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Rural geography and rural Britain
188
Book
Books which review recent research themes and discuss current developments in a comprehensive manner are always useful-for a limited period of time, that is. This is one such book which sets out to appraise -the approach of rural geographers to their subject. particularly with regard to data collection, methods of description and explanation. the development of theory. and the application of their results to policy-making’. In adopting this method of sifting through the available literature Andrew Gilg maintains that this book should neatly complement Michael Pacione’s (196-l) Rural Grogrnplz_v and Rrcraf Britain by David Phillips and Allan Williams (1984). Well, it clearly does pursue rural topics more imaginatively than one finds in Pacione’s somewhat encyclopedic structure; on the other hand. it does not have the reader-friendliness of Rural Britain. being, in contrast. more informationintensive and having the text interspersed with additional material. But this is only to be expected when the author attempts to incorporate findings from some 750 references and pack these into only 120 pages of text. Some 50 pages are given over to diagrams or tabulated information and the bibliography extends to 25 pages. The crucial point is, however, that all three books draw very largely on the same source material, in some cases reproducing the same, or very similar, maps and diagrams. Gilg arranges his review around sixteen themes which are grouped by research area into eight chapters. This is valuable in that one can quickly gain an appreciation of the way a research theme has developed in recent decades and also the relevant literature is kept together in the text. The way themes interlink is also explored and their relevance is clearly examined and explained. But there are some difficulties with this approach since rural geography does not have a finely tuned methodology and, like other writers, Andrew Gilg tries to squeeze some of these themes into topic areas. The result is that some themes turn up in several chapters. For example, it is puzzling to find two pages on land use competition in the urban fringe tacked on to a chapter on forestry and mining. The same theme re-occurs in a later chapter on land management where it again commands two pages of discussion. Surely such an important area of interest could have formed a theme in its own right; there is more than a little written about it both from an economic angle and in its geographical context, and it has formed a major research field in the United States and Canada where it has become closely involved with methods of land evaluation. I find it surprising that there is no mention of Bryant’s work on agriculture in metropolitan fringes nor of The City’s Countryside by Bryant, Russworm and McLellan (1982). This is an important text which not only reports on work in a topical location but which also attempts to develop some spatial theory and apply it. Of course, it is more than easy for a reviewer to argue that additional material should have been included in a review text like Rural Geography. and quite frankly, there are few criticisms that can be made of the book as it stands. But I would draw issue with two aspects which I doubt are of the author’s making. Firstly. the point about land use competition above underlies the fact that the tone of the book is heavily weighted towards the British situation. European geographers have not been idle these last few decades and their contributions to research in rural goegraphy deserve wider recognition by publishers and students alike. Clearly, it would be unrealistic to expect Andrew Gilg to review continental or American sources at length but more from these areas. at the expense of kvell
Reviews publicised British sales potential.
examples.
would
not have reduced
the
The second point concerns the title and the cover information. The title is quite misleading; this is not an introductory text since it is readily evident that many of the themes examined demand a thorough understanding of the geographical context and need detailed information to be really appreciated. A summary discussion on aspects like rural deprivation or second homes, which directs the reader to ten or more additional papers, is hardly introductory. A more appropriate title would be ‘Research themes in British rural geography’. Furthermore, to write on the back cover that this book ‘provides a comprehensive review of the topics, themes and research findings in the ~vhole [my emphasis] area of rural geography’ is plainly incorrect and should be amended quickly. This is a book for second or final year students and a very useful text it should be for them, both to gain an appreciation of the research interests of British geographers and also as a reference source. Despite the reservations expressed above, the book points a way forward for rural research rather than merely reporting it and, for this reason alone. it is good value. BRIAN J. WOODRUFFE Departrnem of Geography University of Sourhampton, U.K.
The Deveiopment Commission’s Rural Industrial Development Programme - A Review of Progress 1945-85, C. Minay, 67 pp., 1985, WP 87, Department of Town Planning, Oxford Polytechnic, f3.00 + 7Op p.& p.
