Alan R Townsend
Biographic Data
| ID | 3753867 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alan R Townsend |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alan R |
| FAMILY NAME | Townsend |
| SIGNATURE | TOWNSEND A R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Durham University |
| ORCID | 0009-0005-4338-5996 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 38 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 263 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 38 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1975 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
The place of ‘Women's Voices…’ in Janet's life and career, and its ‘aftermath’
Rescaling of Planning and Its Interface with Economic Development
Following the installation of a UK Coalition Government in 2010, ways of governing the spatial organization of development have undergone far-reaching change in England. Within a context of austerity following the abolition of regional policy machinery, and an onerous national target framework, localities are entering a new phase of incentivized development. Consequently, local planning authorities are having to transfer part of their focus from …
Great Britain's Second-Order City Regions in Recessions
Although it is now accepted that the 2008-09 recession accentuated regional differences in Britain, it is more difficult to identify the role of major cities-especially over a longer time scale. With the aid of previously established methods focused on employment, this paper assesses the records of nine second-order city regions in the 2008-09 recession and contrasts them with the previous two recessions. The 2008-09 recession is found to have im…
Rebalancing England: Sub-national development (once again) at the crossroads
Over the last two decades there has been continuous tinkering and wholesale review of the remit, governance and territorial focus of sub-national development in England. There has also been mounting agreement that subsidiarity will produce optimum material outcomes. It is against this background that we provide a critical reading of the UK Coalition government's 2010 ‘White Paper’ on Local Growth. Revealing the peculiarities of an economic transi…
Boundary issues
What is our point of no return? Caesar proclaimed 'the die is cast' while crossing the Rubicon, but rarely does modern society find so visible a threshold in our continued degradation of ecosystems and the services they provide. Humans have always used their surroundings to make a living— sometimes successfully, sometimes not (Diamond 2005)—and we intuitively know that there are boundaries to our exploitation. But defining these boundaries has be…
The Fluctuating Record of Economic Regeneration in England’s Second-order City-regions, 1984–2007
Within the context of theoretical and policy debates about the new economic geography and an urban renaissance, this paper examines how far and in what way ‘Our cities are back’, as claimed by England’s Core Cities Group. It focuses on 1984–2007 employment changes for the eight Core Cities and their city-regions: Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield. These provincial city-regions are found to have…
Nutrient Imbalances in Agricultural Development
Nutrient additions to intensive agricultural systems range from inadequate to excessive—and both extremes have substantial human and environmental costs.
Transformation of the Nitrogen Cycle: Recent Trends, Questions, and Potential Solutions
Humans continue to transform the global nitrogen cycle at a record pace, reflecting an increased combustion of fossil fuels, growing demand for nitrogen in agriculture and industry, and pervasive inefficiencies in its use. Much anthropogenic nitrogen is lost to air, water, and land to cause a cascade of environmental and human health problems. Simultaneously, food production in some parts of the world is nitrogen-deficient, highlighting inequitie…
Parasitic and Infectious Disease Responses to Changing Global Nutrient Cycles
Institutions and mediating inward investment in England and the USA
Cox K. and Townsend A. (2005) Institutions and mediating inward investment in England and the USA, Regional Studies 39 , 541–553. In England, a new institutional structure for local and regional development has recently emerged involving some decentralization of responsibility. A major focus has been stimulating and mediating inward investment. The new scale division of labour resembles somewhat that which has long been apparent in the USA. Simil…
Nitrogen Cycles: Past, Present, and Future
Accountability, motivation and practice: NGOs North and South
The vast cheapening and acceleration of communication between distant strangers has facilitated the formation of a transnational community of development non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) working in poorer countries. These carry funds and specific discourses and practices to most corners of the globe, and bring back information and images that attract more funding and legitimization to donors and NGOs. A managerial revolution through which sp…
Public Speaking Rights, Members and Officers in a Planning Committee
