The Dictionary of Human Geography (136 page)

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Authors: Michael Watts

BOOK: The Dictionary of Human Geography
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network(s)
A particular kind of spatial arrangement that consists of a collection of linked elements which typically exhibit a de centred and non hierarchical form. With the word ever more ubiquitous in popular, busi ness and academic usage, it is increasingly important to recognize that the proliferation of the basic topological metaphor of the net work can conceal a range of very different analytical commitments, both explicit and implicit. At least the following approaches may be usefully distinguished, each with their different main constituents/actors, types of relation foregrounded and methods of analysis: (NEW PARAGRAPH) Infrastructural technically based net works, such as electrical, road, rail, sew erage and telecommunications systems, can be described according to their density, connectedness and orientation (Haggett, 1969: see infrastructure). (NEW PARAGRAPH) sociaL networks, such as kinship, friendship and communities, have histor ically been analysed both quantitatively by social network analysis and more qualitatively using tools derived from social anthropology (Strathern, 1996). (NEW PARAGRAPH) Network based models of organization have tended to merge the distinctive fea tures of the previous two approaches, as the nature of collectives from the infor mal and local to formal and global are increasingly seen as exhibiting this kind of form (Castells, 1996b; Barry, 2001). (NEW PARAGRAPH) Finally, actor networks (Latour, 1993) (NEW PARAGRAPH) are the distributed forms of agency that emerge from articulation of humans and non humans as seen by practitioners of the conceptual approach that originated in science and technology studies (STS) and is known as actor network theory. nb (NEW PARAGRAPH)
neural networks
Methods of finding solu tions to a range of technical problems using computer algorithms based on models of the human brain. The networks are ?trained? to find solutions to new problems by being given exemplars on which to base their de cisions, such as which category to assign an individual observation to when the category boundaries are fuzzy (cf. fuzzy sets). The approach is particularly valuable in various forms of pattern recognition and classification and is widely used in remote sensing studies for classifying segments of the Earth?s surface according to their land cover (Foody, 1996). The spectral signatures of different land cover types vary, and many small areas for which data are obtained contain a mixture of types. The goal is to allocate each observation unit (pixeL) to a relatively homogeneous category. ?Training? sites are defined, using synthetic pixels with homogeneous land cover, and the neural network algorithm, through an iterative procedure, allocates all of the observed pixels to the type it most closely resembles. It is then possible to estimate the proportion of the land surface under different types of cover. (NEW PARAGRAPH) A similar approach has been suggested for classification of socio economic data. Very few small areas such as census tracts are homogeneous in their population character istics so clear boundaries between types of area cannot be defined a priori on other than pragmatic grounds (e.g. use of quartiles); they are the same as pixels with mixed land uses. Using neural network approaches, ideaL types are defined (with different levels of homogeneity and mixtures, for example) and the individual tracts are allocated to those they most resemble (Mitchell, Martin and Foody, 1998). rj (NEW PARAGRAPH) Suggested reading (NEW PARAGRAPH) Openshaw and Openshaw (1997). (NEW PARAGRAPH)
New Economic Geography
An approach as sociated primarily with a group of American neo classical economists (see neo cLassicaL economics) who from the early 1990s sought to apply theoretical rigour, analytical methods and econometric (statistical) techniques to a space economy. Such interest was surprising, given economists? historical attachment to an a spatial economy, to ?a wonderland of no dimensions? (Isard, 1956, p. 25). For Paul Krugman (1995a, p. 33), however, the econo mist most central to the movement, the New Economic Geography was ?a vision on the road to Damascus?: ?I suddenly realised that I had spent my whole professional life . . . thinking and writing about economic geography, with out being aware ofit? (Krugman, 1991, p. 1). (NEW PARAGRAPH) Krugman?s epiphany was that the analytical framework he previously deployed to under stand international trade was perfect for com prehending economic geography: ?Economic geography, like . . . trade theory, is largely about increasing returns and multiple equilib ria. The technical tricks needed to make models tractable are often the same? (Krugman, 1995b, p. 41). That term ?modeL? is critical. While conventional economic geog raphy was ?a field full of empirical insights, good stories and obvious practical import ance?, it was ?neglected? that is, neglected by economists ?because nobody had seen a good way to formalize it? (Krugman, 1995b, p. 41). Krugman?s project was to take works of economic geographers and to make