Territorial Fragmentation Research Articles

Aire métropolitaine marseillaise : une dynamique inclusive confrontée au legs de forces centrifuges

Apres de longs et houleux debats, et une franche opposition de nombreux maires de municipalites des Bouches-du-Rhone, la creation d’Aix-Marseille Provence Metropole a ete votee courant 2013. En janvier 2016, l’aire urbaine marseillaise constituera ainsi un nouveau territoire aux frontieres elargies ou vivront pres de deux millions de personnes. Ce territoire devrait permettre de mener a bien des projets collectifs de maniere plus performante. En adoptant une lecture socio-politique de l’aire urbaine marseillaise, l’article souligne cependant que la fragmentation territoriale et le creusement des inegalites sociales entre les differentes villes constituent une reelle menace pour la complete reussite du projet. Depuis la Seconde Guerre mondiale, la peripherie de la metropolis a developpe sa propre strategie d’expansion, conduisant a l’apparition de forces entropiques tres puissantes. Comment Aix-Marseille Provence Metropole pourra-t-elle depasser ses contradictions internes et favoriser l’emergence d’une aire urbaine dynamique inseree dans les echanges mondiaux de biens et de services ?

El poder de los equipamientos ante la fragmentación física y social de las ciudades

Resumen: La forma desordenada como han crecido nuestras ciudades sumado en algunos casos a una ausencia o precaria planeación urbana ha conllevado a que las diferentes ciudades de Colombia en mayor o menor complejidad presenten una fragmentación tanto social como física del territorio urbano, hecho que por consiguiente afecta el logro de una equidad e inclusión entre sus habitantes así como también entre las diferentes piezas en que se han dividido a la ciudad. Ante semejante panorama crítico los equipamientos urbanos una vez más demuestran su importancia al jugar un papel fundamental en la búsqueda de un orden que ayude a reconstruir y fortalecer las distintas relaciones e interrelaciones que existen y llegasen a surgir dentro de cada uno de los territorios urbanos del país. Este trabajo toma como caso de estudio el área urbana de la margen occidental de la ciudad de Montería en el departamento de Córdoba, y centra su objetivo principal en demostrar la importancia que tiene el espacio colectivo en el logro de ciudades equitativas e incluyentes a nivel físico – espacial. Se evidencia la poca importancia y el mal manejo que se le ha dado a los equipamientos dentro de un proceso de configuración y re-configuración del territorio urbano de Montería.
 ___Palabras clave: fragmentación urbana, equipamientos, equidad, desarrollo, hábitat, ordenamiento, poder.
 ___Abstract: The disorderly way our cities have grown, in some cases added to an absence or poor urban planning has led that the different cities of Colombia, in a varying complexity, present both a social and physical fragmentation of the urban territory, a fact that consequently affect the achieving equality and inclusion among its inhabitants as well as between the different pieces that have divided the city. Faced with this critical situation urban facilities once again demonstrate their importance to play a key role in the search of an order to help rebuild and strengthen the different existing relationships and interrelationships and arrived to emerge within each urban territories of the country. This work takes as a study case the urban area of the west bank of the city of Monteria in Cordoba department, and focuses its main objective to demonstrate the importance of collective space in achieving equitable and inclusive cities at a physicallyspace level. The minor and mismanagement that have been given to facilities within a set and reset process of the urban territory of Monteria are evident.
 ___Keywords: urban fragmentation, equipment, equity, development, habitat, order, power.
 ___Recibido: 12 de marzo de 2015. Aceptado: 03 de julio de 2015.

