bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Embedded Statism and the Social Sciences 2: Geographies (and Metageographies) in Globalization
Authors: Taylor Peter J
Published: January 2006

This paper was stimulated by the ability of David Held and his colleagues to produce a rigorous and coherent treatment of globalization from a conventional social science position. Their geographical-scale approach to globalization is contrasted with Bauman's emphasis on the space of flows. Four arguments are sustained. First, to produce a viable social science treatment of globalization the academic pecking order has to be reversed: political science dominates the analysis. Second, an emphasis on geographical scale promotes a comparative ‘historical globalizations’ approach which, combined with the politics, leads to the omission of the 1970s global watershed when a century of reducing economic polarization was reversed. Third, the problems of studying flows are rehearsed and it is emphasized that networks need to be studied in the whole; you are not studying flows unless you have both origins and destinations. Fourth, the embedded statism is recast as a problem of metageography, a states metageography exists which has no rivals; a possible alternative metageography, the world-city network, is briefly introduced.
Spacing the Can: Empire, Modernity, and the Globalisation of Food
Authors: Naylor Simon
Published: January 2006

The author outlines the multivalent geographies of a particular food-preservation technology: the tin can. As well as detailing the technological evolution of the can, he pays particular attention to the integral role that it played in the expansion and maintenance of Europe's empires in the Victorian era. Beginning with the demonstration of the can as part of the United Kingdom, Colonies, and Dominions exhibition at the Great Exhibition of 1851, the author examines its significance in several key events in the British imperial endeavour, including the Boer War and the marketing of the British Empire in the 1920s. The author also demonstrates the involvement of the can in the construction of new experiences of global space, as it both reduced the distance between sites of food production and consumption and perpetuated those distances by fetishising the geographies of the origins of foodstuffs. Although it is now one of the most mundane of artifacts in the burgeoning world of material culture, the author argues that the can was responsible for lengthening the networks of imperialism and globalisation, and that a retelling of its story can help us reconceptualise the ways in which such networks were built and do work.
Life and Death in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx: Toward an Evolutionary Perspective on Catastrophic Social Change
Authors: Wallace Deborah , Wallace Rodrick
Published: January 2006

During the 1970s, poor neighborhoods of New York City lost significant proportions of housing and associated community structure to a policy-driven process of contagious fire and building abandonment. The south Bronx was among the most heavily damaged areas. Here we analyze and compare the interrelationships between socioeconomic factors, housing, demographics, and two health outcomes (low-weight birth rate and homicide rate) in the southwest Bronx and in Upper Manhattan (Harlem, Washington Heights, Inwood), using standard statistical methods as well as the Ives amplification factor employed by ecologists. Upper Manhattan showed much stronger and less ‘resilient’ relationships between these factors than the southwest Bronx, that is, a system of tight ties which amplifies external perturbations. It indicates vulnerability to impacts such as economic decline, changes in municipal service provision, and ‘welfare reform’. We hypothesize that the looser, and more resilient, system of the southwest Bronx and the brittle system of Upper Manhattan arose from their different histories of catastrophic urban decay, a highly ‘path dependent’ evolutionary process affecting a social system, subjecting it to extreme selection pressures on the underlying social network structure. The difference has profound policy implications.
Spatial Econometrics, Economic Geography, Dynamics and Equilibrium: A ‘Third Way’?
Authors: Fingleton Bernard
Published: January 2006

An important item of agreement between the ‘new’ economic geography and economic geography ‘proper’ is the role of increasing returns in regional economic development. This provides a focal point for the model proposed in this paper, which suggests a ‘third way’ somewhere between the analysis provided by these ‘two’ competing modes of explanation. The paper provides empirical evidence supporting the proposed model using data on manufacturing productivity growth across 178 NUTS2 regions of the European Union. The paper also includes expressions for an equilibrium implied by the fitted model and argues that this helps to identify the proposed ‘third’ way as an approach which is clearly different from the first two ways.
Residential Mobility in a Constrained Housing Market: Implications for Ethnic Populations in Germany
Authors: Clark William A V , Drever Anita I
Published: January 2006

The rates of residential mobility in Germany are significantly lower than in the United States, and even lower than in some other European countries. The lower mobility rates can be viewed as outcomes of a ‘tight’ housing market. It can be hypothesized that, because ethnic minorities (‘foreigners’ in German terminology) have lower incomes and face discrimination, they are likely to be more constrained than the native-born German population, and so have even lower mobility rates. The authors use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and a series of logistic regression models to examine the interaction of nationality and residential mobility. They show that in fact the foreign-born population is slightly more mobile than the native German population, and that the constrained housing market does not appear to affect the foreign-born population differentially. At the same time, the greater mobility of the foreign-born population can be explained by their attempts to overcome higher rates of crowding.
The Evolving Culture of Retailer Regulation and the Failure of the ‘Balfour Bill’ in Interwar Britain
Authors: Shaw Gareth , Alexander Andrew , Benson John , Hodson Deborah
Published: January 2006

