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This paper critically reviews the urban systems literature adopting graph‐theoretical conceptions of 'network analysis'. A network‐analytical approach allows specifying and measuring how cities interact, the importance and roles of cities in these interactions, and some of the key characteristics of the urban system as a whole. Throughout the paper, the focus is on 'world city network' research. After an overview of how network analysis first entered this literature and subsequently developed into a vibrant research agenda, the paper clarifies the use of network analysis by comparing two different network approaches. This is then used to discuss the potential and challenges/pitfalls associated with the use of network analysis, respectively. It is argued that the combination of careful abstraction and the methodological opportunities offered by network analysis offers geographers a powerful methodological toolkit. At the same time, a permanent appraisal of the real versus the alleged potential of network analysis is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global health crisis due to the pandemic of the SARS‐CoV‐2 is associated with processes of urbanisation and globalisation. Globally well‐connected areas with high population densities are hence expected to be disproportionately affected by COVID‐19. This paper investigates the role of population density within the Netherlands, comparing hospitalisation and mortality related to COVID‐19 across municipalities. The paper finds that infections, hospitalisation and mortality related to COVID‐19 are not clearly correlated with the population density or urbanity of the municipality, also when controlling for age and public health factors. The paper concludes that while the public debate stresses the elevated risk of infections in cities, due to transgressive behaviour, the evidence in this paper suggests that the geography of the epidemic in the Netherlands is more complex. It speculates that the variation in urbanisation in most of the country might just be too small to expect significant differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the particular geographies associated with the COVID‐19 outbreak through the lens of cities that are products of relational urbanisation. This includes small but highly globalised cities, such as financial centres or hot spots of politics and diplomacy, which are usually situated between different political, economic or cultural systems and their boundaries. These cities experienced strong growth due to internationalisation and a dedicated politics of extraversion. Our argument is that such places are unusually affected by the current lock‐down, illustrated by two empirical cases, the cities of Dublin, Ireland, and Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Both have experienced striking growth rates recently, but now suffer from disruption. Their development trajectories remain unclear, since a return to the 'old normal' seems unlikely, and the emergent 'new normal' calls for adaptation towards more state involvement in areas hitherto governed by the market. The paper addresses possible alternative geographies for both cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses key methodological issues with nodalising interaction data of urban networks to produce a state‐of‐the‐art settlement geography of the Netherlands. We operationalise the three‐systems model that analyses functional settlement geographies through the interaction between the daily urban system, the central place system and the export base system. We utilise theoretically‐informed selections of spatial interactions derived from travel survey data at the finely‐grained postcode level. After examining the methodological challenge of the node‐inclusivity dilemma, we estimate the causal mechanisms that geographically structure each system and determine which spatial interactions should be assigned to nodes (containment) and edges (connectivity). The three systems produce different regionalisations that are neither mutually exclusive nor perfectly nested. Further analysis of the multiplexity of the three systems reveals the importance of the imbricated boundaries between the urban subsystems. We argue that these interplaces deserve more attention as they are particularly sensitive to changes in urbanisation trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contributes to the understanding of socio-spatial trends and urban systems in Europe, with a specific focus on smaller settlements. First, a morphological delimitation of urban settlements as geographical base is used to identify the different settlement structures that characterise regions across Europe. Secondly, an analysis of population and GDP performances of NUTS 3 regions for the 29 countries of the European space (growth rates in 2001-2011) provides evidence of the variety of territorial phenomena that characterise smaller-settlement regions across Europe. Finally, the paper highlights the diversity and complexity of urbanisation structures in Europe and how general trends observed at larger scale are articulated locally according to prevailing structures of urbanisation. It shows the character of 'embeddedness' of smaller settlements within urban systems and territorial structures and how the socio-economic performances of smaller-settlement regions are defined by a combination of macro trends, national contextualisation, local dynamics and regional path dependency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unique contribution of this paper is to empirically compare and contrast demographic change in settlements with a population between 5,000 and under 50,000 (defined as towns) across different national urban systems in Europe with common