Applied Geography最新文献

Urban mobility research is crucial due to the complex and dynamic nature of cities. Traditional zoning methods often overlook the temporal dynamics of urban space usage. This paper aims to investigate the daily rhythm of urban space usage and how built environmental features affect spatiotemporal mobility. The methodology integrates various urban data sources, including street and building vectors and points of interest (POI). In Ankara, Türkiye, temporal usage types were identified using principle component analysis and k-means algorithms via Google Maps location-based service data. Multinomial logistic regression model was used to examine the impact of built-environment factors on daily mobility patterns. Results reveal distinct daily usage rhythms, categorizing busy areas into morning, noon, early evening, late evening, diurnal, and nocturnal zones. The study finds: (1) temporal usage is closely associated with spatial characteristics and resident income; (2) work-related activities drive morning mobility, while nighttime mobility relates to residence, income, and accessibility; and (3) population density alone does not guarantee continuous activities; diverse POIs alongside high density are crucial. The identified relationship between mobility measures and urban built environment indicators provides a comprehensive understanding of spatiotemporal variations, offering insights for critical policy evaluations and proposals for the future of urban areas.

This study takes China, which is going through severe and unbalanced fiscal pressure, as the research object, using the Need-Capacity Gap method to evaluate the fiscal condition of 284 Chinese regions at prefecture level and above in 2000, 2010, and 2020, and further analyzes the changes in the fiscal disparities. The fiscal disparities of Chinese prefectures have generally shown a differentiation trend in the past 20 years, which is manifested in the continuous optimization of the areas with good fiscal conditions and the deterioration of the areas with poor fiscal conditions. The differentiation of regional fiscal conditions not only exists at the national level, but is also prevalent between and within different regions, between and within prefectures of different administrative class, and between and within prefectures of different urbanization levels. Differences in revenue raising capacity are the main driver of fiscal divergence, and the contribution of revenues to fiscal disparities has been increasing over time. Finally, the study provides a discussion on the relationship between fiscal disparities and regional inequality and the role of transfers in reducing fiscal disparities.

The European energy transition requirements have been posing many questions on the deployment of renewable energy sources. The development of renewable energy infrastructures entails landscape transformations affecting the perceived landscape quality and local acceptance. Sustainable energy spatial planning considers environmental, cultural, ecological needs but often neglect community perception of landscape transformations including both the physical landscape structures and the meanings associated to them. To address this issue, the paper aims to explore public perception and incorporate it in the planning tools. The research draws on a survey of residents of Arcos de la Frontera, Spain, conducted with the visual Q methodology, and on structured interviews with local experts. A selection of 36 different photovoltaic applications in urban and rural areas was evaluated by 21 citizens. The analysis identified four distinct viewpoints on photovoltaic applications in urban and rural landscapes. Local experts provided feedback on the current local spatial planning tools and on their consideration of landscape transformations. Considering both citizens and experts, we provided landscape integration strategies linked to siting and landscape design of solar power plants to be included in urban planning tools.

Restructuring rural spaces brings about essential changes in the everyday lives of rural societies. Rural restructuring shapes and alters the image, identity, and, ultimately, the content and physical environment of the countryside. The trajectories of change vary widely, although the globalisation of rurality severely challenges some parts of rural areas, too. Peripheries, deprived, and remote settlements suffer from the effects and processes of restructuring, and their spatial representation also changes. In Central and Eastern European rural areas, the globalisation of the countryside started right after the political transition, in which these areas were left with a declining population, a collapsed economy, and inadequate infrastructure. In many cases, these disadvantaged settlements could not cope with the challenges of a market-based economy; furthermore, their geographical location and inability to join the labour market created disconnected spaces with low spatial and social mobility. As a result of such a vicious circle, residents in these areas experienced the destruction of local societies and a deteriorating physical environment, supplemented by an ageing population, and because of all these consequences, different spatial representations emerged in and about rurality.

This paper focuses on a disadvantaged, isolated rural area in Hungary, the Baranyai-Hegyhát micro-region. We assume that the changing nature of such rural areas affects local inhabitants' spatial imagination and representation. We surveyed to define values of spatial representation and social status, among other variables. In the evaluation, we compared survey indices and attempted to ascertain the types of spatial representation, social status, and their connections in the research area. As a main result, we found that spatial representations do not depend on spatial position but are strongly associated with social backgrounds.

Recreational walking is increasingly recognized as an essential aspect of daily life, whose network structure serving as a crucial tool for characterizing activity patterns. However, existing methods lacks consideration of the heterogeneous spatial configuration when constructing recreational walking networks, thereby fall short in accurately identifying ‘nodes’ and establishing ‘links’. This study aims to address these gaps by revising the network construction process. To do so, we incorporate the ‘self-organized’ nature of recreational activities and apply a ‘resource’ allocation method from user recommendation algorithms. Using downtown Guangzhou as a case study, the revised methodological framework can capture the striking spatial heterogeneity in walking activities. Such a heterogeneity is demonstrated by a pronounced rank-size effect in network ‘nodes’ and a notably low weighted clustering coefficient. Further, the detection of seven distinct communities outlines the broader spatial structure of these activities. The study concludes by exploring how this network analysis is capable of developing planning-based maps and enhancing ex-ante evaluations of urban planning initiatives.

