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Localities: The changing face of urban Britain
Book Reviews its allocation to those in need: neither of these necessary conditions was met in earlier experiments, despite the use of the same ‘Section 52’ mechanism. Nevertheless, Greenwood makes some pertinent remarks in his conclusions. He notes the crucial role played by planners in preserving prime residential environments while “land efficiencies are achieved elsewhere, in lower quality urban environments”, reminding us that it is 15 years since Peter Hall first drew attention to the planning system’s creation of this “civilised British version of apartheid”. MARK SHUCKSMITH University of Aberdeen,
(1. K.
Localities: The Changing Face of Urban Britain, P. Cooke (ed.), 320 pp., 1989, Unwin Hyman, London, f30.00 hb, f11.95 pb
The last decade has seen a very considerable change in the project of human geography. Terms such as place, region and locality have re-entered the vocabulary of geography. As many of those who have commented on this trend have said, this is not a return to the regional geography of old. Rather, it is an exploration of links with other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences and an attempt to come to terms with what Marxbm Today has characterized as ‘New Times’ - a congeries of economic, social, cultural and political change. This book is the result of a number of studies undertaken by many closely associated with this emerging ‘locality school’. It owes its origins to work commissioned in 1984 by the Economic and Social Research Council under its Changing Urban and Regional System (CURS) research programme. This in turn followed pioneering work by Doreen Massey on the restructuring of the British economy (Massey, 1984). The CURS programme was coordinated by Philip Cooke, who has edited the work of the seven teams participating to produce this volume. It opens with a very useful review by the editor of changing so&-economic and political conditions in Britain, related to a rapidly evolving and increasingly interdependent global system. This should be useful to undergraduates and others seeking a description of the empirical background to ‘New Times’ in Britain. Then follow the seven case studies of localities, all but two of them written by teams of authors. Given the number of contributors (27 in total), the case studies do follow a reasonably consistent pattern, while allowing appropriate variation. The book concludes with a further chapter by the editor, which examines the strategies and options for local societies to maintain their autonomy and freedom of action. His concluding lines make clear the challenge and problems this entails: “A society which is exposed to the presently unregulated forces of an increasingly globaliied economy, while being deprived of discretion over local affairs, some of which involve picking up the pieces left by global economic whirlwinds, is Promethean in its predicament. The Prometheus myth, it is worth recalling, ended with the opening of Pandora’s box” (p. 305). The original CURS programme was subjected to consider-
able critical scrutiny
(see Beauregard,
1988; Cochrane,
1987; Gregson, 1987; Jonas, 1988; Smith, 1987). The main tenor of this criticism has been that although informed by a common theoretical and methodological basis, the seven case localities rely on the assumption that people in particular localities share common social relations, which are spatially precise and confined. There is no consideration of the possibility that instead there may be several separate sets of social relations of different people who happen, contingently, to be co-located. The CURS programme was also criticized for its comparison of quite different types of urban place, discrete, medium-sized towns, such as Cheltenham, Lancaster and Swindon (and perhaps also Middlesbrough), a grouping of rather smaller towns, Thanet and parts of two larger conurbations, Birmingham and Liverpool. Given that such a range of places was included, the omission of market towns and villages could be regretted and their absence will probably diminish the appeal of the book to readers of this journal. There is a case to be made that rural Britain has already had an equivalent research agenda, which is attested by papers by, among others, Cloke and Thrift (1987), Cloke and Little (1987), Newby (1986). Bradley (1985) and Barlow (1986, 1988) and the book edited by Bradley and Lowe (1984). However, it is a great pity that urban and rural localities should be so separated. The very fact that they are would seem to underline the criticism that locality studies often fail to avoid the reification of place. It also has to be said that the old regional geography did not so separate the urban and the rural. The book should have considerable value to those seeking a picture of the urban places of Britain in the mid-1980s and I can see it being the answer to the undergraduate’s prayers for useful empirical and descriptive material on ‘New Times’ in Britain. Whether readers of this journal will find it as useful is more speculative. What it is, is a cogent summary of the CURS initiative and it is pleasing to see results from research programmes being published commercially and reaching a wider audience. Whether decision-makers will read the book is another matter. JOHN BRADBEER Department of Geography, Portsmouth Polytechnic, U.K.
References Barlow, J. (1986) Landowners, property ownership and the rural locality. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 10(3), 309-329. Barlow, J. (1988) The politics of land into the 1990s: landowners, developers and farmers in lowland Britain. Policy and Politics M(2), 111-121. Beauregard, R.A. (1988) In the absence of practice: the locality research debate. Antipode 20(l), 52-59. Bradley, T. (1985) Reworking The Quiet Revolution: industrial and labour market restructuring in village England. Sociologia Ruralis 25(l), 4040. Bradley, T. and Lowe, P. (eds) (1984) Locality and Rurality: Economy
and Society in Rural Regions. Geo-
books, Norwich. Cloke, P. and Little, J. (1987) Policy, planning and the state in rural localities. Journal of Rural Studies 3(4), 343-351.
Cloke, P. and Thrift, N. (1987) Intra-class conflict in rural areas. Journal of Rural Studies 3(4), 321-333. Cochrane, A. (1987) What a difference the place makes: the new structuration of locality. Antipode 19(3), 354-363.
Book Reviews Gregson, N. (1987) The CURS initiative: some further comments. Antipode 19(3), 364-373. Jonas, A. (1988) A new regional geography of localities? Area 20(2), 101-110. Massey, D. (1984) Spatial Divisions of Labour: Social Structure and the Geography of Production. Macmillan, London.
I
241
Newby, H. (1986) Locality and rurality: the restructuring of rural social relations. Regional Studies u)(3). 209215. Smith, N. (1987) Dangers of the empirical turn: some comments on the CURS initiative. Antipode 19(l), 59-68.
