The Dictionary of Human Geography (30 page)

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Authors: Michael Watts

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commuting
The daily journey to work, implying a repetitive daily trip from a fixed home location to a fixed work location. The term dates to the mid nineteenth century, when wealthy businessmen began travelling from their suburban dwellings to their urban worksites via railroad: the ?commuta tion? of their daily tickets to lower priced monthly fares led to the term ?commuter? (Muller, 2004). The peaking of journeys to and from work during the morning and even ing rush hours and associated road congestion have been a prime focus of transportation planning since the 1950s. Telecommuting involves using information technology to work while the worker is not physically in the work place. sha (NEW PARAGRAPH)
compact city
A policy goal associated with advocates of sustainabiLity in Western world urban PLaNNing. Proponents seek to mitigate automobile related energy use, urban air pol lution, and sprawL related farmland and habi tat loss by promoting the re use of urban brownfield sites, high density and mixed use development, and public transit. The compact city ideal permeates discussions of urban sprawL, smart growth, quaLity of Life and questions of urban housing availability and affordability. A range of opinions exist on the veracity, feasibility and acceptability of the compact city as a model for achieving urban sustainability, from outright advocacy, to (NEW PARAGRAPH) considered evaluation (Breheny, 1995), to strong scepticism (Neuman, 2005). em (NEW PARAGRAPH) Suggested reading (NEW PARAGRAPH) Breheny (1997). (NEW PARAGRAPH)
comparative advantage
The principle whereby individuals (or territories) produce those goods or services for which they have the greatest cost or efficiency advantage over others, or for which they have the least disad vantage. The outcome tends to be specializa tion across places. A gifted individual or resource rich region may be able to produce everything more efficiently than others that are less well endowed, but as long as some com parative advantage exists, specialization may benefit all. An example is that of the best lawyer in town who is also the best typist: it pays the lawyer to concentrate on the lucrative practice of the law and hire a typist (who has a comparative advantage in typing relative to knowledge of the law). One region may be able to produce two goods more efficiently than another region, but it pays to concentrate on the good for which there is greatest compara tive advantage and buy the other from the second region. (NEW PARAGRAPH) The notion of comparative advantage is important in understanding regional special ization, whereby all regions gain from the interchange of products even if they could sat isfy their own needs (cf. compLementarity). A condition for realizing the benefits of compara tive advantage is free trade. At the inter national scale, market imperfections such as tariff barriers can impede specialization based on comparative advantage, protecting domes tic production of goods that could not with stand open competition. The objective may be to ensure more ?balanced? economic devel opment and to avoid problems associated with narrow product specialization. dms (NEW PARAGRAPH)
competitive advantage
The relative abil ity of firms in the same market to win above average profit levels, through either cost or product differentiation advantages. These may result from either a superior resource base (e.g. better facilities, superior quality of workforce), greater capability to utilize its available resources (capability advantages) and/or a better quality product. That competi tive advantage may be only transient; it is sus tainable if it cannot be challenged by other firms. (NEW PARAGRAPH) Competitive advantage is also used to account for the emerging division of LaBour, (NEW PARAGRAPH) rather than the theory of comparative advan tage. Places may compete for employment as, for example, in many service industries, including leisure and tourism on the basis that what they have to offer is superior to that available in other places, so that spatial differ entiation results from competitive success rather than differential resource availability or efficiency. rj (NEW PARAGRAPH) Suggested reading (NEW PARAGRAPH) Ancien (2005); Porter (1998). (NEW PARAGRAPH)
complementarity
The existence of comple mentarity between two regions implies that one produces (or has the potential to produce) goods or services for which the other suffers from a deficit (or potential deficit). Ullman (1956) used the term to describe one of the bases of spatiaL interaction, arguing that complementarity may arise either from areaL differentiation (in resource endowment, or in social, economic and cultural conditions) or as a result of economies of scaLe (cf. com parative advantage). rj (NEW PARAGRAPH)
complexity theory