The authors explore the interactions between retailer conflict, types of competition, and retail regulation. Their study is set within the wider debates surrounding the attempts to retheorise retail geography, and, more specifically, in the context of retail competition within interwar Britain. The specific focus is on the attempts to control large-scale corporate retailing, and the failure of such strategies. The authors also draw on comparisons with the situation in the USA and show that the British case was very different, as illustrated by the failure of the ‘Balfour Bill’. Within this context they debate a number of reasons why the attempts to regulate retailing failed in Britain. On a broader front they also demonstrate the need for further research into the complex relationships between retailer conflict and regulatory control.
Transport Infrastructure Investment and Environmental Impact Assessment in Sweden: Public Involvement or Exclusion?
Authors: Lidskog Rolf , Soneryd Linda
Published: January 2006

In this paper we discuss whether environmental impact assessment (EIA) can serve as an arena for including citizens in the decisionmaking process. Through a case study of a proposed extension of a regional airport in Sweden, the role of EIA, and to what degree different actors and arguments influenced the decision, is analysed. It is found that there are serious problems concerning public participation when it comes to projects which extend beyond the local level and which play an important part in the regional economy. In these cases there is a risk, despite the aims of EIA, that the process will be characterised by public exclusion rather than by public involvement.
Radical and Postmodern? Power, Social Relations, and Regimes of Truth in the Social Construction of Alternative Economic Geographies
Authors: Lee Roger
Published: January 2006

This paper is a response to the question “can radical geography also be postmodern?” It is argued that the answer to this question is “yes” and that this is so because of the contingent, socially constructed nature of the social relations through which the universal but geographically differentiated practices of social reproduction take place. The possibility of radical impulses within postmodern thought is explored through an examination of certain Foucauldian notions of discourse, truth, and power, and Marxian notions of social relations as expressed in the work of Maurice Godelier. A critique of the limited geographical imagination of Foucauldian and Marxist accounts of power provides the context for an argument which suggests that difference is predicated on sameness and that geographies of social reproduction offer one such sameness which is, nevertheless, differentiated by social relations of reproduction. Economic geographies are therefore constructed out of difference and struggle and offer an alternative reading of the economic than that of either Foucault or Marx/Engels. Such socially constructed geographies present the possibilities of resistance to metapractices of power exerted through the discourses of truth and the social relations which are sustained by such discourses. They may be local—although they are not necessarily only local. But they are radical in proposing alternative forms of social relations/discourses. They suggest-again after Foucault—that resistance or struggle is itself a radical impulse. It may or may not stem directly from contradictions in prevailing circuits of social reproduction (that is, it may or may not stem from economic geographies) and it may or may not contribute to the displacement of such metapractices but it does express resistance and practise alternatives. Such resistance is, therefore, politically significant whatever its specific material consequences.
What Happened to Class?
Authors: Smith Neil
Published: January 2006

While the question of social class contributed centrally to the emergence of social theory in geography in the 1970s and 1980s, it has recently fallen out of favour as a lens for viewing the social construction of space, place, and nature. The causes for this loss of class vision can be found partly in the rise of alternative political perspectives focusing on identity and emphasizing a cultural rather than economically rooted politics, but they also stem from weaknesses within late 20th-century Marxism itself. The vaguely classless politics that emerged from some strands of the 1960s movements, as well as very powerful reactions against the 1960s, have also contributed. But this reaction has now run its course, and we find ourselves without a sophisticated language of class precisely at the time when, globally, class is being reasserted with a vengeance. From the economic boom, then crisis (1997–99), then boom again in Asia to the reassertion of class in Mexico and Eastern Europe, or the dramatic class formation in postcolonial South Africa not to mention Blair's Britain or Clinton's United States, class represents a crucial political dimension of social difference. Multiculturalism comes to look like an apology for capitalist ‘diversity’ while politics in academic circles is increasingly equated with the liberal common denominator of morality. This is not a narrow back-to-class appeal, but rather an argument that we need to find a way of reintegrating class into the issues of identity and cultural politics that for very good reasons have occupied the political foreground in recent years.
Culture, Imaginary, and Rationality in Regional Economic Development
Authors: Peet Richard
Published: January 2006

