Britt Dale

An Institutionalist Approach to Local Restructuring The Case of Four Norwegian Mining Towns

Much of the inspiration of the ‘contextual turn’ in economic geography and regional development studies comes from institutional economics, and its focus on economic life as both an instituted process and a socially embedded activity. The concept of institution has been used in a variety of ways, however. Often the concept is defined in a broad and all-inclusive manner, or it is just stated that institutions are important, without discussing the content of the concept in any depth. The aim of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the concept of institutions and the relevance of an institutionalist approach in studies of local and regional development. It starts with a brief overview of the various schools of institutional theorists and the controversies and divergence among them. I argue for the value of a broad conception of institutions, which includes cognitive constructions and normative rules as well as regulative structures. The theoretical discussion is exemplified by a presentation of how an institutionalist approach can be utilized as an analytical framework in a study of the restructuring of four small Norwegian mining communities. The study identifies several types of institutions that in various ways have influenced the process of restructuring and its outcome. These institutions are operating at different geographical levels and reflect regulative constraints, normative obligations and expectations, as well as cognitive classifications and identities. A better insight into the functioning of these institutions will enhance our understanding of the capabilities, problems and prospects of this kind of community.

Subjective and objective social indicators in studies of regional social well-being

Dale B. (1980) Subjective and objective social indicators in studies of regional social well-being, Reg. Studies 14, 503–515. Studies of regional well-being carried out so far have often produced confusing and conflicting results, in particular regarding the degree of correspondence between results based on, respectively, subjective and objective indicators. In this paper some explanations of these contradictory results are suggested. These stress the lack of explicit definitions of “subjective” and “objective” indicators, the failure to take account of the relationship between indicators and life-domains and failure to pay attention to the influence of the spatial context. The explanations are first related to a sample of case studies. Thereafter, they are elaborated in the light of recent Norwegian research on social well-being.

The changing structure of the central place system in trøndelag, norway, over the past 40 years – viewed in the light of old and recent theories and trends

Abstract. The IGU Symposium on Urban Geography in Lund in 1960 was a path‐breaking event towards new nomothetic thinking within the discipline. In nearly half of the papers, the state of the art in central place research was presented and debated. The symposium was the main source of inspiration for a study of the central place system in Midt‐Norge in the 1960s, a research project that has been followed up in stages over a 40‐year period. The result is a unique collection of data, covering all central places in the region and the location of approximately 200 service functions of different categories in the 1960s, 1980s and c. 2000. Despite the profound changes that have taken place on the part of the consumer, as well as the supplier, the main structure of the central place hierarchy has been surprisingly stable. However, when looking at the growth and decline of each of the different service functions, considerable dynamics have been found. There are tendencies of centralization/concentration as well as decentralization/dispersion. Furthermore, the functional division of labour by vertical steps and tiers in the 1960s has been supplemented by horizontal specialization between places, and also in the lower levels of the central place hierarchy. In this paper, we present and discuss some of the main changes that have taken place in the system in the light of older and newer theories and trends.

From regional restructuring to regional renewal: Cases from Norway

The article gives a brief historical overview of the changing perspectives of Norwegian regional research and regional policy related to the concept of regional restructuring. It offers an interpretation of the concept ‘path dependence’ and newer, related concepts such as ‘renewal’, ‘reorientation’, and ‘resilience’, which gradually have replaced the traditional regional restructuring approach associated with Doreen Massey. The article discusses how, in a series of case studies, history matters in the following ways: the significance that events or decisions in the past have for further development; institutions and regulations that cause inertia; and entrepreneurs and organizations that recombine accumulated knowledge and reutilize local resources, infrastructure, or cultural heritage in innovative processes. The studies are informed by evolutionary as well as by relational and institutional strands of economic geography. They are mainly qualitative case studies of Norwegian municipalities and regions dominated by certain industries vulnerable to economic decline. Further, they demonstrate a broad set of strategies of industrial renewal and reorientation. Bottom-up strategies and local flexibility with regard to modes of organizing restructuring are recommended.

Internationalization of knowledge-intensive SMEs: The case of petroleum-related suppliers

Carlsson, E. & Dale, B. 2011. Internationalization of knowledge-intensive SMEs: The case of petroleum-related suppliers. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift–Norwegian Journal of Geography Vol. 65, 191–201. ISSN 0029-1951. The internationalization of the knowledge-intensive industries, which predominantly consist of SMEs, has received increased attention recently. However, the existing body of theories of internationalization is not adequate for our understanding of multifaceted knowledge-intensive industries. The authors aim to shed light on knowledge-intensive SMEs’ internationalization and thereafter to illuminate recent theories with a relational perspective on firms and discuss their fruitfulness regarding the internationalization of SMEs of this type. Empirical data are drawn from a case study of 10 Norwegian firms, located in Trondheim, that are connected to the petroleum industry through subcontracting technology and services. The study indicates that the firms based their internationalization processes on a complex mix of modes or strategies, none of which were mutually exclusive. Planned strategies as well as coincidental processes and events seem to have influenced the internationalization decisions. It is argued that in order to understand the contingencies that may affect the process of internationalization, the concept of ‘preactivity’ may be a useful addition to the more well-known concepts of ‘reactive’ and ‘proactive’ strategies. Moreover, it is demonstrated that a relational approach is fruitful in order to understand internationalization processes among knowledge-intensive SMEs.

