compact, extremely cheap (40~ for the 1985-86 issue) and regularly updated.

More ambitious is G. Vincent Bar- rett and Janet K. Tandy, The Interna- tional Real Estate and Land Econo- mics Bookshelf 1975-l 985, published in 1985 by the Center for Real Estate and Land Resource Research, New Mexico State University (Las Cruces, NM). This is an ambitious work, extending over some 300 pages. It had its origins ‘in the development of university level real estate curriculum for degree programs in the United States, Australia, England and New Zealand’. The data included in each entry is fuller than is usual and in- cludes the International Standard Book Number, the Library of Con- gress card number, the book’s call number on both the Dewey and Lib- rary of Congress systems, a listing of the journals in which a review or abstract of the book has appeared, and ‘descriptors identifying topical areas covered’ (ie keywords). The preface to the bibliography explains that it represents ‘an attempt to iden- tify all significant books written in, or translated to, English during the period covered . . The fundamental link is a heritage of land law based on English common law’.

I have found the bibliography to be exceptionally useful, particularly be- cause of its geographical coverage. But it has its limitations, the most import of which stem from the deci- sion to classify entries under only two headings: real estate and land econo- mics. These are too broad to be of real assistance to the enquirer interested in, say, building codes, low income housing, neighbourhoods, new towns or rent control (to pick at random a few ‘descriptors’). Moreover, there is no subject index: this considerably diminishes its utility. It is, of course, easy to criticize and anyone who has attempted to devise a subject bib- liography will be aware of the difficul- ties. Yet the volume could be made much more useful, and I hope that Barrett and Tandy will be even more adventurous in any future edition. In the meantime, I am keeping the book handy for quick reference.

While Barrett and Tandy is issued in a three-ring binder, M.S.Schulz and

CITIES November 1986

V.L. Kasen is more of a coffee table presentation. This is not a bibhogra- phy, but an Encyclopedia of Cornrn1rn-

ity Planning and Environment Man- rrgement (Facts on File Publications. 1984). This proclaims itself as a ‘uni- que book the first to take the complex, rapidly changing concepts and terms used in community planning and make them clearly understand- able to the general public, to profes- sional and to students alike.’ Perhaps - but what is ‘community planning”? The encyclopedia has no entry for it. but the preface notes that the compil- ers had ‘made every effort to include all important topics’ and they hope that there are ‘no significant omi+ sions’. This is a big claim to make for a book that includes ‘land use regula- tion, community facility planning, economic development. transporta- tion planning, urban design, analytic techniques and tools, housing. social planning, historic preservation. re- creation and open space management. energy conservation, air and water quality management’. and so on. Cer- tainly the book contains a large num- ber of varied entries: bog. Disney World. inferential statistics. mid-rise housing, people mover. public use. social planning. smoke, regional tax base sharing, variable rate mortgage. Frank Lloyd Wright, zoning and zoo. Almost every term I could think of is included - but herein lies the problem: how can such a vast area be adequate- ly treated within the covers of a single book, particularly one of only 475 pages? The answer is that it cannot. Though the entries are clear and

concise they are frequently far too short. They give a good quick answer to simple questions. In this sense the book is a useful one and it is perhaps unfair to criticize it for not being something it isn’t. But the term ‘en- cyclopedia’ is misleading: it would have been more appropriate to term it a ‘digest’, or even add the term ‘concise’ to the title.

A very different compilation is James A. Clapp’s Tlw City: A Dictiorl- ury of Quotable Thought ON Cities nrrd Urban Lif@, published by the Rutgers University Center for Urban Policy Research (New Brunswick, NJ 08903). This is a delightful collection of ‘epigrams, epithets, verses. proverbs. scriptural references, wittic- isms. lyrics, literary references, histor- ical observations, etc on cities (specific and general) and urban life from antiquity to the present day’. The entries arc listed alphabetically by author, and there are tw,o indexes - by city and by subject.

It is virtually impossible to criticize a personal selection such as this, espc- cially since the choices are openly subjective. Moreover, I cannot repro- duce my favourite quotes: there are too many of them! The reader must pick his own. It’s good fun. (I wonder whether there might be an undcr- ground dictionary of rlrlcprotrihl~~

thoughts?)

J. Barry Cullingworth Unidel Professor of Urban Affairs

and Public Policy University of Delaware

Newark, DE 19716, USA

Conference report Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Minneapolis, MN, %7 May 1986.

Annual meetings of this kind should cupations of a discipline. In practice. it provide a good opportunity to evalu- is difficult to do more than gain an ate the current orientation and preoc- impressionistic view. with some I 000

353

papers king deli\~ered in under four

day. As usud. many of these paper\

were directed towards citit3 and urban

development. The meeting\ had a

parficularly urban flavour this year,

with ail urban geographer, l&a Palm,

providing the President’\ Address and

another urban geographer. Ron

Abler, sponsoring the Prcxident’\

Plenary Session. in which Jean Gott-

man spoke on technology and ut-ban

lift. This theme was followrd up later

in the programme by several partici-

pants including Kristin Nelson and

David Selwoocl. who examined cliffe-

rent aspect\ of the relationd~ip bc-

tween technology and office jobs; and

Andrew Gillespie and Jo I;oord. who

discussed the implication\ for female

Iabour of the technologically-~iri~~ll

ratructuring of office employment in

England.

