from boston to barcelona, via melton mowbray

From Boston to Barcelona, via Melton MowbrayAuthor(s): Richard DennisSource: Area, Vol. 12, No. 1 (1980), pp. 66-68Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20001541 .Accessed: 16/06/2014 07:46

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66 Annual Conference

model, logistic model, multinomial logit model, multinomial probit model, dogit model, discrete choice analysis, incomplete contingency table, marginal homogeneity, quasi-independence, quasi-symmetry, MNL, IIA, GLIM, ECTA, GENCAT, QUAIL, etc., began to appear with increasing regularity in the journals of disciplines as diverse as economics, biomedicine, politics, sociology, and transportation science, and which in retrospect can be seen as creating a long-awaited unified approach to the analysis of categorical data. In the 1980s these developments promise a new chapter in the use of statistical methods in geographical research, and this symposium had therefore a retrospective, prospective, and pedagogic function.

Two groups of papers were presented. The first group had a pedagogic orientation and introduced the major developments in both statistical method and computer software. N. Wrigley (Bristol) opened the symposium with an overview of the develop

ments in statistical method in which he outlined a framework which could be used to place the contributions in the rest of the symposium into a unified framework. L. G. O'Brien (Bristol) then reviewed the powerful and flexible computer programs which have been developed to implement these new statistical methods. (His paper was read in his absence by N. Chrisman, Bristol.) The major British contribution to this range of programs (GLIM-Generalized Linear Interactive Modelling) was then discussed in detail in a guest lecture by M. Aitkin, the Director of Lancaster's Centre for Applied Statistics. Aitkin illustrated how GLIM can be used to fit a wide range of

models in a very simple manner, and provided the audience with a most valuable set of program listings which illustrated examples of log-linear, logistic, and latent structure models fitted using GLIM. J. Silk and S. Bowlby (Reading) adopting a similar approach then provided the audience with GLIM listings for two geographical examples in which logit and log-linear models were fitted to data from shopping surveys.

The second group of papers concentrated upon more specialized topics. M. J. Baxter (Edinburgh) considered logit and log-linear formulations of trip distribution models. B. Fingleton (Cambridgeshire CAT) outlined some promising log-linear models of spatial behaviour. T. R. Smith (Santa Barbara) considered the question of how geographers should approach the modelling of population heterogeneity in behavioural studies and suggested an approach to deconvolution of aggregate data which employed a logit model. C. M. Stapleton (Wisconsin) presented the essential features of the Hildebrand, Rosenthal and Laing approach to the evaluation of categorical hypotheses, and illustrated the approach using a population geography example. Finally, S. Openshaw (Newcastle) reviewed methods for classifying categori cal data, and provided practical advice as to which methods seem likely to provide the best results.

Despite counter-attractions, the sessions were well-attended, and there was useful discussion often led from the floor by the guest lecturer, M. Aitkin, who played a

most important role in the symposium. It once again confirmed the value of the ' outside' guest injected into such sessions, particularly one whose involvement strengthens study group links with other research bodies. A similar welcome feature

was the number of North American and European visitors who attended the sym posium, helping to strengthen links between the Quantitative Methods Group and its sister groups.

Neil Wrigley University of Bristol

From Boston to Barcelona-via Melton Mowbray The symposium on 'Historical Processes of Urbanization' was jointly convened by the Historical Geography Research Group and the Urban Geography Study Group.

The papers ranged in time from the Norman Conquest to Catalan autonomy and in space from Melton Mowbray to the Mid-West, and it was natural that H. Carter


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Annual Conference 67

(Aberystwyth) should open proceedings by considering a long term view of economic development and culture change in his analysis of the ' Growth of the city system in