Level of living or quality of life: different approaches to planning

The characteristics of three different approaches to welfare studies—the ‘level of living’, the ‘quality of life’ and the ‘mode of living’ approaches—are presented. Their potential and actual application to welfare policy and planning is discussed with reference to specific studies. These examples demonstrate that the various approaches may be useful in relation to different kinds of planning and geographical scales. It is concluded that a meaningful insight into welfare problems can only be found on a local area scale. Most often a combination of two or more approaches seems to be fruitful.

En klassifisering av boligområder. A classification of residential neighbourhoods.

Gjennom sosialgeografisk faglitteratur er vi kjent med en rekke tilnaermingsmater for a identifisere og avgrense sma naboskapsenheter i byer (“social areas”, “residential neighbourhoods” etc.). Formalet har som regel vaert rent beskrivende, dvs. at en har villet prove a klassifisere eller fa “vitenskapelig orden” pa det virvar av ulike bomiljoer som er a finne i storre byer. Metoder som “Social Area Analysis” og “factorial ecology” er de mest kjente og mest benyttede tilnaermingsmater pa dette forskningsomradet.

«Genialt planlagt?» Drabantbyen som hjem i spennet mellom boligfaglige idealer og levde landskap

Genialt planlagt? Drabantbyen som hjem i spennet mellom boligfaglige idealer og levde landskap

GIS i geografifaget på ungdomstrinnet: Fagdidaktiske perspektiv på å lære om og med GIS

points are made, for instance that health inequality researchers have almost universally adopted Putnam’s version of the social capital concept, rather than adopting Bourdieu’s point of view (fundamentally concerned with power relations, stratification, and systematic social inequality), which might have more to offer. This critical summary establishes a conceptual foundation for Paper 2. Paper 2, ‘The influence of social capital on self related health and depression The Nord-Trøndelag health study (HUNT),’ was published in the Norwegian Journal of Epidemiology in 2007. It addresses the degree to which neighbourhood social capital influenced self-reported health and depression in Nord-Trøndelag. An important issue is how well HUNT (based in an egalitarian county in one of the most egalitarian countries in the world) is suited to shed light on the problem. Only small proportions of the variations in self-reported health and depression were detected at the level of neighbourhoods (wards) and much of this variance disappeared after individual characteristics (age, sex, marital status, education, and employment status) were added. Social capital was represented by two measures: trust in other neighbourhood residents and participation in organizational activities. After adjusting for individual characteristics, there were clear associations between trust levels in wards and both self-reported health and depression, with weaker and less consistent associations for participation levels in wards. Discussion of these results included consideration of the interdependence of compositional and contextual influences and the possibility of reverse causality. Other interesting questions, such as whether low income inequality is good for the rich as well as for the poor, await future investigation. Paper 3, ‘Individual, family, and area predictors of BMI and BMI change in an adult Norwegian population: Findings from the HUNT study,’ was published in Social Science & Medicine in 2010. This paper concentrates on obesity, measured by body mass index and body mass change over time at four scales: in individuals, in families, in wards, and in municipalities. It is not made clear why both wards and municipalities were chosen but only a small proportion of body mass variations could be ascribed to differences between wards or municipalities. Families, on the other hand, accounted for much more of the variance. Obesity similarities within families are often observed anecdotally, perhaps, but with little scientific support until now. Most other studies have been hampered by including too few respondents in the same family but the NordTrøndelag Health Study is not limited in this way. Another advantage of the HUNT data is its longitudinal nature, exploited to some extent here, but with changes in predictor variables still to be explored. Paper 4, ‘The impact of family and place of residence on smoking behaviour in Norway results from the NordTrøndelag Health Study,’ is not yet published. This paper investigates the prevalence of smoking in the cohort and the contribution of variations at the individual, family, ward, and municipality levels. The analysis is then repeated, separating the data into urban and rural parts. This study pursues the family theme of paper 3, demonstrating a marked family effect on smoking, an even stronger relationship than was the case for obesity, and one which is maybe less likely to be influenced by genetics. One aspect which would benefit from more discussion is the justification for dividing the analysis into urban and rural municipalities, a division that does not produce any real insights. The main results, however, do suggest a promising theme for new public health intervention strategies. Three common threads hold Sund’s thesis together. The first is the underpinning provided by various conceptual frameworks exploring individual and aggregate effects on health. The second is the ability to separate associations operating at different scales in hierarchical data using multilevel modelling. The third is examination of various aspects of the health of a single population cohort in NordTrøndelag County. In this setting, geographical inequalities in health were found to be reassuringly small, quite overshadowed by differences between families. Almost all previous studies that have found strong neighbourhood contextual effects on health have compared sharply contrasting urban areas in nations with unequal income distributions. This thesis reveals a different situation at the other end of the spectrum.

Geographical and Social Inequalities in Health and Health Behaviour in the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT)

deficiencies of both types of representations. Mongolian herders are thoroughly ‘modern’ in their use of veterinary techniques, and they make use of bank loans, meteorological forecasts, and a host of other ‘modern’ devices. They are not timeless traditional innocents either, as they respond to markets in a way that is notionally ‘rational’, given their constraints. Marin concludes that ‘this way of life is inherently ‘‘modern’’, it is just waiting to be accepted into modernity’. Overall, the thesis represents an original contribution to the knowledge on present-day pastoralism as well as the use of local knowledge in climate change research. The data were collected under field conditions that are far from easily accessible. Other authors have worked on Mongolian pastoralism but Andrei Marin’s work has added to this literature. It may be argued that some theoretical concepts such as ‘territoriality’ and ‘reciprocity’ have limitations in explaining pastoral land use and a more in-depth discussion of these core concepts might have been desirable.