society. Together, they also illustrate how colonial heritage is a boxing podium where the citizenry fight for changes in hitherto non-democratic and profit-obsessed planning governance that in itself is also a colonial legacy.

 

 

Diedrich Soyez, Kšln

Europeanizing Industrial Heritage in Europe: Addressing its Transboundary and Dark Sides

Zur EuropŠisierung von Industriekultur in Europa: Die Ansprache ihrer grenzŸberschreitenden und dunklen Seiten

The protection of selected industrial heritage sites is a matter of course in most European countries, and projects such as the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH) seem to indicate that transnational approaches are increasingly popular. However, a closer look at selection strategies, patterns of justification and interpretative approaches reveals typical deficits: Firstly, the material and immaterial transnational linkages and interconnections typical of the industrialisation process are only inadequately communicated, even in projects supported by European funding. Secondly, the dark sides of European industrialisation processes and phases are only rarely appropriately represented, so that the world reflected in industrial cultural projects to date can only be described as sanitized industrial heritage. Thirdly, there are practically no attempts to select objects or sites that are specifically European in character – instead, objects/sites are designated as European simply because they are located there. The following contribution attempts to identify ways in which the Europeanness of industrial heritage can be more clearly defined and strategies developed to overcome the deficits mentioned above.

 

 

John E. Tunbridge, Otawa

Forging a European heritage: the role of Malta

Zur Formung eines europŠischen Erbes: Die Rolle Maltas

European heritage is elusive, even by the standards of this nebulous and contested concept. EuropeÕs indelible imprint upon the rest of the world, and its reciprocal receipt of global immigration, ensure that its heritage cannot – and should not – be geographically isolated. However, EuropeÕs effectiveness on the world stage is impaired by its internally divergent heritage perceptions, seldom geographically focused as European. The expansion of the European Union, to the east and also in the Mediterranean, accentuates further the need for convergent heritage perceptions fostering a common European identity. This paper examines MaltaÕs reclamation of its European heritage identity, the existing historical resources on which it is based, and the relatively neglected naval legacy from which it could be further developed. This reclamation benefits its own increasingly vital heritage tourism economy, as well as its potential contribution to EuropeÕs collective identity. How might it also affect its role as EuropeÕs southern gateway – or bastion? The paper is based upon fieldwork and consultation with relevant authorities in, and on, Malta.

 

 

 

 

Heft 2+3/2009 – Schwerpunktheft: New Downtowns

 

Einleitung

Ilse Helbrecht / Peter Dirksmeier, Berlin

Editorial zum Schwerpunktheft ãNew DowntownsÒ

 

Ilse Helbrecht / Peter Dirksmeier, Berlin

New Downtowns: Towards A New Form of Centrality and Urbanity in a World Society

New Downtowns – eine neue Form der ZentralitŠt und UrbanitŠt in der Weltgesellschaft

The paper introduces the term and concept of ÒNew DowntownsÓ into the literature. We argue that a new spatial category in urban research is necessary in order to specify the recent phenomenon of newly created inner city areas within urban renaissance projects. The Hamburg HafenCity exemplifies this global trend in urban planning and politics. The HafenCity is a new inner city and an urban renaissance project, located in the former harbour of Hamburg, and in close proximity to the historic city centre. This development project has allowed the inner city area of Hamburg to roughly double its spatial extension in size. The main argument of the paper is that in contemporary world society, centrality becomes a negotiable good – through which urbanity changes its form. Based on this argument, four characteristics can be outlined to constitute a New Downtown. Firstly, New Downtowns are an expression of urban politics, understood as globally oriented district politics. Secondly, its architecture creates urban stages for distinct forms of performances. Thirdly, the urbanity of the New Downtown is consequently a performative urbanity. And finally, the New Downtown is the result of a new centrality of the world society, i.e. the imperative to establish new centres artificially.

 

 

Susanne Heeg, Frankfurt a. M.

From Old Downtown to New Downtown: A Case Study in South Boston Waterfront

Von der Old Downtown zur New Downtown: das Beispiel der South Boston Waterfront in Boston

Aim of this contribution is to analyze the conversion of the South Boston Waterfront, the former harbor of Boston, into a new downtown. It is argued that attempts to revive disused industrial areas close to the inner city are deeply dependent on planning efforts to stabilize the old downtown. In case of the South Boston Waterfront the attempts to revitalize the area are up to now not very promising despite a very successful reconversion of the old downtown of Boston. This has to do with real estate cycles and property-led development strategies which favor private real estate interests.