(2002). Public Speaking Rights, Members and Officers in a Planning Committee. Planning Practice & Research: Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 59-68
Making a Living in Europe: Human Geographies of Economic Change
Will 'making a Living' remain a dream for the deprived and excluded? Jobs are one of Europe's most important problems. Employment provides the basic means of distributing wealth in society, in providing for families, and ensuring pensions for the elderly. Yet unemployment, and increasingly 'non-employment', continues at near record levels in the European Union. Making a Living in Europe shows how the culture of work has been transformed in the in…
Debunking the Myth of Localized Agglomerations: The Development of a Regionalized Service Economy in South‐East England
The central argument of this paper is that localized clusters of economic activity, or ‘agglomerations’, have been overemphasized in economic geography since the mid‐1980s. In particular, such analyses are too manufacturing‐biased, and place too much weight on the importance of local supply, market and partnership linkages. We will re‐emphasize the service‐based nature of growth in the core region of the UK economy, and will explore how a broad b…
The rise of Regional Europe
Sales of Business Services From a European City
Theoretical and empirical attention to competition between European cities must lay emphasis on the growth of business services. Does it arise from externalisation of work from industry, or from sales to the rest of the service sector locally, nationally or internationally? In a policy survey of 39 ‘business service’ firms for the Scottish City of Edinburgh it was found, despite the prominence of its financial institutions and a few outstanding e…
Retail Change: Contemporary Issues
Retail change and the issues, Rosemary D.F. Bromley and Colin J. Thomas. Part 1 The changing organization of retailing: the internationalization of retailing, John A. Dawson retail concentration and the internationalization of British grocery retailing, Neil Wrigley. Part 2 Transformation and the urban region: the proliferation of the planned shopping centre, Jonathan Reynolds transformation and the city centre, Clifford M. Guy and J. Dennis Lord…
The Globalisation of Production and Technology
Les flux économiques entre université et territoires. Essai de quantification dans le cadre d'une petite ville britannique
Hochschulen und Regionen in Großbritannien. Eine quantifizierende Untersuchung Die Universität Durham, nach Oxford und Cambridge eine der ältesten in England, liegt mitten in einem krisengeschüttelten Industrierevier. Spielt sie in der Wirtschaft ihrer Region eine Rolle ? Eine Methode zur Quantifizierung der direkten und indirekten Effekte zeigt, daß die Universität ebenso viele Arbeitsplätze am Leben hält, wie sie Studenten zählt
The Urban-Rural Cycle in the Thatcher Growth Years
In the context of international speculation both over the geography of manufacturing change and over the continuation in the 1980s of the urban-rural shift of population and employment, the paper examines employment change in Great Britain. This is a comprehensive analysis for the years 1981 to 1989 by ten types of area, from 'Inner London' to 'Remoter, Mainly Rural'. The findings reflect government encouragement of a gradually-evident services-l…
The Attractions of Urban Areas
Developed countries are said to be evolving new kinds of tourism in urban areas. This might even include the encouragement of employment growth at industrial archaeology museums in areas of de-industrialisation. The paper analyses 183 million visits to attractions in the UK by type and by a Census urban-rural classification of areas. It is found that claims for the more urban areas are exaggerated, especially compared with the longstanding featur…
Employment Change in UK Steel Closure Areas During the 1980s: Policy Implications and Lessons for Scotland
HUDSON R., SADLER D. and TOWNSEND A. (1992) Employment change in UK steel closure areas during the 1980s: policy implications and lessons for Scotland, Reg. Studies 26, 633–646. The latest phase in the contraction of UK steel production has involved a continued challenge to the future of the industry in Scotland, culminating in British Steel's decision to close its Ravenscraig works there in 1992. The impact of other steel closures within the UK …
Contemporary Britain: A Geographical Perspective
New Directions in the Growth of Tourism Employment: Propositions of the 1980s
In a variety of European national contexts, the geography of tourist development turns heavily on relative spending by residents at home, by residents abroad, and by foreign visitors. Unpublished GB data for 'tourism-related employment', 1981-89, are employed to test the hypothesis that there has been a spread of activity from coastal resorts to many other types of area, particularly, as per the government emphasis, demonstrating the potential of…
Debunking the Myth of Localized Agglomerations: The Development of a Regionalized Service Economy in South‐East England