Digitization, Copyright, and the Welfare Effects of Music Trade

Since the launch of the iTunes Music Store in the US in 2003 and in much of Europe in the following years, music trade has shifted rapidly from physical to digital products, raising the availability of products in dierent countries. Despite substantial growth in availability, the available choice sets of digital music have not fully converged across countries. The territorial fragmentation of the EU copyright management regime and related cross-border transaction costs are often perceived as an obstacle to greater availability. However, other factors such as commercial strategies by music producers may also aect availability. EU policy makers are now contemplating various possibilities to reduce these cross-border trade costs and improve convergence in music availability across countries. This raises the question of how much benet these policy measures would create for consumers and producers in Europe and around the world. This study calculates the economic benets for consumers and producers from further trade opening or trade cost reductions in digital music. We address this question using comprehensive Nielsen data on digital track sales in the US, Canada, 13 EU Member States, and 2 other European countries (Norway and Switzerland) from 2006 to 2011. We estimate a structural model of music demand which allows us to obtain the consumer surplus for consumers in each destination country as well as the revenue for producers in each origin country. Our model allows us to simulate several scenarios. We rst compare the baseline current situation (the \status quo) with full autarky whereby only local music is available in each country - a big step backwards compared to the status quo. We then compare the status quo with a fully open EU Digital Single Market whereby all European music is available in all EU countries. Finally, we simulate worldwide openness in which all music is available in all countries. We estimate both consumer surplus benets and producer revenue eects for these scenarios. Not surprisingly, the current status quo music trade benets consumers everywhere compared to the autarky scenario. Relative to autarky, status quo trade raises aggregate consumer surplus in the 17 countries by about e300 million (a 11.3% increase). Trade also raises producer revenue by e85 million (a 2.8% increase). European consumers benet more from music trade than North Americans. However, it has large benets for American producers but on balance small benets to European producers. American producers have a larger market share in Europe that European producers have in the US. Moving from the current status quo to an EU Digital Single Market for music would increase consumer surplus from digital music consumption by 1.8 per cent (e19 million) and music producers'revenue by 1.1 per cent (e10 million). Benets vary considerably across Member States. Under worldwide frictionless trade consumers in 15 European countries gain e31 million (a 3% increase) while North American consumers gain e6.5 million (a 0.35% increase). Most of the gains from fully frictionless trade - about two thirds - are accomplished by a European single market. Annual gains from worldwide frictionless trade for producers, compared to autarky, reach 1.9% in Europe and 0.38% in the US. Clearly, the additional gains from moving beyond a European Digital Single Market to a worldwide open market would be small for European producers and consumers. Digital music production and consumption is only a small part of all media markets covered by copyright. We note that the gures presented here represent only a fraction of the potential benets from further trade opening in other digital media.

First- and Second-Tier Cities in Regional Agglomeration Models

This work has the purpose of inquiring into the presence of an urban hierarchy within second-tier city areas and alternative agglomeration models differing in their self-propelling ability and territorial sustainability. To this aim we confront regional polycentric areas, by going inside the traditional agglomeration and variety economies and the land settlement model of small–medium urban poles. In particular, the present work compares four Italian regions characterized by a territorial development driven by second-tier cities. The first two sections of the paper evaluate the functional pattern of the different urban systems and subsequently measure their rank in terms of extra-regional attractiveness on demand, which is expressed by rare services (Sections 2 and 3). Sections 4 and 5 tackle the issue of sustainability of settlements by taking into account land consumption and the degree of territorial fragmentation caused by different urbanization models. We discovered good urban performances and settlement sustainability of the second-tier cities agglomeration model in Italian regions, which is stronger when based on the co-presence of specialized small cities (which can assure a minimum amount of local demand for advanced services) and a multifunctional medium urban centre (which can ensure rarer functions). These findings bring strong recommendations on urban policies.

Economies of Scale – Empirical Evidence from the Czech Republic

In accordance to the principle of decentralization, local governments play important role in the economy and public administration since 1990 in the Czech Republic. The country belongs to countries with the most territorial fragmentation of municipalities (with Slovakia, Hungary or Austria). In this context, there is the relationship between economic performance and the size of a municipality very often discussed and thus the problem of existence of economies of scale in current high territorial fragmentation of municipalities. The issue becomes very relevant in the present time after global financial crisis which has had a significant impact on local governments in the conditions of the Czech Republic. The paper analyzes the dependence of the per capita costs on choosing public service of local government and the size of municipality in terms of number of inhabitants. Based on the results authors try to determine the optimal size of municipality.

Road rush [road building

The damage that building roads has on the landscape is well documented. From deforestation and the unwanted spread of exotic species, to territory fragmentation and chemical changes in the local environment, the ecological effects are devastating. This paper presents a soon to be revealed global map for road building that could show planners how to help rather th harm the environment.

