This doctoral project explores the evolution of regional uneven development in Jiangsu province under China’s growth-oriented state ideology during the economic reform era. Based upon a set of political-philosophical and historical analyses, it is argued that, as the foundation of China’s regime legitimacy in the reform era, the growth orientation of China’s dominant state ideology consisted of two key rationales, those are, China’s utilitarianism and its pragmatism. And, in order to concretely study the evolution of the regional unevenness between the south and north of Jiangsu province, two city-regions were selected as the basis for detailed empirical research. They are Changzhou city in the south and Nantong city in the north. Both the theoretical and empirical analyses were conducted under a three-stage periodization of economic reform. These are: the first stage (the late 1970s – the earlier 1990s), the second stage (the mid-1990s – the earlier 2000s), and the third stage (the earlier 2000s – 2013). It is found that, generally speaking, the dominant growth-oriented state ideology exercised key influences on regional unevenness in Jiangsu through a set of utilitarian and pragmatic institutional expressions and practices. And, corresponding to the influence of the growth-oriented state ideology, there are different kinds of strategically inscribed structural selectivities being expressed during different stage of the economic reform. Such selectivities are mainly exhibited by, and practised through, the dominant local growth patterns of the respective stage of the reform. Those are: TVE-driven growth, development zone-driven growth, and state-led, urbanisation-driven growth. Whilst the actual practices of these local growth patterns all decisively (re)produced and (re)shaped regional unevenness, they also exhibited, and were subject to, polymorphic and multidimensional sociospatial relations and processes which may be explored from the perspective of the so-called TPSN framework. It is proposed that whilst regional unevenness in Jiangsu province was increasing during the first two stages of reform, it was reduced during the third stage, though in a highly unsustainable and socially unjust fashion.

The history of Taiwan has formed the developed structure of Taiwan cities, policies of industry development caused the main markets focusing in north Taiwan, generating the problem of uneven development between regions. This article adopts ¡§New Economic Geography¡¨ proposed by Krugman to discuss the differences between north region and south region in Taiwan. Moreover, this article extends the issue to real estate market and researches the influence of industrial clusters, transportation construction, labor market and migration of employed population. The empirical results indicate that money supply, industrial cluster and the construction of transportation will affect the development of regional house prices.

Denna uppsats behandlar kommunal samhällsplanering, med fokus på handelsetableringar. Uppsatsen tar avstamp i den utveckling med externalisering och koncentration av detaljhandeln som pågått under de senaste decennierna. Denna utveckling är såväl lokal som regional och har inneburit att detaljhandeln koncentrerats till centralorternas stadskärnor och externa stormarknader. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka vilken aktör som bestämmer över denna utveckling. De aktörer som undersöks är dagligvaruhandeln och samt kommuner. Från dessa aktörer intervjuas ett antal informanter: etableringschefer på Axfood, Coop och Ica, samt kommunalråd och kommuntjänstemän från Borlänge, Säter och Örnsköldsviks kommuner. Dessutom intervjuas ett antal personer från en lokal intresseförening i Husum. Materialet visar att dagligvaruföretagen är aktiva och trendsättare, medan kommunerna är relativt passiva och försöker klara sig så bra som möjligt utifrån sina förutsättningar. I slutändan finner uppsatsen att det är handeln snarare än kommunerna som bestämmer över utvecklingen med externalisering och koncentration av handel. Detta aktualiserar bland annat frågan om framtida samarbete över kommungränserna i detaljhandelsfrågor kan bli nödvändigt. / This paper deals with municipal planning, with special focus on retail localisation issues. The paper takes its inspiration from the process of externalising and concentration that has characterised the past few decades of the retail industry. This development is both local and regional, and has meant that retailers have concentrated their localisations to the important city centers and out-of-town shopping centres. The purpose of this paper is to explore which agent that controls this development. The agents examined are the retail grocery industry and municipalities. From these agents a few people are interviewed: managers at Axfood, Coop and ICA, as well as municipal politicians and officials from Borlänge, Säter and Örnsköldsvik municipalities. Furthermore, a number of people from a local interest group in Husum are interviewed. The material shows that retail grocery companies are active and trendsetting, while the municipalities are relatively passive and trying to cope as well as possible based on their current situations. In the end, the paper finds that retail rather than the municipalities are in charge of the process of externalisation and concentration. Amongst other things, this raises the question of whether future cooperation in retail policy may be necessary across municipal borders.

