Business of deep transformations:How can geography contribute to understanding degrowth business?

There is currently considerable interest in what degrowth compatible business practices may be and what they may look like.However,while the embeddedness of a degrowth business in the wider environment has been recognised,and this affects theorising of practices and principles,there remains a need to seriously consider the inter-connection between degrowth business and its surrounding environment as a physical and cultural space.To avoid merely hinting at geographical concepts such as space,place,and location,a better approach is establishing a dialogue between degrowth business and geography.To do this,I use the degrowth business framework and connect its elements with the concepts of space,place,and location.This analysis shows that each of the elements is intimately inter-related with geographical concepts and needs to be thought of,theorised,and implemented as such.I conclude that geographical concepts should not be merely implied when theorising degrowth business.Rather,looking at degrowth business through various lenses provided by geographies is indispensable for making degrowth reality in diverse locations.

Process and proposal for comprehensive regionalization of Chinese human geography

The comprehensive regionalization of Chinese human geography is based on the rules governing regional differentiation of Chinese physical geographic factors. Based on regional differences and similarities in human factors, this study divides the whole country into two levels of relatively independent, complete and organically linked human geographic units. As a fundamental, comprehensive, cutting-edge, practical and important task, the comprehensive regionalization of human geography highlights the characteristics, regional and sub-regional features, complexity and variety of spatial differences between factors of Chinese human geography. It is capable of promoting the development of human geography based on local conditions, providing basic scientific support to national and local development strategies, such as the Belt and Road Strategy, new urbanization and environmental awareness, and creating a sound geopolitical environment in key areas. Using results from existing physical and human geographic zoning studies, and in accordance with the principles of synthesis, dominant factors, the relative consistency of the natural environment, the relative consistency of social and economic development, the consistency of the regional cultural landscape, the continuity of spatial distribution and the integrity of county-level administrative divisions, and taking as its basis the division of human geography into 10 major factors （nature, economy, population, culture, ethnicity, agriculture, transportation, urbanization, the settlement landscape and administrative divisions）, this paper constructs an index system for the comprehensive regionalization of Chinese human geography through a combination of top-down and bottom-up zoning and spatial clustering analysis. In this study, Chinese human geography is divided into eight regions and 66 sub-regions. The eight human geography regions are （Ⅰ） Northeast China, （Ⅱ） North China, （Ⅲ） East China, （Ⅳ） Central China, （Ⅴ） South China, （Ⅵ） Northwest China, （Ⅶ） Southwest China, and （Ⅷ） Qinghai and Tibet. This zoning proposal fills gaps in studies involving the non-comprehensive regionalization of Chinese human geography. Each human geography region and sub-region has different topographical climatic, ecological, population, urbanization, economic development, settlement landscape, regional cultural and ethno-religious attributes. This proposal on the comprehensive regionalization of Chinese human geography dovetails closely with previous studies on comprehensive regionalization in Chinese physical geography, Chinese economic zoning, and Chinese agricultural zoning. It shows that, under the dual roles of nature and humans, there are certain rules of regional differentiation that govern the comprehensive regionalization of Chinese human geography.

Disciplinary structure and development strategy of human geography in China

Human geography is a discipline that studies the formation and evolution of the geographical distribution pattern of human activities.The main research objects of human geography focus on human activities and human-environment relationship.The scientific questions to be answered by human geography cover both natural science and social science,and thus it has distinctive interdisciplinary features.In China,human activities’economic and social processes play an essential role in explaining the law in human geography discipline as human society development is approaching or has entered the post-industrialization stage.The logic and methods of social science have become important tools through which human geography’s changes in processes and patterns of human geography can be reasonably discussed and adequately understood.The research methodology of human geography shows integration characteristics between natural sciences and social sciences.The outcomes of human geography research reveal scientific laws in geographical distribution patterns and the evolution of human activities.It becomes one of the primary disciplines for both the national and local governments to manage and optimize spatial development and protection patterns.It has wide applications in spatial planning,regional strategy and policy-making,and the modernization of spatial governance.The unique feature in integrating academic research and policy-making applications provides human geography discipline in China a superiority of leading the world in the discipline.Besides integrated human geography,human geography in China has five subdisciplines:economic geography,urban geography,rural geography,socio-cultural geography and political geography.Each subdiscipline has priority and critical research fields and coordinates with the rest of the subdisciplines.

1Chinese human geography and its contributions

The aim of this paper is to sift through examples of outstanding contributions made by Chinese human geography in terms of social applications and explain the basic concepts and theoretical methods explored by human geography that are behind the applications of results with major social influence, so as to be able to summarize the main school that represents developments in contemporary Chinese human geography. Chinese human geography upholds the subject＇s designation as being integrated and interdisciplinary. Research focuses on interactions between the natural and human spheres of the Earth＇s surface, and it is guided by the understanding and effects of the processes of regional sustainable development at different spatial scales. Chinese human geography has innovatively established the following development paradigm： ＂To be guided by application requirements, refine key issues of the discipline in the course of solving major issues of human geography in national and regional development, and by solving those key issues, to enhance its ability to provide scientific and technological support to serve national and local needs while promoting its own development.＂ Results from early Chinese human geography studies on land use and agricultural zoning, recent research results on point-axis system models and T-shaped national spatial development patterns, and current research results on territorial function theory and major function oriented zones have all continued and strengthened the mainstream school of Chinese human geography and have avoided the global tendency for human geography to become rapidly human-oriented, while results have been applied at the highest level of decision-making management. Chinese human geography can provide lessons for developing countries and may play a leading role in the future development of global human geography.

