Regional Studies

Wilson, A.G.

doi: 10.1080/09595236900185021pmid: N/A

Wilson A. G. (1969) Research for regional planning, Reg. Studies 3, 3–14. Research helps us to understand patterns and processes associated with cities and regions, and includes research into the planning process itself. Thus, this paper concerns itself with the analysis of cities and regions on the one hand, and the process of planning on the other. It is argued that greater analytic capability can only be obtained by an extensive programme of research in many disciplines, and especially in multi-disciplinary teams. The present state of the art is described by reference to available models of city-regional systems. In the process it is shown that a number of concepts, such as those of systems analysis, which facilitate model development, cut across disciplinary boundaries. The planning process itself is concerned with policy and design and particular attention is paid in the paper to the combinatorial problems facing the designer. It is emphasized that the “gap” between researchers and planners will narrow as the increasing analytical capability and studies of the theory of design on the research side are focused on important planning problems, and as the new skills developing within the planning profession become more extensive.

Townroe, P.M.

doi: 10.1080/09595236900185031pmid: N/A

Townroe P. M. (1969) Locational choice and the individual firm, Reg. Studies 3, 15–24. A complementary approach to the use of locational theory for the understanding of the mobility of industrial concerns is found in a concentration on the individual enterprise. In a series of four charts, the internal and external pressures on the decision-making process are set out and the interrelationships explored. A clarification of the factors involved sets the process of locational choice in the context of the investment evaluation procedure of the enterprise and in the framework of public policy.

Tulpule, A.H.

doi: 10.1080/09595236900185041pmid: N/A

Tulpule A. H. (1969) Dispersion of industrial employment in the Greater London Area, Reg. Studies, 3, 25–40. As cities grow workplaces tend to move away from the centre. This movement is reflected in differential growth rates of industrial employment in the inner and outer parts of an urban area. The growth of an industry in a particular zone within an urban area depends on the zone's characteristics and the extent of outward movement of an industry depends on its characteristics. This article studies firstly the differences in growth rates of employment in different zones of an urban area for two manufacturing industries and, secondly, the relationship between the outward movement of industries, measured by the shifts in their centres of gravity, and some characteristics of the industries. The data used are from the 1951–61 population census (industry tables) for London and surrounding areas. The results suggest the existence of some of the postulated relationships.

Helliwell, D.R.

doi: 10.1080/09595236900185051pmid: N/A

Helliwell D. R. (1969) Valuation of wildlife resources, Reg. Studies 3, 1–7. The recognizable benefits afforded by wildlife are listed as production, potential production, education, and recreation. These are further divided into a total of seven categories for the purpose of evaluation. Conventional cost-benefit analysis is regarded as being too tedious and difficult a process to be widely and frequently used. An attempt is made, therefore, to give a system for comparing one wildlife resource with another; the whole system being correlated to monetary values at a later stage. The principal parameters of assessment are the scarcity of the resource, its accessibility, and the diversity of species within it. Each of the seven categories of benefit is dealt with separately, to give a total for the resource as a whole. Possible applications of the method are cited.

Warren, K.

doi: 10.1080/09595236900185061pmid: N/A

Warren K. (1969) Iron and steel in North-East England: Regional implications of development in a basic industry, Reg. Studies 3, 49–60. The causes and implications of the relatively slow growth in the metallurgical industries of north-eastern England are analysed with respect to both raw material supply and marketing. The region's declining share of national steel production is attributed mainly to an unfavourable product mix, itself the result of a particular historical framework. The finished products of north-eastern steel firms are largely in the heavy range, serving capital goods industries but failing to provide any direct assistance to the numerous attempts to bring rapidly growing, light steel based consumer durable trades to the region. Possible lines of reconstruction in north-eastern steel and their effects on the economy at the regional and subregional level are examined.

Carter, H.; Thomas, J.G.

doi: 10.1080/09595236900185071pmid: N/A

Carter H. and Thomas J. G. (1969) The referendum on the Sunday opening of licensed premises in Wales as a criterion of a culture region, Reg. Studies 3, 61–71. Culture has been defined as consisting of traditional ideas and their attached values and of historically derived patterns of behaviour. A culture can be considered in terms of its spatial extent and given areal definition as a Culture Region. Such definition presents critical problems in relation to the criteria to be employed. Those conventionally used are language and religion. The Welsh culture area is usually defined in terms of the relative dominance of the spoken language, the matrix of a culture whose traditions are primarily oral and literary. The referenda held in 1961 and 1968 on the Sunday opening of premises licensed to serve alcoholic drinks provide a new criterion. The relevance of the referenda is demonstrated and by regression analysis the close association of the relative dominance of the language, opposition to Sunday opening and a high percentage poll is demonstrated. The patterns of voting, together with language distribution, are examined in the context of the morphology of a culture region and the characteristic features of such a region in decline are proposed.

Mayhew, A.

doi: 10.1080/09595236900185081pmid: N/A

Mayhew A. (1969) Regional Planning and the development areas in West Germany, Reg. Studies 3, 73–79. The Regional Development Programme of the Federal German Government was designed to aid the depressed rural areas and the frontier zone on the East German and Czechoslovakian border. The main objective is to attract industry to these regions, so that new employment opportunities can be created and migration prevented. Four regional development plans were also drawn up to tackle some acute local problems. New industrial plant has been attracted to these areas, and especially to the development centres. The recent economic depression brought a major test for the stability of this new plant, and it seems to have survived quite well. Recent large investment in the regional infra-structures should encourage development in the depressed areas in the future.

Stöhr, W.

doi: 10.1080/09595236900185091pmid: N/A

Stöhr W. (1969) The role of regions for development in Latin America, Reg. Studies 3, 81–90. The traditional concepts of development policy in Latin America currently are under review. Regional policies arise as an important field of synthesis between the economic, social and political aspects of development. Regions are a relative concept and depend on the purpose they are to serve. Author analyses the objectives of national and regional development in Latin America. Subsequently, the possible functions of regions are critically analysed, both in their “creative roles” and regarding the potential conflict between the regional and the national level. Four categories of regions are proposed which, by way of superposition, seem useful as a device for development policy.

Brancher, D.M.

doi: 10.1080/09595236900185101pmid: N/A

doi: 10.1080/09595236900185111pmid: N/A