The Role of Services in Urban and Regional Development: Recent Debates and New Directions

1992 ◽  
Vol 24 (9) ◽  
pp. 1255-1270 ◽  
Author(s):  
J N Marshall ◽  
P A Wood
Keyword(s):  
Structural Change ◽  
Regional Development ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Capitalist Development ◽  
Advanced Economies ◽  
Service Activities ◽  
Urban And Regional Development ◽  
Sophisticated Analysis ◽  
Individual Service

The growing prominence of service activities in the advanced economies poses a substantial challenge for studies of urban and regional development. This paper is a review of different approaches to the analysis of service growth. Studies directed specifically at the development of producer or information services have contributed a valuable sense of the way in which services are leading economic change. They are, however, constrained by the predominantly sectoral nature of their approach, which plays down the diverse character of services and the intimate links between services and other sectors. The conceptualisation of structural change is also too narrow, viewed almost solely through the lens of changes in the service sector. In contrast, a number of Marxist-inspired analyses provide a broader interpretation of the character of structural change, emphasising the role of services in changing phases of capitalist development. They also provide a more sophisticated analysis of the diverse character of services and the types of development they provide. However, they have generally so far been constrained by the limited and derivative role given to services in the dynamics of the economy. The authors argue for a ‘service-informed’ view of structural change which contains a broad analysis of the dynamics of the advanced economies and a sense of the significance of individual service activities in change.

scholarly journals One Small World: On Writing Independent History

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 46-53
Author(s):  
Sue Castrique
Keyword(s):  
Regional Development ◽  
Public History ◽  
Small World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Ambivalent Relationship ◽  
Urban And Regional Development ◽  
History Of Place ◽  
Community Centre

One Small World: the history of the Addison Road Community Centre was independently written and funded through a series of grants. While conceived as a history of place, it is also a history of the organisation that presently occupies the site, the Addison Road Community Centre (ARCCO). The Centre has had an ambivalent relationship to its past. After 60 years as an army depot, in 1976 it became a community centre. The strict discipline of the army was replaced by a very different ethos and political outlook; in fact, its antithesis. As a consequence, the Centre had an uneasy relationship to the history of the site, particularly its army past, which was underappreciated and little valued. ARCCO has recently re-engaged with its public history, but in the process it veered off into mythology. The paper explores the ANZAAC Centenary celebration at Addison Road of horses in war in 2015, and the part funding played in creating myth rather than history. It then considers the role of the Department of Urban and Regional Development in the creation of the Centre in 1975-76 and ARCCO’s attachment to its story of radical origins. KEYWORDSAddison Road Community Centre; Department of Urban and Regional Development; ANZAC Centenary; army; Marrickville; multiculturalism

Structural Change and Economic Development. The Role of the Service Sector.

1987 ◽  
Vol 97 (386) ◽  
pp. 532
Author(s):  
Mohamed H. Malek ◽  
Norman Gemmell
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Structural Change ◽  
Service Sector

Service Activities and Regional Development: Some European Examples

1987 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 653-668 ◽  
Author(s):  
A S Bailly ◽  
D Maillat ◽  
W J Coffey
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Industrial Production ◽  
Manufacturing Process ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Level Of Service ◽  
Manufacturing Firm ◽  
Service Activities ◽  
Service Activity

Two general issues relating to the nature of the service sector are addressed in this paper. The first concerns the growing interdependence between the secondary and tertiary sectors, largely a function of the increased use of service functions in the manufacturing process; these service inputs may be either internalized or externalized by a manufacturing firm. The second issue concerns the role of the service sector in promoting regional economic development. It is generally acknowledged that, although it may be important for a region to possess a sufficient level of service activity so that its firms are not required to make major service imports, because of externality effects, high-order service activities tend to locate in major cities. Can it therefore be concluded that the locational pattern of the service sector has a minimal potential for reducing regional disparities, and that it would be unrealistic to expect the diffusion of services into peripheral regions? This may be the case for higher order services, but those more directly linked to industrial production may indeed be able to be decentralized. The potential for the decentralization of services activities is examined both within a conceptual framework and by reviewing the results of certain empirical studies conducted in Switzerland.

scholarly journals Regional Structural Change and Resilience

2012 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 363-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerd Lintz ◽  
Peter Wirth ◽  
Jörn Harfst
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Structural Change ◽  
Regional Development ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
The Social ◽  
Urban And Regional Development

Abstract The terms "resilience" and "vulnerability" have both acquired prominence in recent academic and political debate. Originating in the natural sciences, they have meanwhile established themselves not only in the social sciences, but also—and more recently—in the areas of economic geography, as well as urban and regional development. Nevertheless, as is the case with many of the issues adopted from the natural sciences, the social sciences have had to struggle to fully capture and conceptualise the theoretical meaning of the terms. The present article will explore the added-value and limits of using the notions of resilience and vulnerability in relation to structural change in old industrial regions. It will also draw on empirical information from a qualitative case study of Lusatian Lakeland, a former lignite mining region in Eastern Germany that is currently being turned into a tourist destination. Research focuses on analysing the sectoral and regional cooperation between various actors in the region. The introduction of the terms resilience and vulnerability in this case study raises some interesting questions about the nature and interpretation of regional development processes that are characterised by a high degree of uncertainty and severe structural change. The research results also highlight the conceptual difficulties these terms present, particularly in the context of structural transformation.

