Making Space in Geographical Analysis

In this commentary we reflect on the potential and power of geographical analysis, as a set of methods, theoretical approaches, and perspectives, to increase our understanding of how space and place matter for all. We emphasize key aspects of the field, including accessibility, urban change, and spatial interaction and behavior, providing a high-level research agenda that indicates a variety of gaps and routes for future research that will not only lead to more equitable and aware solutions to local and global challenges, but also innovative and novel research methods, concepts, and data. We close with a set of representation and inclusion challenges to our discipline, researchers, and publication outlets.     

National Industry Clusters and Regional Specializations in Turkey

The article aims to identify industry clusters in Turkey by examining inter-industry selling and purchasing relationships. The 1990 Turkish input-output table is used to identify similarities between selling and purchasing patterns of the 60 manufacturing industries and derive a matrix that describes relative linkages between them. The article also investigates the regional specializations by using the identified national clusters as templates for an analysis of local patterns. Principle component factor analysis reveals the presence of six identifiable industry clusters. The firms within the identified clusters provide a potential to share technical information and knowledge transfer through formal or informal interactions.     

Variety of Urban Tourism Development Trajectories: Antalya,Amsterdam and Liverpool Compared

Savitch and Kantor explain divergent trajectories of urban development with the help of four variables, namely, market conditions, inter-governmental support, local culture and popular control in their theory. In this article, we apply Savitch and Kantor's theory to the urban tourism development of Antalya, Amsterdam and Liverpool. The case study is partly based on written documents and partly on face-to-face interviews with representatives from public, semi-private and private organizations of the tourism sector. We found that Savitch and Kantor's theory of urban development is only partly helpful in explaining divergent urban tourism development trajectories. A centralized unitary state does not necessarily lead to a social-centred urban development trajectory but can be just as good a pre-condition to a neo-liberal urban development strategy as seen in Antalya and Liverpool. And although market conditions are favourable, an integrated inter-governmental support, a well-developed popular control, and a post-materialist culture have enabled Amsterdam to follow a social-centred urban policy, it has unintentionally and paradoxically resulted in gentrification and a commodification of heritage and culture. A strong social-centred urban policy in a first stage has created an urban milieu that has become exploited by gentrifiers and the tourism industry in a later stage.     

Global Value Chain Participation and the Labour Share: Industry-level Evidence from Emerging Economies

Participation in global value chains (GVCs) has been proposed as a central means for emerging economies to develop and technologically upgrade. However, the effects of GVCs on income distribution in the global South remain underexplored. This article presents an econometric analysis of the determinants of the labour share in seven emerging economies for the period 1995–2014. Drawing on industry-level data from global input-output tables, the authors focus on how GVC participation — in particular offshoring of production from advanced to emerging economies — affects the labour share of different skill groups within manufacturing and service industries. They also estimate the effects of GVCs on productivity, real wages and the capital–value added ratio, to shed further light on the channels through which GVCs affect the labour share. In both industry groups, findings show that integration into GVCs with advanced economies has a negative effect on the labour share in emerging economies, particularly for medium-skilled workers. In contrast, higher union density and government consumption spending have positive effects on the labour share. Thus, labour in emerging economies loses out relative to capital as production becomes more integrated across borders.     

Heat,smoke and fuel consumption in a high mountain stállo-hut,northern Sweden – Experimental burning of fresh birch wood during winter

The overall aim of this study was to investigate in situ, the use of an open fire for heating a traditional mountain Sami stállo-hut during winter using fresh mountain birch as fuel. The study took the form of repeated actualistic experimentation and the following parameters were recorded: fuel consumption and logistics, indoor temperature, CO-levels inside the hut and temperature in both the hut and the traditional Sami stone-lined hearth with a stone filling of flat stones. Our results show that fresh birch is an effective fuel and that about 3.6 kg (dry weight) of wood was used per hour; it took a few hours of work per day to obtain the firewood required. The highest temperature recorded beneath the stone filling in the hearth was 437.7 °C. The hearth stored a lot of heat but this did not affect the indoor temperature during the night. The highest indoor temperature indoor was +26.9 °C, but it was generally much lower and varied considerably during the day and in relation to the outdoor temperature. The CO-levels reached 112 ppm at floor level and co-varied with the smokiness experienced inside the hut.     