A term for the study of ?complex systems' that is used in both math ematical systems modelling and in qualitative and discursive work. Complex systems are non linear, interdependent and strongly coupled systems with feedBack loops, and may exhibit scale effects, together with sensitiv ity to initial conditions and path dependence. The original use of the term is for the math ematical properties and analysis of such non linear interdependent systems, and embraces both chaos theory and catastrophe theory as sub branches. Many studies identify three divisions of mathematical complexity theory: algorithmic or computational complexity; deterministic complexity; and ?aggregate complexity'. (NEW PARAGRAPH) Algorithmic complexity deals with the relative computational difficulty of computable func tions. This may appear the least relevant div ision for human geography, but is important in understanding the difficulties of solving large scale spatial optimization problems and other aspects of geographic information systems and spatiaL anaLysis. Deterministic complexity examines the properties of non lin ear systems and subsumes both chaos theory and catastrophe theory as particular subsets. The third division of aggregate complexity con siders systems of linked components or sub systems and examines the ways in which order and structure may emerge at higher levels from the interactions. A classic example is the highly organized termite hill that emerges out of the interaction of countless highly special ized individual termite activities. Such proper ties of ?self organization' and ?emergence' are central to aggregate complexity. (NEW PARAGRAPH) Several different attempts have been made to develop and apply the mathematical theory to urban and regional systems, such as Allen (1997) and Portugali (2000). One difficulty is defining the objects within the system and its boundaries. Reviews of these issues and their relevance for human geography may be found in Manson (2001) and O'Sullivan (2004). Wilson (2000) takes a pragmatic approach, using complexity theory as a framework within which to link various urban sub models, argu ing that such linkage is vital to understand urban structure; however, this cannot be done in analytical terms, but only through computer simulation and sensitivity analysis. (NEW PARAGRAPH) Complexity theory has also been adopted by cultural geographers (see cultural geog raphy) as an analogical and metaphorical tool: as the ?cultural turn? emphasized the importance of difference, contingency and context, so the various concepts, models and terms within mathematical complexity theory provided useful language and metaphors with which to examine space and society. Within human geography, this use of complexity theory outnumbers the mathematical applica tions. A well developed example is provided by Urry?s study of ?global complexity? (Urry, (NEW PARAGRAPH) , in which complexity is used to link together local and global, the emergence of global ?order? from regional ?disorder?, the role of feedbacks and path dependence in how regions engage with global society, and the challenge for how social theory is constructed. Thrift (1999b) gives a wide ranging survey of the take up of the complexity metaphor in both business and the social sciences. lwh (NEW PARAGRAPH) Suggested reading (NEW PARAGRAPH) Manson (2001); O?Sullivan (2004); Thrift (1999b). (NEW PARAGRAPH)
confirmatory data analysis
Quantitative statistical procedures used to evaluate hypoth eses, usually involving the use of significance tests (cf. exploratory data analysis). rjj (NEW PARAGRAPH)
conflict
At its most general, ?conflict? can mean anything from a personal disagreement between two people to a world war. It is now widely understood that conflict is part of the human condition, although only some of it results in overt violence or combat. Conflict theory in sociology emphasizes struggles over resources and the formation of groups and social cleavages that may lead to organized conflict. Coercion, resistance, revolt and political violence within states, and warfare between states, are dynamic processes in which escalation, violence, conflict resolution and peace making are all vitally important. In political science and economics, conflict is sometimes discussed in terms of game theory and strategic calculation, an approach that has not been frequently invoked by geographers. (NEW PARAGRAPH) Themes of conflict run through numerous facets of contemporary enquiry in human geography, even though they are often not theorized as such. Marxist approaches empha size the importance of structural conflict between classes and especially in cities under capitalism, where the geography of class struggle is literally built into the urban struc ture (see marxism). More recently, feminist analyses have investigated numerous conflicts generated by patriarchal structures and the strategies of resistance used by women (Staeheli, Kofman and Peake, 2004: see also feminism; patriarchy). migration brings peoples and cultures into conflict as newcomers and established populations negotiate coexistence, frequently in situations of considerable economic change and against a backdrop of class and