The multifunctionality of urban farming: perceived benefits for neighbourhood improvement

Urban farming – a type of urban agriculture focused on entrepreneurial food production – serves multiple functions in neighbourhoods; yet these are not well delineated. Expectations for urban farming often centre on traditional measures of economic development, potentially overlooking other benefits. Through a qualitative case study conducted in Baltimore, Maryland, we sought to understand community perceptions regarding the ways in which urban farms can benefit cities. Interviews with residents, neighbourhood leaders, and urban farmers in three residential neighbourhoods with urban farms revealed the pathways by which community members view farms as improving neighbourhoods. Benefits stemmed from four primary changes urban farms made to study neighbourhoods: creation of public projects welcoming involvement, physical improvement of degraded space, production of local food, and creation of new businesses. These changes led to multiple perceived benefits including increased social connectedness, a transformed physical landscape, improved neighbourhood reputation, increased access to fresh produce, and educational, youth development, and employment opportunities. Our findings demonstrate the importance of a multifunctional paradigm that accounts for social and educational functions in assessing the value of urban farming and bring empirical evidence to the concept of multifunctional agriculture. Urban farms with strong social aims may appear to contribute little to economic development if measured using traditional indicators of success such as job creation or fiscal impacts, but provide numerous other benefits for community development.     

Drought,water access,and urban agriculture: a case study from Silicon Valley

In California, the growing popularity of urban agriculture (UA) has unfolded against a backdrop of historic drought. While UA is often celebrated as an urban sustainability strategy, it must be able to persist during drought if it is to perform these functions. Using Santa Clara County – the geographic core of Silicon Valley – as a case study, we use interviews and surveys to explore the implications of drought for UA. We show how developing an understanding of water access for UA during a drought requires examining the social and institutional context of water management and use. In metropolitan California, the highly decentralised water supply system combined with the diverse institutional arrangements that support UA create an uneven landscape of water access. Consequently, the pressure to change water-consuming practices – that is, the stress that institutional drought responses place on different water users – is geographically and socially differentiated. Among UA water users, responses to drought have also varied, in part because the possibilities for change are constrained by the sociotechnical arrangements of UA sites and the different purposes of UA.     

Evolution Rules of Urban-rural Development and Inspiration for China’s Agriculture

Based on urban-rural contrast coefficient,this article designs the agriculture relative development index(ARDI) as indicators measuring the intensity of urban-rural dual structure which is comparable among the countries of the world.This article calculates ARDI of 40 countries from 1980 to 2004.The result shows that ARDI in the developed countries and most of the middle-income countries are rising and yet there are declines in most of the low-income countries.The result also showed that most countries’ ARDI...     

利用猪场废弃物发展生态农业的模式研究

规模养猪是专业化、集约化生产方式,也是农业产业化经营的发展趋势。如果养猪场产生的大量粪尿得不到妥善处置和充分利用,将对环境产生很大的危害。猪粪尿中含有大量的营养物质和生物质能,以猪粪尿厌氧发酵为纽带,充分利用沼液和沼渣作为发展种植业和渔业的肥料或饲料,形成“农林渔牧”生态农业体系,不仅有效促进农村经济发展、增加农民收入,而且能够保护生态环境、节约资源。剖析了小、中、大3类猪场以沼气建设为纽带发展生态农业的规律、生产模式、系统结构及其效果。结果表明,为了促进规模养猪健康发展,形成“农林渔牧”生态农业体系,养猪专业户必须增强节约资源、保护环境的社会责任感,政府要加强猪场污染物排放的监管,同时制定优惠政策引导和促进猪粪尿资源综合利用。     

我国旅游景区经营模式的构想

本文以旅游景区的经营模式为研究核心,从现有国内外旅游景区组织结构分析入手,构建了适合我国国情和旅游景区可持续发展要求的两种经营模式：一种是国有国营的次国家公园模式,另一种是完全企业化经营,并且提出了两种模式运作的保障条件。     

扬州经济开发区发展循环经济的实践、对策和规划

扬州经济开发区通过国家生态工业示范园区的创建和国家循环经济试点工作,构建以工业共生、物质循环、自然和谐、宜业宜居为特征及资源节约型、环境友好型开发区。本文介绍了扬州经济开发区发展循环经济的实践情况,以“减量化、再利用、资源化”和“可持续性”原则为理念,分析了其循环经济发展存在的问题,并提出了相应对策和规划。     

基于人工免疫原理的事故预防研究

介绍生物免疫识别模式,分析事故预防过程的实质是抑制潜在危险转化成事故的控制过程,分析比较事故预防与生物免疫识别模式在作用、生存环境、动作触发源等的共性,构建了基于免疫识别模式的事故预防系统并建立了事故预防数学模型;定义事故预防系统的识别率、失效率、误判率并给出了数学表达式,指出监测生产系统各环节状态信息是否符合系统的安全要求就是识别潜在危险的过程,是事故预防的关键,基于人工免疫原理的事故预防数学模型具有较强的健壮性、自适应性和动态防护性等特点。     

被害人安全性保障机制探索——以重大责任事故为视角

从安全社会学、安全制度学角度探讨被害人安全性,创建一个被害人安全诉讼保障机制。采用比较、归纳等方法分析被害人安全性价值的正当性,被害人的安全性在刑事诉讼中主要表现为尊重被害人的主体性;改进传统"三角诉讼构造",建立"锥形诉讼构造",形成一种被害人、检察官、被告人(或罪犯)在法官主持下相互制约、相互对抗的立体诉讼格局;进一步研讨"锥形诉讼构造"的理论和应用程序,在刑事程序上保障被害人的安全性。     

基于循环经济的煤矿环境评价指标体系

基于循环经济理论和煤矿开采中环境系统的演化规律.从资源循环与资源损失正反两个方面构建了煤矿区环境评估指标体系.指标体系分为目标层、指标类别层和单项指标层3个层次,单项指标层是具体舒化指标.由它直接计算指标类别层的值,进而计算目标层的评估结果.将此指标体系运用到重庆市某县煤矿,对该县近年来煤矿资源开发中环境可持续能力进行了计算和分析,评价结果与实际情况相符,揭示了该县煤矿开发中环境可持续能力提高的关键因素,进一步探讨了煤矿开发中环境能力提高和循环经济理念的实施建议.     

安全生产监管系统化和信息化探讨

青岛市南区安全生产监督管理局按照青岛市委市政府建立健全“党委领导、政府监管、行业管理、企业负责、社会监督”安全生产格局的要求,全面推行安全生产网格化监管模式。安全生产网格化监管模式的建立和运行,有效解决了安全生产监管信息的采集、传递与处理不及时的问题,变被动监管为事前预防,变分头管理为政府合力,变粗放式管理为精细化运作,进一步强化了政府部门的监管责任,形成了科学、高效、规范的风险管理运行模式。