This paper outlines some key terms in a cultural analysis of economic systems. During empirical research I have concluded that radical geography in the tradition of political economy must employ cultural terms such as symbol, imaginary, and rationality. These terms link the material, through experience and interpretation, to the mental—consciousness, intentionality, and rationality. I argue that culture understood as symbolic practice is compatible with historical materialism in the tradition of Gramsci, Thompson, and Williams. The paper applies cultural materialism to the explanation of economic rationalities and developmental logics by drawing on Weberian sociology. These ideas are exemplified by a brief account of the New England moral economy. The paper concludes by calling for a new type of critical inquiry called cultural economy.
Globalisation: Local Agency, the Global Economy, and Australia's Industrial Policy
Authors: Webber Michael
Published: January 2006

The term globalisation has been employed to denote the global integration of finance, the emergence of global corporations, the development of institutions of global governance, the global implications of environmental crises, and the commodification of previously nonmarketed arenas of social life. The author argues that globalisation needs, rather, to be conceived theoretically as the sectoral and spatial unification of systems of valuation. Using this definition, and a study of the development of trade and economic policy in Australia, he argues that there is variety of forms of globalisation, a variety of internal reasons for the emergence of policies that enhance globalised forms of economy within countries, and therefore a variety of policy responses to it.
Towards a Geographical Politics of Consumption
Authors: Hartwick Elaine R
Published: January 2006

The author argues that radical geography needs a political revival. Of many avenues that might be followed, the areas of consumption and commodity chains are taken up for consideration. Revival involves a critique of certain trendy, theoretical approaches prevalent particularly in the study of the commodity—as with postmodern notions of the sign and image space, the new retail geography with its stress on identity, and actor-network theory diverting into nonhuman actants. Although not without potential, these approaches lack critical, political edge, especially in the sense of connecting consumption with production. Liberation at one end is divorced from exploitation at the other. Nets are noticed but not workers. As an alternative, a materialist–semiotic analysis is proposed using the concept of commodity chains. This analysis has greater potential for theorizing connections between consumers and producers in a way that stimulates political praxis as well. Nine strategies for political engagement are proposed, from deconstructing advertisements to direct actions such as boycotts, anticorporate campaigns, and guerilla shopping tactics. The intention is to involve radical geography in a new politics of consumption.
From a = b to a = a
Authors: Olsson Gunnar
Published: January 2006

In this paper I compare and contrast the alternative treatments of the Other as they appear first in the radical geography of 1968, then in the political geography of 1998. While in the Hegelian sixties both the master and the slave recognized that they are defined in terms of each other (a = b), the politically correct of the nineties are claiming that the right to define who you are is yours and yours alone (a = a). But whoever argues that the only acceptable truth lies in the statement “I am who I am” is in effect adopting the same conception of power that the Old Testament JHWH reserved for himself.
Social Justice Revisited
Authors: Smith David M
Published: January 2006

The author takes as his point of departure David Harvey's original formulation of territorial social justice and recognises the subsequent emergence of a politics of difference as central to the discourse of justice. The contemporary preoccupation with difference is problematised. The argument proceeds from recognition of morally significant aspects of human sameness, through the identification of human needs and the case for associated rights, to an egalitarian conception of social justice. The Earths uneven resource endowment, a traditional disciplinary preoccupation, is viewed as morally arbitrary and hence an aspect of difference to be transcended. The paper concludes with some observations on moral motivation, asking why we should actively endorse social justice.
Pairwise Conjoint Analysis of Activity Engagement Choice
Authors: Wang Donggen , Oppewal Harmen , Timmermans Harry
Published: January 2006

Information overload is a well-known problem of conjoint choice models when respondents have to evaluate a large number of attributes and/or attribute levels. In this paper we develop an alternative conjoint modelling approach, called pairwise conjoint analysis. It differs from conventional conjoint choice and preference models in that the attributes of choice alternatives or choice contexts are not varied simultaneously, but in pairs. Properties of the design strategy are discussed. The new approach is illustrated by using activity engagement choice as an example.
Embeddedness, Milieu, and Innovation among High-Technology Firms: A Richardson, Texas, Case Study
Authors: Lyons Donald
Published: January 2006

