World city network formation is one of the most robust trends in the context of globalization. The unprecedented economic transformation and infrastructure restructuring enable China to integrate in world city network overwhelmingly. The purpose of this paper is aiming to conduct a network analysis of Chinese air transportation network based upon large-scale collected data of inter-city air passengers' volume thereby identifying the world city network of Chinese cities, as well as the internal cooperative relationship and hierarchical structure of these articulations in the network. There are 80 sample cities are enclosed in this air transportation network model using UCINET, which is pioneering social network analytical software. Clearly, UCINET is applied to manipulate the matrix of inter-city air passengers flows in order to elaborate analyze of density of the whole network, to calculate multiple centrality of each node cities, which strives to identify the dominance of each cities' hierarchical power and positions. In addition, NetDraw program in UCINET is designed to visualize the whole network whereas CONCOR program is operationalized to classify major subgroups within national air transportation network of China. Based on the analysis, we can find that Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou play a dominant role in this network, and it is evident that there exist some robust cooperative relationships within and between subgroups arisen from overall air transportation network. Overall, these findings consolidate a concrete cornerstone of Chinese world city network formation.

One of the ways to eliminate poverty is through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) that is often promoted as central to reviving and sustaining regional communities. In the context of Malaysia, however, the level of communication in urban and rural areas has seen a gap in terms of access to ICTs. Though various initiatives are taken to close the digital gaps, more efforts are needed. This paper intends to explore the extent to which ICTs in rural areas of northern Peninsular Malaysia are able to raise the socio-economic development of the communities. Using questionnaires and in-depth interviews, emphasis is given to analyze the role of ICTs in poverty reduction processes upholding regional developments. It has been observed that solving common causes for the communities’ access and socio-economic growth needs strategic implementation of policies at the central core and pragmatic implementation of actions at the grass root level.

Abstract:The peripheral and semi-peripheral roles of islands are being challenged and contested as contemporary island cities assume positions as engines of growth and become centres of progress for driving economic development. Notably, island cities around the globe have become instrumental in shaping and influencing the dynamics of urban development as cities now compete with each other to strategically position themselves in today's competitive global economy that leverages creativity and innovation. Particularly in a creative economy, the availability, quantity, and quality of unique cultures; creative talents; and creative/cultural industries within a city are differentiating and determining factors that can boost a city's position and subsequently spur economic growth and progress. Against this backdrop, this paper explores the position of the island city of George Town (Penang) en route to becoming a Creative City. This paper highlights the island's urban dynamics as well as discusses the promise and perils of transforming George Town into a Creative City in its own right.

In the era of globalization and information proliferation, China is undergoing a remarkable economic restructuring and financial industries' development. This trend of the phenomenon is due to the fact of implications from the financial agglomeration and information spillover, which induced the financial centers' transformation in this vital circumstance. Previous scholars focus more on the western countries' financial centers evolution, and they neglect some deep insights on Asia regions. In the context of this research, we will concentrate on East Asia, particularly China, and to conduct a quantitative analysis of financial centers development based on SPSS application. Since Shanghai is designated as the international financial center and Beijing tends to be admitted as the national financial center in China, however, there are still some insufficient perspectives on the regional financial centers within the China financial centers hierarchies. In this research, we will implement the quantitative methods to evaluate the ability of major provinces in the development of regional financial centers in China. The sample frame is derived from 19 coastal and middle region provinces excluding Beijing, Shanghai and western region provinces. The prime methods of the research are based on the exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis using SPSS, with the combination of some parameters; we can eventually make the general ranking of the corresponding provinces to develop the regional financial centers, as well as carry out the classification of the selected provinces hierarchies. On the whole, the application of the quantitative analysis significantly enhances the precise and holistic evaluation of regional financial centers development in China based on province-level data and that Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong and Zhejiang are identified as the next generation of robust candidates for China regional financial centers.

Kemiskinan sering kali berlaku terutama kepada mereka yang tinggal di kawasan luar bandar meskipun terdapat pelbagai bantuan yang telah disalurkan oleh pihak kerajaan. Hal ini turut berlaku kepada komuniti nelayan luar bandar yang tinggal di Tanjung Dawai, Kedah. Isu kemiskinan ini secara tidak langsung telah membawa kepada pelbagai cabaran hidup yang kompleks dalam kalangan komuniti nelayan tersebut. Oleh itu, objektif kajian ini adalah untuk meneroka cabaran hidup miskin yang dialami oleh komuniti nelayan di Tanjung Dawai. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah kualitatif melalui temu bual mendalam yang melibatkan seramai 15 informan dalam kalangan ketua isi rumah nelayan yang dipilih secara rawak. Lokasi kajian telah dijalankan di Kampung Nelayan. Data daripada temu bual mendalam telah dianalisis dengan menggunakan analisis kandungan. Hasil kajian mendapati bahawa komuniti nelayan mempunyai lima cabaran hidup miskin iaitu kesukaran menampung perbelanjaan harian, kesukaran melanjutkan pendidikan, kesukaran memiliki aset, keperluan melakukan pekerjaan sampingan dan ancaman gejala sosial. Kajian ini berupaya memberikan gambaran yang lebih jelas agar pihak berkepentingan lebih memahami cabaran hidup miskin yang berlaku dalam kalangan komuniti nelayan, seterusnya dapat merangka strategi yang holistik untuk pembangunan sosioekonomi mereka. Hal ini selari dengan agenda Matlamat Pembangunan Lestari (SDG) yang meletakkan elemen "No poverty" sebagai sasaran pertama yang perlu dilakukan oleh setiap negara bagi mengurangkan kadar kemiskinan dalam kalangan masyarakatnya.