New East Manchester: Urban Renaissance or Urban Opportunism?

In this paper we ask how a shrinking city responds when faced with a perforated urban fabric. Drawing on Manchester's response to its perforated eastern flank —and informed by a parallel study of Leipzig—we use the city's current approach to critique urban regeneration policy in England. Urban renaissance holds out the promise of delivering more sustainable—that is more compact, more inclusive and more equitable—cities. However, the Manchester study demonstrated that the attempt to stem population loss from the city is at best fragile, despite a raft of policies now in place to support urban renaissance in England. It is argued here that Manchester like Leipzig is likely to face an ongoing battle to attract residents back from their suburban hinterlands. This is especially true of the family market that we identify as being an important element for long-term sustainable population growth in both cities. We use the case of New East Manchester to consider how discourses linked to urban renaissance—particularly those that link urbanism with greater densities—rule out some of the options available to Leipzig, namely, managing the long-term perforation of the city. We demonstrate that while Manchester is inevitably committed to the urban renaissance agenda, in practice New East Manchester demonstrates a far more pragmatic—but equally unavoidable—approach. This we attribute to the gap between renaissance and regeneration described by Amin et al. (Cities for the Many Not for the Few. Bristol: Policy Press, 2000) who define the former as urbanism for the middle class and the latter as urbanism for the working class. While this opportunistic approach may ultimately succeed in producing development on the ground, it will not address the fundamental, and chronic, problem; the combination of push and pull that sees families relocating to suburban areas. Thus, if existing communities in East Manchester are to have their area buoyed up—or sustained—by incomers, and especially families, with greater levels of social capital and higher incomes urban policy in England will have to be challenged.     

Publications briefly noted

ONG JIN HUI, TONG CHEE KIONG and TAN ERN SER (eds). Understanding Singapore Society . Singapore: Times Academic Press, 1997. xxiv, 608 pp. US$29.00, paper.

MARIA MIES. Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: women in the International Division of Labour . New Edition. Melbourne: Spinifex, 1999. xix, 272 pp. A$29.95, paper.

V. R. SAVAGE, L. KONG and W. NEVILLE. The Naga Awakens: growth and Change in Southeast Asia . Singapore: Times Academic Press, 1998. US$39.00, hardcover; US$29.00, paper.

ALAN LAWRANCE. China under Communism . London: Routledge, 1998. xii, 158 pp. US$15.99; £9.99, paper.

FREDERICK C. TEIWES with WARREN SUN. China's Road to Disaster: Mao, Central Politicians, and Provincial Leaders in the Unfolding of the Great Leap Forward , 1955–1959. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1999. xvii, 319 pp. US$27.50, paper.

ANDREW WALDER (ed). Zouping in Transition: the Process of Reform in Rural North China . Harvard Contemporary China Series, 11. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998. US$45.00; £29.95, hardcover; US$19.95; £13.50, paper.

J. A. G. ROBERTS. A Concise History of China . Basingstoke: Macmillan; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999. US$45.00, hardcover; US$16.95, paper.

NIELS MULDER. Filipino Images: culture of the Public World . Quezon City: New Day, 2000. 232 pp. P300 (US$45.00), paper.     

Reproduction rates in multiregion modeling systems for HIV / AIDS

The persistence of HIV/AIDS has seen a revival of academic interest in the development of modeling systems to assist understanding the population dynamics of this infection. Moreover, it has become increasingly recognized that a key component of these systems for interpreting disease prevention is their reproduction rate, which provides an indication of whether an epidemic might start in a community described by a particular set of epidemiological characteristics. The properties of these rates have been explored in detail for models of a single risk behavior but not for multiregion formats that allow for the transfer of infection between geographical units. Therefore, in this paper I derive reproduction rates for a multiregion HIV/AIDS model together with their associated critical thresholds that estimate the minimum population of susceptibles necessary for an epidemic to begin. These statistics are interpreted for a simplified global setting representing regional variations in the potential onset of HIV/AIDS. In the discussion I examine the potential applicability of these results to understanding HIV/AIDS prevention.     