This monograph examines the achievements of the Development Commission’s factory and workshop construction programme, primarily in rural England, during the period since the war. Whilst exclusively based on existing published reports and the findings of a variety of research projects, its approach is justified on the grounds that it is rare for a public policy programme to be undertaken continuously for over half a century under a single even if there has been constant government agency, modification of aims, objectives and general approach. The first half of the study is concerned with a historical review of the programme’s aims, and techniques adopted for targetting investment, and it broadly covers ground already discussed by other authors (Tricker and Martin, 1984; Chisholm, 1984; Williams, 1984, 1985). The initial experimental stage in rural Wales and Scotland, was followed by the ‘trigger areas’ policy of the 1960s focussed on growth points. The development of a strategic concern evolved from the new remit given to it in the mid-1970s (focussed exclusively on rural England), where its focus on ‘special investment areas’ resulted in a rapid expansion and dispersal of its advance factory building programme. Since 1982, the Commission has entered a further phase, with ‘grant-in-aid’ status, concerned with the development of more integrated social and economic strategies (Rural
Book
Books which review recent research themes and discuss current developments in a comprehensive manner are always useful-for a limited period of time, that is. This is one such book which sets out to appraise -the approach of rural geographers to their subject. particularly with regard to data collection, methods of description and explanation. the development of theory. and the application of their results to policy-making’. In adopting this method of sifting through the available literature Andrew Gilg maintains that this book should neatly complement Michael Pacione’s (196-l) Rural Grogrnplz_v and Rrcraf Britain by David Phillips and Allan Williams (1984). Well, it clearly does pursue rural topics more imaginatively than one finds in Pacione’s somewhat encyclopedic structure; on the other hand. it does not have the reader-friendliness of Rural Britain. being, in contrast. more informationintensive and having the text interspersed with additional material. But this is only to be expected when the author attempts to incorporate findings from some 750 references and pack these into only 120 pages of text. Some 50 pages are given over to diagrams or tabulated information and the bibliography extends to 25 pages. The crucial point is, however, that all three books draw very largely on the same source material, in some cases reproducing the same, or very similar, maps and diagrams. Gilg arranges his review around sixteen themes which are grouped by research area into eight chapters. This is valuable in that one can quickly gain an appreciation of the way a research theme has developed in recent decades and also the relevant literature is kept together in the text. The way themes interlink is also explored and their relevance is clearly examined and explained. But there are some difficulties with this approach since rural geography does not have a finely tuned methodology and, like other writers, Andrew Gilg tries to squeeze some of these themes into topic areas. The result is that some themes turn up in several chapters. For example, it is puzzling to find two pages on land use competition in the urban fringe tacked on to a chapter on forestry and mining. The same theme re-occurs in a later chapter on land management where it again commands two pages of discussion. Surely such an important area of interest could have formed a theme in its own right; there is more than a little written about it both from an economic angle and in its geographical context, and it has formed a major research field in the United States and Canada where it has become closely involved with methods of land evaluation. I find it surprising that there is no mention of Bryant’s work on agriculture in metropolitan fringes nor of The City’s Countryside by Bryant, Russworm and McLellan (1982). This is an important text which not only reports on work in a topical location but which also attempts to develop some spatial theory and apply it. Of course, it is more than easy for a reviewer to argue that additional material should have been included in a review text like Rural Geography. and quite frankly, there are few criticisms that can be made of the book as it stands. But I would draw issue with two aspects which I doubt are of the author’s making. Firstly. the point about land use competition above underlies the fact that the tone of the book is heavily weighted towards the British situation. European geographers have not been idle these last few decades and their contributions to research in rural goegraphy deserve wider recognition by publishers and students alike. Clearly, it would be unrealistic to expect Andrew Gilg to review continental or American sources at length but more from these areas. at the expense of kvell
Reviews publicised British sales potential.
examples.
would
not have reduced
the
The second point concerns the title and the cover information. The title is quite misleading; this is not an introductory text since it is readily evident that many of the themes examined demand a thorough understanding of the geographical context and need detailed information to be really appreciated. A summary discussion on aspects like rural deprivation or second homes, which directs the reader to ten or more additional papers, is hardly introductory. A more appropriate title would be ‘Research themes in British rural geography’. Furthermore, to write on the back cover that this book ‘provides a comprehensive review of the topics, themes and research findings in the ~vhole [my emphasis] area of rural geography’ is plainly incorrect and should be amended quickly. This is a book for second or final year students and a very useful text it should be for them, both to gain an appreciation of the research interests of British geographers and also as a reference source. Despite the reservations expressed above, the book points a way forward for rural research rather than merely reporting it and, for this reason alone. it is good value. BRIAN J. WOODRUFFE Departrnem of Geography University of Sourhampton, U.K.
The Deveiopment Commission’s Rural Industrial Development Programme - A Review of Progress 1945-85, C. Minay, 67 pp., 1985, WP 87, Department of Town Planning, Oxford Polytechnic, f3.00 + 7Op p.& p.
This monograph examines the achievements of the Development Commission’s factory and workshop construction programme, primarily in rural England, during the period since the war. Whilst exclusively based on existing published reports and the findings of a variety of research projects, its approach is justified on the grounds that it is rare for a public policy programme to be undertaken continuously for over half a century under a single even if there has been constant government agency, modification of aims, objectives and general approach. The first half of the study is concerned with a historical review of the programme’s aims, and techniques adopted for targetting investment, and it broadly covers ground already discussed by other authors (Tricker and Martin, 1984; Chisholm, 1984; Williams, 1984, 1985). The initial experimental stage in rural Wales and Scotland, was followed by the ‘trigger areas’ policy of the 1960s focussed on growth points. The development of a strategic concern evolved from the new remit given to it in the mid-1970s (focussed exclusively on rural England), where its focus on ‘special investment areas’ resulted in a rapid expansion and dispersal of its advance factory building programme. Since 1982, the Commission has entered a further phase, with ‘grant-in-aid’ status, concerned with the development of more integrated social and economic strategies (Rural