Understanding evolution in the Antwerp chemical cluster: the role of regional development strategies

Research on regional economic development increasingly embraces more nuanced perspectives on the evolution of clusters, industries and agglomerations. The extent to which the emergence and decline of clusters can be directed with intentional regional development strategies is, however, a major point of discussion. The article links the cluster life cycle concept to regional development strategies in order to examine the trajectory of Europe’s largest chemical complex in and around the Port of Antwerp (Belgium). This chemical cluster has matured and currently is in a state of stability. Although the cluster did not experience growth over the last decades in terms of new entrants, it did transform internally and maintained its importance as a production centre. Thus, whereas lock-in mechanisms hampered growth, they also prevented the cluster from going into a state of decline. We argue that while regional development strategies stimulated new emerging clusters in the Flemish region, vested interests in the port and associated lock-in mechanisms have resisted such developments in Antwerp. New growth trajectories based on the chemical cluster were therefore difficult to recreate in the Antwerp region.     

Shopping,social inclusion and the urban geographies of people with intellectual disability

In this paper, we examine the social geographies of people with intellectual disabilities. We focus particular attention on the significance of shopping and spaces of consumption as they relate to questions social inclusion and belonging in the lives of PWID. The focus on consumption offers a useful counterpoint to a prevailing policy emphasis on social inclusion through productive activities. The paper also contributes to the literature on intellectual disability within social and health geography, shedding light on the varied socio-spatial experiences of people beyond the confines of community-care facilities and other separate spaces. Our analysis draws on data collected from a participatory research project in Toronto (Canada). The project involved a small but diverse group of people with intellectual disabilities, who led academic researchers on a series of excursions designed to explore those places and routes that make up their everyday social geographies. Shopping emerged as a significant but often ambivalent theme in the context of these geographies, and the analysis demonstrates the complex interplay of autonomy and control, pleasure and restraint, care and support that shape people’s experiences of consumption. We conclude by discussing the significance of these findings for notions of social inclusion and belonging.     

Remembrance as remaking: memories of the nation revisited

This article revisits Anthony Smith's landmark collection Myths and Memories of the Nation (1999) from the perspective of recent developments in cultural memory studies. It argues for a more clearly demarcated distinction between myths and memories which acknowledges cultural memory as a site of new experiential perspectives that often work against the authority of myths, seen as the unquestioned truths about the collective past. Drawing on studies of modern memory cultures, it presents a dynamic and generative model that construes memory in terms of cultural practices of remembrance. It shows that memory is not an unchanging legacy but rather a malleable resource for making shared stories about the past. Where Halbwachs (1925) presumed that social frameworks precede and shape memory, remembrance is presented here as a cultural force that helps to redefine social frameworks and to create links between hitherto unconnected imagined communities.     

A rallying point for different predators: the avian record from a Late Pleistocene sequence of Grotte des Barasses II (Balazuc,Ardèche,France)

The presence of processed birds in the archeological faunal record is considered key to assessing human dietary evolution. Taphonomic studies on birds from sites older than Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2 have become relevant in the last few years, leading to the proposal of more complex scenarios of human subsistence. Several works have demonstrated direct evidence of bird consumption by Homo prior to anatomically modern humans in Europe; however, others support the hypothesis of non-anthropogenic bird accumulations. This has led to the necessity of determining what elements or factors cause the human exploitation of birds in some archeological sites before the end of the Pleistocene. The Grotte des Barasses II site is located within this framework. Short-term human occupations have been attested by the presence of lithic tools and processed macrofaunal remains. Additionally, a small assemblage of bird bones has also been recovered. Here, we present a detailed taphonomic study with the aim of exploring possible relationships between these avian taxa and human occupations. Despite the fact that Neanderthals inhabited the cave, avian specimens show damage pointing to different causative agents. Direct evidence (digestion, gnawing) indicates that mammalian carnivores and nocturnal raptors were mainly involved in the accumulation of bird bones. We propose some factors that might determine whether or not small game was exploited in this specific locality and emphasize the importance of such analytical approaches in the general interpretations of the Pleistocene sites.