The author seeks to contribute to the debate on embeddedness, milieu, and innovation in industrial districts through a case study of high-technology firms in Richardson, an inner-ring suburban city of the Dallas–Fort Worth Metropolitan area. Richardson is important because it can be clearly defined as an industrial district, with over 600 high-technology firms and 70 000 employees. The results suggest that the district is robust and highly innovative with considerable capacity for self-sustaining growth. The firms are well integrated, locally and nationally. Despite extensive formal connections, firms' relationships are not very embedded locally. The link between embeddedness and innovation is subtle at best, and is confined to a small set of the most highly innovative firms. Similarly, evidence of a well-established industrial milieu was not forthcoming, although it may be emerging. The relationship between milieu and innovation was vague and was confined to the most innovative firms. The long-term viability of the district is closely tied to the economic health of the metropolitan economy, suggesting that development strategies focused on the district per se are likely to meet with limited success.
The Role of Mediation in the Settlement of Planning Disputes at Appeal: The Debate and Research Agenda
Authors: Pearce Barry , Stubbs Michael
Published: January 2006

Mediation has now been canvassed for use in the settlement of planning disputes. But does mediation have a role to play here? In the literature on alternative dispute resolution some authors have argued that there are general rules for deciding which types of dispute would be suitable for mediation and which would not. The rule of ‘presumptive mediation’ has been advocated; that as long as certain conditions are satisfied, mediation should be the first procedure used. If mediation is not successful, the mediator can then make an informed recommendation for a different procedure. But is the utility of mediation so ubiquitous? Is the rule of presumptive mediation appropriate, even safe, in all circumstances? We investigate the role of mediation in one particular field of dispute resolution, where the circumstances are, on the face of it, markedly different to the ‘normal’ situation for which mediation has been used and proved successful; where the disputes concern specific proposals for the development of land and, in particular, where the dispute is between local planning authorities, private developers, and community groups. We attempt to analyse the conditions under which mediation may serve a useful function in this particular field of dispute resolution and investigate how ‘fitting the forum to the fuss’ may be dealt with in relation to the specific circumstances and context of so-called planning disputes.
New Telecommunications and Residential Location Flexibility
Authors: Shen Qing
Published: January 2006

Information and communications technologies are now used by a rapidly increasing number of people as means of spatial interaction. This has two major effects on transportation: (1) telecommunications partially substitute for travel to the workplace and to some other preexisting destinations; and (2) often indirectly, telecommunications stimulate new activities and generate extra travel. In this paper, I first develop an analytical framework for understanding changes in residential location flexibility that result from the direct travel substitution effect. I then apply this analytical tool to an exploration of the emerging urban spatial structure in the information age; alternative scenarios of telecommunications usage are simulated in a hypothetical metropolitan setting, and insightful results are obtained. The simulation is followed by a discussion of the role of urban planning in shaping the future pattern of residential growth. In an effort to stimulate further thinking and research, I point out in the conclusion that the analytical approach should be extended by taking into account the travel generation effect of telecommunications, and could be incorporated into land-use models.
Globalisation and the Contested Process of International Corporate Restructuring: Employment Reorganisation and the Issue of Labour Consent in the International Oil Industry
Authors: Cumbers Andrew , Atterton Jane
Published: January 2006

Labour is typically treated as a passive victim of corporate restructuring processes in discourses on globalisation, rendered helpless by rationalisation and downsizing, and structurally place-bound and defenceless against increasingly mobile and footloose capital. This paper forms part of a growing body of work in the geographical literature that seeks to contest this view, reinserting labour as an actor in the context of globalisation. Specifically, we consider labour as an autonomous agent in the corporate labour process, through an examination of the impact of current processes of organisational restructuring in multinational corporations upon employment relations. We argue that corporate restructuring is a socially embedded, and therefore highly problematic, process involving issues of negotiation, consent, and resistance between managers and workers, and that current restructuring is therefore destabilising established patterns of social relations by which corporations secured worker consent in the past. Our argument is developed using a case study from the international oil industry.
Flexible Working and Equal Opportunities in the United Kingdom: A Case Study from Retail
Authors: Perrons Diane
Published: January 2006

Flexible working has been widely advocated as a social panacea, capable of resolving unemployment, maintaining economic competitiveness, and enhancing equal opportunities between women and men. Flexibility has neutral or even positive connotations for both employers and employees. These meanings are differentiated, and empirically explored, by reference to the British component of a qualitative, comparative six-country European study of flexible working in the retail sector. Specific attention is paid to the determination of flexibility; for example whether it is employer led, employee chosen, or a complementary combination, and whether flexible working facilitates equal opportunities, both within the workplace and in the wider sense of promoting long-lasting changes in parental roles and responsibilities as specified under the European Union's mainstreaming initiative. It is concluded that the introduction of flexible working has opened up a whole range of possibilities for differential engagement in the workplace. However, these arrangements need to apply to all levels of the occupational hierarchy and similar arrangements need to be introduced in relation to caring if the officially stated objectives for greater equality of opportunity are to be realised. To bring about gender equity it is necessary to consider social reproduction as a whole and modify the division of labour between women and men within, and between, paid and unpaid work.
Financial Imperative or Conservation Concern? EU Farmers' Motivations for Participation in Voluntary Agri-Environmental Schemes
Authors: Wilson Geoff A , Hart Kaley
Published: January 2006

