Global trends such as climate change, digitalisation, enhanced concepts of democracy and the consequences of the 2008 financial crisis are changing the playing field of cities across the world. Urban development objectives are shifting away from being purely concerned with wealth creation and competitiveness, to increasingly combining social and environmental dimensions. In this context, how can cities influence and sustain their competitive position over time? Which new types of urban strategies are emerging, and which organising capacities are proving the most important? This book provides insight into the complex issue of delivering sustainable competitiveness by analysing a number of innovative urban development strategies in context. Questions and topics addressed include: how can new legacies of city events be secured; how can clean technology industries be nurtured through urban regeneration initiatives; and how can the impact of urban safety strategies be enhanced? These and other pivotal questions are explored through close attention to the enabling factors linking ideas with results, such as distributed leadership, collaboration, communication and experimentation. Combining case studies from Europe, Africa, South America and Southeast Asia, the book provides a truly international perspective on the potentials and limitations of a new generation of urban development and competitiveness strategies.

Location is vital to the efficiency and profitability of industrial activity. Industrial Location presents a comprehensive introduction to and critical review of this field of growing academic and business interest.
In business, the right choices have to be made to produce profit. Industrial location is a fixed investment, crucial to the strategy and capital investment of any organization. Location also impacts upon non-investors, directly affecting employment, the environment, and economic activity in the locale.
Focusing chiefly on the United States, but drawing on an international range of cases, the authors explain the economic, social and political forces which have shaped comtemporary patterns of industrialization and examines the changing nature of production and systems.

A survey and analysis of major old industrial regions - the Ruhr, South Wales, the Great Lakes and Ontario - in terms of their economic regeneration and their re-emergence as centres of thriving industrial activity of the new kind.

Following drastic shifts in the spatial organization of goods production, increasingly fierce competition now forces firms also to look critically at how to organize the production of services. While digitization and advances in information and communication technologies have enabled firms to unbundle service production processes, the increased global availability of skilled labour allows for the relocation of ever more of these processes around the world. As a result, a new geography of services production takes shape: a geography that is defined by new interregional and international divisions of labour and held together by increasingly complex global services production networks. This book examines how the reorganisation of services production alters relations between and generates different sets of challenges and opportunities for economic development in the Global North and the Global South. Drawing from 11 case studies probing various aspects of services production in different parts of the world, the book brings out the remarkable heterogeneity and transformative capacities of services. It successively shows how global trade in services creates new interdependencies between services producing and services consuming regions; reveals how services help to mitigate the impact of and contribute to recovery from economic crises in the Global North; and demonstrates how services offshoring fosters economic development and service-sector driven modernisation processes in the Global South. The book's openness to the heterogeneous and dynamic nature of services production enlarges our understanding of which particular services in which spatiotemporal context have the capacity to generate good jobs, contribute to productivity and drive economic growth. The book stands out from other books in the field in that it combines perspectives on services-driven transformations from both the Global North and the Global South and looks into the role of various services segments. Based on pioneering empirical research and original data it offers a timely contribution to this growing debate. The book provides valuable insights for students, scholars and professionals interested in services, services offshoring, services-driven growth, and socioeconomic transformations in the Global North and South.

Israel's industrial geography is unique. The continuing Arab-Israeli conflict has been a primary force behind government intervention in settlement patterns, and has led to a major effort to disperse industry. The geo-political situation has also encouraged a policy of attempted self-reliance, especially for defence purposes. These factors, combined with an abundant human capital, have given Israeli high-technology industries a special place in the international division of labour. The absorption of waves of mass immigration has influenced industrial development. Rural industrialization, mainly by the kibbutz (communal settlement) movement, is another unique feature. "The Industrial Geography of Israel" attempts to present a comprehensive overview of industrial spatial development of Israel from the Ottoman era to present times, evaluating industrial dispersal policy, corporate geography, high-technology industries, entrepreneurship and rural industrial development. The spatial development of Israeli industry is set within the broader context of Israel's political and economic development and of global economic change.

The economy and geography of human population concentrations have been characterized throughout history by numerous dualisms and spatial disparities. Extreme poverty and equally extreme wealth coexist side by side. Are they connected or are they purely random? "The Dynamics of Cities" addresses these questions, arguing that both the interaction of space and time and the comparative advantage of location are interlocked into a simple but rich code of evolution. Drawing on recorded evidence, available on a global scale and spanning the past quarter century, Dimitrios Dendrinos argues that the dynamics of the world's largest cities exhibit patterns of chaos. He suggests that simple, general and powerful macrodynamic processes guide the growth and decline of present day urban agglomerations, as well as cities of the past. Large in scale, broad in scope and long in term, deterministic forces govern these human habitats; Governments stand to have little impact upon such macroecological determinism.

