European Urban and Regional Studies current issue

Risky Migrants?: Low-Paid Migrant Workers Coping With Financial Exclusion in London

Datta, K. — 2009-09-17

Research on financial exclusion among migrant workers is scarce. A growing presence in advanced economies, migrant workers’ experiences of financial exclusion are shaped by a broad range of ‘supply’ and ‘demand’ side factors. In particular, this article argues that migrants’ understandings and management of risk are critical in shaping their engagement with financial services and products. Drawing upon empirical research conducted with low-paid migrant workers in London, this article explores the everyday financial practices and lives of low-paid migrant workers; the strategies which they devise in order to cope with financial exclusion as well as focusing specifically on self-exclusion as a strategy which signifies a particular understanding and management of risk.

New Facets of Urban Segregation in Southern Europe: Gender, Migration and Social Class Change in Athens

Arapoglou, V. P., Sayas, J. — 2009-09-17

This article explores how primary features of occupational restructuring, such as the feminization of employment and migration, and changes in patterns of residential mobility of Greek and migrant women since the 1990s have contributed to shaping new forms of sociospatial segregation in Athens. We examine changes in the occupational structure and in segregation indices from 1991 to 2001. Findings suggest that new gender and ethnic divisions in the occupational structure combine with residential mobility and introduce strong tendencies towards spatial fragmentation. Intra-urban and migratory flows reflect diversified occupational trajectories among women and contribute to shaping the socioeconomic profile of the destination areas: (a) migrant domestic and unskilled service workers locate to central city and suburban areas; (b) Greek managers and professionals, move to ‘upper-class suburbs’; (c) small Greek entrepreneurs and independent workers sprawl to peri-urban areas; (d) salespersons and clerks move to inner suburban areas.

Re-Bundling and the Development of Hollow Clusters in the East German Chemical Industry

Bathelt, H. — 2009-09-17

After the reunification, drastic economic restructuring processes occurred in East Germany due to a double transition: the transformation of the political and economic system, and the Fordist crisis associated with ongoing globalization processes. The challenges and shifts were particularly strong in the chemical industry, which had developed a structure of mass production characterized by an unsustainable exploitation of natural and economic resources. Drawing on a conception that views transformation and restructuring as a process of regional ruptures and re-bundling, rather than one that focuses on the lock-in of old industrialized regions, this article investigates the extent to which restructuring activities have been able to generate self-sustaining regional economies and networks in the East German chemical industry.The article is based on empirical research conducted in the regions of Leuna, Schkopau and Bitterfeld-Wolfen, which provides evidence that restructuring in the chemical industry did not create fully fledged clusters with strong interfirm linkages.Although the regional economies of the East German chemical industry were well linked to West Germany and to international markets through corporate ties, networks for learning and innovation remained weak.The development of these ‘hollow clusters’ was due to the persistence of a small industry basis, the dominance of branch operations with few local ties, and the limited importance of start-up firms. Such conditions, consequently, limit the prospects for growth in the East German chemical industry, suggesting that more diversified regional policies must be developed in the future.

The Role of Regional Development Agencies in Turkey: From Implementing EU Directives To Supporting Regional Business Communities?

Lagendijk, A., Kayasu, S., Yasar, S. — 2009-09-17

Turkey’s step-by-step embedding in the institutional and policy environment of the EU is currently compelling the country to establish a fitting structure of regional governance. A key element in this structure is the creation of regions at the NUTS-II level which will be equipped with Regional Development Agencies (RDAs). Yet the present political and economic situation in Turkey throws some doubt on the scope and future for RDA development. To what extent will the central state be able and willing to devolve authority and resources to the local level? And to what extent do regional institutional and business settings hold fertile ground for RDA development? The article will address these questions, first, by focusing on the broader political-institutional context of region and RDA formation; and, second, through a detailed case-study of one regional setting, namely Istanbul. The outcomes indeed point to a fragile basis for RDA development from both political and economic perspectives. However, they also help identify certain areas where RDAs, in a more bottom-up way, could help to fill serious gaps in the fabric of regional economic development, and may find external resources to do so.

Regional Patterns in Vacancies, Exits and Rental Housing

Nordvik, V., Gulbrandsen, L. — 2009-09-17

Utilization of the housing stock is determined by the interplay between a slowly adjusted housing stock and changing regional patterns. Temporal mismatch between adjustments of the housing stock and regional change may lead to variations in the incidence of vacant housing units, over time and over space.Within this context this article analyses the determinants of exit rates from the housing stock in use and what determines the utilization of vacant housing units. This article demonstrates empirically that changes in the stock of vacancies in the housing stock within a municipality increase as one moves from the most central parts of the country towards the less central parts. Furthermore, the growth in the stock of vacant housing correlates positively with the share of inhabitants aged 65 years or over. We relate these empirical findings to a particular form of centralization which has taken place in Norway over the last 50 years: upon leaving the parental home, young people have often left the peripheral parts of the country.As their childhood homes were still inhabited by their parents, they did not leave any vacant housing units behind them.After some 30—50 years, the parents have died. Hence, a centralization process may produce vacant housing units — with a time lag of up to 30—50 years.

Urban--Rural Flows and the Meaning of Borders: Functional and Symbolic Integration in Norwegian City-Regions

Hidle, K., Farsund, A. A., Lysgard, H. K. — 2009-09-17

This article focuses on political and everyday interplay and integration between city and hinterland, investigating borders and boundaries in such interplay. Five Norwegian city-regions served as the empirical basis for analysing two empirical fields. In the first field — everyday mobility and flow — institutionalized interactions between the cities and their hinterlands were analysed as well as objectives and meaning as motivations in everyday mobility in the city-region between city and hinterland. In the second field — urban-regional economic development policy — the questions addressed related to the degree to which governance networks are developed as a tool in local economic development policy, the geographical span such networks have, and the degree to which actors are motivated by the idea of creating a city-region where the importance of borders is decreasing. The issues were discussed in a theoretical frame related to urban and boundary theory.The results demonstrated the multitude of meanings with regard to borders and boundaries, underscoring how fundamentally different cognitive approaches related to borders and flows are constituent in the two empirical fields as well as how borders and boundaries are used to separate and connect in fulfilling purposeful ends.

The Spatial Distribution of Internet Backbone Networks in Europe: A Metropolitan Knowledge Economy Perspective

Tranos, E., Gillespie, A. — 2009-09-17

This article attempts to explain the factors which determine the spatial distribution of the Internet backbone networks in Europe.These networks facilitate the modern economy by interconnecting cities, enabling communication and exchange and, consequently, enhancing the interaction between them.This infrastructural capital for the knowledge economy is far from evenly spread across Europe.The article uses principal components analysis and regression models to examine the influence of a range of socio-economic variables on the spatial distribution of the Internet backbones in Europe, and concludes that they largely follow existing patterns of development, urban concentrations of knowledge, nodes of transport provision and patterns of high accessibility.

Portuguese Child Labour: an Enduring Tale of Exploitation

Eaton, M., Goulart, P. — 2009-09-17

Child working remains a significant minority activity in semi-industrialized parts of the Portuguese labour market. This article outlines the scale and spatial extent of the phenomenon before debating the role of children employed in the textiles, clothing and footwear sectors.We consider key determinants governing supply and demand for these workers together with an evaluation of state-sponsored efforts to alleviate the situation. Analysis shows that some factories in mono-industrial parts of north-west and central-eastern interior Portugal are continuing to resist the globalization of competitive pressures.This is achieved by reducing real labour costs, utilizing informal work practices, exploiting the cheap productive capacity which minors bring and the legislative loopholes which prevent its eradication.