Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space

The authors address two research questions: (1) Are populations with lower socioeconomic status, compared with people of higher socioeconomic status, more likely to be exposed to higher levels of particulate air pollution in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada? (2) How sensitive is the association between levels of particulate air pollution and socioeconomic status to specification of exposure estimates or statistical models? Total suspended particulate (TSP) data from the twenty-three monitoring stations in Hamilton (1985–94) were interpolated with a universal kriging procedure to develop an estimate of likely pollution values across the city based on annual geometric means and extreme events. Comparing the highest with the lowest exposure zones, the interpolated surfaces showed more than a twofold increase in TSP concentrations and more than a twentyfold difference in the probability of exposure to extreme events. Exposure estimates were related to socioeconomic and demographic data from census tract areas by using ordinary least squares and simultaneous autoregressive (SAR) models. Control for spatial autocorrelation in the SAR models allowed for tests of how robust specific socioeconomic variables were for predicting pollution exposure. Dwelling values were significantly and negatively associated with pollution exposure, a result robust to the method of statistical analysis. Low income and unemployment were also significant predictors of exposure, although results varied depending on the method of analysis. Relatively minor changes in the statistical models altered the significant variables. This result emphasizes the value of geographical information systems (GIS) and spatial statistical techniques in modelling exposure. The result also shows the importance of taking spatial autocorrelation into account in future justice – health studies.

The author critically evaluates the impact and potential of a community currency—or local money system—known as the ‘local exchange trading scheme’ (LETS), to contribute to sustainable local development (SLD). Two distinct and contrasting models for sustainable development are described: a mainstream approach, focused on local regeneration [termed here the ‘local economic development’ (LED) approach]; and a radical ‘green’ or ‘new economics’ strategy (referred to as ‘sustainable local development’ or SLD). In the elaboration of these models the functions of community currencies within each perspective are outlined, and the basis for an evaluate framework is provided. Most previous analysis of LETS has used a broadly LED perspective; this paper focuses on an evaluation for SLD, as this has not previously been comprehensively done. For SLD, community currencies should enable people to: meet local needs through informal employment; revalue and redefine ‘work’; promote localisation and self-reliance; shift consumption patterns towards sharing, recycling, reuse, and reducing resource use; and build green social networks. Findings from a case-study LETS indicate that this community currency is successful in allowing participants to make small changes in their lifestyles, consumption, and employment patterns towards SLD, but there are limitations of size, scope, funding and management to be overcome before this could be achieved more effectively with LETS. However, following the LED-relevant prescriptions for upscaling and mainstreaming would undermine the qualities which align LETS with SLD perspective, and this highlights the importance of choosing appropriate evaluative frameworks, particularly when appraising sustainable-development initiatives.

Globalization in the periphery of the world economy is a poorly understood phenomenon. Africa is stereotypically ‘excluded’ from globalization, and research has not clarified that general negative assessment for specific places in Africa. To redress this deficiency, I examine globalization empirically from the ground upwards through an analysis of foreign companies. Primary and secondary data were collected at the local level to examine the nature and extent of foreign corporate activity in Accra, Ghana. The evidence points to growing inclusion in, rather than exclusion from, the world economy, to increasing service-sector rather than extractive-sector investment, and to foreign companies producing for local and regional markets as well as for international markets. Foreign companies employ a range of strategies to embed themselves in the local market: establishing joint ventures, developing local products, joining national stock markets, and historicizing their presence in the market. This study reemphasizes the need for place-specific fieldwork to enable us to make accurate statements about globalization in particular locations.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) may increase people's freedom to decide when, where, and how they wish to work and travel. With the aid of data from national surveys on the use of ICT by the Swedish population, our objective is to investigate the overall spread of ICT-based modes of work such as telework, mobile work, and teleconferences in an emerging informational society. The concepts of home-based, commuting-based, and mobile work form a starting point. The numbers and proportions of teleworkers are estimated using different criteria regarding the role of ICT. The current diffusion of telework is at a low and constant level, although general access to computers and telecommunication equipment is widespread, high, and increasing. Gender, type of profession, type of employment, and possession of a driver's license influence group-level differences between those who do telework and those who do not. Income and computer access are the dominating factors of influence at the individual level. In the main finding we contrast expectations of a rapid replacement of travel-based modes of work by ICT-based modes. An activity-based framework for a better understanding of the acceptance of ICT-based activities and their effects on the employment–travel landscape is outlined.

