Contents:
Contents
List of Figures
List of Abbreviations
The Authors
Preface

1. Competition, Cohesion, Governance: The Urban Triangle

London and the New Urban Agenda

Competitiveness, Cohesion and Governance: Issues and Debates
Cities and Competitiveness
Cohesion, Exclusion and Social Capital
Policy Issues and Urban Governance

Conclusion: From Theory to Research

2. Spaces and People: Changing Geographies of the Region

Structures and Processes: London and Its Region since 1950
The London of 1950
An Intermediate Geography: London in 1975
The Changed Geography of London 2000

Mapping London's Geographies
The Changing Geography of Employment
Social Structure
House Prices: An Index of Social Change
Social Patterns across the Region: Households, Ethnicity and Deprivation

The Eight Localities
Reading and Wokingham (East and Central Reading and Earley)
Hounslow (Heston and Great West Road)
Wandsworth (Battersea and Clapham)
Southwark (Bankside, Bermondsey and Peckham)
Newham (Stratford and Upton Park)
Redbridge (Gants Hill and Ilford)
Greenwich (Charlton and Eltham)
Dartford and Gravesham (Kent Thames-side)

Conclusion: Unpicking the London Puzzle

3. Complex Business: Growth and Volatility in London's Economies

Assessing London's Recent Competitive Performance
Employment Change
Productivity
International Markets
Overall Competitive Performance

Instability and Volatility in the Regional Economy

Key Sectors and Clusters
The Economic Base of the Regional Economy
Global City Functions
Capital City Functions
Innovative and Knowledge-based Activities
Cultural Services

The Local Economies
Reading (Centre and East)
Hounslow (Great West Road)
Wandsworth (Battersea and Clapham)
The City of London
Southwark (Bankside and Bermondsey)
Newham (Stratford)
Redbridge (Ilford)
Greenwich (Charlton)
Dartford (Thames-side)

Social Influences on Business Performance
Labour Supply
Entrepreneurship
Local Networks
Crime and Other Threats
Conclusion: Is London Competitive?

4. More Opportunity, More Inequality: Social Structure and Economic
Change in London
Population Change and Its Consequences
The Changing Ethnic Composition
Occupation and Social Class: Is London a 'Global City'?
Earnings and Incomes in London
The Role of the Housing Market
Commuting
Neighbourhood Change and Social Segregation
Conclusion: Social and Neighbourhood Change in London

5. ''Education, Education, Education': The Role of Schooling in London

Skills and Human Capital

Educational Outcomes and School Performance in the London Region
Socio-economic Influences on School Performance
The School Quality Factor

The Competitive London Schools Market
Parents' Educational Strategies
Effects of the Quasi-Market

Further and Higher Education in the Competitive City

Ethnicity, Immigration and Schooling in London

Conclusion: Education, Economy and Society in London


6. Climbing Up, Bumping Down and Flitting Around: London's Dynamic Labour Market

Aggregate Imbalances and Adjustment Processes

Flexibility and Turbulence in the Metropolitan Labour Market

Flexibility and Job Changing in the London Labour Market

Upward Mobility

The Role of Agencies

The Costs and Benefits of Flexibility

Concentrated Unemployment and Its Causes: Discrimination, Recession and Sedimentation

Discrimination

Segregation and Unemployment

Conclusion: London's Distinctive Labour Market

7. Down But Not Out in London: Marginality and Social Exclusion

The Analytical Framework

The Spatial Pattern of Disadvantage

Forms of Poverty and Disadvantage in London
Labour Market Marginality
Poverty
Subjective Poverty and Stress Indicators
Housing
Stress and Isolation
The Persistence of Poverty and Other Measures of Disadvantage

Populations at Risk

The Persistence of Poverty and Other Measures of Disadvantage

Conclusion: Deprivation and Social Exclusion in London

8. How Social is the Capital? Getting By and Getting On in London

Families in London

Friends

Neighbours

Getting Ahead

Trust, Neighbourhood Affiliation and Communities

Social Capital, Civil Society and Governance

Social Capital and the Economy

Social Disorder

Crime

Conclusion: Social Relations in London

9. Things Endure, Things Change: London's Neighbourhoods

Six Kinds of Neighbourhood
The New Melting Pots: Battersea and East Reading
Proletarian Islands Under Pressure: Bermondsey/Peckham
An Area of 'Potential': Upton Park
The Suburb Challenged: Eltham, Heston
The Arcadian Suburb under Shadow: Gants Hill
The Dynamic Edge Suburb: Dartford, Earley

Generalities and Commonalities: Dimensions of Neighbourhood Life

Conclusion: Change and Continuity

10. Steering, Rowing, Drowning or Waving? The Modernization of London's Governance

The Modernization Agenda

The Local Authorities and the Modernization Agenda

The Local Authorities and Service Delivery

The Local Authorities: Their Agenda, Policies and Politics
Newham
Southwark
Wandsworth
Greenwich
Hou nslow
Redbridge
Dart ford
Reading and Wokingham

New Governance Organizations: the Mayor, the GLA and the RDAs

Conclusion: From Government to Governance?

11. The Name of Action: Ideas, Commitment and the Agenda for Cities

Answering the Five Key Questions

Is London Special?

Work in Progress: A New Society, A New Sociology

The Role of Policy: Obstacles and Opportunities

Governance: Structures, Operations, Collaboration

Postscript: The Mayor's London Plan

Bibliography

Index

Originally published in 1985, this book analyses the development of private rented housing in Britain, France, the former West Germany, the Netherlands and the USA. The book shows that the changing fortunes of the private rented sector are seen in some measure to be connected with the social, economic and political conditions which surrounded the rapid industrialisation and urbanisation of the 19th Century.

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The Sociology of Urban Communities provides an authoritative collection of over 60 key articles by leading international contributors to urban sociology, together with an introductory article by the editor.The coverage is comprehensive, ranging from work on the role of cities in the transition from feudalism to capitalism and the nineteenth century origins of urban sociology, through the classic writings associated with the Chicago School and the Marxist new urban sociology of the 1960s and 1970s. The collection is completed by sections which focus on the urban consequences of contemporary economic restructuring and work which reflects recent developments in the sociology of gender, space and postmodernism.

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First published in 1988. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

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Working Capital provides a rigorous but accessible analysis of these key issues taking London as its test case. The book provides the first substantial analysis of key economic, social and structural issues that the new London administration needs to deal with. In a wider context, its critical assessment of the bases of the new urbanism and of the global city thesis will raise questions both about the adequacy of urban thinking and about the capacity of new institutions alone to resolve the fundamental problems faced by cities.

In the summer of 2001, Michael Harling goes on a two-week vacation to Ireland. Here, the future author of Postcards From Across the Pond experiences life in Europe for the first time, and discovers he is ill-suited to the challenge. Along the way he finds himself at odds with the Irish climate, traversing treacherous terrain and in desperate need of a Laundromat. But he is on a mission, a pilgrimage of sorts, to uncover the elusive mystique that is the real Ireland. And while this ideal continues to elude him, he finds the one thing he was determined to avoid.

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