Book Reviewers
If you would like your name to be added to the book review roster for Journal of Rural Studies please write to the Editor providing your name, address and a resumk of your fields of interest.
I
(1. K.
Localities: The Changing Face of Urban Britain, P. Cooke (ed.), 320 pp., 1989, Unwin Hyman, London, f30.00 hb, f11.95 pb
The last decade has seen a very considerable change in the project of human geography. Terms such as place, region and locality have re-entered the vocabulary of geography. As many of those who have commented on this trend have said, this is not a return to the regional geography of old. Rather, it is an exploration of links with other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences and an attempt to come to terms with what Marxbm Today has characterized as ‘New Times’ - a congeries of economic, social, cultural and political change. This book is the result of a number of studies undertaken by many closely associated with this emerging ‘locality school’. It owes its origins to work commissioned in 1984 by the Economic and Social Research Council under its Changing Urban and Regional System (CURS) research programme. This in turn followed pioneering work by Doreen Massey on the restructuring of the British economy (Massey, 1984). The CURS programme was coordinated by Philip Cooke, who has edited the work of the seven teams participating to produce this volume. It opens with a very useful review by the editor of changing so&-economic and political conditions in Britain, related to a rapidly evolving and increasingly interdependent global system. This should be useful to undergraduates and others seeking a description of the empirical background to ‘New Times’ in Britain. Then follow the seven case studies of localities, all but two of them written by teams of authors. Given the number of contributors (27 in total), the case studies do follow a reasonably consistent pattern, while allowing appropriate variation. The book concludes with a further chapter by the editor, which examines the strategies and options for local societies to maintain their autonomy and freedom of action. His concluding lines make clear the challenge and problems this entails: “A society which is exposed to the presently unregulated forces of an increasingly globaliied economy, while being deprived of discretion over local affairs, some of which involve picking up the pieces left by global economic whirlwinds, is Promethean in its predicament. The Prometheus myth, it is worth recalling, ended with the opening of Pandora’s box” (p. 305). The original CURS programme was subjected to consider-
able critical scrutiny
(see Beauregard,
1988; Cochrane,
1987; Gregson, 1987; Jonas, 1988; Smith, 1987). The main tenor of this criticism has been that although informed by a common theoretical and methodological basis, the seven case localities rely on the assumption that people in particular localities share common social relations, which are spatially precise and confined. There is no consideration of the possibility that instead there may be several separate sets of social relations of different people who happen, contingently, to be co-located. The CURS programme was also criticized for its comparison of quite different types of urban place, discrete, medium-sized towns, such as Cheltenham, Lancaster and Swindon (and perhaps also Middlesbrough), a grouping of rather smaller towns, Thanet and parts of two larger conurbations, Birmingham and Liverpool. Given that such a range of places was included, the omission of market towns and villages could be regretted and their absence will probably diminish the appeal of the book to readers of this journal. There is a case to be made that rural Britain has already had an equivalent research agenda, which is attested by papers by, among others, Cloke and Thrift (1987), Cloke and Little (1987), Newby (1986). Bradley (1985) and Barlow (1986, 1988) and the book edited by Bradley and Lowe (1984). However, it is a great pity that urban and rural localities should be so separated. The very fact that they are would seem to underline the criticism that locality studies often fail to avoid the reification of place. It also has to be said that the old regional geography did not so separate the urban and the rural. The book should have considerable value to those seeking a picture of the urban places of Britain in the mid-1980s and I can see it being the answer to the undergraduate’s prayers for useful empirical and descriptive material on ‘New Times’ in Britain. Whether readers of this journal will find it as useful is more speculative. What it is, is a cogent summary of the CURS initiative and it is pleasing to see results from research programmes being published commercially and reaching a wider audience. Whether decision-makers will read the book is another matter. JOHN BRADBEER Department of Geography, Portsmouth Polytechnic, U.K.
References Barlow, J. (1986) Landowners, property ownership and the rural locality. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 10(3), 309-329. Barlow, J. (1988) The politics of land into the 1990s: landowners, developers and farmers in lowland Britain. Policy and Politics M(2), 111-121. Beauregard, R.A. (1988) In the absence of practice: the locality research debate. Antipode 20(l), 52-59. Bradley, T. (1985) Reworking The Quiet Revolution: industrial and labour market restructuring in village England. Sociologia Ruralis 25(l), 4040. Bradley, T. and Lowe, P. (eds) (1984) Locality and Rurality: Economy
and Society in Rural Regions. Geo-
books, Norwich. Cloke, P. and Little, J. (1987) Policy, planning and the state in rural localities. Journal of Rural Studies 3(4), 343-351.
Cloke, P. and Thrift, N. (1987) Intra-class conflict in rural areas. Journal of Rural Studies 3(4), 321-333. Cochrane, A. (1987) What a difference the place makes: the new structuration of locality. Antipode 19(3), 354-363.
Book Reviews Gregson, N. (1987) The CURS initiative: some further comments. Antipode 19(3), 364-373. Jonas, A. (1988) A new regional geography of localities? Area 20(2), 101-110. Massey, D. (1984) Spatial Divisions of Labour: Social Structure and the Geography of Production. Macmillan, London.
I
241
Newby, H. (1986) Locality and rurality: the restructuring of rural social relations. Regional Studies u)(3). 209215. Smith, N. (1987) Dangers of the empirical turn: some comments on the CURS initiative. Antipode 19(l), 59-68.
Book Reviewers
If you would like your name to be added to the book review roster for Journal of Rural Studies please write to the Editor providing your name, address and a resumk of your fields of interest.
I