Themes

Many of the other themes that

emerged in pap3 sessions reflected

geographers’ longstanding interc\ts in

urban affairs. St%ons on the analysis

of urtxin systems includecl pqxrs hq

Peter <iohwn on urhm communica-

tions system in mid-nineteenth ccm

tury Canatla, David Mcyci- on indust-

rial concentration in micl-nineteenth

century America and Randy Smith on

the concept of ‘dominance’ in ail

urb;m system. Sessions oil urban hi\-

tory and morphology inclucled Dcryck

I Ioldsworth and Gunter Gad 011

corporate capitalism and the emerg-

encc of high-rise office building and

Larry Ford on the arrival of multifam-

ly housing in midclle-\izd cities. Much

of the activity in these sessions.

houe\‘ei-. central on the question of

the comm~inicatioii of social and cultii-

ral identity through the built environ-

ment. Among the particular topics

;iddressed were the phenom~noloSy of

architectural meaning (David Sea

mon) the contcxtu~il compatibility ot

meaning in the urban environment

(Linda Groat). the emergence of the

skyscraper as a11 urban symbol (Mona

I>omoxh) and illusion and reality in

eighteenth-c~ntur); Kandy (Jame

Duncan).

Other sessions reflecting long-

established interests and themes WI-C

354

those 011 residential mobility. journq

to work patterns. modclling retailing

activity, suburh~tniration. community

and ncighbourhoocl and urban infras-

tructure (specifically. water suppi)

and light rail transit). Sessions on

socialist cities included papers on

socialist ideology and its impact on

f Iungarian urbanization (Darrick

Danta). Chinese urbanization ((‘.P.

Lo). Vietnamese urbankrtion (Nigcl

Thrift). Polish urbanization (Joanna

Kegulska) and socialist cities in goner--

al (George Dcmko). Sessions on

Third World citia included \‘ery dis-

parate collections of papers. \vith

topics ranging from niodels of world

clevelolment and urbaniz~ition (Ixe De Cola) to an an;dysi\ of crime in

Ghazipur. India (V. N. Lal) 2nd it

description of boom cities in the In-

donesian i-c‘sourcc’ frontier (William

Wood).

Some of the urban issues that have

emerged more recently were dso well

rcprescnted at this conference. One

such imuc is gentrification. which was

the subject of papet-s hy (‘aroline

Mills. David Wilson. Dougla\ Page.

.l~l vail Wccsep and (‘hris f Iamnctt.

Another is countcrurhanization. with

papers being prcrsentcd here bg

Kicharcl Forstall. William Frey. (ilen

Fuguitt. and Thomas Kontuly Both of

these issues. of cour\c’. ai-c‘ par1 of ;I

broader prcxxss of urban and regional

restructuring that has cotlle ahout with

the po\t-affluent era of the past I2 years and ;I good number of the papc’s

presented at the confercncc were con-

cerned with particular aspect\ of thi\

process. Among these were papers b!

Andrew Vargo on central city de-

population. IIelga I,eitnrr and Roman

Cybriwsky on downtown restructu.-

ing, Damaris Rose on labour market

lx~larizntion and Briavel f lolcomb 011

the feminization of povcrt!,. Mean-

while. a11 important issue which is only

just beginning to cmcrgc in gcoyqh!

_ the relationship between the law and

urban affairs ~ was highlighted in a11

exploratory paper by <iortlon (‘lark.

who pointed to the moral Iand~~~pcs

that arc being created in LJS cities vi;1

local ~rntil”)rii(1pi-;1ph!: ordinanc~c\.

Finally. one particul;irl~ u.elcoiiic‘ iii-

notation at the confcrencc was ;I p;incl

devoted to critical rcvicws of a11 iill-

portant ilew hook. with the author 011

hand to rq”md. In this GISC tk booh

was I’twfit C)Y~C.\, Oli~~o~~ol~~ trtrtl I<(,- ,qiomrl I)c,1,c/o/,,r1c,/l1. hc Ann Ma--

!iL~SCll. which drew :I good clcal of

lively discussion that typified the vita-

ity and enei-gy of ;I co~lfere~lce that

was impressively well orgariizd but

ju4t a little marred by undertones oi

coIlcc’~-Il. a~llong mm~ participant\.

ovei- wit 01. two uni\er4tv dep,ai.t-

ments whose futu1-c scctll\ ICYS than

ccrta1n.

Paul Knox College of Architecture and Urban

Studies Virginia Polytechnic

Institute and State University VA, USA

Book reviews Challenging perspective on urban policy REGIONAL CITIES IN THE UK 1890-

1980

edited by G. Gordon

Harper and Row, London, 1986, 250 pp, f7.95

I-or ;111~011e wanting a11 authoritative The strengths and weahncsws ot the

account of longer run change proctk essays reflect the volL~iilc’~ origin\ in

46s in the oldest and largest metropoli- the Internation;il Planning f Ii\tog

tan areas in the LJK, this \‘olumc on

regional cilia i\ timely. In some 30

page\ the different authors. nearly all

of \vhom are gt’ographers ;111d/0i-

p’hy4ical pl;inncrs. demonstrate the

value ilnd virtue of urban hktoi-y 111

understanding pa\t. prcscnl and lu-

ture trend\.

CITIES November 1986