Wales'. He elaborated his previous ideas on this subject to include the fashionable concept of internal colonialism, whereby towns created by forces outside the local culture were the means of anglicization of Welsh society. Indeed, towns in Wales were such un-Welsh creations and so integrated into the English urban system that the concept of a Welsh city system was not really viable. As R. Lewis (Aberystwyth) observed in discussion, two later papers could also be incorporated into this model of urban genesis, followed first by competition and sorting and then by a period of stability prior to a renewed phase of genesis. First, H-W. Wehling (Essen) considering ' Urbanization, population growth and central place structure of the Ruhr Region'

provided a survey of the urbanization process over the last 150 years, but his principal concern was with its legacy of present-day unemployment and planning problems. Both Carter and Wehling stressed the problems faced by towns dependent on single industries, whether coal mining in the Emscher zone of the Ruhr or consumer durables in Merthyr Tydfil. S. Royle (Queen's, Belfast) also examined the role of particular economic activities in his paper on ' Functional divergence: urban development in eighteenth and nineteenth century Leicestershire'. He described how in a set of pre-industrial towns with similar, predominantly marketing, functions diverged in response to the various local stimuli of coalmining, textiles manufacture and, more exotically, foxhunting. Royle's emphasis on the complexity of local change contrasted with the attempt, made earlier in the morning by I. Moffatt (Stirling), to construct a general ' Model of urban growth in Britain, 1801-1911 ', applicable to a wide variety of different cities. Dr Moffatt presented a dynamic simulation model based on Marxist economics, in which population, employment, housing and land use were related by series of feedback loops and the output provided predictions of population growth, housing supply and the physical expansion of each town. The paper benefited from clear and entertaining presentation, but still seemed rather naive historically. Despite

Moffatt's claims for his model's accuracy it failed to simulate some of the most interesting discordances between population growth and housing supply in nineteenth century towns.

After lunch attention turned to the internal structure of urban settlements. M. Conzen (Chicago) offered a wide-ranging and elegantly phrased discussion of ' Determinants of change in the physical structure of American cities during the industrial revolution'. Although physically distinctive, American cities could still be viewed as elaborations upon European ideas, but with new emphases related to the dominance of purely economic motives and the unencumbered supply of land for urban development. In contrast, S. Daniels (UCL) restricted his discussion to only one town, Halifax in West Yorkshire, but nevertheless extended our understanding of the development process in his well-presented paper on ' Welfare capitalism and the urban landscape'. Daniels explored the motives of two textile manufacturers in attempting to provide an environment of church, public park and model housing that would generate moral improvement among the urban working class. Disap pointingly, his interesting observations on the convergence of radicalism and liberalism, Chartism and self-help, in shaping the urban landscape were largely ignored by questioners still wedded to the purely economic aspects of landownership. S. Farrant (Brighton Polytechnic) continued the emphasis on landownership in her discussion of ' The development of seaside resorts, 1730 to 1820'. Her detailed discussion of the effects of a fossilized openfield system on the layout of resort facilities in Brighton followed rather uneasily after a general introduction on the social and medical reasons for the growth of resorts.

Finally, S. Lowder (Glasgow) brought us closer to the present, if not closer to home, by considering the social areas of Barcelona. Superficially, Barcelona resembles Burgess' Chicago. But in fact Barcelona is more like many Latin American cities than their British or North American counterparts. We alighted from our Cook's tour of



68 Annual Conference

urbanization perhaps less confident of the general models which we had taken on board at the outset, and perhaps suffering indigestion from so many divergent empirical, technical and methodological approaches; but an indigestion mild enough for the university's sherry to provide express relief.

Richard Dennis University College London

Planning in National Parks National Parks seem to exert an almost irresistible attraction for geographers of many different persuasions, if the response to this joint session organized by the Geography and Planning and Rural Geography Study Groups is anything to go by. A full lecture hall heard a wide variety of papers, covering topics that ranged from the analysis of vegetation and soil change in upland Britain, to socio-economic changes in village life. In the first session M. Parry (Birmingham) and G. Sinclair (Environmental Information Services) looked at the problems of measuring land use and vegetation change from OS maps, air photographs and field survey and illustrated impressively the amount and variety of data that could be collected by careful, systematic use of these sources. E. Maltby (Exeter) looked in more detail at the whole question of reclamation and soil change on Exmoor and showed how marginal this area really is for farming. The initial high yields after improvement have been shown to last only a very few years, throwing into doubt the long-term value of the exercise.