CROSS REF DEV STUDIES Both Africa and the Middle East have sought alternatives to Western models of development. The last twenty-five years have seen political independence for the states of Africa and increased economic dependence on external aid. The Middle East, resource rich and water poor, continues economically robust but politically unstable. In both regions, widespread poverty continues as does the involvement of the West.
Clearly illustrated with basic maps of the countries discussed, The Changing Geography of Africa and the Middle East presents a systematic review of twenty-five years of development. The book will prove an invaluable guide to the physical, economic, social and political environments of contemporary Africa and the Middle East.


eBook available with sample pages: 0203034503

Ranging from the poverty and exploding population of Bangladesh to the dazzling technology and aging population of Japan, from the two most populous states of India and China to the tiny states of Singapore and the Maldives and to the emptiness of Siberia, Asia contains perhaps the greatest diversity of physical environments, cultures and levels of development of any of the continents. Clearly illustrated with basic maps of the countries discussed, "The Changing Geography of Asia" presents a systematic review of 25 years of development - a guide to the physical, economic, social and political environments of contemporary Asia. This book should be of interest to introductory students in geography and development studies.

In recent years car production in the United States has undergone changes on a scale unknown since the pioneering era prior to World War I. New plants have been opened in the interior of the country, while most of those located along the east and west coast have been closed. "The Changing U.S. Auto Industry" uses concepts drawn from geography, such as access to markets and shipments of parts, to understand some of the reasons for the recent changes. Also critical is the changing role of labour in the production process, including the search by Japanese firms for a union-free environment, the re-location of some production to Mexico and the debate over the appropriate level of union-management cooperation. This book should be of interest to lecturers and students of geography and economics.

Revolutionary changes to our world economy and its impact on the environment are presenting large problems for human society. "Global Change and Challenge" examines some of the crucial challenges facing society in the 1990s and how geography can contribute to their understanding and management. Using the theme of how societies adapt to change, the contributors deal with some of the issues confronting modern geography in three broad groups. The early chapters examine the impact of human activity on the environment in a global context - looking in particular at the management of resources and of the natural environment. The book then examines from a variety of perspectives how global economic change offers both new constraints and new opportunities for economic development at all levels: local, regional and global. The shifting patterns of social and economic change are examined with respect to the industrialized, newly industrialized, and Third World countries at both national and regional levels. The final chapter assesses how new technology can influence the geographer's perspective and aid in the search for management solutions. This book should be of interest to lecturers and fi

This book stresses the complexity of the relationship between economic and population growth, instead of concentrating on demographic growth. Therefore it assesses its implications for the future economic, social and political advancement of those developing countries and makes certain recommendations regarding formulation and research needs in that area.

A small number of countries, regions, cities, and localities are powerful gatekeepers and generate the bulk of creative and innovative ideas, while the majority is largely excluded. This book looks at neglected, but emerging innovation centres analysed from various spatial and organizational perspectives; ranging from entire countries and regions to individual firms and small neighbourhoods. Bringing together leading scholars from various disciplines, it examines a variety of economic sectors including biotechnology, agrotourism, and the food retail industry. The authors employ various, often contradictory, concepts, ranging from local buzz and the global pipeline, through an analysis of collective learning processes to geographical embeddedness, using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The purpose of the book is twofold: investigating changes occurring in the regions and cities under transformation and attempting to find common and unique mechanisms behind these changes. Consequently, the authors shed light on the scale and scope of the innovativeness of selected economic and social processes.