A new tool to promote sustainability of coastal zones. The case of Sele plain, southern Italy

To support the implementation of integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) plans, a quantitative methodology was assessed, fitting for both the National and Regional scale. According to the indicators proposed by the Deduce Consortium (Indicators guideline: to adopt and indicator-based approach to evaluate coastal sustainable development. Department of the Environment and Housing, Government of Catalonia, Barcelona, 2007), we propose a procedure to define monothematic and synthetic indexes useful in explaining the territory status. To achieve this goal, we used a methodology implemented in a geographic information systems (GIS) framework which had allowed us to draw these indexes into maps, making them valuable tools to inform the stakeholders about the weaknesses and strengths of the coastal areas, to involve them in the ICZM implementation process according to a bottom-up approach. We present here an application of this methodology to the inland sectors of the Sele coastal plain (Tyrrhenian coast, Southern Italy), which is affected by natural hazards and territorial fragmentation. Moreover, this plain is characterized also by large untouched areas to be preserved. We illustrate for the above area, the importance of GIS to manage and integrate large amounts of numerical data, produced by several projects, realized in the past decade in the framework of the environmental management. For this purpose, monothematic and synthetic index maps have been drawn to transfer the appropriate knowledge of the territory status to stakeholders.

Learning from cross-border arrangements to support climate change adaptation in Australia

This paper focuses on learning from existing cross-border governance arrangements with a view to strengthening and improving climate change adaptation within the Australian context. Using an institutional learning framework, the research offers a critical analysis of two Australian cross-border cases: (1) the Murray-Darling Basin, and (2) the Australian Alps. The research findings focus on the issues of geographic (place), administrative (space) and political (territory) fragmentation as key concepts that underpin integrated environmental planning and management in practice. There are significant implications for climate change adaptation in evolving cross-border regions at scale that this paper highlights.

Simulation Models and GIS Technology in Environmental Planning and Landscape Management

Landscape protection that, in the past, has been mainly concerned with its historical, artistic and cultural heritage, follows, nowadays, a systemic methodology that looks at landscape as a high level aggregate of spatial, ecologically different units that interact each other by exchanging energy and materials. Strategic environmental assessment, nowadays, has been adopted in Europe in landscape planning, whose task is to verify the compatibility of territory transformations with respect to their levels of criticality and vulnerability, to evaluate possible future scenarios as consequence of interventions by checking if they are in line with preservation and valorization of environmental. To this aim, we make here a short survey of three different simulation models that can be used as Decision Support System in landscape planning and management. They adopt tools of the Landscape Ecology and are based on GIS (Geographic Information System) technology. The first one consists of a planar graph, the so called ecological graph, whose construction needs the computation of suitable indices of environmental control, proper of Landscape Ecology, such as biodiversity, biological territorial capacity, connectivity. The planar graph, for the considered environmental system, returns a picture of its actual ecological health condition and provides very detailed indications and operational assistance for choosing among possible ecological sustainable interventions. The second one, based on the data used to construct the ecological graph, uses the least-cost path algorithm from GIS technology in order to build an ecological network to prevent and to reduce territorial fragmentation caused by intense processes of urbanisation and industrialisation. At last, an integrated GIS-based approach is developed combining an ecological graph model and a mathematical model based on a nonlinear differential equation of logistic-type with harvesting to perform qualitative predictions on the sustainability of a given territorial plan.

A regionális tudomány az elmélet és a gyakorlat között

A tanulmány a regionális tudomány tengerentúli alapítása óta felmerült kérdések, viták, problémák körvonalazása után a francia alapító, François Perroux fejlődéselméletével foglalkozik, annak összefüggéseit vizsgálja a később alkalmazott regionális politikai stratégiákkal, ahonnan eljut a pólusprogramot felváltó, az 1980-as évektől divatos áramlatok és fejlesztési stratégiák tárgyalására, kimutatván, hogy mindez nem más a regionális politika szemszögéből, mint új bor régi tömlőben.

Reconceptualizing the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Key Paradigm Shifts

In the near 20 years since the Oslo peace process began, Palestinians have suffered losses-socially, economically and politically-arguably not seen since 1948. This altered reality has, in recent years, been shaped by critical paradigm shifts in the way the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is understood and addressed. These shifts, particularly with regard to international acceptance of Palestine's territorial fragmentation, the imperative of ending Israel's occupation, the de facto annexation of West Bank lands to Israel, and the transformation of Palestinians into a humanitarian issue-have redefined the way the world views the conflict, diminishing the possibility of a political resolution.

