Evolving retail landscapes: power retail in Canada

During the last fifteen years the Canadian retail landscape has been transformed by the growth and clustering of big box retailers into a range of 'power retail' developments. This has brought new retailers into Canada (predominantly U.S. retailers) with different business strategies that have lead to different consumer behaviour. The power retail phenomenon encompasses all aspects of the retail offer (price, product, service, etc.) and is not simply about the size of stores. These developments have led to new types of commercial clusters—power centres and power nodes—that have challenged both planning policy and the existing retail hierarchy across Canada, and conversely, provided substantial scope for retailers and developers to exploit market opportunities. The article discusses the alternate definitions of power retail, estimates the magnitude of this activity, and examines the spatial pattern and preferences of these new retail locations. The development of power retail is tracked across Canada and regional variations examined. The key trends in power retail growth are identified and potential directions for future development suggested.     

Adulteration and Food Law, 1899-1939

Contemporary concerns about food safety and regulation haveimportant historical antecedents in the Victorian debate aboutfood adulteration which led to the 1875 Sale of Food and DrugsAct, the basis of British food law until 1955. This articlereconsiders the optimistic historiographical view of the Victorianfood legislation, emphasizing its limited impact on the generalprocess of food production and distribution before the SecondWorld War. In the 1930s adulteration was still a significantcommercial ploy. The analysis centres on State-business relations,drawing comparative perspectives from the manner in which bigfood companies shaped the regulatory framework in the USA. InBritain the government assumed a limited regulatory role, persuadedin the 1920s and 1930s that market forces and the commitmentof large producers to quality and scientific research were betterguarantees of safety than statutory legislation. But this wasa risky strategy: big producers were only responsible for aminority of overall output, and the State made no effort toexamine wider manufacturing conditions. ^*This article has been written with the assistance of a grantfrom the Leverhulme Trust.     

Studies of the early medieval pottery of al‐Andalus

This paper presents a review of the studies of early medieval (Amiral and Caliphal) pottery in al‐Andalus. It opens with a discussion of the first archaeological and ceramics surveys, including an assessment of their historical and theoretical contexts and their relevance to the developing discipline. After discussion of the contributions and also shortcomings of current approaches, the article closes by sketching the direction of future research.     

Rural Youth Migration Trends in Australia: an Overview of Recent Trends and Two Inland Case Studies

Much of what has been written on the topic of Australian rural youth migration trends and processes has often proceeded from data‐free, or data‐poor grounds. In this context, this paper analyses recent trends in youth (15 to 24 years of age) migration for a temporally‐consistent set of Statistical Divisions (SDs) in inland rural Australia, and for local government areas within the Northern Tablelands and Slopes and Ranges of northern New South Wales and the Western Australian Central Wheatbelt. The paper finds that rates of youth loss from rural regions have increased over the past twenty years. Yet the patterns, processes, causes and impacts of rural youth migration are distributed in a spatially‐uneven fashion. Some remote areas are receiving net migration gains while booming ‘sea change’ coastal regions have experienced heavy losses. While the ‘flight to the bright city lights’ syndrome is evident, relatively high proportions of young people in the Northern SD of NSW move within their immediate region. Nevertheless, some common understandings concerning youth mobility were also confirmed. Gender differentials in migration propensity between women and men are evident even at quite local scales. Young people are also more likely to search out capital cities than the rest of the population. Most inland areas still continue to experience heavy losses of local youth. A more precise understanding of rural youth migration trends is an important stepping stone in the establishment of a reinvigorated research effort into young rural people's perspectives of their changing life chances in their home communities.     

IS THE MACROSCOPIC CLASSIFICATION OF FLINT USEFUL? A PETROARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF FLINT RAW MATERIALS FROM THE IBERIAN NEOLITHIC MINE OF CASA MONTERO*

Casa Montero is a mining complex located outside Madrid (Spain), dated from the Early Neolithic (c. 5400–5000 cal bc ). An area of some 4 ha has been investigated and some 4000 shafts recorded, of which 324 have been excavated. The characterization of its raw flint materials and the establishment of its diagnostic features are indispensable in the reconstruction of the distribution of the mine's products beyond the immediate site. This work reports the geological study of the mine's Miocene flint layers and their petrological characterization. Archaeological samples from the mine's shafts were classified according to macroscopic features and petrological characteristics.     

Mapping Local‐Scale Ecological Research to Aid Management at Landscape Scales

Natural resource management is typically defined by landscape‐scale management zones, such as the Catchment Management Authority boundaries of the southern Murray‐Darling Basin in Australia. Ecological research generally deals with local‐scale phenomena, with studies at the scale of such landscape management units arising only recently. We developed a method that links local‐scale ecological research to landscape‐scale management zones, which is presented here as a geographical bibliographic database. This research proceeded in four phases. First, we assessed three decades of ecological research in the Goulburn‐Broken Catchment in Victoria, Australia, using this method, revealing the locations where research has taken place across the landscape, and the research themes dominant in different bioregions. Second, we assessed the purposes to which the method could be applied. Third, we tested the method against one of these potential purposes to review ecological research in a subcatchment case study. Last, we interrogated the method to answer an ecological question. This methodological analysis demonstrated that mapping ecological research in this way allows the user to identify geographic gaps in research coverage, assist in limiting search results to a location of interest and to address location‐specific ecological questions. In combination with landscape classification methods, such as biogeographic regionalisation units, this method can be used to evaluate research coverage across similar ecological communities.     

Mapping the Australian Duricrusts: Can distribution be derived from terrain maps?

Duricrust distribution patterns can be used to debate the significance. in engineering, geomorphological and palaeoenvironmental terms. of any displayed regional components of variability. An apparently obvious source for such an exercise lies in the duta base fields devoted to duricrust types accompanying the Australia-wide terrain tnups by Grant et al., (1984) and Chan et al., (1986) (published at scales of I:2 1/2 million and 1:5 million respectively). However, curtographic principles indicate that although there are inany attributes in common among the data base fields of these two separately conceived and generated maps (polygon sets), congruent distribution patterns for selected common attributes tire unlikelv. In this case a comparison of patterns shows that they are far from congruent. We conclude that these maps. while fulfilling their original purpose, have limited value in geomorphological debaies about the significance of duricrust distribution patterns.     

FIXED-POINT RETAIL LOCATION IN THE MAJOR TOWNS OF ROMAN BRITAIN

Summary.   Although it has not generally been recognized, tabernae (shops and workshops) were an important part of the process of urbanization and the urban form of the towns of Roman Britain. The objective of this paper is to examine the location of fixed-point retailing establishments within the urban landscape. Workshops (also known as officinae ) and retail activity probably constitute the largest and perhaps one of the most distinct aspects of any urban settlement. Based upon the discussion presented below, this paper will seek to show that there were important contests for retail space in the major settlements of Roman Britain. This paper also considers some of the factors that influence retail location to show that the towns of Roman Britain were complex socio-economic environments.