Human Behaviour and the Development of Cities and Regions

2021 ◽  
pp. 15-34
Author(s):  
Robert Huggins ◽  
Piers Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Regional Development ◽  
Psychological Factors ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Evolutionary Patterns ◽  
Development Outcomes ◽  
Urban And Regional Development ◽  
Moderating Role ◽  
Behavioural Theories

This chapter argues that the roots of behavioural theories of development relate to the interplay between cultural and psychological factors, with institutions playing a moderating role between intended and actualized human behaviour. It proposes that the forms of human agency associated with such behaviour are likely to impact upon urban and regional development outcomes. It introduces the role of power, and how this underpins the means by which agency facilitates institutional change. To connect the arguments made in the preceding sections, it sketches an emergent conceptual behavioural model of urban and regional development, and concludes that urban and regional development theories should seek to engage further with behavioural explanations as a means of understanding long-term evolutionary patterns.

Addressing Unevenness

2021 ◽  
pp. 241-256
Author(s):  
Robert Huggins ◽  
Piers Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Regional Development ◽  
The State ◽  
Policy Intervention ◽  
Development Outcomes ◽  
Urban And Regional Development ◽  
Sphere Of Influence ◽  
Ecological Behaviour

This chapter argues that the role of behavioural perspectives, encompassing culture, psychology, and agency, can provide new insights into the persistence of the long-term unevenness of development across cities and regions. A psychocultural theory of development builds upon person–environment theories that have previously sought to explain ecological behaviour across cities and regions rather than their economies. In particular, it seeks to facilitate a better understanding of the connectivity between upstream and downstream explanations of urban and regional development, and indeed the extent to which such an ‘upstream–downstream’ dichotomy is valid. Such a perspective should further provide an indicator of how and why behaviour-based policy intervention may impact on urban and regional development outcomes. It is argued that it is important to understand the motivations behind such policies, with governments potentially utilizing them to achieve the aims of a range of agendas, from shrinking the state to increasing their sphere of influence through the employment of ‘psychocrats’ who shape these policies.

scholarly journals Structural Change and Income Inequality – Agricultural Development and Inter-sectoral Dualism in the Developing World, 1960-2010

OASIS ◽  
2016 ◽  
pp. 99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin P. Andersson ◽  
Andrés F. Palacio Chaverra
Keyword(s):  
Structural Change ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Developing World ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Sectoral Productivity ◽  
Advanced Economies ◽  
Sectoral Composition

Structural change consists of the long-term changes in the sectoral composition of output and employment. We introduce a structural change perspective to the study of income inequality in 27 countries of the developing world for the period 1960-2010. The service sector has become the main employer, but the agricultural sector is central to the income distribution because poverty is mostly rural, and the labor surplus is high. We decompose the sectoral composition of aggregate labor productivity at the country level, divide the countries into agrarian, dual (beginner, intermediate and advanced), and mature economies and use the inter-sectoral productivity gap to test the effect of structural change on income inequality. We confirm increases in agricultural productivity everywhere and find that the inter-sectoral gap is positively associated with income inequality. The effect is negligible in agrarian and advanced economies but powerful in dual beginner economies: an increase of 1% in the inter-sectoral gap increases income inequality by 0.5%. The effect peters out in dual intermediate economies and disappears completely in dual advanced economies. Finally, redistribution has been the key to compensating the losers in the income changes, particularly for those entering the non-agricultural economy.

New Measures of British Service Outputs

1989 ◽  
Vol 128 ◽  
pp. 75-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.D. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Service Sector ◽  
Service Industries ◽  
Official Statistics ◽  
British Economy ◽  
Service Activities ◽  
Official Data ◽  
Individual Service

Official statistics suggest that over the last two decades the commercial service sector has grown rapidly both in absolute terms and relative to the rest of the British economy. Given the importance of service activities, and the fact that many of them are notoriously difficult to quantify, it is desirable that the reliability of service output measures be subject to scrutiny and, where possible, improvement. Accordingly this article presents some alternative output measures which have been compiled for financial, recreational and catering services, and compares the picture which emerges, for the economy as a whole and for individual service industries, with, that portrayed by official data.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document