This Handbook provides an overview and assessment of the state-of-the-art research methods, approaches and applications central to economic geography. Understanding spatial economic outcomes and the forces and mechanisms that influence the geography of economic growth is of utmost importance and demands substantial theoretical and empirical research in economic geography, spatial economics and regional science. Such research is critically dependent upon good and reliable empirical data, and it is here that this Handbook contributes, providing a broad overview of up-to-date research methods and approaches. The chapters are written by distinguished researchers from a variety of scholarly traditions and with a background in different academic disciplines including economics, economic human and cultural geography, and economic history. Researchers and academics in economics and economic geography will find this a fundamental reference point and will benefit from the comprehensive assessment of research methods and approaches in the field. Practitioners and policy-makers will also find the practical applications to be of utmost value. Contributors: M. Andersson, G. Arbia, B. Asheim, R. Basile, M. Birkin, R. Boschma, S. Brakman, J. Broecker, L. Broersma, H-H. Chang, G. Clarke, M. Clarke, L. Coenen, J. Corcoran, S. Dall'erba, G. Espa, A.M. Esteves, A. Faggian, M.M. Fischer, K. Frenken, M. Fritsch, D. Giuliani, K.E. Haynes, G.J.D. Hewings, M. Horvath, G. Ivanova, N. Kapitsinis, C. Karlsson, H. Khawaldah, M. Kilkenny, J. Klaesson, S. Koster, J.P. Larsson, J. Lesage, Y. Li, I. Llamosas-Rosas, P.A. Longley, T. Mitze, J. Moodysson, I. Noback, T. Norman, J. Oosterhaven, J. Parajuli, M. Partridge, D. Psaltopoulos, M. Schramm, D. Skuras, A. Stephan, P. Thulin, S. Usai, J. van Dijk, C. van Marrewijk, F. van Oort, F. Vanclay, A. Varga, H. Westlund

The author clearly demonstrates the relevance of past events to contemporary options for coping with economic change, and stresses the importance of the biophysical environment, even in "postindustrial" societies. The Global Economic System demonstrates the reality and significance of contemporary global economic interdependencies, and indicates that environmental and cultural/historical perspectives are crucial to understanding the evolution of national and regional economies. The book will be a key text for undergraduate students of economic geography, and will also serve the needs of courses in international affairs, global political economy, and development studies.

First published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Representing an innovative approach to the analysis of the economic geography of capitalism, this stimulating book develops an analytical political economic framework. Part 1 provides an introductory overvi9ew fo some of the fundamental debates about price, profits and value in economics which underlie the analytical political economy approach. Part 2 analyzes the special role of space and transportation in commodity production and the spatial organization of the economy that this implies. Parts 3 and 4 examine the conflicting goals and actions of different social clases and individuals and how these are complicated by space, concluding with a detailed analysis of capitalists' strategiesas they cope with uncertainty and disequilibrium.

This volume provides a survey of the world's iron-ore resources during the 1960s and the distribution of the iron and steel industries. There are specific chapters on the UK , Western Europe, the USSR, the USA and smaller sections on Africa, Latin America and South East Asia. Particular attention is paid to the political aspects of the steel industry, for example in Post-War Germany.

Southeast Asia: A Region in Transition, first published in 1991, is a contemporary human geography of the 'market' economies of the region usually defined by membership of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Organized thematically, the chapters deal with the environment and development, plural societies, agrarian change and urbanization. This thematic approach provides a comprehensive picture of the ASEAN countries and gives a depth of coverage often lacking in other regional geographies. With a detailed introduction dealing with the physical environment and history of the region, this work will be of great value to students studying the human geography of Southeast Asia, as well as those with a more general interest in the issues and developments affecting the ASEAN region.

To understand fully the process of European integration, it is necessary to consider developments at the sub-national and local level. EU integration scholars have been examining the local level using the concept of multi-level governance (MLG) since the 1990s. While MLG was the first concept to scrutinize the position of local levels of public administration and other actors within the EU polity, it overestimates the degree of influence it ascribes to local levels, particularly as far as the rural is concerned. Focusing on Germany and Finland, with country specific information from all EU member states, this book combines MLG with the concept of structural constructivism, in order to reveal some of the hidden aspects of EU integration. Bringing together these concepts and methodologies and replacing mainstream theories of integration with this new approach, offers a more accurate picture of multi-level interaction in rural policy and of the impacts of European integration at the local level. By examining the Community Initiative LEADER+ and setting this within a discussion of the state and structure of rural development policy, this book looks at the challenges, opportunities and policy options which are available and have been implemented in rural development. It shows that these are often context dependent and that the future of rural development policies, their shape and institutional configuration depend on reforms put in place at all levels of governance. Finally, it argues that the MLG of rural development policy must be built with people who have the know-how and the (local) knowledge to implement development projects and who have made LEADER a success in the past.

Exploring the conceptual insights provided by the archipelagic 'twist' in the context of tourism principles, policies and practices, this volume draws on an international series of case studies to analyse best practice in branding, marketing and logistics in archipelago tourist destinations. The book asks and seeks to answer such questions as: How to 'sell' a multi-island destination, without risking a message that may be too complex and diffuse for audiences to grab on to? Does one encourage visitors to do 'island hopping'; and, if so, how and with what logistic facilities? How does one ascribe specific island destinations within an overall archipelago brand? Would smaller islands rebel against a composite branding strategy that actually benefits other islands? How does one read or craft transport policies as a function of the 'reterritorialisation' of a multi-island space? This book pioneers the exploration of the archipelago as tourism study focus (and not just locus); a heuristic device for rendering islands as sites of different tourism practices, industries and policies, but also of challenges and possibilities.

