La métropolisation à l’aune de la ‘loi’ taille/rang : Le cas Canadien, 1971–2001

Metropolization and the rank/size ’law‘: the Canadian case, 1971–2001 There is currently considerable interest in the process of metropolization. One of the consequences of this process, observed by numerous researchers, is the slower growth and even decline of small and medium cities. From a theoretical point of view, this process is compatible with endogenous growth theory: metropolitan areas offer economic actors certain key factors (access to information, to global networks, etc.) that smaller cities cannot. Concurrently, however, there is a resurgence of interest in Zipf's law and, more generally, in the stability of urban hierarchies. These two bodies of work appear to be in contradiction. However, using Canadian data from 1971 to 2001, we show that whilst metropolization is indeed occurring, this is not necessarily incompatible with a regular urban hierarchy. Indeed, if it is assumed that Zipf's rank‐size rule applies to urban systems in stable socio‐economic contexts, and that this regularity can be disrupted by fundamental social and economic changes, then the current wave of metropolization can be interpreted as a re‐ordering of cities in the face of the major social and economic changes of the 1980s and 1990s, which may eventually lead to a new equilibrium compatible with Zipf's law.     

Reading between the lines: national identity and attitudes to the media in Scotland*

ABSTRACT. The relationship between national identity and how people perceive and consume media is a central but largely untested assumption of studies of nationalism. Using a previously developed classification of identity among English migrants to Scotland, this paper explores associations between how people use the media and how they make sense of their national identity. Compared with Scottish nationals, who tend to adopt a more taken‐for‐granted and uncontentious view of the media, except when they feel that the media presented to them challenge their sense of identity, English migrants find that the agendas of the media in Scotland differ from those they are used to south of the border. Specifically, how they view the media tends to vary according to whether they view themselves as ‘English’, ‘British’ or as ‘becoming Scottish’.     

RECALIBRATING SOCIETY: THE POPULATION GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA IN 1881

The nominal census of British Columbia for 1881 provides the basis for this analysis of the population distribution and social structure of the province. The provincial distributions of whites, Chinese, and native peoples are mapped and discussed, as are the population geographies of three regions: the Lower Skeena/Nass, the Southwestern Plateau, and the lands around the Strait of Georgia. The essay concludes with a discussion of the social categories employed in the census and of the particular relations of society and space in late-19th-century British Columbia.
Le recensement nominal de la Colombie Britannique en 1881 est à la base de cette analyse de la distribution de la population et de la structure sociale de la province. Les distributions provinciales des blancs, des chinois, et des indigènes sont cartographiées er analysées de même que la géographie de la population de trois régions: le bas Skeena / Nass, le plâteau du sud-ouest, et les côtes du détroit de Georgie. L'essai se termine par une discussion des catégories sociales utilisées dans le recensement et des rapports société-espace en Colombie Britannique vers la fin du dix-neuviéme siékle.     

BRONZE AGE BARROWS ON THE HEATHLANDS OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND: CONSTRUCTION, FORMS AND INTERPRETATIONS

The Bronze Age barrows on the downs of southern England have been investigated and discussed for nearly 200 years, but much less attention has been paid to similar structures in the areas of heathland beyond the chalk and river gravels. They were built in a phase of expansion towards the end of the Early Bronze Age, and more were constructed during the Middle Bronze Age. They have a number of distinctive characteristics. This paper considers the interpretation of these monuments and their wider significance in relation to the pattern of settlement. It also discusses the origins of field systems in lowland England.