Based on a large transnational research project that involved questionnaires with 1000 farm households in nine EU countries and Switzerland, this paper investigates factors influencing farmers' participation in agri-environmental schemes (AESs). Analysis of motivations for AES participation highlights that complex patterns of AESs are in operation. Pronounced geographical differences in farmers' reactions towards schemes can be identified, with responses by farmers from northern member states often differing from those in Mediterranean countries, and with arable farmers often responding differently from grassland farmers. Yet, the study also highlights that much common ground exists and that conceptual frameworks for the understanding of farmers' participation in AESs developed in the United Kingdom can be successfully applied outside the British context. Common participation patterns include the importance of financial imperatives and ‘goodness of fit’, and the influence of similar sets of factors such as farm size, tenure, or farm type. The growing importance of conservation-oriented motivations for AES participation across Europe suggests the emergence of a ‘new hypothesis’ which highlights that the financial imperative for participation does not necessarily exclude an often equally important environmental concern. The paper concludes by indicating where current agri-environmental policy (AEP) may be failing adequately to address structural and socioeconomic characteristics of targeted farming populations, and by arguing that understanding participation decisionmaking is only the first step in an attempt to assess the ‘effectiveness’ of AEP. Further comparative research is needed to investigate in detail more complex indicators of scheme success, in particular what effects scheme participation has on farmers' incomes, farmers' environmental attitudes, and on the environmental quality of the countryside targeted by AESs.
Application of Willingness-to-Pay Methods to Value Transport Externalities in Less Developed Countries
Authors: de Dios Ortúzar Juan , Cifuentes Luis A , Williams Huw C W L
Published: January 2006

In this paper we report on two applications of the willingness-to-pay (WTP) approach to valuing transport externalities in Santiago, Chile. The first involves a contingent valuation study of mortality risk due in part to pollution-related causes, and the second, a stated preference study for valuing the reduction of risk from road fatalities. It is concluded that the approaches, and particularly that based on stated choice methods, offer practical and consistent methods of establishing unit values in higher-income developing countries. The unit values derived from the WTP methods appear to justify a greater allocation of resources to safety and pollution countermeasures compared with those derived from more traditional approaches.
A Competing Destinations Approach to Modeling Commuting Flows: A Theoretical Interpretation and An Empirical Application of the Model
Authors: Gitlesen Jens P , Thorsen Inge
Published: January 2006

We introduce a modified version of the competing destinations model as a framework to estimate how discontinuities in the road network affect commuting flows. An economic interpretation of the model is presented in terms of random utility theory and hierarchical destination choice. Based on data from western Norway, we estimate a set of parameters which are assigned to different aspects of spatial structure in a region where the road network is disconnected owing to numerous topographical barriers. The model is applied to predict how commuting flows in the region are influenced by transportation innovations where ferry connections are subtituted by tunnels and bridges.
Forecasting Models of Retail Rents
Authors: Brooks Chris , Tsolacos Sotiris
Published: January 2006

The authors model retail rents in the United Kingdom with use of vector-autoregressive and time-series models. Two retail rent series are used, compiled by LaSalle Investment Management and CB Hillier Parker, and the emphasis is on forecasting. The results suggest that the use of the vector-autoregression and time-series models in this paper can pick up important features of the data that are useful for forecasting purposes. The relative forecasting performance of the models appears to be subject to the length of the forecast time-horizon. The results also show that the variables which were appropriate for inclusion in the vector-autoregression systems differ between the two rent series, suggesting that the structure of optimal models for predicting retail rents could be specific to the rent index used. Ex ante forecasts from our time-series suggest that both LaSalle Investment Management and CB Hillier Parker real retail rents will exhibit an annual growth rate above their long-term mean.
On High-Speed Connections and the Location of Activities
Authors: Peeters Dominique , Thisse Jacques-François , Thomas Isabelle
Published: January 2006

We study the impact of a high-speed connection between two regional economies on the location of production activities, using the simple plant-location problem and toy networks. As expected, the relative value of fixed production costs to transportation costs is crucial in the determination of facility locations. Less expected is the fairly strong instability observed in the structure of the locational pattern of facilities when the relative value of the fixed costs changes. The construction of a piece of infrastructure has an impact on the regional structure of production provided that it allows for a substantial reduction in transport spending. When scale economies in production are large, one regional center swallows up the other and may eventually become the only production center within the integrated economy.
The Restructuring Stages of Israeli Arab Industrial Entrepreneurship
Authors: Sofer Michael , Schnell Izhak
Published: January 2006