them (as he saw it) intellectually viable by expressing them in the formal vocabulary of economic models. As he writes, ?we will integrate spatial issues into economics through clever models . . . that make sense of the insights of the geographers in a way that meets the formal standards of the economists? (Krugman, 1995b, p. 88). In his manifesto, Krugman (2000, p. 51) identifies ?a slogan? for his pro ject: ?Dixit Stiglitz, icebergs, evolution, and the computer.? Dixit Stiglitz is the ?clever model?; icebergs refers to the ?technical trick? for introducing transport costs (and hence geography), evolution points to the dynamic character of the models (as opposed to the static kind characterizing traditional location the ory), and the computer simulates solutions for multiple equilibria (Krugman says that his laptop ?lets me produce a paper equations, simulations and all in a hotel room over a weekend... ? (Krugman, 1995a, p. 37). (NEW PARAGRAPH) There was a precedent for the New Eco nomic Geography in regionAL science, which was established in the 1950s to apply rigour, scientific analysis and statistical methods to a space economy. Unsurprisingly, given the attempt to occupy the same terrain, the two movements have an uncomfortable relation. Krugman implies that regional scien tists have yet to find ?clever models?, while regional scientists dismiss Krugman's work by claiming that ?it's obvious, it's wrong, and anyway [it was] said years ago? (Isserman, 1996). The relationship between the New Economic Geography and economic geog Raphy as practised in human geography is also uneasy. There was an initial flush of interest represented by the publication of a joint reader, The Oxford handbook of economic geography (Clark, Gertler and Feldman, 2000), and a new journal, the Journal of Economic Geography, which started publishing in January 2005. Both organs promoted cross disciplinary exchange. At least as meas ured by citation impact scores, the new journal attracted large numbers of readers from both economic geography and economics. But being between the same covers does not prove intercourse, and Martin?s (1999b, p. 70) verdict on the New Economic Geog raphy, that it produces a ?dull sense of deja vu?, is still likely to be shared by many economic geographers. The more than 100 year history of economic geography is littered with failed attempts to engage economists. This is turning out to be another one. tb (NEW PARAGRAPH) Suggested reading (NEW PARAGRAPH) Martin (1999b). (NEW PARAGRAPH)
New International Division of Labour (NIDL)
A recasting of the international div ision of Labour associated with the inter nationalization of capital and the growth of newly industrializing countries and regions. In one sense, the term is unhelpful, for the uneven deveLopment of capitaLism ensures that the global division of labour is constantly changing. As Marx and Engels (2002 [1848]) put it in The communist manifesto, ?All that is solid melts into air.' In another sense, how ever, the phrase has some merit. Particularly in the heyday of the Bretton Woods system (1944 73), neither capital nor labour moved extensively across the global stage. National economies were placed squarely at the heart of an international trading system. This was partly in response to a reading of the Depression years and the Second World War. The Bretton Woods system was meant to pro tect national space economies in the ?First World' against undue economic and political turbulence (Corbridge, 1994). When the Bretton Woods system came undone, it gave way to high unemployment and inflation. According to Frobel, Heinrichs and Kreye (NEW PARAGRAPH) , many capitalist firms in the West now had to face the consequences of the postwar corporatist settlement a settlement that had increased returns to labour, including labour employed by the state, relative to those returned to capital. Firms could evaporate, innovate or emigrate. With the emigration of capital, they reasoned, came a change in the international division of labour that was dis tinctive new when viewed against the period from 1950 to 1975. (NEW PARAGRAPH) There is no doubt that the rise of newly industrialized countries such as Taiwan and South Korea came as a shock in the 1970s (see asian miracLes/tigers). Some versions of dependency theory maintained that the deveLopment of the core depended upon the continued non industrialization of the periph ery. Gunder Frank argued that Taiwan and South Korea were exceptions to a rule that still held. They had simply been allowed to develop by the USA for geopolitical reasons. Less blinkered theories accepted that geopol itics was part of the story, but they also noted the way in which the state in both countries had achieved a degree of relative autonomy from domestic proprietary classes. They had used this power to effect land reforms and proactive industrial policies. In the case of South Korea, industrial policy was fastened mainly around large scale domestic capitals, including leading banks and chaebol such as Samsung. In Taiwan, industrial development was sponsored by networks of small scale firms (Kohli, 2004). What NIDL theorists have added to this mix and their work has (NEW PARAGRAPH) been continued by gLobaLization theorists is close attention to the ways in which these new industrial spaces (including high tech spaces in Indian cities such as Bangalore and Hyderabad) are linked to international capital and consumer markets by firms such as IBM, Hewlett Packard and Sony. NIDL theorists largely discounted the domestic bases of in dustrial success in the Asian Tiger economies and important policy differences between them. They were ahead of the game, however, in recognizing some of the global shifts set in motion by the restructuring of capitalism as it moved into an era of neo liberalism and dee pening time space compression. sco (NEW PARAGRAPH) Suggested reading (NEW PARAGRAPH) Dicken (2003); Schatz and Venables (2000). (NEW PARAGRAPH)