The central argument of this paper is that localized clusters of economic activity, or ‘agglomerations’, have been overemphasized in economic geography since the mid‐1980s. In particular, such analyses are too manufacturing‐biased, and place too much weight on the importance of local supply, market and partnership linkages. We will re‐emphasize the service‐based nature of growth in the core region of the UK economy, and will explore how a broad b…
Ceasing Participation in Sports Activity: Reported Reasons and Their Implications
This paper details the various reasons why people cease participation in sports activity, using original survey evidence. Data used are derived from probed, open-ended questions and subjected to content analysis. The major reasons offered are discussed and a tentative classification of reasons is made. Emphasis is placed upon the need to understand the frame of reference of the individual sports participant. The implications of the analysis for g…
Accountability, motivation and practice: NGOs North and South
The vast cheapening and acceleration of communication between distant strangers has facilitated the formation of a transnational community of development non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) working in poorer countries. These carry funds and specific discourses and practices to most corners of the globe, and bring back information and images that attract more funding and legitimization to donors and NGOs. A managerial revolution through which sp…
Spatial aspects of the growth of part-time employment in Britain
Townsend A. (1986) Spatial aspects of the growth of part-time employment in Britain, Reg. Studies 20, 313–330. Part-time employment has a large and growing share of total employment in Britain. It is substituting for the growth of full-time jobs and is the principal employment opportunity for women with children. Its distinct spatial pattern of expansion, 1971–81, is notable for including peripheral regions such as Wales and the South West. As mo…
Retail Change: Contemporary Issues
Retail change and the issues, Rosemary D.F. Bromley and Colin J. Thomas. Part 1 The changing organization of retailing: the internationalization of retailing, John A. Dawson retail concentration and the internationalization of British grocery retailing, Neil Wrigley. Part 2 Transformation and the urban region: the proliferation of the planned shopping centre, Jonathan Reynolds transformation and the city centre, Clifford M. Guy and J. Dennis Lord…
The Urban-Rural Cycle in the Thatcher Growth Years
In the context of international speculation both over the geography of manufacturing change and over the continuation in the 1980s of the urban-rural shift of population and employment, the paper examines employment change in Great Britain. This is a comprehensive analysis for the years 1981 to 1989 by ten types of area, from 'Inner London' to 'Remoter, Mainly Rural'. The findings reflect government encouragement of a gradually-evident services-l…
Contrasting experience of recession and spatial restructuring: British Shipbuilders, Plessey and Metal Box
Peck F. W. and Townsend A. R. (1984) Contrasting experience of recession and spatial re-structuring: British Shipbuilders, Plessey and Metal Box, Reg. Studies 18, 319–338. Trends in aggregate economic indicators in the recent recession conceal marked variations in the experience of different industrial corporations within the meso-economic sector in the UK. This paper demonstrates such variations by comparing the nature of employment decline in t…
The Globalisation of Production and Technology
The Impact of Recession, on Industry, Employment, and the Regions 1976-81
The Local 'Sense of Place' as Evidenced in North-East England
The relationship of inner city problems to regional policy
Townsend A. (1977) The Relationship of inner city problems to regional policy. Reg. Studies 11, 225–251. The paper attempts to review the new perspectives for national government policy on the distribution of industry resulting from the recognition of the ‘inner-city’ problem of most conurbations. By analysing sub-regional reports and trends for Scotland and three northern Regions of England, and their intake of factory moves from the South-East,…
Employment Change in UK Steel Closure Areas During the 1980s: Policy Implications and Lessons for Scotland
HUDSON R., SADLER D. and TOWNSEND A. (1992) Employment change in UK steel closure areas during the 1980s: policy implications and lessons for Scotland, Reg. Studies 26, 633–646. The latest phase in the contraction of UK steel production has involved a continued challenge to the future of the industry in Scotland, culminating in British Steel's decision to close its Ravenscraig works there in 1992. The impact of other steel closures within the UK …
New Directions in the Growth of Tourism Employment: Propositions of the 1980s
In a variety of European national contexts, the geography of tourist development turns heavily on relative spending by residents at home, by residents abroad, and by foreign visitors. Unpublished GB data for 'tourism-related employment', 1981-89, are employed to test the hypothesis that there has been a spread of activity from coastal resorts to many other types of area, particularly, as per the government emphasis, demonstrating the potential of…
