Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series

Analysis of the spatial inequality in residential quality indicators: the 22 urban regions of Tehran Metropolis

Moslem Zarghamfard — 2023-02-24

Research objective: the present study seeks to assess and analyze the status of residential quality indicators in the 22 urban regions of the Tehran metropolis.

Methodology: 79 residential quality variables are classified into the four indicators of physical, economic, ecological, and socio-cultural indices. Shannon entropy model, the coefficient of variation, TOPSIS, hotspot analysis, and Moran spatial autocorrelation were used for data analysis.

Results: Results of the present study indicated a TOPSIS score of 0.58 for the integrated indicators which revealed region 1 had the best and region 15 had the worst status. In fact, a sort of divergence and heterogeneity rules residential quality indicators in Tehran urban regions, so that among the 22 urban regions of the city, around 4.5% were advantaged while 13.6% were relatively advantaged, 77.3% were semi- advantaged, and 4.5% were less advantaged. Results of statistical spatial analysis also indicate that the advantaged clusters were located in northern and northeastern parts of the city while the less advantaged and extremely less advantaged clusters were more focused in the southern and southeastern parts of the city, and residential quality indicators followed a cluster pattern.

Conclusion: A spatial difference and inequality in residential quality index distribution were observed in the 22 urban regions of Tehran so that the regions located in the southern and southeastern parts of the city had an unfavorable status in terms of residential quality indicators while the northern and northeastern regions were more advantaged in this regard.

The fate of sacred places in Nagorny Karabakh as a symbol of unsuccessful conflict transformation

Slavomir Horak — 2023-02-24

The 2020 war in Nagorny Karabakh brought not merely a shift in the actual borders in the southern Caucasus; it also led to a change in control over several religious buildings or places that had become sacralized as symbols for one or the other side. Using selected examples of sacred places associated with Armenian or Azerbaijani historical memory, this article seeks to cast light on the fate of cultural monuments in war and its aftermath. In connection with the long-lasting conflict, these monuments are forced to undergo a cycle of sacralization, desacralization and reinterpretation of their origins and functions, depending on the approach taken by the winning side. Churches, monasteries and mosques in Nagorny Karabakh thus serve as sad examples of unsuccessful conflict transformation.

Loss in CO2 assimilation by forest stands relative to its emissions generated by the economic sector as an indicator of ecological consequences of a windstorm in the municipality of Brusy, NW Poland

Mieczysław Kunz — 2023-02-24

The extent of damage to state and private forests as well as roadside and field buffer strips of trees in the urban-rural municipality of Brusy in the Pomerania Province, Poland, following the powerful windstorm on 11–12 August 2017, was calculated based on different data. The size of losses was expressed in m3 of large (merchantable) timber harvested from windsnap or windthrow. The biomass of the destroyed assimilation apparatus was estimated using expansion factors and ratios of individual compartments of damaged trees representing 20 species. By applying conversion factors expressing the amount of carbon dioxide fixed during the year per unit of dry leaf biomass of each tree species, the total loss in net and gross photosynthesis, corresponding to the biomass of the destroyed
assimilation apparatus, was estimated. The obtained values were compared with CO2 emissions generated by the commune in 2006, 2013 and 2020. It has been found that the sum of losses in photosynthesis and CO2 emissions generated by economic activity is a good indicator of environmental threats, and the percentage of losses accounted for by photosynthesis is a good indicator of ecological losses caused by the windstorm in the forest stands.

The importance of ticket price in public transport in non-metropolitan rural areas in Poland

Łukasz Fiedeń — 2023-02-24

The need to move is an inherent feature of every human life. Public transport should be one of the means of transport available to every human being. A fare-free public transport (FFPT) policy is under constant debate. Research among residents in rural areas provides an opportunity to discover whether FFPT is a key element of socially equitable development and understand the role of
price, which can, at the same time, reduce car dependency. This research aims to understand the role of public transport fares in the travel decisions of people living in non-metropolitan rural areas in Poland. The primary data source used in this study is a survey conducted with the residents of 12 peripheral communes. This study revealed that price might not be as crucial in mobility strategies regarding free or paid public transport in non-metropolitan locations. This is mainly due to the poor quality of public transport.

