DIE ERDE – Journal of the Geographical Society of Berlin
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Editorial: Observations on slums and their touristification
Get PDFEditorial to Issue 144 (2) of DIE ERDE: Slum touris
Paradoxes of the Creative City. Contested Territories and Creative Upgrading - the Case of Berlin, Germany
Get PDFThe paper emphasises the rising interest in creativity as a consequence of late-modern cultural economic change and as a means of urban regeneration. Based on a critical appraisal of related strategies, the case of Berlin, the German capital, is investigated empirically. Against the background of so-called “paradoxes” of creativity, two local areas of conflict are being discussed in more detail: first a riverside area that is under pressure of globalisation and gentrification (“Mediaspree”), second an inner-city street corridor (“°m-street”) with creative occupation that currently suffers from urban degradation. The two cases demonstrate the different ways in which the new cultural economy is going to be spatialised. In this context, the paper draws some general conclusions on urban governance for the creative city
International tourists in a ‘pacified’ favela: profiles and attitudes. The case of Santa Marta, Rio de Janeiro
Get PDFThis article examines the experience of foreign tourists who have visited the Santa Marta favela in Rio de Janeiro after the recent “occupation” and “peacemaking” policy implemented by the Rio de Janeiro state government. The contribution is based on empirical research conducted with 400 international tourists who visited the community between March and May 2011. The study investigated the tourists’ profiles as well as their expectations and impressions of the visit. The article concludes with some reflections on how tourists evaluate not only the tourist facilities in the locality, but also their own experience as participants of the reality tour
In search of a relevant index measuring territorial disparities in a transition country. Romania as a case study
Get PDFCountries in transition to a market economy exhibit increased regional disparities, leading to differences in the standard of life and in the chances of the population to benefit from the radical socio-economic and political changes. Our aim in this article is to find an index other than the gross domestic product, and maybe a synthetic one, capable of measuring territorial imbalances. In search of such an index, we considered 17 indicators to be relevant and applied these to the 41 Romanian counties. The results indicate that territorial disparities in a transition country with a large rural population can be measured by an aggregate index essentially formed by the gross domestic product, the number of inhabitants per room, and the rate of school dropouts
The Creative Economy at Work
Get PDFThere are good reasons to believe that the economy is faster and more volatile than ever before, that firms – the typical organisations of the economy – are dissolving, and that the boundaries between the economy and other societal fields are blurring. The argument developed in this paper is based on the assumption that the turn to creativity is both a response to and a result of these processes. In this context, two interlinked questions are pursued. The first section asks how creativity is organised and managed in the fields considered as making up the creative industries (organising creativity). After this more general discussion, section two engages more directly with the practicalities of creative work. I chose this focus out of conviction that one can only come to terms with the contemporary economy, if one directs the attention to the question of how creativity is mobilised practically (how creativity works)
Sediment provenance in the Shudu Lake basin, northwest Yunnan Province, China, as revealed by composite fingerprinting
Get PDFComposite fingerprinting represents an effective method of reconstructing sediment-source changes in remote areas wherelong-term hydrological and sediment accretion records do not exist. A ca. 50-year record of sediment deposition was determinedfor a small catchment at Shudu, situated in northwest Yunnan Province, China. Woodland, pasture, shrubland andchannel bank material are identified as the most likely sediment sources and this was confirmed using a composite sedimentfingerprinting approach. Based on the findings of the fingerprinting technique, variations in the geochemical signature associatedwith lacustrine sediment deposits indicate that 49.2 % of the total catchment sediment yield over an approximate50-year period originated from channel banks. In contrast, 19.2 % originated from pasture, 18.6 % originated from shrubland,and 13 % from woodland. The relative contributions of eroded sediment from both woodland and shrubland have generallyremained stable over the period investigated, whereas the contribution of material from pasture has increased over recentdecades. This is tentatively attributed to increased grazing pressure, which is probably due to increased stocking densitieswhich have gradually exceeded the carrying capacity and regenerative capabilities of the available grassland
Slums: perspectives on the definition, the appraisal and the management of an urban phenomenon
Get PDFThe contribution provides a basic introduction to the topic. It outlines the term ‘slum’, details the challenges associated with this form of settlement in the literature and the public opinion, and profiles the development approaches and solutions to overcome the problems associated with the slum phenomenon. The principal aim of the article is to illustrate that there are different approaches to define, assess and solve the problems of informal settlements and their inhabitants. The paper emphasises the complexity and variety of slums worldwide as well as the controversial perspectives adopted towards them. It shows how the normative framing of different actors associated with the ‘slums of hope’ and the ‘slums of despair’ and shaped strategies and action to resolve and overcome the material, social and institutional challenges of the slums
Slum tourism in the context of the tourism and poverty (relief) debate
Get PDFThe paper examines the role of slum tourism in poverty relief. To do so, it surveys the state-of-the-art literature on tourism and poverty and investigates the ways in which slum tourism research relates to this literature. Slum tourism research has addressed the question of how the poor may benefit from this practice; however, these efforts have not systematically considered the general debate on tourism and poverty relief. The survey of slum tourism research also contributes to the conceptual development of the tourism-poverty nexus. The predominant choice of approaches in this field relies on quantitative indicators of poverty relief, but these do not sufficiently account for the multi-dimensional character of poverty. The study of slum tourism research points to the multi-dimensional valorisation of poverty in tourism which is an aspect often overlooked in the state-of-the-art research on tourism and poverty
Living in Two Worlds: Multi-Locational Household Arrangements among Migrant Workers in China
Get PDFIn the past, the concept of multi-locality has hardly been applied to the study of livelihood strategies of migrant workers in China. The authors of this article present the findings of a research project in five selected rural-urban migration corridors in different parts of China. On the basis of qualitative interviews at both ends of the multi-locational households’ activity spaces, they were able to establish economic reciprocity, strategies for caring and the transfer of knowledge, values and beliefs at the household level. The multi-locational households – defined as units of joint planning – were found to be firmly embedded in informal social networks