The Impact of Technological Change upon the Spatial Pattern of UK Employment within Major Corporations
PECK, F. and TOWNSEND A. (1987) The impact of technological change upon the spatial pattern of UK employment within major corporations, Reg. Studies 21, 225–239. Studies of the effects of technological change on employment have generally adopted an ‘indirect’ regional perspective. The ‘direct’ effects on employment at the level of large plants are amenable to geographical study and may have impacts on inter-related production lines. The case stud…
The Fluctuating Record of Economic Regeneration in England’s Second-order City-regions, 1984–2007
Within the context of theoretical and policy debates about the new economic geography and an urban renaissance, this paper examines how far and in what way ‘Our cities are back’, as claimed by England’s Core Cities Group. It focuses on 1984–2007 employment changes for the eight Core Cities and their city-regions: Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield. These provincial city-regions are found to have…
Great Britain's Second-Order City Regions in Recessions
Although it is now accepted that the 2008-09 recession accentuated regional differences in Britain, it is more difficult to identify the role of major cities-especially over a longer time scale. With the aid of previously established methods focused on employment, this paper assesses the records of nine second-order city regions in the 2008-09 recession and contrasts them with the previous two recessions. The 2008-09 recession is found to have im…
Recession and the Regions in Great Britain, 1976-1980: Analyses of Redundancy Data
The severe downturn in the British economy in 1980 is apparent in regional data for employment (provisional), redundancies, and unemployment. Five shift-share analyses are used here to explore the data on employment and redundancies, three of them conducted at 'minimum list heading' level. The period 1976 to 1979 is one of poor performance by regions of traditional policy interest, whereas the events of 1980 are seen as essentially a national phe…
Institutions and mediating inward investment in England and the USA
Cox K. and Townsend A. (2005) Institutions and mediating inward investment in England and the USA, Regional Studies 39 , 541–553. In England, a new institutional structure for local and regional development has recently emerged involving some decentralization of responsibility. A major focus has been stimulating and mediating inward investment. The new scale division of labour resembles somewhat that which has long been apparent in the USA. Simil…
The Attractions of Urban Areas
Developed countries are said to be evolving new kinds of tourism in urban areas. This might even include the encouragement of employment growth at industrial archaeology museums in areas of de-industrialisation. The paper analyses 183 million visits to attractions in the UK by type and by a Census urban-rural classification of areas. It is found that claims for the more urban areas are exaggerated, especially compared with the longstanding featur…
Employees' Experience of New Factories in North East England; Survey Evidence on Some Implications of British Regional Policy
In contrast with many surveys of the movement of industry conducted exclusively through management, this study was conducted principally through interviews with employees at new factories, focussing on their experience and labour market behaviour, and thereby reveals relatively unknown implications of British regional policy. It is also unusual for a survey of workers to concentrate exclusively on people who have changed jobs, whether voluntarily…
Regional culture and identity in industrialized societies: The case of North-East England
Townsend A. R. and Taylor C. C. (1975) Regional culture and identity in industrialized societies: the case of North-East England, Reg. Studies 9, 379–393. A sample household survey of four towns in North-East England discovered wider areas and levels of attachment beyond those found in individual community studies. A comprehensive range of variables showed that behavioural experience and family links were largely contained within “sub-regions” ar…
Sales of Business Services From a European City
Theoretical and empirical attention to competition between European cities must lay emphasis on the growth of business services. Does it arise from externalisation of work from industry, or from sales to the rest of the service sector locally, nationally or internationally? In a policy survey of 39 ‘business service’ firms for the Scottish City of Edinburgh it was found, despite the prominence of its financial institutions and a few outstanding e…
The Location of Employment Growth after 1978: The Surprising Significance of Dispersed Centres
Despite the overwhelming importance of job loss in labour markets in Great Britain since 1979, and the growth of unemployment everywhere, it has come to light that a proportion of areas enjoyed net job gains when recession was at its worst. Contrary to common assertion, these areas lay not entirely in the Home Counties or eastern Scotland, but included examples in most regions (for example, Exeter, York). A common denominator of many of these cha…
