Evaluating an Entropy‐Maximizing Solution to the Ecological Inference Problem: Split‐Ticket Voting in New Zealand, 1999

For geographers, one important aspect of the ecological inference problem relates to the analysis of spatial variations in individual behavior. Obtaining estimates of this behavior, in the absence of direct data, is often difficult, and the “solution” to the ecological inference problem propounded by G. King is not relevant in all circumstances. An alternative, using a different approach, has been used for some time in electoral studies but has lacked “real” data against which to assess the accuracy of its estimates. The availability of such data for New Zealand's 1999 general election allows such an assessment to be made—with very favourable results. The estimates are then used to test hypotheses regarding the spatial variation in split‐ticket voting, again with considerable success.     

Geography: a different sort of discipline?

Debate continues about the inter-relationships between human and physical geography and their different research and publication practices. Relatively little data about these are available, however. Using an analysis of all publications submitted by UK geographers to the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, this paper identifies a substantial difference between human and physical geographers in their publication strategies. Most physical geographers place their research papers in specialized inter-disciplinary journals and make relatively little use of geography outlets: most human geographers, on the other hand, publish in geography journals. Comparisons with other disciplines – in the earth and environmental and social sciences respectively – also identify differences between geographers and their peers. The overall conclusion is that, with regard to research and publication at least, UK geography cannot be presented as a single academic community with strong internal ties, but rather as a conglomerate of separate communities writing for different audiences.     

City/culture discourses: Evidence from the competition to select the European capital of culture 2008

In the current era of globalization, manufacturing decline and place marketing, many cities have turned to culture as a favoured means of gaining competitive advantage. The European Capital of Culture (ECOC) programme has been a significant catalyst for culture-led regeneration. In 2008 the ECOC title will be held by a UK city, and in 2000 the UK government launched a major competition to decide the nomination. This article reports on a study of three of the cities that participated in the competition: Liverpool, Cardiff and Bristol. The main aim of the study was to explore how far the Capital of Culture process in the UK had led to fresh thinking on what culture can do for a city. The paper has three main sections. First, it gives a brief account of the background of the ECOC programme and briefly reviews evidence on the impacts of the programme to date. Second, it outlines the process that was used to decide the UK nomination. It then looks in more detail at the experience of the three case study cities, examining in particular the discourses of culture and the city that seem to be at work in their ECOC bids.     

Electoral Disproportionality and Bias Under the Alternative Vote: Elections to Australia's House of Representatives

Studies of electoral disproportionality and bias under Australia's alternative electoral system have mainly relied on the two-party preferred (2PP) vote totals for all electorates, irrespective of whether these are needed to determine the election outcome there. We argue that separate analyses should be undertaken for two groups of electorates – where the determination is made using the first-preference (FP) votes and where the 2PP redistributed votes are needed because no candidate wins a majority of FP votes, illustrating this with an analysis of the 2007 House of Representatives election results.     

Learning in districts: Novelty and lock-in in a regional context

This paper deals with the constraints and risks of learning in different types of spatial concentration of related industries and firms. We aim at a better understanding of what makes the difference between local lock-in on the one hand and ongoing creation of novelty on the other. To achieve this purpose, we use Nonaka and Takeuchi's (1995) treatment of knowledge conversion processes and Nooteboom's (2000) cycle of discovery. Hence, we are able to clarify the concept and nature of learning, which in turn provides a basis for specifying different learning effects of two prototypes of spatial concentration: Marshallian and dynamic industrial districts. We show that these two types of industrial districts have multiple, different, and complementary functions in terms of knowledge conversion and knowledge creation. Hence, we can explain why spatial concentration can have positive and negative effects for learning and innovation, and how lock-in can be avoided.     

Rethinking the Analysis of Ethnic Residential Patterns: Segregation,Isolation, or Concentration Thresholds in Auckland,New Zealand?

Data from the 1996 New Zealand Census on ethnicity in Auckland Urban Area are used to illustrate a new approach to measuring spatial separation. The traditionally employed single‐number indices are found wanting and a method based on thresholds is introduced. This provides more detailed information on the geography of ethnic groups that is consistent with the requirements for testing hypotheses regarding the relationship between social and spatial distance. The results show that (with a few exceptions) Polynesian groups were more encapsulated groups in Auckland than were Asian and European groups, and that most of the European groups—along with the “host society,” the New Zealand Europeans—were not spatially exposed to members of the Polynesian and Asian groups.     

A new approach for geomagnetic archaeointensity research: insights on ancient metallurgy in the Southern Levant

We present results from an archaeointensity investigation based on a relatively unexploited recording medium, copper slag deposits. Together with a recently improved experimental design for the archaeointensity experiment, we demonstrate the applicability of this medium, as well as other archaeometallurgical artifacts, for the study of the ancient geomagnetic field intensity. In addition to archaeointensity data from well-dated archaeological contexts, we obtained reliable archaeointensity results from poorly dated or contentious archaeometallurgical sites in the Southern Levant. These results shed new light on the dating of these sites, among them the copper smelting installation of Timna 39b – a site that has important implications for the beginning of metallurgy during the fifth millennium BCE. The paper also aims to introduce archaeointensity research to the archaeologist scholar, and to encourage further collaboration between the disciplines in future research.     

Positional issues, valence issues and the economic geography of voting in British elections

A body of research has built up in recent years linking thechanging geography of party support in British elections tovariations in the country's economic geography. Consistent withthe economic vote model, government support has been shown tobe higher than average in affluent areas and lower than averagein poorer areas. However, the great majority of such studieshave concentrated on elections between 1979 and 1997, a prolongedperiod of one-party rule. This article argues that this meansexisting research cannot differentiate between the very differentpredictions of positional and valence approaches to economicvoting since both suggest identical outcomes during Conservativeadministrations. By contrasting a period of Conservative rulewith a period of Labour rule, however, the article providesa test of the competing claims of the positional and valencearguments for an understanding of Britain's electoral geography.