A pesquisa aqui desenvolvida visou elucidar os nexos que definem a produção do espaço da metrópole de Porto Alegre no período atual, sobretudo nos últimos 15 anos. O trabalho inicialmente estabelece os fundamentos teóricos para compreender o movimento que transforma o espaço urbano em mercadoria, para em seguida identificar como esse processo se desenvolve, em Porto Alegre, definindo centralidades de valorização no espaço urbano, para cuja efetivação as estratégias das empresas do setor imobiliário são primordiais. Com isso em vista, o trabalho utilizou o conceito de fronteira urbana para aprimorar o entendimento das estratégias de valorização do espaço, verificando como esse processo se consumou no empreendimento Jardim Europa, localizado no setor leste da cidade de Porto Alegre. Colocou-se em evidência o fato de que as empresas do setor imobiliário esforçam-se constantemente por integrar áreas menos valorizadas à esfera de circulação de seu capital, com o intuito de obter sobrelucros de incorporação. Para atrair segmentos das classes média e alta para áreas menos valorizadas da cidade, as empresas lançam mão de publicidade maciça, vendendo signos do bem-estar e da harmonia com a natureza, bem como procuram apoiar-se no Estado, que frequentemente respalda suas iniciativas. O resultado é a permanente remodelação do espaço urbano sob a égide da acumulação de capital, o que conduz à reiteração das distâncias sociais e espaciais entre os centros valorizados e as vastas periferias urbanas características do capitalismo brasileiro. / The current research attempted to reveal the central aspects of the production of the metropolitan space of Porto Alegre during the last 15 years. First of all, we established the theoretical framework which helped us understand the movement that transforms space into a commodity. This has allowed us to demonstrate how this transformation has been occurring in Porto Alegre and how it has given rise to new spatial centralities in terms of real estate development. This is a process largely carried out by business strategies devised by large real estate developers. Having this in view, we made use of the concept of urban frontier in order to enrich our understanding of the business strategies of real estate development, paying attention to the changes occurred with Jardim Europa, a large development project located in the Eastern part of Porto Alegre. We emphasized the fact that large developers strive to incorporate areas of lower land prices into the sphere of circulation of their capital with the aim of obtaining surplus development profits. So as to attract middle and upper class households to these frontiers, developers employ massive advertising campaigns, selling signs of welfare and of harmony with nature, at the same time as they rely on the local state, which usually supports their development schemes. The result of this is the restless refashioning of urban space carried out by capital accumulation, thus leading to the reinforcement of the social and spatial distances that separate the gentrified neighborhoods and the vast urban peripheries typical of capitalism as it has developed in Brazil.

A pesquisa aqui desenvolvida visou elucidar os nexos que definem a produção do espaço da metrópole de Porto Alegre no período atual, sobretudo nos últimos 15 anos. O trabalho inicialmente estabelece os fundamentos teóricos para compreender o movimento que transforma o espaço urbano em mercadoria, para em seguida identificar como esse processo se desenvolve, em Porto Alegre, definindo centralidades de valorização no espaço urbano, para cuja efetivação as estratégias das empresas do setor imobiliário são primordiais. Com isso em vista, o trabalho utilizou o conceito de fronteira urbana para aprimorar o entendimento das estratégias de valorização do espaço, verificando como esse processo se consumou no empreendimento Jardim Europa, localizado no setor leste da cidade de Porto Alegre. Colocou-se em evidência o fato de que as empresas do setor imobiliário esforçam-se constantemente por integrar áreas menos valorizadas à esfera de circulação de seu capital, com o intuito de obter sobrelucros de incorporação. Para atrair segmentos das classes média e alta para áreas menos valorizadas da cidade, as empresas lançam mão de publicidade maciça, vendendo signos do bem-estar e da harmonia com a natureza, bem como procuram apoiar-se no Estado, que frequentemente respalda suas iniciativas. O resultado é a permanente remodelação do espaço urbano sob a égide da acumulação de capital, o que conduz à reiteração das distâncias sociais e espaciais entre os centros valorizados e as vastas periferias urbanas características do capitalismo brasileiro. / The current research attempted to reveal the central aspects of the production of the metropolitan space of Porto Alegre during the last 15 years. First of all, we established the theoretical framework which helped us understand the movement that transforms space into a commodity. This has allowed us to demonstrate how this transformation has been occurring in Porto Alegre and how it has given rise to new spatial centralities in terms of real estate development. This is a process largely carried out by business strategies devised by large real estate developers. Having this in view, we made use of the concept of urban frontier in order to enrich our understanding of the business strategies of real estate development, paying attention to the changes occurred with Jardim Europa, a large development project located in the Eastern part of Porto Alegre. We emphasized the fact that large developers strive to incorporate areas of lower land prices into the sphere of circulation of their capital with the aim of obtaining surplus development profits. So as to attract middle and upper class households to these frontiers, developers employ massive advertising campaigns, selling signs of welfare and of harmony with nature, at the same time as they rely on the local state, which usually supports their development schemes. The result of this is the restless refashioning of urban space carried out by capital accumulation, thus leading to the reinforcement of the social and spatial distances that separate the gentrified neighborhoods and the vast urban peripheries typical of capitalism as it has developed in Brazil.

