Human mobility, global change and local development

Human mobility is one of the main themes of study in geography, especially during a transformation phase in the relationships between global change and local development. These themes were the basis of the constitution in the year 2000 of the IGU Commission on Global Change and Human Mobility (Globility). Generally, human mobility studies make reference to movements rather than the groups that made them and the places where they occurred. During its first years of research, Globility has gathered together the various aspects of mobility adopting an approach in research that was able to go beyond the «push-pull» concept. This paper considers the process of local development in relation to the forms of mobility, both permanent and temporary, which are caused by it, and vice versa. The difficulty encountered in registering, analysing and quantifying the various forms of mobility in relation to movements led to the adoption of a methodological approach which places the local dimension at the centre of a process which appears to be of exclusively global significance. This analysis raises new questions on the consequences that such an approach could also have on political aspects, which should consider the local dimension as their point of reference, side by side with the global dimension or completely taking its place

Human mobility, global change and local development

Human mobility is one of the main themes of study in geography, especially during a transformation phase in the relationships between global change and local development. These themes were the basis of the constitution in the year 2000 of the IGU Commission on Global Change and Human Mobility (Globility). Generally, human mobility studies make reference to movements rather than the groups that made them and the places where they occurred. During its first years of research, Globility has gathered together the various aspects of mobility adopting an approach in research that was able to go beyond the “push-pull” concept. This paper considers the process of local development in relation to the forms of mobility, both permanent and temporary, which are caused by it, and vice versa. The difficulty encountered in registering, analysing and quantifying the various forms of mobility in relation to movements led to the adoption of a methodological approach which places the local dimension at the centre of a process which appears to be of exclusively global significance. This analysis raises new questions on the consequences that such an approach could also have on political aspects, which should consider the local dimension as their point of reference, side by side with the global dimension or completely taking its place.La mobilité humaine est un des principaux thèmes d’étude en géographie, en particulier pendant la phase de transformation dans les rapports entre le changement global et le développement local que nous connaissons. Ces thèmes ont été le point de départ de la constitution en 2000 de la Commission de l’UGI sur le Changement Global et la Mobilité Humaine (Globility). En général, les études sur la mobilité humaine traitent des mouvements plutôt que des groupes qui les ont réalisés et des lieux dans lesquels ils se sont produits. Pendant ses premières années de recherche, Globility a examiné les différents aspects de la mobilité, adoptant une approche de recherche dépassant le concept “push-pull”. Ce texte considère les interactions entre les processus du développement local et les formes de mobilité, à la fois permanentes et temporaires. La difficulté rencontrée en analysant et quantifiant les différentes formes de la mobilité a conduit à adopter une approche méthodologique qui place la dimension locale au centre d’un processus qui semblerait avoir une importance exclusivement globale. Cette analyse soulève de nouvelles questions sur les conséquences qu’une telle approche pourrait également avoir pour les aspects politiques, qui devraient considérer la dimension locale comme point de repère, tout autant que la dimension globale, voire la remplacer

Geography of taste and local development in Abruzzo (Italy) A Project to establish a training and research centre for the promotion of enogastronomic culture and tourism

Food is not merely a source of nourishment but also one of survival for human beings. Depending on production methods, food can also become a cultural reference point, an element of regional development and a tourist resource. This occurs with “local” food, representing a model of production and consumption that suggests a strong link with the region in which the food is produced. Over the last few years, the field of geographical studies has seen the rise of a specialised branch – the geography of taste – concerned with the study of links between the production of food, seen as a phenomenon of organisation of production, and the territory of reference. The production of food with these qualitative characteristics engages all five senses, assumes cultural significance and thus represents an element of emotional richness – the “gaze” – capable of being transformed into the tourist attraction defined in this paper as the “taste of geography”. These phenomena have been studied in a region of Italy – Abruzzo – in order to obtain the necessary data to plan a training and research centre for the promotion of enogastronomic culture and tourism

EUGEO

Introduction Each and every human activity always has a beginning, an opportunity, an event, but more often and above all a group of people who, in deeming the activity ripe, take the responsibility for giving a concrete form to an innovative idea. Not that this has much bearing on the future of the initiative but after a few years it is necessary to attempt to organize the course of events and to acknowledge those pioneers, whether individuals or institutions, that showed us the route and be..

Metropolitansko područje Chieti-Pescara: međunarodne migracije, izbor stanovanja i ekonomska dekoncentracija