The current pattern of industrial development in Arab settlements in Israel represents, above all, adaptation to restructuring processes operating throughout the Israeli economy. The result may be viewed as a form of peripheral industrialization of small plants specializing in less-advanced industrial production. The peripheralization process and the fact that Israeli Arab industry has remained marginal to the national economy should be understood in the context of the structural conditions in which Arab entrepreneurship is embedded. The impact of three forces is stressed: government policy, large corporations, and the internal sociocultural properties peculiar to the Arab population in Israel.

The resulting form of industrialization is based on restructuring processes formatted as a number of distinctive development stages, which must be understood within the wider framework of Israel's economic restructuring. The dominant form of capitalist production affected the transformation of the Israeli Arab economy at each period, from state management to corporate dominance, and currently succeeded by a new accumulation regime affected by globalization processes. Furthermore, majority–minority relations affected it with each pole embedded in its own ethnic milieu. These majority–minority relations, supported by a selective government policy, have since been superseded by the relations conducted between the Jewish-dominated core and the Israeli-Arab-subordinated periphery. The result of this process has diversely affected both economic poles, and continues to influence the form of Arab industrialization, branch selection, and rate of plant openings. Furthermore, the result is a failure by Arab entrepreneurs to penetrate the more privileged sectors of the national economy, partly because of the failure of the Israeli political and economic elite to respond to Arab efforts at expansion into the larger economy.
The Widening Access Debate: Student Flows to Universities and Associated Performance Indicators
Authors: Wilson Alan G
Published: January 2006

The task of constructing appropriate performance indicators for universities is an important one, particularly in the context of political debates such as that associated with widening access to universities. It is argued in this paper that the proper basis for such performance indicators lies in the construction of an appropriate model of student flows. A suitable notation is developed and there is a discussion of data availability. Then, in turn, the core model and the main performance indicators are presented. This analysis is compared to that of the Higher Education Funding Council for England. Some proposals are made for an ongoing work programme to test the main hypotheses of the paper.
Subsymmetry Analysis of Architectural Designs: Some Examples
Authors: Park Jun-Ho
Published: January 2006

An analytic method founded on the mathematical structure of symmetry groups is defined and some applications to the analysis of architectural designs are shown.
Moral Obligations, Planning, and the Public Interest: A Commentary on Current British Practice
Authors: Campbell Heather , Marshall Robert
Published: January 2006

Planning, as a form of state intervention administered at the local level, is inevitably subject to the pressures and vagaries of governmental and societal change. The recent past has been a particularly turbulent period for local governance and this has inevitably impacted on the role of planning practitioners and the expectations placed upon them. As a consequence, fundamental value questions have arisen concerning the role and purpose of planning and, in addition, the hegemonic status of a unifying ethic of professional responsibility has been called into question. Our aim in this paper is to explore the different obligations which at various times influence the individual planner's behaviour or actions, with the further purpose of exploring the changing nature of planning and the consequent implications for contemporary conceptions of the public interest. The main body of the paper consists of an analysis of the competing tensions of contemporary practice as viewed from the perspective of the obligations owed to individual values, professionalism, employing organisations, politicians, and the public. In the course of this exploration we examine the ways in which these tensions have been influenced and heightened by the reconfiguration of the relationships between the state, society, and the individual which occurred during the 1980s and 1990s as part of the neoliberal agenda of successive Conservative governments in Britain. We conclude by considering the extent to which the notion of the public interest still has value as a legitimising frame of reference for public planning.
Surveys of Nondomestic Buildings in Four English Towns
Authors: Brown Frank E , Rickaby Peter A , Bruhns Harry R , Steadman Philip
Published: January 2006

In this paper we describe the selection of four English urban areas in which the nondomestic building stocks might collectively be considered characteristic of the national stock. A brief history is provided of urban development in each of the four areas. The scope and methodology of comprehensive surveys of nondomestic buildings in the four survey areas are described and a brief summary of the characteristics of the building stocks in the four areas is derived from the survey data.
Detailed Energy Surveys of Nondomestic Buildings
Authors: Mortimer Nigel D , Ashley Andrea , Rix Jeremy H R
Published: January 2006