This dissertation approaches the geopolitics of river infrastructure in the Indus Basin through the structured interaction of "hydraulic regionalism" and "technocratic developmentalism". The former occurs when regional elites feel their access to river resources are threatened by upstream infrastructure development. The latter occurs when technocratic elites underplay the geopolitics of regional vulnerability by stressing the overall integrated development of river resources to maximize utility. The dissertation interprets archival, legal, and ethnographic data regarding the negotiation and adjudication of the Indus Waters Treaty between India, Pakistan, and the World Bank, as well as the implementation of the Indus Basin Development Fund Agreement. The dissertation also analyzes upstream/downstream tension between the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh. The contributions of this dissertation are in the fields of post-colonial state theory, the political ecology/economy of environmental knowledge, the geopolitics of river disputes, and Marxist methodology.

Essa dissertação tem como objetivo expor a teoria clássico-marxista das vantagens absolutas nas trocas internacionais. Como ponto de partida está o tratamento de Marx a respeito da concorrência entre capitais, dos monopólios, da formação dos preços e dos mecanismos de transferência de valor. A exposição da teoria aqui tratada será contraposta com algumas abordagens marxistas, que apresentam uma compreensão distinta a respeito do funcionamento das trocas de mercadorias e dos fluxos de capitais na esfera internacional. Outra questão central do presente trabalho é o entendimento dado pela teoria clássico-marxista das vantagens absolutas a respeito do processo de transferência de valor em nível global e o desenvolvimento desigual. / This dissertation aims to expose the classical Marxist theory of absolute advantage in international trade. As a starting point is the treatment of Marx about the competition between capitals, monopolies, price formation and mechanisms of value transfer. The exposition of the theory discussed here is contrasted with some Marxist approaches, which have a distinct understanding about the functioning of trade in goods and capital flows in the international sphere. Another central issue of this work is the understanding given by the classical Marxist theory of absolute advantages regarding the transfer value on a global level and uneven development process.

Essa dissertação tem como objetivo expor a teoria clássico-marxista das vantagens absolutas nas trocas internacionais. Como ponto de partida está o tratamento de Marx a respeito da concorrência entre capitais, dos monopólios, da formação dos preços e dos mecanismos de transferência de valor. A exposição da teoria aqui tratada será contraposta com algumas abordagens marxistas, que apresentam uma compreensão distinta a respeito do funcionamento das trocas de mercadorias e dos fluxos de capitais na esfera internacional. Outra questão central do presente trabalho é o entendimento dado pela teoria clássico-marxista das vantagens absolutas a respeito do processo de transferência de valor em nível global e o desenvolvimento desigual. / This dissertation aims to expose the classical Marxist theory of absolute advantage in international trade. As a starting point is the treatment of Marx about the competition between capitals, monopolies, price formation and mechanisms of value transfer. The exposition of the theory discussed here is contrasted with some Marxist approaches, which have a distinct understanding about the functioning of trade in goods and capital flows in the international sphere. Another central issue of this work is the understanding given by the classical Marxist theory of absolute advantages regarding the transfer value on a global level and uneven development process.

Essa dissertação tem como objetivo expor a teoria clássico-marxista das vantagens absolutas nas trocas internacionais. Como ponto de partida está o tratamento de Marx a respeito da concorrência entre capitais, dos monopólios, da formação dos preços e dos mecanismos de transferência de valor. A exposição da teoria aqui tratada será contraposta com algumas abordagens marxistas, que apresentam uma compreensão distinta a respeito do funcionamento das trocas de mercadorias e dos fluxos de capitais na esfera internacional. Outra questão central do presente trabalho é o entendimento dado pela teoria clássico-marxista das vantagens absolutas a respeito do processo de transferência de valor em nível global e o desenvolvimento desigual. / This dissertation aims to expose the classical Marxist theory of absolute advantage in international trade. As a starting point is the treatment of Marx about the competition between capitals, monopolies, price formation and mechanisms of value transfer. The exposition of the theory discussed here is contrasted with some Marxist approaches, which have a distinct understanding about the functioning of trade in goods and capital flows in the international sphere. Another central issue of this work is the understanding given by the classical Marxist theory of absolute advantages regarding the transfer value on a global level and uneven development process.

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