definitions for the first time. The analysis uses a new data set based on harmonised small area data and harmonised morphological definitions of what a town is. The paper hypothesises first that a general model of demographic growth can be applied across national urban systems and secondly that regional demographic change is a significant predictor of demographic change in towns nested within those regions within this generalised model. A fixed effect multi-level regression analysis tests the importance of town-level and regional factors among towns from five national systems but also within two individual national urban systems. The findings suggest that national context still matters and within some national systems, regional context also strongly predicts demographic change in towns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By strengthening transnational linkages, and those between urban centres, and rural and coastal areas, the tourism industry has fostered new dynamics around the use of land, including territories subjected to extreme environmental hazards. Using the case of Mancora, Peru, this paper explores how a lack of land governance structures, resulting from conflicts between local authorities in the context of coastal tourism development, has triggered processes of uncontrolled urbanisation within fishing villages cyclically affected by the El Niño event. Based on ethnographic material collected via semi‐structured interviews, participant observation, and archival research, the study demonstrates how new dynamics around the use of land are increasing land conflicts, while raising the degree of environmental vulnerability to which the population is exposed, and threatening the reproduction of local models of development. It stresses the need for land governance structures to ensure the sustainability of coastal territories where land markets have intensified due to tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on micro‐level administrative data this paper aims to identify the role of internal migration in shaping regional and inter‐urban contrasts in human capital stocks in the Netherlands. We follow birth cohort 1979 from age 16 until age 35 and compare spatial trajectories between university graduates(‐to‐be) and their lower educated peers. We conclude that, in a context of dominating rural‐to‐urban migration flows, the highest educated(‐to‐be) are more than others attracted to metropolitan core areas and the Randstad. Second, we aim to test whether this urban preference may be prompted by spatial variation in socio‐economic progression by comparing changes in the relative wage position of employees in different spatial settings. Metropolitan settings and the Randstad in general are found to function more than other regions as socio‐economic escalators during the first phase of the labour career. However, these effects appear to be equal among educational groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper begins with an introduction into the interlocking network model (INM) initially specified by Peter Taylor in the context of the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) research network. For that purpose, the intellectual background, purpose, key principles and subsequent applications of the INM are presented. Since the overall purpose of the Special Issue is to take research inspired by the INM further, this paper gives, second, an overview of some of the main critiques raised against the INM. Third, the relevance of the different papers of the Special Issue is framed within these critiques. The papers in the Special Issue can be divided in two groups: while the first set discusses the measurement framework, the second focuses on the conceptual remit of the INM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A quarter of the European population lives in ‘polycentric urban regions’ (PURs): clusters of historically and administratively distinct but proximate and well‐connected cities of relatively similar size. This paper explores whether tighter integration can increase agglomeration benefits at the PUR‐level. We provide the first comprehensive list of European PURs (117 in total), establish their level of functional, institutional and cultural integration and measure whether this affects their performance. ‘Performance’ is defined as the extent to which urbanisation economies have developed, proxied by the presence of metropolitan functions. In this first‐ever cross‐sectional analysis of PURs we find that while there is evidence for all dimensions of integration having a positive effect, particularly functional integration has great significance. Regarding institutional integration, it appears that having some form of metropolitan co‐operation is more important than its exact shape. Theoretically, our results substantiate the assumption that networks may substitute for proximity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The shortage of land resources has become a serious problem in China's rapid urbanisation. A recognised method for solving arable land resource shortage problems is to encourage marginal farmers to terminate their arable land use contracts with the government so that they can be transferred to farmers with better prospects. This paper analyses the drivers behind farmers’ willingness to terminate their arable land use contracts based on survey data from agricultural households in Guanzhong, Shaanxi Province, China, using a multivariable logistic model. Results show that households led by male householders, with large families, fewer agricultural labourers, more plots of land, including family members with non‐agricultural skills training and including family members who are covered by rural residents’ health insurance, are more likely to terminate their contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Heritage has become a major theme in Dutch spatial planning. A number of recent Dutch urban extension projects offer interesting case studies on the integration of heritage into planning. The projects were part of a large housing programme, known as the Vinex programme, which was initiated by the Dutch national government but executed by local authorities. They therefore provide interesting cases for comparison. This paper presents a number of these projects, focusing on the use of heritage, which allows us to classify different ways of incorporating heritage into plans: integration, embeddedness and isolation. Another classification involves different views and interpretations about heritage, and describes diminishing degrees of authenticity entailed in preservation, transformation and inspiration. Combining both types of classification may offer a framework for further research on the relationship between heritage and planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses whether and how agglomeration economies - related variety, specialisation and urbanisation - affect the export performance of Italian local labour markets (LLM). Adopting spatial econometric techniques, and controlling for potential non-linear effects, we find that related variety has a negligible effect on LLMs' export intensity, while the effect of specialisation economies is negative. On the contrary, urbanisation economies positively affect export intensity. The robustness of these results is tested and confirmed using an alternative (institutional-based) spatial weights matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attention to self-organisation and spontaneous order in urban development is growing both in academia and in planning practice. One of the current academic discussions centres around the desirability of self-organisation. This paper evaluates the case of self-organisation in Oosterwold Almere in the Netherlands - an atypical case as it is a large-scale experimental project of organic urban development. We analysed how this case deals with traditional welfare-economic justifications for urban planning by the government. Several challenges of self-governing communities in dealing with public goods and negative externalities are identified. The case of Oosterwold highlights the continued importance of collective action, both in the provision and management of public goods and services, and in the prevention of free-rider behaviour and inefficient use of space. In Oosterwold, collective solutions are being established to deal with challenges concerning institutions, common costs, and the liability of replacing the urban planning by the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a first attempt at the construction of a unified, homogeneous inventory of different classes of urban settlements in the European space, building on the approach of international institutions such as OECD and the EU in relation to larger urban areas and extending it to the specific challenge presented by smaller settlements. Its objective is twofold. The first is to address the fundamental empirical problem that was central to the development of the ESPON 2013 project 'Small and Medium sized Towns in their Functional Territorial Context' (TOWN), that is the proper geographic identification of different classes of urban settlements. The second is to introduce one basic classification of urban settlements, and two more refined typologies of small and medium sized towns (SMST). These typologies are used to provide a first impression of territorial structures of urbanisation throughout Europe, further elaborated in functional terms in the TOWN project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on polycentricity has focused increasingly on the multi-scalar functional organisation of polycentric urban systems. These studies have shown that the degree of functional polycentricity varies considerably across different spatial scales. Moreover, functional polycentricity is linked to two distinct concepts: spatial integration and the balanced distribution of flows. The aim of this paper is to clarify the relation between these two concepts and to highlight the implications of this conceptual distinction for empirical research across different scales. The paper examines the connectivity field method developed to measure spatial interaction in polycentric urban systems. Using detailed commuting data, the feasibility of the method in measuring both spatial integration and the balanced distribution of flows across different scales is tested in a case study from southern Finland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates airport design, using the example of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, from the point of view of managers, architects and designers. It is argued that existing accounts of the airport as a space of transit as well as a place for shopping and entertainment have underrated the complexity and interdependency of the interests at stake in the airport design, as well the value of an airport terminal as an urban design exercise. This is particularly relevant in the discussion of the transformation of spaces of mobility, such as airports or railway stations, into multifunctional public spaces and may also be valid for urban spaces where mobilities are becoming increasingly important. The paper analyses the challenges and opportunities that arise in such design situations, tracing the recent transformations of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol from the perspective of professionals who have played a key role in this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Over the last 50 years, intense urbanisation has taken place in the