EGRG Symposia 2000

Annual Symposium 2000 – Labouring and living in the city

University of Manchester

Recent discussion around an ‘urban renaissance’ of English cities has tended to replay some of the debates that characterised earlier periods of policy innovation. In particular, issues of employment and work in the city that follow from the move toward the 24-hour urban economy have tended to be sidelined, as the emphasis has rested on the virtues of this model of development and regeneration. Work by Sassen (1990) and Zukin (1995) in particular has alerted policy-makers and politicians to the dark side for labour of the discourses around the 24-hour society. In addition to new spaces of consumption, new times of consumption have emerged with all that this means for who and for what the city is used. This half-day seminar pulls together a number of key speakers to explore the evolution of work and play in the city.

The jobs gap in British cities. Ivan Turok (Urban Studies, Glasgow University).
The man-shaped city. Jane Darke (Planning, Oxford Brookes University).
Cosmopolitanism, migrants and European cities. Eleonore Kofman (International Studies, Nottingham Trent University).
Home, work and school: how the middle classes make out in London. Tim Butler (Anthropology and Sociology, University of East London).

Notes on speakers:

Tim Butler is Reader in Sociology in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of East London. He is director of a project entitled ‘The Middle Class and the Future of London’ which is part of the ESRC ‘Cities: Competitiveness and Cohesion’ Programme. He is the author of ‘Gentrification and the Middle Classes’ 1997, and has edited (with Mike Savage) ‘Social Change and the Middle Classes’ (1995), (with Michael Rustin) ‘Rising in the East? The Regeneration of East London’ (1996) and ‘Eastern Promise: Education and Social Renewal in London’s Docklands’ (2000).

Jane Darke is Senior Lecturer in the Housing and Equal Opportunities in the School of Planning at Oxford Brookes University. Previously she worked in local authority housing departments, then taught at Sheffield Hallam University. She is the author of ‘The Englishwomen’s Castle?’ in C Booth, J Darke and S Yeandle (Eds.) (1996) Changing places: Women’s lives in the city Paul Chapman Publishing Ltd: London.

Eleonore Kofman is Professor of Human Geography at Nottingham Trent University. She is co-ordinator of a project entitled ‘Civic stratification and migratory trajectories in three European states’ which is part of the ESRC Research Programme ‘One Europe or Several?’ She has published extensively on gender and politics in international migration, particularly with reference to France. She is author of ‘Whose City? Gender, Class and Immigration in Globalizing European Cities’ in R Fincher and J M Jacobs (Eds.) (1998) Cities of Difference The Guilford Press: New York and ‘In Search of the Missing Female Subject: Problematic Closures and Opening Strategies’ in M Cross and S Perry (Eds.) (1997) Population and Social Policy Pinter: London.

Ivan Turok is Professor of Urban Economic Development at the University of Glasgow. His research and teaching interests include urban and regional development, local labour markets and unemployment, and policy evaluation. He is currently leading a four-year study of economic competitiveness, social cohesion and governance in Scotland’s major cities. Recent books and reports include The Jobs Gap in British Cities (with N. Edge, 1999), Edinburgh and Glasgow: Contrasts in Competitiveness and Cohesion (with N. Bailey and I. Docherty, 1999), The Coherence of EU Regional Policy (with J. Bachtler, 1997), and Targeting Urban Employment Initiatives (with U. Wannop, 1990).

EGRG Postgraduate Symposium 2000

University of Manchester

Session 1: The Region

The Economic Competitiveness of Former Coalfield Areas: The Case of South Yorkshire. Nick Bowes (University of Sheffield).
Rationality and Culture in Explaining Political Action in Regions and Cities. Stephen Greasley.
Researching the Region: Rethinking Political-Economic Development. Anthony Vigor (University of Manchester).

Session 2: Marginality

Women of Easy Virtue? Rachel Murphy (University of Nottingham).
Researching Homework in the Electronics Sector in Portsmouth: Some Methodological Issues. Jane Rodgers (University of Portsmouth).
The Ecology of Food Deserts. Hillary Shaw (University of Leeds).

Session 3: Labour

Trade Unions and the Governance of Regional Development: the Case of the Northern Trades Union Congress in North East England. Peter O’Brien (University of Newcastle).
Retaining Regional Assets?: An analysis of the post -plant closure labour market movements of the Semiconductor workforce in the North East Region. Stuart Dawley (University of Newcastle).
Work: The ‘Work-Poor’, ,Work-Shy, and ‘Work-Rich,: Some New Reflections on Some Old Constructions. Niamh O’Connor (University of Edinburgh).

Session 4: Industry

How Culture Determines Regional Economic Trajectories: The Changing Landscape of the European Costume Jewellery Production. Thorsten Hüelsmann (University of Bonn).
Media Geographies: An Analysis of Corporate Change. Jennifer Johns (University of Manchester).
How to Get Ahead in Dairy Farming? Thomas MacMillan (University of Manchester).