The role of returned migrants in England's poorest region
Regional culture and identity in industrialized societies: The case of North-East England
Townsend A. R. and Taylor C. C. (1975) Regional culture and identity in industrialized societies: the case of North-East England, Reg. Studies 9, 379–393. A sample household survey of four towns in North-East England discovered wider areas and levels of attachment beyond those found in individual community studies. A comprehensive range of variables showed that behavioural experience and family links were largely contained within “sub-regions” ar…
The Local 'Sense of Place' as Evidenced in North-East England
The relationship of inner city problems to regional policy
Townsend A. (1977) The Relationship of inner city problems to regional policy. Reg. Studies 11, 225–251. The paper attempts to review the new perspectives for national government policy on the distribution of industry resulting from the recognition of the ‘inner-city’ problem of most conurbations. By analysing sub-regional reports and trends for Scotland and three northern Regions of England, and their intake of factory moves from the South-East,…
Employees' Experience of New Factories in North East England; Survey Evidence on Some Implications of British Regional Policy
In contrast with many surveys of the movement of industry conducted exclusively through management, this study was conducted principally through interviews with employees at new factories, focussing on their experience and labour market behaviour, and thereby reveals relatively unknown implications of British regional policy. It is also unusual for a survey of workers to concentrate exclusively on people who have changed jobs, whether voluntarily…
Contemporary Industrialization: Spatial Analysis and Regional Development
The role of returned migrants in England's poorest region
Ceasing Participation in Sports Activity: Reported Reasons and Their Implications
This paper details the various reasons why people cease participation in sports activity, using original survey evidence. Data used are derived from probed, open-ended questions and subjected to content analysis. The major reasons offered are discussed and a tentative classification of reasons is made. Emphasis is placed upon the need to understand the frame of reference of the individual sports participant. The implications of the analysis for g…
Recession and the Regions in Great Britain, 1976-1980: Analyses of Redundancy Data
The severe downturn in the British economy in 1980 is apparent in regional data for employment (provisional), redundancies, and unemployment. Five shift-share analyses are used here to explore the data on employment and redundancies, three of them conducted at 'minimum list heading' level. The period 1976 to 1979 is one of poor performance by regions of traditional policy interest, whereas the events of 1980 are seen as essentially a national phe…
Contrasting experience of recession and spatial restructuring: British Shipbuilders, Plessey and Metal Box
Peck F. W. and Townsend A. R. (1984) Contrasting experience of recession and spatial re-structuring: British Shipbuilders, Plessey and Metal Box, Reg. Studies 18, 319–338. Trends in aggregate economic indicators in the recent recession conceal marked variations in the experience of different industrial corporations within the meso-economic sector in the UK. This paper demonstrates such variations by comparing the nature of employment decline in t…
The Impact of Recession, on Industry, Employment, and the Regions 1976-81
Spatial aspects of the growth of part-time employment in Britain
Townsend A. (1986) Spatial aspects of the growth of part-time employment in Britain, Reg. Studies 20, 313–330. Part-time employment has a large and growing share of total employment in Britain. It is substituting for the growth of full-time jobs and is the principal employment opportunity for women with children. Its distinct spatial pattern of expansion, 1971–81, is notable for including peripheral regions such as Wales and the South West. As mo…
The Location of Employment Growth after 1978: The Surprising Significance of Dispersed Centres
Despite the overwhelming importance of job loss in labour markets in Great Britain since 1979, and the growth of unemployment everywhere, it has come to light that a proportion of areas enjoyed net job gains when recession was at its worst. Contrary to common assertion, these areas lay not entirely in the Home Counties or eastern Scotland, but included examples in most regions (for example, Exeter, York). A common denominator of many of these cha…
The Impact of Technological Change upon the Spatial Pattern of UK Employment within Major Corporations
PECK, F. and TOWNSEND A. (1987) The impact of technological change upon the spatial pattern of UK employment within major corporations, Reg. Studies 21, 225–239. Studies of the effects of technological change on employment have generally adopted an ‘indirect’ regional perspective. The ‘direct’ effects on employment at the level of large plants are amenable to geographical study and may have impacts on inter-related production lines. The case stud…