Netherlands. This has resulted in the development of many polycentric urban regions, which consist of historic core centres, other historic centres as well as new urban centres (NUCs). Focusing on NUCs in Dutch city regions, this paper presents the results of a research project analysing the number and spatial structure of NUCs, examines their functional composition and explains the different types of centres that exist. The paper also analyses the level of centrality of the NUCs. The main finding is that functional composition is related to the type of area in which NUCs are built: district centres, villages, new towns, transition areas or university areas. With a character that is much narrower than that of core centres, the NUCs house a lower diversity of functions, fewer facilities serving an area larger than central districts, and a limited number of public transport modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the extent to which the differential urbanisation model is applicable to Botswana by using empirical data obtained from periodic censuses, supportive documentary information and observations from personal on-going research on urbanisation and migration. Differential urbanisation refers to the cyclic spatio-temporal growth trends that the elements of human settlement hierarchies undergo, in response to migration. Empirical studies have verified the validity of differential urbanisation in the United States, Europe, India and South Africa. These areas, unlike Botswana, have longer histories of urbanisation, larger population sizes, denser population distributions, and higher levels of economic development. Current research interest is focused on investigating the theoretical applicability of the differential urbanisation model to those countries at the lower end of the economic development spectrum. The rationale and thrust of this paper is to therefore investigate the relevance of differential urbanisation under unique environmental, demographic and socio-economic conditions that pertain to Botswana. Evidence from the paper shows that urbanisation in Botswana has occurred in sequenced phases that, in general, resemble those suggested by the differential urbanisation model in the following ways. First, there has been concentration in the primate city due to mainstream migration. Secondly, there has been fission leading to the fast growth of the adjacent intermediate settlements, partly as a result of deglomeration economies at the primate core accompanied by substream migration. Third, the peripheral regional and rural centres appear to be now growing relatively rapidly, in response to the implementation of decentralisation policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports an inter-temporal investigation of urban employment and spatial trends in Australian urbanisation over nearly a half century using city classification methodology. Published in this journal in 1965, Robert Smith's classic paper, ‘The Functions of Australian Towns’, provides the benchmark analysis. Smith used 1954 employment census data to group the then national total of 422 urban places into functional categories which provided a succinct description of the pattern of early postwar urbanisation. The present study revisits (without exactly replicating) Smith's study, employing 1996 data for 741 urban centres. A two-stage procedure using principal components and cluster analyses identifies 13 functional town groupings which capture both enduring and new patterns of employment distribution across the Australian urban system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The differential urbanisation model postulates that the urbanisation process occurs over a series of stages of concentration and deconcentration of population over space and time. For the first cycle of urban development, the model postulates six stages of population change within the broad spectrum of urbanisation, polarisation reversal, and counter-urbanisation. This paper, utilising population census data in urban size categories for the period of 1961-91, tests the differential urbanisation model in the context of a developing country, India. The analysis reveals that at the national level, India has moved from the large city stage of the concentration phase of urbanisation as observed during the earlier decades (1961-81) to the Early Intermediate stage of the deconcentration phase during the 1981-91 period. The analyses at the subnational levels show mixed patterns that include a gradual emergence of the smaller urban centres in relative importance. The paper notes that some growth patterns observed in India vary from the postulated phases in the model and suggests that intra-stage and inter-stage transitional phases should be examined in future cross-cultural studies for possible theoretical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many Western countries the concept of the compact city has been adopted as a guiding principle for urban development. It is commonly held that the compact city is the best policy goal to prevent or reduce the negative effects of urbanisation on the environment. In this paper we investigate whether this assumption can be justified on the basis of empirical research. Four categories of environmental effects are distinguished: emissions of CO[sub2] and NO[subX] caused by mobility; energy use in houses; noise, odour and local air pollution; and fragmentation of natural areas. Using existing research, the paper reviews the state-of-the-art knowledge about the impact of the urban structure on these aspects and deduces some implications for urbanisation policy. The conclusion is that the potential of the compact city policy to contribute significantly to the solution of environmental problems in the short term is limited. However, a