The second session was devoted more to management policies. H. Williams (Nature Conservancy Council: Wales) showed how policies in the new National Park Plans in Wales had been designed to promote nature conservation in the three National

Parks. A. Gilg (Exeter) mad- a plea for concentrating management of agricultural change in the transition zone between the agricultural uplands and the open moorland. This zone is crucial for recreation and very amenable to sensitive management, whereas the scope for positive intervention on the moorland proper is very limited. In the afternoon R. Vaughan (Tourism and Recreation Research Unit) reported on a research project into the economy of rural communities in National Parks. He explained some of the difficulties in analysing these areas separately from the rest of the rural scene and showed that the problems of deprivation and decline that they faced were by no means restricted to the designated areas. P. Cloke (Lampeter) and C. Park (Lan caster) gave a lively paper on the impact of the Craig y Nos Country Park in diverting recreation pressure within the Breacon Beacons. They concluded that although there

was some evidence of diversion, it was not proven that there had been a need for such an investment in the first place. Overall they argued for a clearer approach to the function of Country Parks in the National Park system as a whole. Should they be a source of finance, or a means of reducing recreation pressure elsewhere? T. O'Riordan (East Anglia), a member of the new Broads Authority, gave a detailed, interesting, though ultimately very pessimistic assessment of the future of Broadland. The only solution was to restrict agricultural improvement, but there was little chance of doing this, whether or not a barrage were built across the Yare. In the final session L. Herbst (Council for National Parks) explained the work of the Council of which she is Sec retary and showed what an effective avenue it is to both the Countryside Commission and the DOE. If geographers are genuinely interested in influencing policy, then the IBG's membership of the Council is certainly worthwhile.

Mark Blacksell University of Exeter

Social aspects of health care provision A symposium jointly arranged by the Medical and Social Geography Study Groups attracted extremely stimulating papers covering many aspects of health care provision.



Article Contentsp. 66p. 67p. 68

Issue Table of ContentsArea, Vol. 12, No. 1 (1980), pp. 1-96Front MatterCosting Cartography [pp. 1-8]Unemployment Geography and the New Government's 'Regional' Aid [pp. 9-18]Obituary: Frederick John Fowler [p. 18-18]Observations: The Future of the IBG's Publications PolicyDeath to the Generals [pp. 19-20]A Note of Caution [pp. 20-22]An Excursion on Beach Combing [pp. 22-23]

Report: Hydrological Computations [p. 24-24]Philosophy and Problems in Human Geography: A Presuppositional Approach [pp. 25-31]Report: Spatial Applications in Operational Research [pp. 31-32]Secondary Analysis, Data Banks and Geography [pp. 33-35]Agricultural Trade within the European Community [pp. 37-42]Comment: Discussion Arising from Papers in "Area"Externality Gradients: Some Problems [pp. 43-47]Women's Place: Women's Space [pp. 47-51]

ReportsRiches beneath the Rags [pp. 52-53]Is There a Cultural Point of View in Geography? [pp. 54-55]Geomorphologists in Germany [p. 56-56]

Residential Segregation in Nineteenth-Century Cities [pp. 57-62]Annual Conference, University of Lancaster, 2 to 5 January, 1980[Annual Conference Report] [pp. 63-65]Reports of SessionsPostgraduate Training: For What? [p. 65-65]Analysis of Categorical Data [pp. 65-66]From Boston to Barcelona, via Melton Mowbray [pp. 66-68]Planning in National Parks [p. 68-68]Social Aspects of Health Care Provision [pp. 68-70]Submitted Paper Sessions [pp. 70-71]Games and Simulation as Educational Aids [p. 71-71]Anglo-North American Seminar on Research in Political Geography [pp. 71-72]Regional Policies in the European Community [pp. 72-73]Roads: Their Builders and Their Users [pp. 73-74]Selected Themes in Geomorphology [pp. 74-75]Selected Themes in Urban Geography [p. 75-75]Spatial Policy in Capitalist Society [p. 76-76]Vegetation Description and Analysis [pp. 76-77]European Transport Policies [pp. 77-78]Energy in Developing Countries [pp. 78-79]Geography and Literature [pp. 79-80]How Institutions Shape Geographical Patterns [pp. 80-81]Uneven Development in Western Europe [p. 81-81]Peatlands [pp. 82-83]Current Research in Climatology [p. 83-83]Chronology of Social Change [p. 84-84]Resource Management [p. 85-85]Teaching Geography: What Geography? [pp. 85-86]Geography and Energy [pp. 86-87]Industrial Activity and Area Development [pp. 87-88]

IBG Study Group Reports for 1979 [pp. 88-94]Back Matter

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