 

 

Ivo Mossig, Bremen

The Concentration of the Media Industry: On the Role of Spatial Context for the Production of Media Content

Zentralisierungstendenzen in der Medienwirtschaft: Zur Bedeutung des rŠumlichen Kontextes fŸr die Erzeugung und kommerzielle Verwertung von Medieninhalten

This paper aims to describe the observable concentration tendencies of media, as important representatives of the cultural and creative industries, in urban centres. Besides the general advantages of urban agglomerations for knowledge-intensive and creative branches this papers highlights the importance of a lively and inspiring urban environment. A further argument for the increasing concentration is seen in the flexible organization of the production system in this industry. Hence, the work in these specific production networks benefits from the opportunities of a heterogeneous urban environment. The ongoing process of concentration is shown by a spatial analysis of employment in media and emphasizes the accomplished arguments.

 

 

Robert Kloostermann, Amsterdam

Lessons from Amsterdam: New Urbanity in the Old City

Die Lehre aus Amsterdam: neue UrbanitŠt in der alten Stadt

Cultural industries as an instrument seem to offer a way to revitalize derelict areas in and around the urban core that have been blighted by deindustrialization in the 1970 and 1980s. In this article, we explore how cultural industries have affected two such areas close to the Amsterdam central station. One area, Oosterdokseiland, is an example of top-down planning aimed at creating a museum cultural district with large cultural institutions as the municipal library, a music hall, and a museum as large anchors. The other area, the former docklands adjacent to the Oosterdokseiland, was planned as a monofunctional residential area in the 1990s. It nevertheless developed recently into an area of cultural industries. Many businesses in the field of cultural industries have been started there, turning the area through bottom-up initiatives into a fledgling cultural industries district. After having presented a more general analysis of the urban transformation, we analyse these two cases. We end with the wider implications which can be drawn from these cases. All plans for new urbanity in old cities can only work if there is a sound basis of old urbanity.

 

 

Benedikt Korf, ZŸrich

Geography of Emergency

Geographie des Ernstfalls

ÒFreedomÓ or ÒsecurityÓ – these two principles are often constructed as antipodes in public debates in response to the so-called Òterrorist threatÓ: Are we living in a securitized society (Sloterdijk) or do we sacrifice our security for a constitutional solipsism (Depenheuer)? A number of prominent, conservative, German scholars of ÒStaatsrechtÓ (public law) have taken the second position, warning that a post-heroic society was worshipping the golden calf of the ÒGrundgesetzÓ. Terrorist threats, so these scholars suggest, required a different type of law, an enemy law that provides unprecedented powers to the executive. This article analyzes the geographical imaginations of law, order and state and the intellectual legacies of Carl Schmitt that emerge in these arguments and how they build on a philosophical legacy of romanticism that heralds the notion of heroism that is seen as absent in modern society. The irony is, however, that critical scholars who defend freedom against those heroes of security, themselves resort to a romanticism of the heroic ÒcitizenÓ and thereby mirror the romanticism of exception that the conservatives purport.

 

Christian Wuttke, OsnabrŸck

Urban Governance in the PeopleÕs Republic of China

Urban Governance in der Volksrepublik China

Multiple understandings and the inflationary use of the term governance are threatening the value of governance as an analytical concept. However, as will be elaborated upon, an analytical governance perspective seems to be particularly valuable for studies in comparative urban research. This article reviews the discussions on governance at the intersection of political science and geography as well as the changing forms or modes of urban governance as described in European and North American contexts. To extend the scope of the analytical governance framework, an attempt is made to link the discussion on comparative urban governance in Western cities with that on the transformation of the local state and urban politics in China. Thereby, changing modes of urban governance are being identified in Chinese cities in transition. While distinctive ÒChinese characteristicsÓ are often stressed by area specialists, it is argued that the application of an analytical urban governance perspective may both generate more generalizable results and improve the mutual understanding of the empirically rich branch of urban studies in China on the one hand, and the more theoretically informed approaches of international urban research on the other.

 

 

 

 

Heft 4/2009 – Themenheft: Kritische Kartographie

 

Einleitung

Georg Glasze, Erlangen

 

Bruno Schelhaas, Leipzig

Das ãWiederkehren des Fragezeichens in der KarteÒ. Gothaer Kartenproduktion im 19. Jahrhundert.

 

Jšrg Mose, MŸnster

Die Rolle von Karten bei der (Re-)Konstruktion territorialer IdentitŠt: Das Beispiel Katalonien vor dem Hintergrund spanischer und europŠischer IdentitŠt

 

Bernd Belina, Frankfurt a.M.

KriminalitŠtskartierung – Produkt und Mittel neoliberalen Regierens, oder: Wenn falsche Abstraktionen durch die Macht der Karte praktisch wahr gemacht werden

 

 

 

ãGlobalisierung in WissenskanŠlenÓ