gender struggles. Identity conflicts are part of the urban mosaic in most metropolitan centres, where diasporic populations (see diaspora) are now the subject of numerous geographical analyses inspired by post colonialism (Jacobs, 1996). (NEW PARAGRAPH) Classic geopolitics focused on the geog raphy of war and international rivalry, a topic that has undergone a revival of interest since the 1980s. Most recently, conflict is at the heart of a series of geographical analyses of matters of war and peace, where territory, identity, national independence, empire and violence have all come under scrutiny in the aftermath of the events of 11 September 2001 and the launch of the ?global war on terror' by the Bush administration in the USA (see terrorism). Here, conflict is discussed at the largest scales as matters of clashes between civilizations and cultures, but critical geo politics also reveals the multiple ways in which these struggles are socially constructed and reach into the lives of ordinary people (Gregory, 2004b). These terms are heavily laden with both implicit and explicit geo graphical thinking, a matter that has gained (NEW PARAGRAPH) considerable attention by geographers (Flint, (NEW PARAGRAPH) . sd (NEW PARAGRAPH) Suggested reading (NEW PARAGRAPH) Flint (2005). (NEW PARAGRAPH)
conflict commodities
Across the global South, the dependence upon a strategic nat ural resource (oiL, diamonds, copper) has been associated with a cluster of poor human, economic and political deveLopment indices, an association that has been called the ?resource curse?. These pathologies appear especially robust in extractive economies; for example, the petro states of the Gulf of Guinea, which are classic rentier economies marked by deplorable corruption, poor eco nomic performance, authoritarian politics, miserable social achievement and civil con fLict (including civil war), against a backdrop of enormous oil wealth. Paul Collier and his colleagues at the World Bank (2003) devel oped a model of what they called the ?econom ics of civil war? in which resource dependent economies (especially minerals) could be sought out and looted by rebel groups. The ease with which resources such as diamonds and oil could be extorted, stolen or tracked down by groups were driven, in their view, by greed and criminality rather than grievance. Civil conflict always surrounded resource dependent economies in which the character of the resource point or diffuse, proximate or remote (see Le Billon, 2005) determined the particular forms of violent politics (coup d?etat versus secessionist movements). Conflict commodities refer to the association between state dependence upon particular commodities and the ease with which rebels could plunder the resource in order to fund their war (organized crime in the World Bank?s account) against the state. The case of ?blood diamonds? gained international attention because of the ways in which alluvial dia monds and their trade could be easily controlled by rebel groups in the extraordinar ily violent civil conflict in Sierra Leone. As a result of the pressure by activist groups such as Global Witness, the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme was set up in January 2003 as an international governmental certifi cation system to prevent the trade in diamonds that funded or sustained civil conflict (see Global Witness, n.d.). mw (NEW PARAGRAPH) Suggested reading (NEW PARAGRAPH) Collier, Elliott, Hegre, Hoeffler, Reynal Querol and Sambanis (2003); Le Billon (2005). See also (NEW PARAGRAPH) Global Witness, The Kimberly process (http:// www.globalwitness.org/pages/en/the kimberley process.html). (NEW PARAGRAPH)
conservation
A term that implies the keep ing or preservation of something for future use and human benefit. The word can be applied to buildings or to food, but it is mostly used to refer to the natural environment, natural resources, and particularly species and habitats. Concern for non human nature has a long history; for example, in classical Mediterranean societies, and in the early European tropical colonial empire (Grove, 1995). In its modern form, conservation became established as a body of thought and social action towards the end of the nineteenth century. (NEW PARAGRAPH) Two aspects of the conservation of the environment have been important since the late nineteenth century. The first concerns the rate at which resources, particularly renewable resources (such as living species), are consumed. The second concerns the desire to ensure the survival of species and habitats. The distinction between these two is com monly exemplified by the sharp debate in the USA in the early years of the twentieth century between the utilitarian view of conservation of Theodore Roosevelt?s adviser, the forester Gifford Pinchot, and the more romantic pre servationist arguments of the Sierra Club and John Muir (Hays, 1959). However, these two aspects of conservation are still in tension today; for example, between those who argue that safari hunting and a legal trade in ivory are an appropriate and effective way of con