The lack of detailed occupational employment data at more granular geographic levels presents significant challenges in forecasting and analyzing local and regional employment changes in the era of the new technological revolution. This study aims to develop detailed occupational employment data by downscaling state-level employment information to the Census tract level. We introduce two downscaling algorithms that leverage employment, population, and sociodemographic composition data sourced from the American Community Survey, the Current Population Survey, and the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. This approach allows us to create a tract-level employment dataset covering 808 occupations. Such data are crucial for examining the effects of expected technological and demographic shifts on employment at this scale, which is critical for understanding tax base implications and job mobility opportunities. We demonstrate the value of these datasets by examining employment projections for two occupations anticipated to decline due to technological advancements in the near future.

Enhancing the connectivity of watershed ecological security patterns (ESPs) is increasingly emphasized for preserving ecological processes. Yet the importance of small-scale conservation and restoration was ignored and few studies have quantitatively compared the contribution of barriers restoration and stepping stones establishment to landscape connectivity. In this study, taking Dongting Lake Basin as an example, a watershed ESP was constructed based on the minimum cumulative resistance model and optimized through graded barriers restoration and different stepping stones establishment. Then the enhancement effects of landscape connectivity were compared to identify the most cost-effective optimization scheme. The results showed that the average of six schemes only protected and repaired less than 1% of the total area, which could enhance corridor connectivity by about 12% and 16% for average corridor length and corridor cumulative resistance respectively. For the optimal ESP, establishing natural patches near the midpoint of longer corridors as stepping stones, increased the probability of connectivity by 21.05%, and reduced the average corridor length and corridor cumulative resistance of corridor connectivity by 17.99% and 15.48% respectively. It also increased network circuitry index of network connectivity from 0.541 to 0.570, compared with the original ESP, indicating the possibility of successful ecological flow increased effectively. It can be concluded that the connectivity enhancement of stepping stones approach was better than barriers restoration approach. This study highlights the importance of small-scale barriers restoration and stepping stones establishment in enhancing landscape connectivity.

Global climate change and anthropogenic disturbances have seriously affected sustainable development in drylands, where coordinated city-water relationships (CWRs) are foundational. The largest dryland in Northwest China, the Tarim River Basin (TRB) faces severe sustainability challenges; however, its long-term CWRs are poorly understood due to the scarcity of literature and records. This study utilized historical ruin sites to reconstruct city data and determine the evolution of the TRB city-water system over the past 2000 years. A driving mechanism framework for drylands was proposed to explain the CWR evolution mechanisms. The results revealed that 1) the cities exhibited an “outward-inward” movement trend in the “desert-plain-mountain” continuum; they first colonized near the central desert, subsequently retreated to the surrounding plains and then to the peripheral mountains, and finally returned to the plains. 2) The overall correlation coefficient between the number of cities and the length of rivers was 0.734 (p value < 0.001), which fluctuated over time. 3) Furthermore, climate change, water conservancy projects, population and arable land growth and wars exerted significant effects on the evolutionary process. The TRB's experiences and methods could help analyze city-water relationships in similar regions and promote sustainable development of drylands worldwide.

Afforestation is an important aspect of ecosystem restoration (ER) and poverty alleviation (PA) through direct and indirect social, economic, and environmental effects. However, the existing afforestation projects worldwide have mainly viewed economic benefits through the narrow lens of subsistence and livelihood, thereby underestimating both indirect PA and the associated negative effects on agricultural production when formulating long-term solutions to global poverty. This study aimed to systematically examine the ecological, agricultural, and economic effects of ecosystem restoration in southeastern China over four decades based on biophysical models and statistical records, and further proposed an upgraded strategy for sustainable PA through ER that addresses conservation objectives and resource needs. We found that ER promoted vegetation growth and enhanced carbon sequestration and soil retention. Meanwhile, industrial transformation improved the economic scale and livelihood diversity (i.e., disposable income), which alleviated poverty and improved social services and infrastructure conditions. Nevertheless, the secondary and tertiary industries gradually replaced the primary industry in terms of output, and increased animal husbandry and forestry development weakened crop planting. Planting structure adjustments further threatened the stability of the grain supply, particularly after 1999, which could potentially lead to a grain crisis. Therefore, we propose upgraded forest management and coordinated development policies to avoid a grain crisis, improve livelihood diversity, balance multidimensional benefits, and facilitate sustainable development. Study results serve as a valuable reference for policy formulation and ER measures for more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable PA.