The Attractions of Urban Areas
Developed countries are said to be evolving new kinds of tourism in urban areas. This might even include the encouragement of employment growth at industrial archaeology museums in areas of de-industrialisation. The paper analyses 183 million visits to attractions in the UK by type and by a Census urban-rural classification of areas. It is found that claims for the more urban areas are exaggerated, especially compared with the longstanding featur…
Employment Change in UK Steel Closure Areas During the 1980s: Policy Implications and Lessons for Scotland
HUDSON R., SADLER D. and TOWNSEND A. (1992) Employment change in UK steel closure areas during the 1980s: policy implications and lessons for Scotland, Reg. Studies 26, 633–646. The latest phase in the contraction of UK steel production has involved a continued challenge to the future of the industry in Scotland, culminating in British Steel's decision to close its Ravenscraig works there in 1992. The impact of other steel closures within the UK …
Contemporary Britain: A Geographical Perspective
New Directions in the Growth of Tourism Employment: Propositions of the 1980s
In a variety of European national contexts, the geography of tourist development turns heavily on relative spending by residents at home, by residents abroad, and by foreign visitors. Unpublished GB data for 'tourism-related employment', 1981-89, are employed to test the hypothesis that there has been a spread of activity from coastal resorts to many other types of area, particularly, as per the government emphasis, demonstrating the potential of…
The Urban-Rural Cycle in the Thatcher Growth Years
In the context of international speculation both over the geography of manufacturing change and over the continuation in the 1980s of the urban-rural shift of population and employment, the paper examines employment change in Great Britain. This is a comprehensive analysis for the years 1981 to 1989 by ten types of area, from 'Inner London' to 'Remoter, Mainly Rural'. The findings reflect government encouragement of a gradually-evident services-l…
The Globalisation of Production and Technology
Les flux économiques entre université et territoires. Essai de quantification dans le cadre d'une petite ville britannique
Hochschulen und Regionen in Großbritannien. Eine quantifizierende Untersuchung Die Universität Durham, nach Oxford und Cambridge eine der ältesten in England, liegt mitten in einem krisengeschüttelten Industrierevier. Spielt sie in der Wirtschaft ihrer Region eine Rolle ? Eine Methode zur Quantifizierung der direkten und indirekten Effekte zeigt, daß die Universität ebenso viele Arbeitsplätze am Leben hält, wie sie Studenten zählt
Sales of Business Services From a European City
Theoretical and empirical attention to competition between European cities must lay emphasis on the growth of business services. Does it arise from externalisation of work from industry, or from sales to the rest of the service sector locally, nationally or internationally? In a policy survey of 39 ‘business service’ firms for the Scottish City of Edinburgh it was found, despite the prominence of its financial institutions and a few outstanding e…
Retail Change: Contemporary Issues
Retail change and the issues, Rosemary D.F. Bromley and Colin J. Thomas. Part 1 The changing organization of retailing: the internationalization of retailing, John A. Dawson retail concentration and the internationalization of British grocery retailing, Neil Wrigley. Part 2 Transformation and the urban region: the proliferation of the planned shopping centre, Jonathan Reynolds transformation and the city centre, Clifford M. Guy and J. Dennis Lord…
The rise of Regional Europe
Debunking the Myth of Localized Agglomerations: The Development of a Regionalized Service Economy in South‐East England
The central argument of this paper is that localized clusters of economic activity, or ‘agglomerations’, have been overemphasized in economic geography since the mid‐1980s. In particular, such analyses are too manufacturing‐biased, and place too much weight on the importance of local supply, market and partnership linkages. We will re‐emphasize the service‐based nature of growth in the core region of the UK economy, and will explore how a broad b…
Making a Living in Europe: Human Geographies of Economic Change
Will 'making a Living' remain a dream for the deprived and excluded? Jobs are one of Europe's most important problems. Employment provides the basic means of distributing wealth in society, in providing for families, and ensuring pensions for the elderly. Yet unemployment, and increasingly 'non-employment', continues at near record levels in the European Union. Making a Living in Europe shows how the culture of work has been transformed in the in…
Economics (24 works) · Geography (24 works) · Economic geography (19 works) · Political science (14 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Business (13 works) · Economic growth (11 works) · Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis (11 works) · Cultural Industries and Urban Development (9 works) · Regional science (9 works)