Suchergebnisse

Analyzes the impact of globalization on urban economies & policies in the context of fading borders & foreign direct investment. The evolution of multinational corporations is linked to changing international economic conditions, with finance playing a critical role. Globalization is argued to increase the importance of place & force cities to reorganize themselves as links in a global product chain. Only those few cities that embrace technology & become flexible centers of authority are seen as truly global; examples of successful cities are cited. Consequences to local development & infrastructure are assessed, with "edge cities" an important component. Decentralization of back-office functions (eg, record keeping & analytical tasks) is seen as significant. It is concluded that changes in urban labor markets, infrastructure, & demographics brought on by the global economy will continue to alter urban social structures, culture, politics, & socioeconomic character. 1 Table. Adapted from the source document.

In this paper, special tabulations of microdata from the 1981 Census of Scotland are used to examine patterns of disadvantage at the household level. The overlap of six criteria of household disadvantage is described by region, settlement size, urban subarea, household type, and housing submarket and in relation to 'conventional' ecologically-defined areas of deprivation. It is shown that disadvantaged households are disproportionately concentrated in the worst-off areas, though not overwhelmingly so, and that there are distinctive spatial variations in the nature of multiple disadvantage.

Patterns of intraurban accessibility to primary medical care in four major Scottish cities are examined in the context of existing public policy and against the background of intraurban patterns of community well-being. Certain regularities are observed in the spatial ecology of family doctors' surgeries, and the notion of an 'inverse care law' is discussed. A modified interaction model is introduced and used to analyse local accessibility to primary care facilities. Results indicate that disparities in accessibility tend to compound many other patterns of socioeconomic disadvantage. The formulation of public policies concerned with medical deprivation and area deprivation is discussed in the light of these results.

The question of the nature and homogeneity of planners' attitudes and self-image is central to the current debate on planners as urban managers. If planners do possess an 'institutional mind' which is closely attuned to the 'ruling ideas of a ruling elite', and if their role in determining who gains and who loses in the process of planned urban development is influenced by a coherent professional ideology, then planners can be expected to share distinctive orientations towards the holders of political office, towards the urban environment itself, and towards specific social groups. In this paper we explore this issue, drawing on data from a survey of senior British planners. It is shown that British planners are drawn from a fairly narrowly defined spectrum of society and that they do in fact share distinctive attitudinal orientations. They subscribe to professional roles as mediators, guardians of the physical environment, and, above all, managers of the urban system. It is suggested that the 'ideal type' of planning personality centres on a managerial ethos which is directed towards 'problem solving' in a rationalist, positivistic way within a strictly defined hierarchy of authority. There is evidence, however, that there exist several subtypes of planning personality within this overall orientation.