The subject of human mobility – with reference to the migratory component – has taken on specific significance during the last decade, particularly with regard to the concept of place. This paper considers the subject in relation to residential and economic deconcentration. The specific point of reference is the metropolitan area of Chieti-Pescara, in the central part of Italy’s Adriatic coast. The research was carried out through quantitative analysis of official data from population censuses and register offices. The results highlight the links between movements of residents and those of firms, in which foreign residents show distinctive behaviour. The residential choices made by foreigners in the area are based on economic reasons and are primarily linked to housing and transport costs. Their communities tend to be concentrated in specific zones of the metropolitan area and in specific districts of the cities, as a consequence of a feeling of belonging and solidarity. Although there are no clear signs of segregation phenomena, the native population tends to avoid mingling with foreigners from marginal countries.Tema ljudske pokretljivosti – s obzirom na migracijsku komponentu – dobila je specifično značenje tijekom zadnjeg desetljeća, posebice u vezi koncepta mjesta. U članku se tema razmatra u odnosu na stambenu i ekonomsku dekoncentraciju. Specifična referentna točka je metropolitansko područje Chieti-Pescara u središnjem dijelu talijanske jadranske obale. Istraživanje je provedeno putem kvantitativne analize službenih podataka popisa stanovništva i prijavnih ureda. Rezultati naglašavaju veze između kretanja stanovnika i tvrtki, pri čemu se očituje distinktivno ponašanje stranaca. Stranci koji žive na tom području mjesto stanovanja biraju na temelju ekonomskih razloga, prvenstveno vezanih uz troškove stanovanja i prijevoza. Njihove zajednice pokazuju sklonost prema koncentraciji u specifičnim zonama tog područja i specifičnim predjelima gradova kao rezultat osjećaja pripadnosti i solidarnosti. Premda nema očitih znakova segregacije, domaće stanovništvo nastoji izbjegavati druženje sa strancima iz marginalnih zemalja

Assessing the effects of land-use changes on annual average gross erosion

International audienceThe effects of land-use changes on potential annual gross erosion in the uplands of the Emilia-Romagna administrative region, a broad geographical area of some 22 000 km2 in northern-central Italy, have been analysed by application of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). The presence of an extended mountain chain, particularly subject to soil erosion, makes the estimation of annual gross erosion relevant in defining regional soil-conservation strategies. The USLE, derived empirically for plots, is usually applied at the basin scale. In the present study, the method is implemented in a distributed framework for the hilly and mountainous portion of Emilia-Romagna through a discretisation of the region into elementary square cells. The annual gross erosion is evaluated by combining morphological, pedological and climatic information. The stream network and the tributary area drained by each elementary cell, which are needed for the local application of the USLE, are derived automatically from a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of grid size 250 x 250 m. The rainfall erosivity factor is evaluated from local estimates of rainfall of six-hour storm duration and two-year return period. The soil erodibility and slope length-steepness factors are derived from digital maps of land use, pedology and geomorphology. Furthermore, historical land-use maps of the district of Bologna (a large portion ? 3720 km2 ? of the area under study), allow the effect of actual land use changes on the soil erosion process to be assessed. The analysis shows the influence of land-use changes on annual gross erosion as well as the increasing vulnerability of upland areas to soil erosion processes during recent decades

Invisible youth mobility: the Bangladesh population in Rome

The Bangladeshi community in Rome has grown considerably in recent years, due chiefly to the increasing difficulty in reaching Germany and the UK. To arrive in Italy Bangladeshi citizens have to cross the Mediterranean, with all the inherent risks and difficulties, and pay huge sums of money to human traffickers. Once they are settled in Italy, and have obtained a residence permit or even Italian citizenship, Bangladeshi men return home for a period of time to find a wife, before returning to Italy and setting up a family. The intended final destination of this human mobility is however London, which hosts the biggest Bangladeshi community, with mosques for their children to study religion and schools for them to study in English. Unmarried men in Rome live together in flats in the Esquilino quarter, those with wives and children live in the Tor Pignattara district. Despite the colourful clothes worn by Bangladeshi women, this community is practically invisible, since it cannot be measured using the normal instruments of official statistics. This essay uses the instruments of quantitative and qualitative analysis to contribute towards increasing our level of knowledge about the actual dimension, customs, needs and expectations of the Bangladeshi Community in Rome.Die Gemeinde Bangladeschs in Rom ist in den letzten Jahren erheblich gewachsen, hauptsächlich aufgrund der zunehmenden Schwierigkeiten, Deutschland und Großbritannien zu erreichen. Um nach Italien zu kommen, müssen die Bürger Bangladeschs mit allen Risiken und Schwierigkeiten das Mittelmeer überqueren und den Menschenhändlern riesige Geldsummen zahlen. Sobald sie in Italien leben und eine Aufenthaltserlaubnis oder sogar die italienische Staatsbürgerschaft erhalten haben, kehren die Männer aus Bangladesch für eine gewisse Zeit nach Hause zurück, um eine Frau zu finden, bevor sie nach Italien zurückkehren und eine Familie gründen. Das beabsichtigte Endziel dieser menschlichen Mobilität ist jedoch London, das die größte Gemeinschaft in Bangladesch beherbergt, mit Moscheen für ihre Kinder, um Religion und Schulen zu studieren, damit sie Englisch lernen können. Unverheiratete Männer leben in Rom im Esquilino-Viertel zusammen, mit Frauen und Kindern leben im Stadtteil Tor Pignattara. Trotz der bunten Kleidung, die von bangladeschischen Frauen getragen wird, ist diese Gemeinschaft praktisch unsichtbar, da sie nicht mit den üblichen Instrumenten der amtlichen Statistik gemessen werden kann. Dieser Beitrag nutzt die Instrumente der quantitativen und qualitativen Analyse, um dazu beizutragen, unser Wissen über die tatsächliche Dimension, Bräuche, Bedürfnisse und Erwartungen der Gemeinschaft von Bangladesch in Rom zu erweitern

Editorial

The present publication is the fourth collective publication by the International Geographical Union (IGU) Commission on Global Change and Human Mobility (Globility). There are also many other works that have been published in the form of contributions to international specialised journals, but also national publications. The variety of publications in native languages constitutes the added value of the works promoted by the IGU – an element of great cultural significance although one not eas..