Environment and Planning D: Society and Space

A critique of the use of the centre-periphery model in explanation of intranational regional development based upon Marxist and neo-Marxist economic theory is presented. Seemingly different approaches use the same basic explanatory structure. The history and structure of the model arc discussed, followed by a theoretical and epistemological critique of the explanatory content. Empirical evidence for key economic variables in the industrial sector in Portugal is presented, which casts further doubt upon the validity of the model. Portugal exhibits an apparent centre-periphery structure in patterns of regional industrial development, but closer analysis reveals that underlying patterns found in these key variables do not conform.

The sharp increase in crude petroleum prices during the 1970s had a startling impact on state, economy, and society among oil producers. The meteoric growth of oil rents not only enlarged and centralized the state itself but simultaneously internationalized and domesticated the public sector. Fiscal rather than market mechanisms played a significant role in all oil-producing states, especially in so-called high absorbers. Adopting Nigeria as an example of oil-based accumulation, I examine (a) the general impact of oil rents on preexisting economic, political, and social relations; (b) the specific relations between oil-based public investment and capitalist development, using the case of the agrarian sector, and (c) the effects of the downturn in oil demand and prices upon Nigerian political economy.

In this paper, the relation of theory to empirical research in the broad area indicated by the title is examined. The relevance, and, in cases, the adequacy, is discussed of existing theory for ‘making sense’ of specific empirical data on one item, or segment, of the built environment, namely, the specialised dwelling form of the bungalow, which, in both name and single-storey form, as vacation house or suburban dwelling, has been introduced to many market economies around the world. After a brief consideration of the historical and cross-cultural approaches to the study of the built environment and its neglect in the new urban studies, a series of questions generated by the data and contextualised within specific theoretical spheres are addressed. These include: the relation of building form to economy, society, and culture; culture and the political economy of building form; the social production of specialised dwelling forms; the relationship between per capita income, tenure, and dwelling form, and between dwelling and settlement forms; urban and building form and the world system; counterurbanisation and the world economy; and the political economy of global urbanisation. It is concluded that, for the adequate conceptualisation of the built environment, the use of theory must be eclectic and prepared to draw on different disciplines.

Theories dealing with the role of the state in cities vary considerably in emphasis, from traditional political matters to neo-Marxist and neo-Weberian theories accenting a broader political-economic context in analyzing the role of government in cities. This diversity of urban theories poses significant theoretical and analytical challenges, The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of government in Houston, the most extreme case of a major city which has been developed according to an accentuated ‘free market’ philosophy, in order (1) to provide empirical evidence on the complexity of the state role in supporting urban growth in the Houston metropolis; and (2) to provide additional theoretical insight into the role of the state in the city.

This is the second in a series of annual reports on books likely to be of interest to readers of Society and Space. Once again, the report is synoptic. The welter of literature of direct or tangential relevance that appears each year defeats any attempt to be all-encompassing. This year the report is divided into six sections, some of which are carried over from last year. The six sections are “Economy”, “The State”, “Third World”, “Housing”, “Class and Civil Society” and “Methodology and Social Theory”.