Multi-scale tribological analysis of the technique of manufacture of an obsidian bracelet from Aşıklı Höyük (Aceramic Neolithic,Central Anatolia)

Tribological analysis is employed in a pilot study of the technological steps involved in the manufacture of a polished obsidian bracelet from A??kl? Höyük, an Aceramic Neolithic site in Central Anatolia (8300–7500 cal. B.C.). The study includes morphological analysis of the bracelet, based on profile measurements, and identifications of wear variations indicated by surface topographic features and parameters. The manufacturing skill that is revealed suggests early appearance of a regional tradition of obsidian working, which reached its full development in the 6th millennium cal. B.C. with the production of various ornamental objects, including mirrors and vessels. The cultural record and location of A??kl? Höyük make the site important for our understanding of the technological developments during the early Neolithic in Anatolia.     

Traditional Soap Workshops in Nizip (Gaziantep), South-Eastern Turkey

With the development of the modern soap production techniques, traditional ways started to vanish. In the past, sabunhane, soap workshops, were built in the regions where there was olive-oil production. In Turkey, many soap workshops, large and small in scale, in the settlements where there was soap production. Until now, there has been no extensive study of the soap workshops in Turkey. This study identifies and documents the historical soap workshops in and around Nizip (Gaziantep) in south-eastern Turkey, which are important features of the region’s industrial heritage. Amongst these workshops, Nizip Say?nlar workshop, which was built in the 19th century with architectural features characteristic of the region, and which reflects the technological level of the period and processes of production, is described in greater detail. First, the distinctive architectural features of the soap workshops are analysed. The importance of soap production and its historical development are described, and the tools and techniques used in the production and relationship with the architectural space of the workshops are explained. A comparative study of the soap workshops located around Nizip is undertaken and some suggestions on the preservation of a few surviving soap workshops are provided.     

PAST ‘DISTURBANCES’ OF GRAVES AS A SOURCE: TAPHONOMY AND INTERPRETATION OF REOPENED EARLY MEDIEVAL INHUMATION GRAVES AT BRUNN AM GEBIRGE (AUSTRIA) AND WINNALL II (ENGLAND)

Early medieval graves that were reopened in the past are usually considered ‘disturbed’ and hence an unreliable source for traditional cemetery analysis. This paper aims to highlight how the analysis of these ‘disturbances’ can contribute to our understanding of early medieval mortuary rites and attitudes towards the buried human body. Two case studies of cemeteries with high proportions of reopened graves are presented. Thorough archaeological analysis, with careful consideration of the taphonomy of reopened graves, is the key to an understanding of the reopening practices. At Brunn am Gebirge (Austria) most graves were reopened for ‘grave‐robbery’– to remove grave goods – at a time when the bodies were already fully disarticulated. The graves at Winnall II (England) were reopened very soon after burial to manipulate the still largely intact corpses.     

LABOUR MOBILITY AND PLANT PERFORMANCE: ON THE (DIS)SIMILARITY BETWEEN LABOUR‐ AND CAPITAL‐INTENSIVE SECTORS FOR KNOWLEDGE DIFFUSION AND PRODUCTIVITY

In this article we analyse differences between capital‐ and labour‐intensive sectors with regard to the impact of workforce composition and labour mobility on plant performance. By the use of geo‐referenced longitudinal employer–employee data on a micro level, we analyse labour flows between plants within and between labour market regions. The analysis is carried out using weighted least squares (WLS) regression analysis combined with additional variance analysis (ANOVA). The results show that there are differences between the sectors with regard to both in‐house workforce composition and type of skill inflow. A high degree of related knowledge in the in‐house workforce has a strong positive effect on plant performance in the labour‐intensive sectors. The analysis of labour inflow indicates that knowledge in the capital‐intensive sectors is localized – only intra‐regional labour flows give rise to increased plant productivity. In the labour‐intensive sectors, the geographic and cognitive dimensions complement one another; similar knowledge needs to be non‐local in order to be beneficial to plant performance, and unrelated knowledge mainly contributes to plant productivity growth when it is local.