The territorial exchange between Poland and the USSR in 1951: demographic development and settlement network transformation over a 70-year period

Roman Lozynskyy — 2023-02-24

In this article, we present a comparative analysis of the demographic development and changes in the settlement network over the last 70 years in the territories exchanged in 1951 between the USSR and Poland. We found that, within the territory ceded to the USSR, the traditional settlement pattern was restored and the settlement network was renewed up to 90%. Industrialization in the area resulted in the population growth reaching, at maximum, 40% greater numbers than in 1939. The territory ceded to Poland featured a “colonizational” pattern of resettlement and the population size remained much smaller as compared to 1951, directly before the exchange. However, in Poland, local people faced no obstacles to returning to the area. Conversely, the USSR deported most of the local inhabitants to distant parts of Ukraine and prevented people from the neighbouring locations from entering the area. Overall, based on the resettlement policy comparison we argue that, on the part of the USSR, an important rationale behind the exchange was to strengthen totalitarian control over the western regions of Ukraine by means of deportation and population dispersion

Convergence of CO2 emissions in the selected world countries

Tomasz Grodzicki — 2023-02-24

Nowadays, the topic of CO2 emissions has been a subject of intensive debate. There is a significant policy push toward reducing emissions that cause air pollution and other environmental concerns. The aim of this paper is to analyze the CO2 emissions as well as economic growth along with renewable energy use and the level of urbanization in the selected World countries in the period of 1995-2018. In general, almost all of the Northern part of the World was characterized by a high level of CO2 emissions, while the majority of African territory was the least polluted. The empirical result shows that the growth rate of air pollution is much higher in countries that initially had a low level of CO2 emissions, so the convergence process occurred. Conditioning convergence with the renewable energy use and the urbanization level indicates that its speed is higher. Club convergence analysis has proved that well-developed regions in terms of GDP per capita are able to improve the ecological situation despite further economic growth.

Land-use change and sustainability in the south-eastern oases of Morocco

Mariam Akdim — 2023-03-17

The study apprehends modern versus traditional land-use changes in the Moroccan oases. The traditional local knowledge and land-use that ensured ecological equilibrium for centuries is decreasing. Modern entrepreneuship practices are increasing and have risky environmental impacts. By using the spatial and factor analyses, we confirm the spatial disparities in the region and distinguish four different groups of communes (in high mountain communes, traditional agriculture favors resources’ conservation; downstream communes experience greater changes and ecological ruptures). The recommendations of the study include the need to rethink adopted development models and elaborate new actions that respect local specificities, consider environmental equilibrium and rehabilitate local ecosystems.

Knowledge input and innovation in Visegrad Group (V4) regions: A spatial econometric approach

Eristian Wibisono — 2023-03-17

This paper argues that one of the reasons why innovation in one country leaves another behind could be its spatial geography. Questions relevant to R&D development and technological change are raised on how knowledge inputs affect innovation in the Visegrad Group (V4) (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) and how these factors are spatially dependent. The study results show that regional knowledge inputs (R&D expenditure and R&D personnel) play an essential role in innovation development in Visegrad Group (V4). The study findings also emphasize the importance of R&D funding support in the public sector and R&D personnel capabilities in promoting innovation. This paper intends to make an initial contribution to innovation studies taking regions of Visegrad Group (V4) as the analyzed object and suggests the development of spatial modeling using more up-to-date data to yield more reliable and in-depth results.

Property crime and violent crime in Detroit: spatial association with built environment before and during COVID-19

Ahmad Ilderim Tokey — 2023-03-17

This study expands the literature by finding the associations of land use (LU) and road-related Built Environment (BE) with property and violent crime in Detroit from 2019 to 2021. It builds two spatial models with a wide range of built environment elements and sociodemographic information. Findings indicate that the retail and office LU proportion, bus stop density, and density of roads of less than 40 miles per hour are positively linked with crime rates. Conversely, block groups' median income, population density, and tenure length are inversely associated with crime rates. Single-family houses experienced more violent crime in low-income neighborhoods and less in highincome neighborhoods. Bus stop densities in downtown were more positively associated with violent crime in 2020–2021 than in the pre-pandemic time. This study advances understanding related to the BE–crime relationship during the pandemic, sheds new light on street-related BE, and leaves essential evidence for local policymakers in Detroit.

A full permutation polygon synthetic indicator (FPPSI) approach for measuring and evaluating city prosperity: case study in Da Nang City, Vietnam

Van Canh Truong — 2023-03-17

Economic growth has dominated development strategies and goals for many years, but prosperity encompasses more than that. In 2013, UN-Habitat proposed the City Prosperity Initiative (CPI) as a tool to quantify cities' prosperity and sustainable development. The CPI is accompanied by six essential components with 62 indicators associated with the urban settlement, incorporating productivity,
infrastructure development, quality of life, social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and urban governance and legislation. The research aims to use the indicators of CPI and adopted the Full Permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator method to measure and evaluate the level of prosperity of Da Nang City of Vietnam with data from 2004 to 2019. According to the findings of our study, the value of a synthetic indicator for the prosperity of Da Nang City increased, from 0.34 in 2004 to 0.36 in 2009, 0.43 in 2014, and 0.45 in 2019, which indicates a moderate level of wealth. On the one hand, Da Nang City has high levels of quality of life, equity and social inclusion, and urban governance and legislation. However, the city still has modest determinants of prosperity in terms of the environment, productivity and infrastructure. The Full Permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator technique provides a comprehensive solution that illustrates the system integration idea. As a result, the proposed methodology offers a potential foundation for decision-making to promote sustainable urban development strategies and assess the effectiveness of these actions