serving species such as elephants in africa, and those who feel that such hunting and trade can never be controlled in a way that guarantees sustainable harvests and that does not promote illegal killing. (NEW PARAGRAPH) The technical basis of ideas about conserva tion of renewable resources draws on a num ber of areas of natural science, particularly the science of fisheries management. In the late nineteenth century, fish catches began to decline systematically in Europe and the USA as fishing became industrialized with the advent of steam driven boats and other inno vations. The International Conference for the Exploration of the Sea in 1899 proposed scientific enquiries to promote rational exploitation. By the 1930s the idea of a max imum sustainable yield was established, and through the first half of the twentieth century a series of international institutions were established to try to regulate fishing, including (NEW PARAGRAPH) the Overfishing Convention agreed in London in 1946, and the International Whaling Commission established in Washington in 1946. Neither these, nor their successors, achieved the sustained exploitation of any sig nificant open water stock of fish or marine mammals. The boom crash cycle of sealing in the nineteenth century, and of the herring fishery in the North Sea, ocean whaling and Atlantic cod fishing in the twentieth century, provide ample evidence of both the desirability of conservation and the political and economic difficulty of making conservation strategies work (Cushing, 1988). (NEW PARAGRAPH) The language of fisheries science suggests the considerable influence of economics: stocks were renewed or depleted, and calcula tions included estimates of catch per unit effort. In turn, economics reflected evolving understanding of the dynamics of resources, particularly in the distinction between renewable (flow) and non renewable (stock) resources (Ciriacy Wantrup, 1952). Such ideas have been widely applied; for example, in soil erosion and forestry. The US Dust Bowl stimulated concern about the manage ment of soil resources in a way that could sustain production around the world; for example, in tropical Africa, where it provided the legitimization for widespread and unpopu lar compulsory terracing (Beinart and Coates, (NEW PARAGRAPH) . The concept of sustained yield forestry is long established, although its application to old growth temperate forests (where ?tree farming' is regarded as environmentally highly destructive), and the failure to apply its prin ciples to tropical regions forests remain highly controversial. (NEW PARAGRAPH) At the end of the nineteenth century, the extinction of species such as the quagga (a barely striped plains zebra from the African Cape) and the North American passenger pigeon, and the near extinction of others such as the American bison, became the rallying points for a species conservation movement in the USA, Europe and the colonial world (Sheail, 1976; Adams, 2004). This movement drew in particular on zoos (notably the New York Zoological Society, founded in 1895), and on the support of hunters turned conser vationists; for example, in the Society for the Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the Empire (founded in London in 1903). It campaigned for the establishment of game reserves, nature reserves and eventually nationaL parks, and on the establishment of national legisla tion for protected species (e.g. designating closed hunting seasons and protected species), and for international treaties for conserv ation; for example, the 1918 Anglo American Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds and the 1973 Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). (NEW PARAGRAPH) Wildlife conservation expanded rapidly after the Second World War, with the establishment of organizations such as the Conservation Foundation (1948) and the Nature Conservancy (1951) in the USA, and the IUCN the World Conservation Union (1956) and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (1961). The membership, capacity and num ber of conservation organizations grew with the wider eNVironmentAL movement, devel oping from a series of small patrician interest groups in a few industrialized countries into a global movement. (NEW PARAGRAPH) By the 1990s, the power and sophistication of conservation had grown, with the establish ment of new and strongly corporate organiza tions, such as Conservation International (Brosius, 1999). The development of conser vation biology as a science lent growing confi dence to conservation planning; for example, in the definition of Biodiversity ?hotspots' and protected area selection. The social impacts of conservation came under increas ingly close scrutiny (Brechin, Wilhusen, Fortwangler and West, 2003; Neumann, 2004a). However, the erosion of living diversity through the operation of global capitaLism and patterns of consumption continued unchecked (Jenkins, 2003). The factors that created con servation in the nineteenth century remain strong. wma (NEW PARAGRAPH)

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