policy of concentrating urbanisation may be advocated because of the flexibility it offers for different future policy options, such as providing opportunities for public transport or development of larger natural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the theoretical concept that a city is always influenced by the relations it has to its hinterland and to other cities. Taylor and colleagues point out that city-city relations and city-hinterland relations can be understood as two sides of a coin. Using this conception the polycentric structure and dynamics of the German urban system can be described through: (i) metropolitan functions representing city-hinterland relations (cosmopolitanity) and (ii) a network of cities representing city-city relations (connectivity). Measuring separately the degrees of cosmopolitanity and connectivity, we look at whether the German urban system after reunification has grown together, becoming one balanced urban system, and what role Berlin - as the new capital in the overall system - now has. The results of the two perspectives are compared and analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to trace community and regional responses to the economic downturn of 2008/2009 in Northern British Columbia, Canada. Our research during this period (2009-2011), the Northern Economic Vision II (NEV II) project, sought to investigate whether communities in the region were incorporating some of the core findings, lessons from an earlier project, the NEV I project (conducted in 2002-2005), in terms of preparing for both economic uncertainty and opportunity through place-oriented community planning and enhanced regional collaboration. Findings suggest that in the face of economic hardship, many communities continued to pursue community and regionally-oriented strategies in an attempt to preserve services and quality of life for local residents, and did not engage in reactive budget cuts in the face of economic decline, as experienced in previous bust periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many cities world-wide are becoming increasingly multi-cultural and multi-ethnic in their population composition. However, little attention has been paid in the massive literature on the resultant residential mosaics as to whether the outcomes of those changes are common across a national urban system or whether there are local variations - or to the factors likely to influence any such variations. Using small-area data for towns and cities in England and Wales from the 2001 and 2011 censuses this paper finds clear relationships between the relative size of an urban area's non- White ethnic minority population and the mix of different types of neighbourhood according to their ethnic composition - findings that have clear relevance for the development of the emerging countries' multi-cultural character. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the literature on world city networks, there has been a proliferation of both theories and measurement methodologies, but relatively little attention to the linkage between theory and measurement. In this paper, I review the interlocking world city network model (IWCNM) and three additional bipartite projection-based measures of the world city network, considering which theoretical conception of the 'world city network' construct each can validly measure. I introduce a new Stata command, onemode, to compute these four measures, and use them to produce world city networks from three publicly available datasets on advanced producer services, international organisations, and engineering and architecture firms. The results suggest that each projection-based measure is potentially valid, but only for a corresponding understanding of the world city network. Researchers are encouraged to clearly define what they mean when invoking the phrase 'the world city network,' and only then selecting a measurement that is valid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper charts a personal research journey that begins with the specification of the interlocking network model for cities and concludes with interpretation of cities as truly extraordinary. Three products of this model are discussed. First, this very specific model has generated a mini-literature on cities in globalisation and this is briefly outlined. Second, the model has been interpreted as a generic description of inter-city relations - central flow theory - and this is illustrated using historical examples. Third, there is a discussion of criticisms of the model and the relevance of green networks of extraordinary cities for thinking about the future of humanity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to discuss the relationship between the difficult economic situation in Mexico over recent years and the increasing disadvantages in irregular settlements that are found on the periphery of the Federal District. The focus is on informal settlements in the Magdalena Contreras Delegation, a peripheral municipality where the research team applied 719 questionnaires to the inhabitants. The results offer an up-to-date socio-economic analysis of the population. We are also in a position to suggest answers to the following questions: to what extent communal lands with a high ecological value act as territorial reserves for irregular settlements?; how do poverty levels in these settlements affect the consolidation process in terms of housing quality and access to public services?; how much heterogeneity is there inside irregular settlements and what is the level of poverty in these settlements and how grave is the situation? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban regeneration in Dutch cities is increasingly accompanied by the cultural sector in general and by artists in particular. This paper presents comparative case studies on current artists-accompanied urban regeneration initiated by housing corporations in Utrecht and Rotterdam. On the basis of discourse analysis on the voices of decisive actors, it explores the rationale behind artists-accompanied urban regeneration and the sociospatial implications thereof. It empirically indicates that housing corporations are more inclined to deploy artists in urban regeneration when there are sufficient vacant buildings. It also illustrates that more decentralised housing corporations have a stronger and more long-term commitment to urban regeneration. The latter includes a greater commitment to interventions by artists within urban public space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper uses data from the Community Innovation Survey for Belgium to evaluate to what extent firms located in sectors and regions characterised by high employment concentration innovate more. We analyse the innovative performance of Belgian firms and relate it to agglomeration measures, as well as to a number of control variables. Our findings show a positive impact of localisation and urbanisation economies on firm-level innovation output, lending support to the hypothesis that firms can benefit from their location within regions/sectors characterised by high employment concentration. In an analysis of low, medium, and high-tech manufacturing and service industries, localisation economies are shown to improve firms' innovativeness only for low-tech manufacturing and service sectors, while urbanisation externalities are shown to matter more for high-tech service sectors. This suggests that localisation economies can be an important source of competitiveness for low-tech sectors, while urbanisation economies improve innovativeness of high-tech service firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT In this last decade, Spanish urban areas have received large amounts of international immigrants, modifying (sub)urban dynamics. The paper specifically explores the metropolitan region of Barcelona (RMB), where, between 1998 and 2009, foreign nationality residents rose from 1.8 to 14.9 per cent of total population. Research focuses on the impact of foreign immigration on three specific dynamics: population growth and distribution/segregation of both Spanish and foreign populations within the metropolitan area; their respective residential mobility patterns; and consequences on their age and sex structure. Results show that there are remarkable differences between the two populations: foreign immigrants have preferably settled in the core city's least affluent neighbourhoods and, in a second phase, in inner ring municipalities, while the Spanish population continues to move to suburban municipalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper explores whether the concept of counterurbanisation, expanded with an international dimension, offers a valuable framework for understanding recent migration flows from the Netherlands to Sweden. Using a geo-referenced database comprising demographic and socio-economic variables, the post-migration employment status, employment sector and settlement location of Dutch migrants in Central Sweden are analysed. In addition, results from observation, interviews and a survey during emigration fairs are employed to describe the motives for migration from the Netherlands to Central Sweden. We argue that counterurbanisation is not an exhausted research topic, when international political, economic and socio-cultural factors are added to the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inherent tension between regional equality and economic growth (efficiency) is recently much debated in the context of place based development policy and agglomeration in the European Union. A general conclusion reached in the literature is that a policy targeted at regional equality may be harmful for economic growth. Such policy therefore should be transformed in such a way that it also promotes the mobility of both people and firms and hence facilitates the possibilities of increased agglomeration. Recent insights from economic theories suggest that agglomeration externalities are not taken into account in the migration decision of firms and people, causing the dynamic urbanisation processes to not necessarily result in a (social) welfare optimum. This is even more so if other welfare effects than GDP and product variety are taken into account. Regional economic development is not sustainable if the dynamic urbanisation processes stemming from agglomeration economies do not lead to a welfare optimum. In this paper we assess the possibility of a non-sustainable regional development path. We conclude that strong additional negative externalities of growing large agglomerations are harder to prove than negative externalities of small agglomerations becoming smaller. Moreover, the size of short run negative effects that will stimulate the migration of people has not been adequately assessed. The European Union should therefore be careful in interpreting place-based costs and benefits of growing, large agglomerations at the detriment of small regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses and illustrates the ‘knowledge turn’ in urban policy across Europe. We identify four manifestations of it: 1) widespread efforts to lure knowledge workers; 2) a growing involvement of knowledge institutes in urban development and planning processes, 3) an explicit ‘knowledge based’ approach to planning and the design of public space, and 4) efforts to underline a ‘knowledge city’ identity using all kinds of marketing and branding techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the question to what extent the degree of urbanisation