new town
A planned town in an area that previously lacked a substantial urban settle ment. Although such planned settlements can be found throughout history, the term was first widely used after passage of the British New Towns Act 1946. The New Town movement there, based on the earlier garden city movement and the concept of neigh bourhood units, stimulated the creation of a number of new settlements, most of them out side London, designed to limit urban sprawL and protect agricultural land (see green belt), to decentralize population and economic ac tivity and to contribute to rehousing policies necessitated by both sLum clearance in inner cities and the destruction of much housing during the Second World War. The first of those towns was Stevenage, with ten being created between 1946 and 1950. Eventually, 28 were designated and built, including major cities such as Milton Keynes, which incorpor ated several small existing towns. (NEW PARAGRAPH) The model set in the UK has been widely adopted over the past 60 years, and there are New Towns in a large number of countries. Although the utopian ideals of many of the movement?s originators have not been met notably with regard to the creation of relatively self contained communities most new towns represent relatively high standards of housing and urban design. rj (NEW PARAGRAPH) Suggested reading (NEW PARAGRAPH) Hardy (1991); Osborn (1977); Stein (1966). (NEW PARAGRAPH)
NGO
The acronym for Non Governmental Organizations not for profit voluntary asso ciations that seek to act for the public good. The term covers a variety of bodies from (NEW PARAGRAPH) international agencies with large professional staffs to small groups of unpaid volunteers. Their functions are diverse and include cam paigning, humanitarian relief, development work, social welfare, cultural activities and conservation. Many provide services and programmes on behalf of governments and intergovernmental organizations and some have become highly dependent on government financial support. According to some accounts they operate in the space between the state and the private sector and are sometimes mis leadingly regarded as synonymous with civiL society. jpa (NEW PARAGRAPH) Suggested reading (NEW PARAGRAPH) Townsend, Porter and Mawdsley (2004). (NEW PARAGRAPH)
NIMBY
The acronym for ?Not In My Back Yard?, an attitude adopted by individuals resisting the siting of a source of perceived negative externaLities (such as shelters for the homeless (see homeLessness) and those recently released from prison) close to their homes, and campaigning for it to be located elsewhere (cf. zone of dependence). rj (NEW PARAGRAPH)
nodal region
A region whose defining char acteristic is the links between its component parts and one or more focal points. Nodal (or functional) regions are usually defined using flow data, as in the definition of hiNTenands: they form the core of Haggett?s (1965) Loca tionaL anaLysis schema. rj (NEW PARAGRAPH)
nomadism
A livelihood including hunter gathering, pastoraLism, begging and com merce that involves the intra annual move ments of families (or other social production units), necessitating the displacement of their dwelling(s). During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the term was used more indiscriminately to refer to any livelihood associated with intra annual human mobiLity. Nomadism has historically elicited both fascin ation and revulsion (negative connotations of the terms shiftless, rootless, vagabond, vagrant, itinerant etc.) within Western culture and science (see also migrancy). Cultural evolu tionists have seen it as a primitive cultural trait, while environmental determinists and cultural ecologists have portrayed it as a feature inhibit ing the development of complex, hierarchical political systems (see cuLturaL ecoLogy; en vironmental determinism). Reflecting this history, nomadism incorrectly conjures up es sentiaList notions ofwandering and livelihood (NEW PARAGRAPH) stasis. However, studies of nomadic societies find that their mobility is neither socially nor ecologically aimless, but rather shaped by the physical availability of resources and by the sociaL networks required for security and maintaining access to these resources. Moreover, the degree of mobility (rate and dis tance of displacements) varies significantly among nomadic households, reflecting the different opportunities and constraints that they face. mt (NEW PARAGRAPH) Suggested reading (NEW PARAGRAPH) Khazanov (1994). (NEW PARAGRAPH)

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