Changes in the internal spatial structure of post-communist Prague*

The article overviews the most important changes in the internal urban structure of Prague since 1989. Post-communist urban development has been influenced by government-directed reforms of political and economic system, internationalisation and globalisation, public policies favouring unregulated market development, economic restructuring in terms of deindustrialisation and growth of producer services, and increasing social differentiation. The three most transparent processes of urban change in Prague have been (1) commercialisation of the historical core; (2) revitalisation of some inner city neighbourhoods; and (3) residential and commercial suburbanisation in the outer city. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Migration from the city to the countryside in Hungary and Poland

After the changes of 1989, urban-to-rural migration in Poland and Hungary remained stable compared to rural-to-urban migration. This was connected to a growing importance of suburbanisation around major Hungarian and Polish cities. Suburban areas around these cities are attracting increasing numbers of migrants from the major cities. Pollution and higher crime rates, as well as rising living costs and increasing uncertainties make many people to decide to leave the city for the surrounding countryside. Not only upper middle-class people move to the suburbs, but also lower status people, for whom life in the big city became too difficult. Long-distance migration from the cities to the rural areas is declining. Economic problems together with low employment opportunities prevent people from making such a move. Though the overall level of urban-to-rural migration did not change too much, this article shows the rapidly increasing importance of suburbanisation. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Property advertising and the representational production of suburbia: “Functional suburbs” and “lifestyle suburbs” in Auckland

This paper joins literature on suburban advertising with Lefebvre's concept of representational space to analyse property advertisements as part of the representational production of suburban space. Based on comparative analysis of advertising material for suburban residential developments on Auckland's “North Shore” in two time‐periods—1950s and 2010s—the paper examines changes and continuities in thematic content. While property advertisements in the mid‐1900s emphasised the “functional suburb,” paying attention to attributes such as quality of utilities and proximity to the central city, more recently advertisements have more strongly emphasised the “lifestyle suburb,” with a focus on middle‐class community and natural amenity.     

Population shifts and local democratic representation in Eastern Germany

The shift to market forces in East Germany has fundamentally reconfigured its social and economic geography. In particular, spatial inequalities between localities and regions have re-emerged forcefully in response to new values, expectations and preferences. Increased mobility through private transport, changing job opportunities, educational choices and desire for new housing qualities have inter alia created new parameters for the population's lives. The responses i.a. in the form of migration have altered demographic structures and spatial patterns of the population considerably, often varying significantly over relatively short distances within and between regions. After initial population losses generally through outmigration from East to West Germany, population losses in cities occurred in favour of suburban areas, and rural depopulation in favour of the cities; creating a highly differentiated basis for future development through new urban-rural contrasts and differences between urban regions. This paper will outline some of these processes and demonstrate their effects on the already-considerable inequalities inherited from communism. Attention will also be given to the effects of changing population structures and patterns on local government and the future prospects for an indigenously supported, sustainable economic development for regions and the likely pathways of transformation and adjustment. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Urban development in East Germany — specific features of urban transformation processes

The aim of this paper is to analyse the main characteristics of post-socialist urban development in East Germany, especially the differences compared to urban development in other East and Central European countries. In spite of the many similar problems and processes in urban development, specific features of East Germany are characterised by the rapid growth of suburbia, especially in the first phase of transition, by the proceeding activities of urban renewal and revitalisation, and by a lower level of social polarisation and socio-spatial segregation as compared to other post-socialist countries. Important conditions for urban development in East Germany exist in special support programmes, high subsidies and other financial transfers as well as in engaged planning conceptions of the local authorities. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Changing Location of Service Activities in the Copenhagen Region

Geografisk Tidsskrift, Danish Journal of Geography 97: 120–131, 1997.

The location of services in the Copenhagen region is described and analyzed. Six types of services are distinguished:

Local private and public services, serving the daily needs of the population, e.g. retailing, have suburbanized, closely following the distribution of population, though with a time-lag. The same goes for services which serve more special needs, e, g, hospitals.

Among producer services, some remain in the centre of Copenhagen, e.g. lawyer firms, partly for historical reasons, partly to minimize costs of face-to-face contacts with business partners. But contrary to traditional theory, most producer services are suburbanizing, mainly in order to find large sites and to improve their accessibility for cars. Some have shifted to the western suburbs to reduce costs (back offices) or to be close to the traffic arteries which connect Copenhagen with the rest of Denmark (wholesaling). Business services, e.g. engineering consultants, have primarily moved to the northern, amenity-rich suburbs, for reasons of prestige and of proximity to their high-status labour force. Still other services have located in a more hap-hazard way where they could find large areas, e.g. the airport and military establishments.     

Residential differentiation in nineteenth‐century Fremantle: the antipodean case

The study of residential differentiation in nineteenth‐century cities has generally been pursued without reference to Australian examples due to a lack of suitable data sources and a tendency to assume ‘New World’ models for the antipodean case. This study of late nineteenth‐century Fremantle, Western Australia, utilises data drawn from contemporary municipal ratebooks in a comprehensive analysis of residential space at the micro‐scale of individual lots. Conducted at three time intervals during a period of in‐migration and urban transformation, the analysis reveals the distinctiveness of one Australian urban experience during an era of ‘compressed development’. Residential differentiation is shown to exist both between and within occupational status groups, reflecting subtle differences in tenancy status, dwelling type and lot densities. With population increase and the onset of industrialisation, many of these differentials can be seen to disappear, particularly between middling status groups. Drawing upon additional evidence from other researchers, it is possible to construct a schematic model of antipodean urban development to represent more precisely the period in Australian cities prior to large‐scale suburbanisation.     

The suburbanisation of poverty in British cities, 2004-16: extent,processes and nature

This paper tracks changes in relative centralisation and relative concentration of poverty for the 25 largest British cities, analysing change for poor and non-poor groups separately, and examining parallel changes in spatial segregation. The paper confirms that poverty is suburbanising, at least in the larger cities, although poverty remains over-represented in inner locations. Suburbanisation is occurring through both the reduction in low income populations in inner locations and the growth non-poor groups in these places, consistent with a process of displacement. Relative centralisation of poverty has fallen more stronglythan relative concentration of poverty, as the outward shift of poorer groups leaves them still living in denser neighbourhoods on average. The paper also shows that spatial segregation (unevenness) declined at the same time although it remains to be seen whether this indicates a long-term shift to less segregated urban forms or a transitional outcome before new forms of segregation emerge around suburban poverty concentrations.