influences the time spent in paid work by men and women in the Netherlands. The effects of the residential context have been estimated separately for women and men and for different household contexts, after accounting for age, age differences between partners, educational level and differences between partners in educational level. Data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study and Tobit regression analyses have been used. The hypotheses are based on human capital theory, gender inequality theory, time space geography, and ideas concerning lifestyle orientations. The results indicate that in strongly urbanised areas women work more hours than women living elsewhere, whereas men in strongly urbanised areas work fewer hours. The impact of the residential context is strongest for women and men who have a partner and children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing local democracy is a major aim within European Urban Development Programmes dealing with ‘disadvantaged’ neighbourhoods. But local democracy is extremely difficult to reach in practice and this paper analyses the obstacles and the strategies for overcoming these barriers. Questions of citizenship and social class are essential. Empowerment of residents is a key issue. The analytical distinction between ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ participation processes is essential in the implementation of democratic planning, together with professional commitment in the form of mediation and translation. The conclusion addresses Habermas’ conceptualisation of democracy. We argue that he is correct in legitimating citizens’ intervention within the deliberative process but that he pays insufficient attention to conflict between actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As theories of postmodernism have challenged many established theoretical positions in geo-graphy, they have also led to a reassessment of the urban periphery and its significance for an understanding of contemporary urban development. In addition, these regions have witnessed the emergence of a new type of development project where planners and urban designers have attempted to create truly urban spaces, embodying rather traditional forms and concepts of urbanism in spite of their peripheral location. This paper investigates one such project on the outskirts of Potsdam, Germany. Drawing on theoretical ideas of postmodern urbanism it discusses a number of issues related to perceptions of this new space in the urban periphery, namely contextualisation, urban design/architecture, meaning/identity of place, and the differences of perception between creators and users of the project. Non-standardised in-depth interviews are analysed to investigate the experience and perception of this space and discuss some possible implications for urban design and planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Among the industrialised nations of the world, the USA has a relatively short history of urbanisation. This fact and the ready availability of reliable historical data have made the USA a fertile place for studying the nature of urban and regional growth from its earliest beginnings. This paper analyses the patterns of city and hinterland, or city-system, population concentration in the United States from 1790 to 2000. The Hoover index is employed to calculate population concentration in 46 city-systems for each federal census. A model showing three phases in city-system population concentration is proposed. Recent population trends are then used to map the current concentration phases of the US city-systems. Much of the central part of the country and the mountain west should concentrate in population during the next decade while many of the Northeastern, Florida, and Californian city-systems are more likely to experience population deconcentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the Chinese pattern of urbanisation since 1978 is distinguished by dual-track urbanisation – state-sponsored urbanisation and spontaneous urbanisation, and that both tracks contribute significantly to the transformation of the spatial pattern of urbanisation. The Pearl River Delta region is chosen for a detailed analysis of the dual-track urbanisation in post-reform China. It is found that special economic zone (SEZ) cities are leading both state-sponsored and spontaneous urbanisation in the region, which is different from either large city or small town-based urbanisation advocated in the literature. Multivariate statistical analysis shows that factors affecting the two tracks of urbanisation are different and have changed over time. The level of economic development has an important impact on the level of the state-sponsored urbanisation, but is not significant to spontaneous urbanisation. Areas with fewer state owned enterprises (SOEs) have a higher level of spontaneous urbanisation. The non-state sector also became more important in the state-sponsored urbanisation of the 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests the temporal characterisation of the differential urbanisation model in Western Germany. A time series of high–quality regional demographic data is available for the period 1939–2010; similar data are not available for Eastern Germany. The differential urbanisation model characterised regional population development tendencies as a sequence of evolutionary stages, for urban Western Germany as well as for the Rhine–Ruhr and the Rhine–Main–Neckar polycentric metropolitan regions. The progression from urbanisation to polarisation reversal and then to counter–urbanisation did not occur in lock step fashion, but was evident as a consistent tendency in a general direction. The model accommodated abrupt change by capturing the regional impacts of the