Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Ecological Vulnerability Based on Vulnerability Scoring Diagram Model in Shennongjia, China

Background: Shennongjia is one of the most important ecological function areas and ecologically vulnerable zones in the world. With the rapid development of social economies, especially tourism, the ecological environment of Shennongjia has experienced profound changes. Results: (1) During the study period, the overall ecological vulnerability of Shennongjia is in a mild vulnerability level, exhibiting differentiation characteristics of high in the northeast and low in the southwest. High vulnerability zones are mainly distributed in the main towns and roads. (2) The risk of ecological vulnerability of the entire region presents the characteristics of continuous decline. (3) Land-use types, population density, and vegetation coverage are the main factors driving the evolution of ecological vulnerability. (4) A high level of coupling coordination exists between ecological vulnerability and landscape patterns.Conclusions: Analyses of the ecological vulnerability of Shennongjia shows that the entire region is in a mild vulnerability level. The extreme vulnerability risk of the ecological environment shows polarization. The evolution of ecological environment in Shennongjia is the result of the interaction between human activities and natural environment. This study offers an effective way to assess ecological vulnerability and provides some strategies and guidance for improving ecological security.

A Novel Model for Detecting Urban Fringe and Its Expanding Patterns: An Application in Harbin City, China

Urban fringe is an active expanding belt, indicating urban-rural interaction processes. Previous studies have attempted to define urban fringe as the transitional area between urban and rural areas, but there is a lack of quantitative analysis of the periphery boundaries. We developed a novel , the Spatial Segmentation Model (SSM), to detect the extent of urban fringe via calculating the share of the built-up land. Within the urban fringe, we statistically compared the number of built-up patches in each direction and described four urban expanding patterns (stable, sprawling, leaping, and mixing patterns) indicated by the empirical analysis. The results show that this model can reliably detect the urban fringe and could reveal urban growth characteristics. We find the spatial territory changes are highly relative with transport infrastructures in Harbin. Meanwhile, the roads density in the urban core are higher than in the urban fringe. Especially for city roads, roads density in the urban core is more than 4 times higher than in the urban fringe. The growth of the urban fringe is closely related to the development of social economies as well as the space policies and development plans designed by governments. Similar to the post-industry cities worldwide, Harbin should take action to address population decline. Effective land-use and suitable urban growth strategies play an important role in alleviating urban shrinkage. Thus, understanding the dynamics, urban expanding patterns, and driving factors in the urban fringe can help us form a basis for future urban development.

Anchoring the social economy at the metropolitan scale: Findings from the Liverpool City Region

This article revisits debates on the contribution of the social economy to urban economic development, specifically focusing on the scale of the city region. It presents a novel tripartite definition – empirical, essentialist, holistic – as a useful frame for future research into urban social economies. Findings from an in-depth case study of the scale, scope and value of the Liverpool City Region’s social economy are presented through this framing. This research suggests that the social economy has the potential to build a workable alternative to neoliberal economic development if given sufficient tailored institutional support and if seen as a holistic integrated city-regional system, with anchor institutions and community anchor organisations playing key roles.

#FeministAntibodies: Asian American Media in the Time of Coronavirus

This article examines the tensions, communal processes, and narrative frameworks behind producing collective racial politics across differences. As digital media objects, the Asian American Feminist Collective’s zine Asian American Feminist Antibodies: Care in the Time of Coronavirus and corresponding #FeministAntibodies Tweetchat responds directly to and anticipates a social media and information environment that has racialized COVID-19 in the language of Asian-ness. Writing from an autoethnographical perspective and using collaborative methods of qualitative discourse analysis as feminist scholars, media-makers, and interlocuters, this article looks toward the technological infrastructures, social economies, and material forms of Asian American digital media-making in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.