La dispersione nella regione di Barcellona e il PTMB 2010

The Barcelona metropolitan region is composed of 164 municipalities distributed over an area of ​​about 3234 sq km with a population of 5 million inhabitants. In the last decades, the growth of metropolitan region has been characterized by some critical problems: high land occupation, dispersed occupation of the territory, low building density, considerable fragmentation and high specialization (residential developments, commercial centers, industrial areas, etc), growing social segregation. The sprawl, together with changes in economic and social structure, caused a loss of landscape and environment values in the territory, a reduction of natural areas, involving an increase in consumption of resources. The sprawling development was already evident in the early 1970s, and a study of dynamic of the sprawl was conducted to show the main features of this process. The morphology of discontinuity, fragmentation and heterogeneity are common features of the metropolitan regions in Southern Europe. The changes from the traditional compact city to a dispersed one caused important effects in the functioning of the territories and in the lifestyles of their users. The main problems addressed by the plan have been identified in the sprawl, the territorial fragmentation and the growing social segregation. The adoption of the Barcelona Metropolitan Plan is a notable innovation in the scenario of spatial planning and urban policies in Catalonia. In fact, the PTMB, that comes to close more than 40 years of controversy and failed attempts, presents some aspects of particular interest and represents a planning tool providing a methodology for administrative and political management for the future. The plan has been proposed by regional government in concert with municipalities through an interesting participatory process that has secured a broad consensus. The plan structure founded on three main systems: Open Spaces, Settlements and Infrastructures; all of them providing strategic solutions and detailed analysis of the different parts of territory , in order to reach a balanced future asset.

The Brazilian Amazon coastal zone management: implementation and development obstacles

The Amazon region represents approximately 35% of the Brazilian coastline and includes the states of Amapa, Para, and Maranhao. After several years, the Amazon coastal zone has not made clear progress and has failed to show important results in terms of management plans based on the weak societal and local community support, the absence of a strong institutional coordination, and the scarcity of resources. This study aims to present and discuss the existence of others important factors that have obstructed the development of these plans, specifically, describing and analyzing the uncertainties regarding the redefinition of coastal zone boundaries, integrated management concepts, stake-holders responsibility, and governmental disinterest associated with the area by the government and society. Finally, it is considered the possibility of the emergence of new driving forces for the implementation and development of the State Coastal Zone Management Plan in the Amazon region among which the following stand out: the territorial fragmentation of the states in the Amazon coastal zone, the increased exploitation pressure for coastal zone resources, and the role of global climatic change on coastal areas.

La Tasa de Miseria de los Hogares. Una aproximación metodológica y conceptual a la medición, distribución espacial y variaciones de la pobreza extrema en Argentina durante la década del noventa

In this paper conducts a theoretical and methodological approach to the measurement of extreme poverty in Argentina in the last decade of the twentieth century. Was developed for it the Misery Rate of Households (TMH), which, using information from the National Census of Population, Households and Housing, can be detected and map in Argentina in 1991 and 2001. The results define the territorial fragmentation between the territory of Greater Northern Argentina and the rest of the country. It also forecasts are not encouraging, detected an increase of the fragmentation in the early twenty-first century.

Strange Parallels: Patterns in Eurasian Social Evolution

Most professional historians have abandoned the search for general patterns and laws of history, but not Victor Lieberman. Strange Parallels II (SP II), following on SP I, proposes that similar mechanisms governed state building in such different, and distant, regions as Southeast Asia, China, Western Europe, and Russia. During the period covered by Lieberman (c.800–1830) the general trend within these regions of Eurasia was towards increasing political and cultural integration. This overall trend was not monotonic; it was periodically interrupted by interregna – periods of state breakdown and territorial fragmentation. However, as time unfolded the interregna became shorter and less disruptive. Remarkably, during the second millennium cycles of political integration and disintegration became increasingly correlated between the widely separated Eurasian regions. Lieberman’s bold thesis is combined with truly encyclopedic scholarship and a breathtaking scope. SP II is a major achievement in comparative world history that will take future researchers years to fully digest. This review essay aims to make a first step in this direction.

Is Bosnia-Herzegovina Unsustainable? Implications for the Balkans and European Union

Two U.S.-based political geographers survey the current state of affairs in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH), characterized by increasing political tensions between its two constituent entities—the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Republika Srpska (RS). The authors examine ways in which recurrent calls for a referendum on RS's self-determination/independence (from BiH) have charged the political atmosphere in both entities, delayed the formation of a central government in the aftermath of inter-entity elections in October 2010, and thus precipitated claims of BiH's unsustainability. In a concluding section, they explore the broader implications of renewed conflict and territorial fragmentation in BiH, which include the mobilization of seccessionist movements (and possible ethnic cleansing) in other contested regions in the Balkans and the former USSR and the possibility of renewed EU/NATO military engagement, with the attendant risks involving the EU's relations with Russia and member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. 1 figure, 2 tables, 38 references.

