The Economic Geography of the UK

Neil Coe is a Professor of Economic Geography at the University of Manchester. Professor Andrew Jones is an inter-disciplinary social scientist with a background as an economic geographer. He is also Dean of Arts and Social Sciences at City University London.

Preface - Doreen Massey Part I: Setting the Scene: Uneven Economic Geographies Introduction: the shifting geographies of the UK economy? - Neil M. Coe and Andrew Jones Persistent North/South divides - Danny Dorling Uneven regional growth: the geographies of boom and bust under New Labour - Ron Martin Part II: Landscapes of Power, Inequality and Finance The City and finance: changing landscapes of power: - John Allen Banking on financial services - Shaun French, Karen Lai and Andrew Leyshon The geography of UK government finance: tax, spend and what lies between - Steve Musson State and economy: governing uneven development in the UK - Andy Pike and John Tomaney Housing and the UK economy - Chris Hamnett The geographical pension gap: understanding patterns of inequality in UK occupational pensions - Kendra Strauss and Gordon Clark Part III: Landscapes of Production and Circulation The changing geographies of manufacturing and work: Made in the UK? - Ray Hudson Business services: driving the knowledge-based economy in the UK? - James Faulconbridge Agricultural restructuring and changing food networks in the UK - Brian Ilbery and Damian Maye The shifting geographies of UK retailing - Neil Wrigley UK energy dilemmas: energy security and climate change - Michael Bradshaw Part IV: Landscapes of Social Change Restructuring UK labour markets: work and employment in the twenty-first century - Kevin Ward New migrant divisions of labour - Jane Wills, Cathy McIlwaine, Kavita Datta, Jon May, Joanna Herbert and Yara Evans The UK economy and the transformation of East Central Europe - Alison Stenning Coda: The UK Economy in an era of globalization - Neil M. Coe and Andrew Jones

That geography forms, rather than merely reflects, economies is by now widely recognized. But fully to understand that there are no such things as economies, only economic geographies, requires careful and theoretically sophisticated accounts. The contributions in this book offer such an understanding of the economic geographies of the UK and are thereby sensitive to the complex geographies through which economies take place. It is essential reading within and, even more, beyond Geography. The current crisis of economy and Economics demands no less. -- Roger Lee In the aftermath of the global economic crisis, The Economic Geography of the UK brings to the academy a highly-innovative, thought provoking and empirically-rich collection of essays that tracks the most significant socio-economic changes of the U.K.'s space economy over recent times. From re-visiting the geographical imaginations of the North-South divide to uncovering the City of London's financial economy within a UK and global context, to understanding new social landscapes of work, immigration and labour market change, both undergraduate and graduate students and researchers alike, from across the social sciences, will all be treated to one of the most authoritative and research-driven texts, which uncovers the geography of contemporary economic and social change in the UK. Neil Coe and Andrew Jones, and all contributing authors, must be commended on the highest quality of their incisive theoretical and empirical scholarship, which I would suggest must be an essential companion to anyone seeking knowledge and understanding of socio-economic change in the contemporary UK space economy. -- Jonathan V. Beaverstock The most outstanding feature of the text is the statistical data and figues utilised by the authors to complement the written word...the figures could be used in the teaching of the geogrpahical concept of special change over time... I would recommend the text for those who are interested in pursuing research in the area of socioeconomic change or have an interest in the demography of the UK. -- Geographical Education The book is written in an accessible form both organizationally and stylistically. Individual chapters, while offering the intellectual depth of an academic journal article, are careful to explain terminology and benefit from bulleted aims at the start of each contribution allowing readers to gain a quick grasp of its focus. Such thoughtful presentation eases undergraduate students into serious academic engagement and potentially provides a springboard for further exploration into the recommended reading at the end of each chapter... This book will most obviously be compulsory reading on under and postgraduate economic geography modules where it will encourage critical engagement and thinking. However, I believe that it could (and should) gain traction beyond its core discipline. Given the wide ranging multi-disciplinary nature of the themes discussed, it should also provide interest across the social sciences, notably for sociologists and throughout business and management studies. -- Steve Wood The quality and usefulness of this book [make it] a core text in an undergraduate or indeed postgraduate module, or as evidence for research into the UK's changing economic geography. -- Oli Mould