Review of and prospects for China＇s human and economic geography

The ＂High-Level Forum of the Development of China＇s Human Geography Under the Background of Change＂ was held in Beijing on January 22-23, 2016. More than 30 pro-fessors attended this forum. At this conference, they discussed the major progress made towards developing China＇s human geography, as well as the existing problems, limiting fac- tors, opportunities, international collaborations, emerging directions, and prospects in the development of this discipline. In recent years human geography has boomed, generating many important opportunities for its development. Establishing an academic community for joint research on major research issues and collaborative innovation is a promising and im- portant route to take. We should embrace both domestic and international characteristics, to promote China＇s human geography onto the world stage. Meanwhile, the cultivation of vari- ous scholarly talents is also of great value to enrich and advance the discipline.

Population geography in China since the 1980s： Forging the links between population studies and human geography

This paper reviews the progress of population geography in China since the 1980 s. The review results suggest that contrary to the common perception of its invisibility and marginalized status in the field, tremendous progress has been made in population geography in China since the 1980 s. Population geographers have made significant contribution to the understanding of a wide range of population issues from geographical perspectives, including migration, urbanization, population distribution, the relationships between population, environment and resources, aging, marriage patterns, and migrants＇ crimes, although such contribution often did not appear in the geographical circle. Furthermore, population geographers have played an indispensable role in revitalizing population studies in China and forging its links to human geography, occupying an important position in this multi-disciplinary field. Population geographers＇ contribution to the areas of migration and urbanization research has been particularly significant, reflected in their leading roles in these areas＇ research. The paper demonstrates that as latecomers in the field after more than 20 years of isolation, population geographers in China have gone through a process of catching up and increasing engagement with developments in social sciences and increasing interaction with social scientists since the 1980 s, and have benefited greatly from it; however, there is a tendency for population geography to be increasingly alienated from the main stream human geography, a phenomenon similar to but not exactly the same as Anglo-American geography in the late 1990 s and early 2000 s. The paper argues that population geography is only half way in the course to forge the links between population studies and human geography, and it needs to return to geographical sciences to strike a healthy balance between the field of population studies and that of human geography, and promote its further development in a multi-disciplinary field.

The progress of human geography in China under the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China

This paper analyzes the role of the National Natural Science Foundation of China（NSFC） in advancing human geography in China by focusing on five key research areas： land use, urban systems and urban agglomeration, economic globalization, climate change and social and cultural geographies. All NSFC-funded human geography programs related to these five topics from 1986 to 2017 comprise the sample for analysis, and the research topics, content, teams, and peer-reviewed journal publications supported by these programs are investigated. Specifically, this paper analyzes the NSFC＇s promotion of the expansion of research topics in response to national developmental needs and the shifting frontiers of human geography research internationally, its enhancement of interdisciplinary research, and its contributions to the assembly of specialized research teams. The paper also reports important progress in Chinese human geography over the past 30 years through the institutional lens of the NSFC, revealing major characteristics and trends in the discipline. The paper concludes by calling for further collaboration between the research community and the NSFC for the development of a locally suitable and globally influential Chinese human geography.

Disciplinary structure of geographic science in China

International and domestic circumstances have led to new opportunities and higher requirements for the development of geographic science in China.In this paper,we propose a modified disciplinary structure for geographic science in China in the new era.Geographic science in China can be categorized into four secondary disciplines,i.e.,integrated geography,physical geography,human geography,and information geography,according to the current situation and expected trends.The tertiary disciplines under each secondary discipline are nearly fully developed,and a few quaternary disciplines under the tertiary disciplines are widely accepted and used in China.We hope this new disciplinary structure can play a breakthrough role in improving the branches of geographic science,promoting the development of emerging disciplines under the framework of geographic science,and supporting national and international development strategies in the new era.

Reviewing trip purpose imputation in GPS-based travel surveys

The global positioning system(GPS)has motivated rapid advances in mobility data collection.A massive amount of spatio-temporal information has made it possible to know where a person was and when,but not how and why(s)he travelled,creating the need for inference models.Compared with mode detection,purpose imputation has been insufficiently studied.However,the relative lack of attention to purpose identification does not mean that this field has not emerged.For this paper,which is the first review dedicated to inferringtrip purposes from GPS data,1162 non-duplicate papers from four databases(Scopus,Web of Science,ScienceDirect and TRID)were screened,and a corpus of 25 publications was selected for examination.Based on these papers,the purpose imputation problem is defined in the contexts of the evolution of GPS-based travel surveys and two research domains,transportation science(TS)and human geography(HG).Subsequently,three steps of the purpose detection process,namely trip end detection,input feature selection and main algorithms and validation,are surveyed.During these procedures,the differences between studies in TS and those in HG are highlighted.Finally,unresolved issues related to data and feature selection,algorithms and assessment are discussed substantially to provide potential research directions.This review may be an inform ative reference for those newly accessing the GPS-based purpose imputation field and/or intending to develop solutions to this problem.