This paper gives a summary of the fundamental features of the methods used to collect and record information on energy use in nondomestic buildings. The influence on these methods of the essential data requirements for creating a national database of energy use in the UK nondomestic building stock is described. The development of suitable techniques for energy surveying, data recording, and subsequent analysis is explained briefly. Detailed descriptions of standard procedures for collecting relevant information, recording data in machine-readable form, and producing results on energy use are provided, by using an appropriate example for illustration.
A Combined Land-Use and Transportation Model for Work Trips
Authors: Meng Qiang , Yang Hai , Wong Sze-Chun
Published: January 2006

In this paper we propose a combined land-use and transportation model for work trips with constraints on the road network capacity. A Lowry-type land-use model is used to distribute all the given activities into various residential and employment zones. Trip distributions are based on the equilibrium round-trip cost, which is obtained from a network equilibrium model. A bilevel programming approach is used to determine the maximum number of trips that can be accommodated by the road network subject to the network-capacity constraints.
The Properties of Route Catchments in Orbital – Radial Cities
Authors: Hyman Geoffrey , Mayhew Les
Published: January 2006

In this paper we consider the analytical and geometric properties of route catchments in urban areas in which the transport network consists of a combination of radial routes converging on the city centre and one or more major orbital routes around the city. After defining the basic concepts, we examine in detail the analytical and geometric determination of quickest routes through the city centre versus orbital routing and how these vary with location, speed, and urban transport provision. The results are useful in explorations of urban traffic management policies and for testing the general effectiveness of long-term urban network planning strategies.
GIS and Natural Resource Planning in Papua New Guinea: A Contextual Analysis
Authors: Montagu Simon
Published: January 2006

With the maturation of GIS technology, several planning scholars have turned their attention to the nature of the relationship between GIS technology and its “fit” into the planning process. Drawing various insights from the diverse fields of information systems, management information systems, and organizational theory, these scholars have started to assemble a theoretical framework from which to understand and manage the integration of GIS into the workplace. In this paper I will draw on these initial efforts to evaluate the relationship between “technology” and “process” in a Third World context. Using Nedović-Budić's conceptualization of the process of “mutual adaptation” as a conceptual starting point, I will provide an in-depth analysis of GIS implementation in the southwest Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea (PNG). PNG's experiences offer a unique insight into the dynamics of mutual adaptation and also point out the limitations of this concept. I conclude by extrapolating beyond the “particular localisms” of PNG to find that the broader political economy of the planning environment dictates the success of GIS integration. Moreover it also suggests that managing the phases of mutual adaptation in an effort to promote GIS implementation is only likely to succeed in circumstances where the broader political economy of planning is in itself conducive to the long-term integration needs of GIS.
A Micro Language: Generating MEMS Resonators by Using a Coupled Form — Function Shape Grammar
Authors: Agarwal Manish , Cagan Jonathan , Stiny George
Published: January 2006

Shape grammars are shown to be capable of generating coupled form — function devices by first satisfying the minimum required functionality and then modifying the device to obtain the desired specifications. Advantages of a weighted U22 algebra in conjunction with a U12 grammar are also discussed. The approach is demonstrated by describing a shape grammar for the design of MEMS resonators.
Shaping Metropolitan Toronto: A Study of Linear Infrastructure Subsidies, 1954–66
Authors: Vojnovic Igor
Published: January 2006

With the incorporation of Metropolitan Toronto in 1953, privileged linear infrastructure subsidies were granted to the upper tier Metro Toronto government and its outlying suburbs of North York, Etobicoke, and Scarborough. These discriminatory grants enabled Metro Toronto to provide a fine web of high-quality, rapid arterials and highways across its jurisdiction—accelerating suburbanization. The financing privileges granted to the outer Metro Toronto suburbs facilitated the development of an inefficient built form, realized with premature urban encroachment into undeveloped lands and building types characterized largely by land-extensive, single-family detached housing units.
GIS-ROUT: A River Model for Watershed Planning
Authors: Wang Xinhao , White-Hull Charlotte , Dyer Scott , Yang Ying
Published: January 2006

Previous studies have shown that significant environmental changes are the result of human activities such as urbanization occurring at the spatial scale of landscapes. The challenge faced by many planners today is how to understand such relationships in order to support integrated watershed planning and management. Although many mathematical models have been developed to simulate the chemical transport process in a river, few are actually used in watershed assessment and management. Recently, incorporating analytical models into GIS platforms has emerged as a promising research area attracting planners and other resource managers. In this paper we present a GIS-based river water quality model (GIS-ROUT) to predict chemistry changes in river water as a result of sewage discharge changes in a watershed. Integration of spatial data, GIS, and analytical models in GIS-ROUT makes it possible to examine the dynamic linkages between water quality and human activities in a watershed. Furthermore, the user-friendly interface of the model allows its users to concentrate on the planning issues, such as examining the “What if…” questions related to different development scenarios. The study not only contributes to the application of GIS and water quality models in planning, but it also provides a comprehensive view of the watershed that can help government agencies and other stakeholders to make informed decisions.
Rebuilding the Entrepreneurial City: The Master Planning Response to the Bombing of ManChester City Centre
Authors: Williams Gwyndaf
Published: January 2006

