Katrin Schade

Die zweisprachige internationale wissenschaftliche Fachzeitschrift „Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Geographischen Gesellschaft“ („Annals of the Austrian Geographical Society“) ist das wichtigste regelmäßig erscheinende Organ der „Österreichischen Geographischen Gesellschaft“. Sie erscheint seit 1857 und ist die älteste noch existierende Fachzeitschrift geographischen Inhaltes im deutschen Sprachraum. Dabei werden neue Erkenntnisse aus allen Bereichen der Geographie, Kartographie und verwandter Raumwissenschaften vermittelt, über Fachfragen in Forschung und Lehre, nationale und internationale geographische Aktivitäten sowie Personalia informiert und Gesellschaftsnachrichten publiziert.Der 406 Seiten umfassende Band beinhaltet ein breites Spektrum aktueller fachwissenschaftlicher Beiträge in deutscher oder englischer Sprache, darunter einen Artikel über Geschlechterungerechtigkeiten im wissenschaftlichen Alltag der Geographie in Österreich und eine sozialgeographische Studie über Migration, Teilhabe und Raum. Mehrere wirtschaftsgeographische Beiträge behandeln u. a. die Entwicklung des nachhaltigen Kaffeeanbaus in Vietnam vor dem Hintergrund von freiwilliger Zertifizierung und obligatorischem Waldschutz und – im Rahmen einer kritischen Analyse – die Rolle von Produktionsdienstleistern bei der Sicherung grüner Gewinne für ihre Kunden. Hinzuweisen ist auch auf eine umfangreiche empirische Studie über die Entwicklung von Städtepartnerschaften in Mittel- und Osteuropa am Beispiel Polens und eine Untersuchung über Unterstützung und Ausgrenzung unter thailändischen Heiratsmigrantinnen in Österreich vor dem Hintergrund des Konzepts der Dualität von Sozialkapital. Würdigungen bedeutender Geographen, Nachrufe, Kurzberichte und Buchbesprechungen runden den Band ab. Mit Beiträgen von H. Bruckner, U. Ermann, A. Strüver, K. Schade, D. Schmied, C. Parnreiter, S. Sroda-Murawska, A. Trupp, R. Diez Pisonero, Li Zhang, R. Kostadinovska, U. Krevs Birk u. a.

Immigrants, or people who are read as such, face unequal participation opportunities. This is mainly due to poor host country language skills, inexperience with and barriers within administrative processes. Especially in cities beyond metropolises, scepticism through inexperience regarding immigration reinforces inequality. Although immigration to smaller cities is increasing, studies regarding this remain scarce. The goal of this paper is to examine spatial-structural conditions of participation opportunities for immigrants in medium-sized cities (MSC) and thus develop a basis for further research to address the particular challenges for immigrants in MSC. Therefore, I question the spatial patterns and characteristics of immigrants’ participation opportunities in MSC. Cluster analysis and mapping methods are used to analyse data relevant to societal participation at the municipal level with reference to immigration. The data refer to MSC in Germany, a country that plays a significant role for immigration in Europe. Six clusters with different levels of participation opportunities emerge. One of the main results are the regional disparities between the former FRG (West Germany) and the former GDR (East Germany) expected under hypothesis 1. Almost all MSC in the former GDR can be assigned to the cluster with the greatest challenges for immigrants’ participation. At the same time, according to hypothesis 2, other regional differences can be identified, which are manifested by political-administrative boundaries, but also extend beyond them. Rural areas do not necessarily offer worse conditions for immigrants’ participation than dense regions. However, the mapping shows two participation ‘belts’ in the southwest between the large cities Frankfurt am Main and Stuttgart and in the central northwest between the Ruhr region and Hanover. The two belts contain a large number of strong MSC with good framework conditions for immigrant’s participation. Especially in the ‘arrival’ belt between Frankfurt am Main and Stuttgart it covers MSC of widely varying sizes. Hypothesis 3 illustrates how local peculiarities also in the former GDR allow contrary developments and show the importance of further research.

Growth rates in e-commerce, changing consumer behaviors, and COVID-19 have all put pressure on local retailers worldwide, threatening the resilience of city centers. Local online platforms (LOPs) have been considered as a solution to help local retailers increase their visibility and survive on the market. However, most platforms fail to attract a significant number of stakeholders. Simultaneously, digital platform solutions with more holistic urban perspectives, such as urban data platforms (UDPs), have emerged. However, a question remains: how can the integration of retail data (e.g., product availabilities) into a UDP succeed? Therefore, in this paper, we explore stakeholder-oriented networking processes to integrate local retail data into a UDP in Leipzig, Germany. Leipzig has increased its population by 26% since 2000, but presents the highest retail vacancy rate, compared to other major German cities. To investigate the networking process in Leipzig, we conduct a social network analysis which combines qualitative interviews, mapping, and ethnographic research. We interview ten stakeholders and uncover conflicts within the networking process: First, all stakeholders have different understandings of UDPs and how to integrate local retail data; second, the interviewees acknowledge the importance of, but none of them feel responsible for, initiating or managing the process; and third, the city administration has shown diverging interest, in terms of taking on more responsibility.

Many East German cities face long-term shrinking processes, which contribute to declining city centers. This is particularly noticeable in small and medium-sized cities with low human and financial resources. A funding program that helps to regenerate inner cities is the regional city competition „Ab in die Mitte! Die City-Offensive Sachsen“ (AMS) in Saxony, organized as a public-private partnership. This study aims to (1) research AMS concerning its factors of success and obstacles, (2) analyze its role for small and medium-sized cities and, (3) give recommendations to improve AMS. The low-threshold of participation mainly encourages small and medium-sized cities to take part. AMS strengthens exchange and knowledge transfer and promotes endogenous planning strategies. The city competition offers low funding possibilities; therefore, it can only serve as an incentive system. AMS should improve transparency within the evaluation process and, realign its concept to future urban development strategies.

Digitisation is considered as a key transformation in urban development and retail. However, in academia, a strong focus is laid on large cities, as they are considered to be at the front line of this transformation. Second-tier cities are often neglected, although digitisation is seen as a process that offers both challenges and opportunities. This paper has two research objectives. First, it investigates the German city hierarchy using social, economic and retail data. Based on a cluster analysis of the 14 largest German cities, two clusters have been identified, revealing a stark contrast between more innovative and faster-growing areas (cluster 1) and cities with rather moderate dynamics (cluster 2). Second, Leipzig is chosen as a representative of German second-tier cities. By means of an urban living lab, the aim is to investigate the ongoing process of digitisation bringing together relevant stakeholders such as retailers, citizens, logisticians, researchers and the municipality. Different digital tools are put to the test. On that basis, living labs are discussed as a scientific approach, bridging the gap between theory and practice and adding further evidence of how digitisation takes place aside from first-tier cities.