Book reviews

CHINA

MELISSA SCHRIFT. Biography of a Chairman Mao Badge: the Creation and Mass Consumption of a Personality Cult. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2001. 214 pp. Bibliography, index. US$52.00, hardcover; US$20.00, paper.

WM. THEODORE DE BARY and TU WEIMING (eds). Confucianism and Human Rights. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. 327 pp. US$20.50, paper.

MICHAEL B. McELROY, CHRIS P. NIELSEN AND PETER LYDON (eds). Energizing China: reconciling Environmental Protection and Economic Growth. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998. xvii, 719 pp. Tables, figures, biographical notes, index. US$25.00, paper.

SHUMEI SHIH. The Lure of the Modern: writing Modernism in Semicolonial China 1917–1937. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. xiii, 427 pp. US$60.00, hardcover; US$24.95, paper.

SUSAN MANN and YU‐YIN CHENG (eds). Under Confucian Eyes: writings on Gender in Chinese History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. 323 pp. Illustrations. US$50.00, hardcover; US$19.95, paper.

SOUTH, WEST & CENTRAL ASIA

ARUN AGRAWAL and K. SIVARAMAKRISHNAN (eds). Agrarian Environments: Resources, Representation, and Rule in India. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2000. 316 pp. Foreword by James Scott, introduction, tables, endnotes, bibliography, index. US$59.95, hardcover; US$19.95, paper.

K. J. JOSEPH. Industry under Economic Liberalization: the Case of Indian Electronics. New Delhi: Sage, 1997. 242 pp. Rs450/US$21.00, hardcover.

PETER P. MOLLINGA (ed). Water for Food and Rural Development: approaches and Initiatives in South Asia. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2000. 377 pp. Rs 495, hardcover.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

M. RAMESH with MUKUL G. ASHER. Welfare Capitalism in Southeast Asia: social Security, Health and Education Policies. London: Macmillan Press Ltd, 2000. xii, 217 pp. £50.00, hardcover.

DAVID M. AYRES. Anatomy of a Crisis: education, Development and the State in Cambodia, 1953–1998. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2000. 256 pp. US$52.00, hardcover.

MARTIN STUART‐FOX. Historical Dictionary of Laos , second edition. Lanham, Maryland and London: Scarecrow Press, 2001. 527 pp. US$75.00, hardcover.

SINITH SITTIRAK. The Daughters of Development: women in a Changing Environment. London and New York: Zed Books, 1998. ix, 153 pp. Bibliography, index. ISBN 1–876756‐00–4. A$39.95, paper.     

Final Paleolithic and Mesolithic Research in Reunified Germany

During the past decade research into the German Final Paleolithic and Mesolithic has experienced an important revival. One clear sign of this renewed interest in the periods are the annual meetings of the Arbeitsgruppe Mesolithikum (Mesolithic Working Group) which have taken place every spring since 1992. At these meetings, which take place at changing venues, topical themes of Final Paleolithic and Mesolithic interest are presented by informal lectures and it is also possible to study regional collections (artifacts, raw materials) at first hand. Numerous contributions were subsequently published together in one volume (Conard and Kind (1998) Aktuelle Forschungen zum Mesolithikum/Current Mesolithic Research, Mo Vince, Tübingen). The present paper intends to complement that collection of papers with a synthesis of developments and perspectives and to present recent research highlights in the German Final Paleolithic and Mesolithic, together with a comprehensive bibliography, to a wider international audience.     

An Osteobiography of a 19th‐Century Dog from Toronto,Canada

A 19^th‐century dog burial uncovered from a historical homelot in Toronto, Canada, provided a unique opportunity to reconstruct the individual's osteobiography. Of particular interest are the dog's very large size and a suite of skeletal pathologies. Recovery of a nearly complete skeleton combined with the use of X‐rays and micro‐computed tomography (micro‐CT) allowed for a discriminating differential diagnoses. Stable isotope analyses were applied to investigate questions of diet. Results reveal an individual who suffered greatly from disease towards the end of his life and hint at its owners attitudes towards dogs. The interdisciplinary approach applied to this case study highlights the potential information obtainable from pet burials. We argue that better analyses and reporting of pet burials will help address research questions targeting broader themes related to human–animal relationships. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.