Second World War and the reunification of Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine the process of urbanisation in Finland over a long time span 1941–98 in the light of the theoretical model of differential urbanisation, at the same time testing the applicability of the latter to the Finnish situation. Urbanisation began in Finland relatively late by comparison with other European countries, but the process has taken place all the more rapidly. Urbanisation started out from large cities, and in the case of the capital, Helsinki, the early primate city stage began before 1940. Features of the stages outlined in the model are identifiable in the process of urbanisation as it has taken place in Finland. The urban system in Finland progressed in the mid 1970s to the small–sized city stage, when polarisation reversal came to an end and counter–urbanisation set in. The net migration balance of cities and towns became negative in 1977, i.e. they began to lose population to rural communes. This was the first real period of the clean break and it continued to the 1980s. In 1980 the net migration balance for large cities was positive but it changed back to negative in the beginning of the 1980s. Population concentration in the few large cities in Finland started again in the 1990s. Spatial differences in urbanisation are also observable at the local level which have been exemplified by the province of Uusimaa in Southern Finland, regional analyses for Southern and Southeastern Finland and Kainuu county in Northern Finland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to test the differential urbanisation theory for the Turkish case during the 42 years between 1955–97. The theory is first tested for the country as a whole, and subsequently for each of its three major regions with differing development levels. The findings for Turkey, in general, are consistent with the theory of differential urbanisation. The country and all its regions are found to be at the ‘early medium city’ stage (i.e. the first phase of polarisation reversal). The timing of the stages in three regions was consistent with their respective level of development. The special characteristics of the Turkish case and their effects are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarises the usefulness of the differential urbanisation model, to characterise regional urban development in terms of a temporal sequence of stages from urbanisation through polarisation reversal to counter–urbanisation, as revealed in nine empirical tests (Britain, Estonia, Finland, Western Germany, India, Italy, Russia, South Africa, and Turkey). First, results of the testing are summarised. Based on the results of these nine empirical tests, we attempt to answer the question ‘Did the differential urbanisation model fit reality?’ Also discussed are modifications to the model suggested during the course of empirical testing. Then directions for future testing and improvements to the model are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests the relevance of the differential urbanisation model for depicting the spatial urban development of Great Britain. Population change is studied for eight, mainly decadelong, periods from 1901 to 1991 using a version of the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) Functional Regions framework. Rates of population growth are calculated for a Britain-wide classification of settlements based on population size and for a sixfold typology based on status within the national urban hierarchy. The differential urbanisation model is then tested for Great Britain as a whole and for four broad regional divisions. The results suggest that the British urban system had very largely moved beyond the urbanisation stage by the beginning of the twentieth century and that counter-urbanisation was the prevailing pattern before mid century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A main postulate of the concept of differential urbanisation is the similarity of the process of urbanisation across countries of different social contexts, with towns going through a three-stage growth cycle-urbanisation, polarisation reversal and counter-urbanisation. The aim of this paper is to analyse whether the claims of the model hold true in Estonia. The main results of the analyses show that towns of different sizes have followed a similar or undifferentiated pattern of growth, which peaks in the immediate post-War decades and slows down thereafter. The major demarcation line runs rather between urban and rural areas. However, the stability of the rural population and a decrease of urban population growth rates led step by step towards population deconcentration or counter-urbanisation in Estonia, being fully evident in the 1990s. Immigration kept large cities growing during the Soviet period and emigration was the major factor in urban population losses in the 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of localisation and urbanisation economies on regional manufacturing development in Poland 1976-96 is assessed in terms of employment and the regional convergence or divergence of the economy. Current research on the role of dynamic production externalities in regional manufacturing development is examined, starting with a review of recent literature on the nature of such externalities in manufacturing location, and how positive externalities may influence the spatial clustering of manufacturing industries. The paper shows that radical changes have occurred in patterns of Polish regional manufacturing employment, both with regard to sectors and regions. Transition is refocusing the regional economy on strong regional centres, and on sectors regarded with little favour in the planned economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]