Reflecting on two decades of 'competitiveness-oriented' urban policies in Europe, this book investigates the current challenges cities face to sustain their economic position and how this can be balanced with social progress and environmental improvements. Complementing previous surveys on local and urban development and competitiveness-based strategies, this volume provides longer term views on the evolution of such policies at the city level, from the personal perspective of city officials in eight European cities. More concretely, it looks at how the urban dimension in EU policies have evolved over time, the kinds of urban policy supported by the EU over the last two decades and how cities have been involved with this process. The book investigates the portfolios of competitiveness-oriented policies which have been developed by European cities and how they see the link between urban/spatial development policies and sustainable competitiveness. Finally the book fleshes out a number of challenges and initiatives taken by the eight European cities and their governments in the face of current challenges in order to pave the way towards more competitive and sustainable urban economies.

The onset of the global crisis has emphasised the persistence of substantial differences in development and social progress within the euro area. The specific case of countries located in the southern periphery region has come to the centre stage, due to the harsh economic conditions that all these countries have experienced in the recent past. In the aftermath of the American subprime credit bubble, these countries' high indebtedness raised doubts as to their ability to sustain public finances, with the financial crisis developing and gaining momentum due to the fragilities presented in the economy. To varying degrees of severity, all of these economies have since been forced to introduce strong fiscal tightening programmes in order to achieve fiscal consolidation, which have translated into recession and rising unemployment. This book undertakes a comprehensive analysis of the causes of the crisis in southern European countries, showing that the 'Achilles heel' of these economies is rooted in the dismal evolution of productivity and in a specialisation pattern excessively based on the so-called 'traditional', low, and low-medium tech industries, which yield low margins, declining export shares and, ultimately, withering international competitiveness. Such evidence suggests that the southern European periphery industrial growth model has reached its limits, demanding a multidimensional policy approach capable of overcoming the magnitude and complexity of the present crisis. Without denying the need to adjust public and private balance sheets, it is argued that finding a sustainable path out of the present problems requires addressing the challenges of productivity growth and competitiveness in the long term.

While the operational realities of intermodal transport are relatively well known, the institutional challenges are less well understood. This book provides an overview of intermodal transport and logistics including the policy background, emerging industry trends and academic approaches. Establishing the three key features of intermodal transport geography as intermodal terminals, inland logistics and hinterland corridors, Jason Monios takes an institutional approach to understanding the difficulties of successful intermodal transport and logistics. Key areas of investigation include the policy and planning background, the roles of public and private stakeholders and the identification of emerging strategy conflicts. Substantial empirical content situates the theoretical and practical issues in real-world examples via three detailed case study chapters (covering the USA, UK and Europe), making the book useful to students as well as practitioners desiring an understanding of how intermodal transport and logistics work in practice. The identified challenges to intermodal transport and logistics are used to demonstrate how competing port and inland strategies can inhibit the necessary processes of integration required to underpin successful intermodal transport. The book concludes with a look at the future of institutional adaptation that may enhance the capacity of freight actors to engage with intermodal transport developments.

The Geography of the World Economy provides an in-depth and stimulating introduction to the globalization of the world economy. The book offers a consideration of local, regional, national and global economic development over the long historical term. The theory and practice of economic and political geography provide a basis for understanding the interactions within and among the developed and developing countries of the world. Illustrated in color throughout, this new edition has been completely reworked and updated to take account of recent significant changes in the world economy. A new companion website also accompanies the book, with additional resources for each chapter including multiple choice and short essay questions and links to relevant websites. Figures and tables are also available for download located at www.routledge.com/cw/knox The text is signposted throughout with an glossary of key terms, and is richly illustrated with full-color maps, diagrams and illustrations. It is ideal for upper level university undergraduates and for post-graduates in a variety of specializations including geography, economics, political science, international relations and global studies.

Southeast Asia: A Region in Transition, first published in 1991, is a contemporary human geography of the 'market' economies of the region usually defined by membership of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Organized thematically, the chapters deal with the environment and development, plural societies, agrarian change and urbanization. This thematic approach provides a comprehensive picture of the ASEAN countries and gives a depth of coverage often lacking in other regional geographies. With a detailed introduction dealing with the physical environment and history of the region, this work will be of great value to students studying the human geography of Southeast Asia, as well as those with a more general interest in the issues and developments affecting the ASEAN region.