The challenge for managing urban change is to identify ways in which to build up a capacity for governance and for capturing opportunities, the active construction of arenas for informed policy debate, and the development of a coherent local view on the process of “place-making”. Such considerations were brought into sharp focus by the bombing of Manchester City Centre and the destruction of its commercial core in June 1996. The paper focuses on the impact of this disaster for the promoting of the city's entrepreneurial credentials, and the rapid response to the challenges of rebuilding. The promotion of established collaborative arrangements and network linkages culminated in the rapid emergence of both a master plan and an implementation agenda, encompassing a range of programmes and projects that collectively aim to enhance the vitality and competitiveness of the core.
A Behavioral Simulation Model for Metropolitan Policy Analysis and Planning: Residential Location and Housing Market Components of Urbansim
Authors: Waddell Paul
Published: January 2006

The growing demand for better coordination of metropolitan land use and transportation planning has led to the need for new analytical tools to examine the potential impacts of land-use and transportation policies and investments. In this paper I report on the residential and market-clearing components of the recently developed UrbanSim land-use model, which is currently being implemented in Hawaii, Oregon, and Utah. The model is based on parcel-level land-use data and simulates the interaction between demand and supply of real estate by using a dynamic behavioral approach that operates on an annual time schedule. The model system is now operational, and in this paper the design and calibration results for the Eugene-Springfield, Oregon metropolitan area are described.
Prediction of the Shape of Detached Houses on Residential Lots
Authors: Asami Yasushi , Ohtaki Tamiki
Published: January 2006

In this paper we develop a model that predicts the shape of detached houses from the shape of residential lots by introducing the framework of the associative memory model. The model is based on the idea that, if the shapes of lots are similar, then the positions of associated houses may also be similar. To this effect, “similarity indices” of lots are devised and transformed into probabilities. The overlay of sample house positions weighted by the probabilities predicts the probability density for each point in the lot covered by a house. The model is tested empirically with data from Hiratsuka city in the Kanagawa prefecture in Japan. The results of its sensitivity analysis by gradually changing the lot shape reproduces the actual tendencies of allocation of houses and yards for lots of limited area.
Management of Recreational Areas: GIS, Autonomous Agents, and Virtual Reality
Authors: Bishop I D , Gimblett H R
Published: January 2006

Management of recreational activity in areas that are culturally or ecologically sensitive requires knowledge, and effective management, of recreationists' behaviour. In this paper we explore the role of spatial information systems, spatial modelling, and virtual reality in the analysis and prediction of visitor location and movement patterns. The quantitative modelling of the time spent by visitors on various aspects of the site attractions and of visitor conflict has not been widely attempted, having only recently become possible because of greater computer power, better spatial data storage options, and new modelling paradigms. Rule-driven autonomous agents can be used as surrogates for human visitors. Behavioural rules can be derived and calibrated from visitor surveys. This is, however, an expensive and time-consuming process and testing of people's decisions in a virtual environment may provide sufficient information for rule definition. Once a rule-set is determined, the autonomous agents move over a GIS-based model of the landscape. Rendering algorithms determine what an individual agent is able to “see”. Based on the established rules, this and other factors (such as tiredness) determine behavioural choice. Recording of model runs to file allows managers to undertake additional analysis to quantify and explore the influence of alternative management options on recreationist movement, congestion, and crowding. Through the GIS, impacts such as erosion can also be modelled. In the longer term the combined models can become part of a decision support system for sustainable tourism in fragile environments.
The Impact of Fast Routes on Urban Travel Geometry
Authors: Mayhew Les , Hyman Geoffrey
Published: January 2006

We examine some spatial properties of cities and obtain new results about how travel patterns are influenced by strategic routes such as radials and orbitals. Following a general introduction in which the basic approach is described, we develop a number of key principles, which build on our earlier work on velocity fields. Three theoretical case studies are described in which the authors show the expected patterns of quickest paths, isochrones, and catchment areas arising from alternative simple basic routing assumptions. We then elaborate the concepts of the hub, rim, and core of a city, showing how these features can be constructed and how they affect the pattern of travel. The results provide a number of insights that are then applied in a fourth case study to examine the effects of the M25 orbital on travel in London. Some policy implications are then explored before concluding with a discussion of potential applications and research.