Worker Co‐operatives and Spaces of Possibility: An Investigation of Subject Space at Collective Copies

Abstract: If we are to understand the organization and growth of capitalist space, should we not also seek to understand the organization and expansion of noncapitalist economic spaces? In contrast to methods employed by theorists such as Harvey, Smith and other geographers focused on capitalist space, the diverse economies framework opens up to investigation such noncapitalist spaces. In this paper, using Gibson‐Graham's “politics of possibility”, I explore the production of work space and time in a growing worker owned co‐operative copy shop in order to gain insight into the organization and growth of co‐operative space. I argue that, in this instance, co‐operative growth emerges from the transformative experience of workers having a say in their daily work lives, having equal authority to govern work space and time and to appropriate and distribute surplus.     

A Factorial Model of Aggregate Spatio-Temporal Behavior: Application to the Diurnal Cycle

The cross-sectional nature of much social data, coupled with the static view provided by maps and current spatial data handling software, have produced a tradition of research on urban spatial structure that is largely two-dimensional and derived from residential locations. The paper presents an analysis of a space-time diary data set collected in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A series of transformations are used to convert the individual diary records to a three-mode matrix of intensities, which is then analyzed using the PARAFAC three-mode factor model. Home/work is found to be the strongest organizing dimension of the urban space-time, followed by entertainment, shopping, and education / work. We show how these dimensions appear to varying degrees in different locations, time periods, and human activities. The paper argues for a dynamic view of urban spatial structure in which only the physical facilities remain static.     

STRUCTURAL DIMENSIONS IN THE GEOGRAPHY OF LOCATIONAL CONFLICTS

L ocational c onflict is a frequent by-product of efforts to change the physical structure of man-made environments. Within the geography discipline, theoretical and empirical interests in the conflict basis of public and private decisions on the use of land were stimulated in the early 1970s by the work of Julian Wolpert and his associates.¹ The resolution of conflicts over the locations of specific activities is seen as an important means of allocating benefits among locations² and has led to considerable variations in the distribution of necessary services and amenities among residents of the city.³ Indeed, irrespective of overt evidences of conflict occurrence, David Harvey has characterized the land-use pattern itself as an important indicator of the socio-political rules which direct urban development.⁴