In 1998 the UK government introduced a new, integrated transport policy signalling a move away from the principles of ‘predict and provide’ towards ‘new realism’. Labour's approach involved promoting a reduction in car use through (among other things) seeking to improve public transport provision and, in line with the trend which had begun in 1994, scaling down the national trunk-road building programme. But despite claiming that building new roads to resolve traffic problems would generally be a measure of the last resort, Labour's most recent statement of transport policy, Transport 2010: The 10-Year Plan, makes provisions for a large programme of trunk-road construction against a background of continued traffic growth. In this paper we compare the scale of trunk-road completions achieved by the generally pro-road Conservative governments of 1979–97 against those anticipated in Labour's 2000–10 plans. We suggest that the annual level of trunk-road completions in England over the next decade will in fact be little different from that achieved by the Conservatives. At a broader scale, we identify the emergence of a new paradigm in transport policy which we call ‘pragmatic multimodalism’.

In this paper and its sequel we investigate the contribution of suppressed and induced traffic to emissions and user benefits derived from new roads and capacity changes under different pricing regimes. Equilibrium transport models are used to appraise selected highway and pricing policies over the period 2000–20. Here we examine the suppression of demand through increasing congestion in two reference states against which capacity changes will be appraised in the second paper. The first state is the consequence of ‘doing nothing’ over the twenty-year period; the second corresponds to the imposition of marginal cost (congestion) pricing on network links. Taking both a network model of Cardiff, and a single representative link (SRL) model, we estimate the effect of suppressed demand on the emission of: carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, particulates, and carbon dioxide. We show both analytically and numerically that, by reducing effective growth and moderating speeds, the suppression of traffic can have significant implications for vehicle emissions in the peak period, the effect varying in proportion to the elapsed time from the base year. At a travel time elasticity of −0.25, congestion pricing is shown to make an important contribution to containing all emissions, reducing carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide peak volumes by a quarter to a third of their unpriced level by the year 2010.

Studies examining the additionality of Structural Funds in UK regions have emphasised the dominant ‘gatekeeping’ role played by central government. This has been explained by the ‘global’ interpretation of additionality adopted by UK central government, coupled with the absence of a strong tier of regional government. Based on preparations for an Objective 1 programme in Wales, in this paper we critically evaluate the progress made by the devolved National Assembly for Wales in challenging the central government interpretation of additionality. This suggests that, in the context of devolution, matters surrounding Structural Fund finances will become more fiercely contested, exposing significant tensions between processes of decentralisation and centralisation within the UK polity.

The collision between economic systems after 1989 led to significant new forms of mobility. East Central Europe became a legally and institutionally constructed ‘buffer zone’ between Western Europe and the CIS, Commonwealth of Independent States—the former USSR. The opportunities for and costs of migration in the buffer zone were shaped by the ‘double territorial shock’ of the transition: reinterationalisation and the withdrawal of massive state intervention in support of regional convergence. The authors provide a comparative study of mobility and migration into and out of the buffer zone, through case studies of Ukrainians working in Slovakia, and Slovakians working in Austria. Whereas the Ukrainians are largely confined to the secondary-labour market, the Slovakians are found in both segments of the dual labour market. This leads to different implications in respect of ‘brain drain’ and ‘brain waste’ of international skilled-labour mobility, as well as amplifying income differences. The overall effect in both cases is to contribute to the reproduction of economic inequalities in the buffer zone, and this is explored through an analysis of savings and investment and future employment intentions. The conclusions are particularly pessimistic in respect of the wage differentials required to persuade Ukrainian migrants to return to their country of origin.

In this study we present a method for defining the intervening opportunities incorporated in certain spatial interaction models. The method introduces some behavioral aspects into the models by means of behavioral modeling, using a utility function estimated with stated preference techniques. A practical application of the models for estimating student flows is reported. This application confirmed the adequacy of the method and the results obtained showed that the intervening opportunities model performed better than a standard gravity model in reproducing the real situation being studied.