OptiFlux: when biological and spatial data are crossed to reduce effects of linear infrastructure on wildlife

R&D activities at Egis Environnement (a civil engineering-based environmental consultancy) facilitated the development of OptiFlux, a spatial analysis tool designed to predict and visualize the effects of implementing a linear infrastructure upon wildlife habitats. It also tests the relevance of positioning fauna passages to ensure the restoration of habitat connectivity and therefore allows the optimization of the number and location of potential fauna passages. OptiFlux makes use of habitat quality maps which correlated with ecological requirements of each studied species. The concept is based on the evaluation of the spatial distribution of wildlife in their natural habitats. It also allows the evaluation of the impact of a project that modifies landscape structures and contributes to territory fragmentation. OptiFlux is a project optimization instrument which helps in the decisionmaking process. Major applications are:•Identification of routes with the least impact on wildlife population fluxes and their habitats,•Optimization of the number and location of fauna passages for the benefit of wildlife and reduction of the conflict points between infrastructures (road, highway, railway) and ecological networks,•Simulation of the positive effects of the proposed fauna passages or biotopes (amphibian ponds, for example) for a better choice of installations and for a better reconnection of the fragmented habitats.

Para além da paz liberal? respostas ao "retrocesso"

A ortodoxia familiar de construção da paz liberal depende da transplantação e da exportação de condicionalidade e dependência, com vistas a consolidar um contrato social entre populações, seus governos e o Estado, em que repouse uma paz liberal legítima e consensual. O que, com frequência, ocorre, é uma forma híbrida de paz liberal, sujeita a críticas locais poderosas, à resistência, por vezes, e à percepção de que a construção da paz internacional está fracassando em corresponder às expectativas. Em termos kantianos, os problemas com que a paz liberal tem se deparado e a crise pela qual está hoje passando podem ser denominados "retrocesso". Tem sido particularmente notável que a construção da paz liberal não vem sendo capaz de construir políticas unidas a partir de fragmentos territoriais no Kosovo, na Bósnia, no Afeganistão, no Iraque, no Sri Lanka e mesmo na Irlanda do Norte, onde alguns ou todos de seus elementos estão em desenvolvimento. Isso indica uma necessidade ou de reforma do modelo liberal para a paz, ou de estabelecimento de uma capacidade de coexistência desse modelo com alternativas, ou de substituição do modelo. Este artigo examina uma gama de questões inerentes ao paradigma de construção da paz liberal, algumas causas de "retrocesso" e o que pode ser feito no que tange a tais causas, no sentido de utilizar a construção da paz para criar um novo contrato social e atingir o que se poderia muito bem ser uma forma "híbrida liberal-local" de paz.

La producción del espacio urbano durante el auge del neoliberalismo. Sus manifestaciones en Pilar, en el Periurbano de Buenos Aires.

El proceso de metropolizacion en Buenos Aires, ligado al de globalizacion, ha sufrido la influencia de las politicas economicas neoliberales implementadas en la Argentina durante la decada del 90 y de la posterior recuperacion economica de la posconvertibilidad. El desarrollo urbano resultante es fragmentado y se define a partir de tres logicas de produccion de ciudad: la capitalista privada, la popular y la estatal publica. El distrito de Pilar, en el Periurbano de Buenos Aires, manifiesta esta desarticulacion urbana a partir de la interaccion de esas tres logicas, con un claro predominio de la privada que acentuo las disputas por el espacio urbano, al tiempo que reforzo la exclusion de los sectores populares de la ciudad, y renovo los procesos de fragmentacion territorial y segregacion socio-espacial en curso.

Comparación entre índices de calidad de vida: La población rural del partido de General Pueyrredón, 2001-2007

The ancestral vocation of rural areas, associated with food production, has entered in a competition process with new land uses during recent decades. Thus, the residential function starts to become in an election that impulses the development of a service economy related with rural areas. This phenomenon of rural spaces commercialization associated with the enjoyment of nature and the improvement of life quality represents a renewed subject in current geographical literature. Nevertheless, not all rural spaces are affected by this phenomenon, reflecting a frag mentation of rural areas. In this context our goal is to contribute to the recognition of these territorial fragments by sizing standards of quality of life in the rural space of the municipality of General Pueyrredon.