Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space

In this paper we show the properties of a spatial hierarchy found in a random configuration in which points are randomly placed on a plane and ranks are randomly assigned to these points. First we show a method of detecting a spatial hierarchy in a configuration of ranked points on a plane (not necessarily the random configuration). Second, using this method we obtain the spatial hierarchy of the random configuration mentioned above, and examine its properties theoretically as well as numerically with the Monte Carlo simulation. From this examination, we find that the spatial hierarchy of the random configuration shares more or less similar properties with Christaller's spatial hierarchy. Stated explicitly, the shape of dominant regions is hexagonal on average; the areas of the same rank centers are fairly homogeneous; the K value defined by Christaller is almost constant. The constant K of the random configuration is close to seven, implying that the spatial hierarchy of the random configuration is close to Christaller's hierarchy of the administrative principle. These results explain to a certain extent why spatial hierarchies are often observed in the real world. At the same time, these results give us a warning. Even if we find a spatial hierarchy in the real world, we should question whether or not the observed hierarchy is a seeming hierarchy like the spatial hierarchy in the random configuration.

Related to the functions of the central state and local state, a range of interventions in the urban land-development process may be pursued. Typically, policies and practices related to land are devised at different times for different purposes and are administered by different agencies. Rarely are the relationships between them, their implementation, and their overall impact considered systematically, especially for developing countries. In this paper I evaluate urban land policy in Zimbabwe. I consider tenure, land-use planning and development control, taxation, and direct public sector intervention in the land market. Particular attention is given to the local administrative context and to the relationship between central and local government as portrayed in the paths of land delivery for private developers, municipalities, and central government. The overall conclusion is that Zimbabwe's urban land administration system works effectively. However, it is formal and complex, which is restricting its ability to play an appropriate role in catering for rapid urban growth and the needs of low-income residents.

The development programmes of major grocery retailers in Britain have transformed the retail systems of many urban areas. Impacts upon patterns of consumer behaviour and shopping provision have been substantial. Although many writers have discussed retailers' changing corporate strategies and their implications for new store development, there is still a need for local case studies. In this paper, therefore, processes of change in grocery provision in Cardiff, a city of almost 300000 population, are examined, mainly over a recent twelve-year period. An initial burst of superstore development was accompanied by closures of many small grocery stores owned by multiple and cooperative organisations. Since about 1986, rates of new store development and of store closure have diminished. These changes were superimposed upon a longer term decline in independent food retailing. The question of trading impact is then investigated through associations over time and space of store openings and closures. Although some of the closures in this analysis appear to be explained, it is clear also that certain characteristics of the stores themselves (particularly size and location) were strongly related to the likelihood of closure. This in turn reflected corporate strategies for growth, repositioning, or retrenchment amongst the multiples concerned, mediated through the local property market and land-use planning policies. The conclusion is that the case study clearly exemplifies the impacts of recent events in British retailing, but that further studies are needed to build a comprehensive understanding of retail change at the local level.

Our approach of localized industrial dynamics is based on the concept of collective learning, to the theory of which we have devoted the main thrust of our argument in this paper. In the first part of this paper, an attempt is made to reconcile analysis in terms of interindividual relations with interorganizational analysis, with a view to achieving a better understanding of territorial dynamics. This is done because it is impossible to avoid, on the one hand, individual actors and, on the other hand, the analysis of coordination modes between organizations if we are to grasp what is at stake in the ‘grey area of informal networks’ underlying territorial dynamics. In the second part, this theoretical approach will be found to be particularly helpful when it comes to analyzing territorial dynamics and, more especially, the links between large industrial groups and local innovative systems. Thus, we could widen the mesoanalytic approach which has been elaborated by French industrial economists.

Recent writings on Asian urbanization have stressed how the continuing outward expansion of the largest metropolitan regions has been eroding the long-standing distinction between rural and urban, particularly in terms of land use and economic structure. In this paper I examine the cultural implications of this phenomenon by looking at recent changes in the extended metropolitan region of Jakarta, Indonesia. Over the course of the 1980s, urbanization trends in Jakarta's periphery have resulted in a greatly expanded interface between urban and rural components of Indonesian society. Although this has created the opportunity for much broader popular participation in the urban economy, it may also be fostering a new perception within Indonesian society—that the primary social dichotomy lies not between the city and the countryside but between socioeconomic classes.

Planning faces the predicament that as recommendations become bolder possibilities for implementation deteriorate. This is imputed to society's transition from a Fordist and modern to a post-Fordist and postmodern era. On the one hand, postmodern values account for more public participation and heightened environmental sensitivity, which translate into proposals for alternative forms of urban development. On the other hand, the implementation of these proposals is impaired by reduced public sector resources as a result of the economic instablity associated with post-Fordism. Another impediment is the difficulty to achieve sufficient support for planning objectives in the postmodern context. This context is marked by a fragmentation of values, attachment to the existing built environment, and suspicion between social groups. The empirical focus is on Toronto's bold metropolitan planning proposals. Most recent planning documents call for reurbanization efforts, a compact urban form, and reduced reliance on the car. In this paper I cast doubts, however, on the eventual actualization of these proposals by highlighting weaknesses in the of present and anticipated implementation context. These are tied to factors that are specific to Toronto, but also to a greater extent to the post-Fordist and postmodern environment.

If business services have any potential to function as basic industries that access autonomous sources of demand outside the region or nation, it hinges on the degree to which these activities can be sold to distant, and preferably international, export markets. It is essential to understand the factors that make business services more or less tradeable over distance. In this paper, empirical evidence concerning the extent of producer and business service exports is reviewed, and the more qualitative dimensions of the tradeability of business services are explored in greater detail in order to identify factors that both limit and encourage exports of business services. Research in the software product segment of the computer services sector suggests that it may not actually be the ‘need’ for face-to-face interaction with clients that keeps some types of suppliers of business services from exporting. The traditional rationale regarding the importance of proximity to markets, the impact of information technology, and the dynamics of producer—user interaction is examined in order to identify when it is most important for suppliers to ‘be there’, close to customers. Based on research with software products, it is possible to identify other attributes of business services that may be more critical to determining tradeability and explaining sectoral differences in export intensity than the need to ‘be there’ for clients.

Empirical evidence tends to show that regional development occurs only in certain places. Therefore, one can ask the central question of the role of physical proximity in economic development processes. Economists try to answer this question through the concept of externalities, but this does not explain why certain externalities are linked with physical proximity. In this paper the author tries first to show why mainstream economists are not able to catch the problem of proximity and territory in their model. It is argued that they make a systematic confusion between physical space and abstract mathematical spaces. In the second part of the paper a tentative definition of a terrority is given and a first mathematical formulation of this concept is proposed. Starting from this definition, the author shows in the third part of this paper how a consideration of territory and proximity should change our understanding of economic development processes in general.

This paper is concerned with solution procedures for the p-median problem: the well-established heuristic of Teitz and Bart, and the GRIA (Global/Regional Interchange Algorithm) technique developed more recently by Densham and Rushton. A computational scheme is presented which facilitates efficient implementations in both cases. The mathematical basis for the computational scheme is explained concisely by means of set-theory notation, and implementation of the Teitz—Bart heuristic is discussed with particular reference to search and storage considerations in large networks and in trees. In addition, it is shown that the two procedures in general do not terminate at solutions of equivalent local optimality.