Philip E. Ogden

Beyond gentrification: the demographic reurbanisation of Bologna

It has recently come into question whether the term ‘gentrification’ can capture the wide array of contemporary demographic processes in the inner city. There is also a need to extend the gentrification debate beyond the Anglo-American context, while understanding the urban implications of contemporary demographic processes. In response to such challenges we examine the changing population geographies of the city of Bologna, with the aim of establishing, whether the concept of ‘reurbanisation’ can provide a more useful encapsulation of its recent sociospatial transformations. Upon investigating the spatial patterns and movements of relevant population structures at various scales within the city, we have found that Bologna is the site of multifaceted and multidirectional demographic trends. In their entirety, these dynamics are leading to the social diversification, ‘residentialisation’, and fragmentation of the urban fabric. Such processes cannot be subsumed under the notion of gentrification because they do not involve major housing renovation and are spread throughout the inner city in a diffused and fragmented manner. ‘Reurbanisation’ is a more appropriate term to describe them.

The rise of living alone in Inner London: trends among the population of working age

The 1980s was a significant decade in the demography of Inner London. Population increase replaced decades of decline, and household numbers grew even faster. One-person households accounted for most of the growth in household numbers, and the greatest increase was among younger and middle-aged adults. The authors examine the characteristics and changing geography of one-person households in Inner London, particularly between 1981 and 1991, within the context of broader demographic and socioeconomic changes during the decade. In particular, the characteristics of those people who migrated to live alone in Inner london are examined, and questions raised about the relationship between household changes, residential mobility, occupational structures, and housing markets. Reference is also made to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to explain some of the processes underlying household change. One-person households are an integral part of wider economic and social processes underway in large urban areas and form a leading edge of new ways of urban living.

Immigration to France since 1945: myth and reality.

Abstract The contention of this article is that the debate on ‘immigration’ in France needs to take into account a number of issues which are frequently underestimated or ignored. It argues for an appreciation of the complexity of both the historical background to immigration and the current economic and social status of migrants and their descendants. First, the surge of migration over the last three decades, and the role of the French state, must be seen in the context of economic and demographic issues that have dominated French thinking for a century or more. Second, ‘immigrants’ cannot be treated as a homogeneous group. The very meaning of the word needs to be carefully defined in the light of the very varied status of groups by place of birth and nationality. Many of the current stereotypes are, it is argued, false and inimical to balanced discussions of the issue. Thirdly, the article reassesses the role of state policy since 1945 and reviews the varying impact of controls on migration. Finally, th...

Weaving demography into society, economy and culture: progress and prospect in population geography

Philip E. Ogden in his reports on the state of population geography attempts to provide evidence of the continued interest of geographers in the field of population studies thus making a plea for its enhanced status. Ogden also tries to provide a critique of the approaches of population geographers as demonstrated by the material reviewed in the period from late 1995 to early 1999. He notes items of geographical interest from the wider literature. In the process three points about the field are identified: 1) the challenge must be to strengthen population geography by engaging more fully in the wider methodological and theoretical debates in human geography; 2) population geographers need to forge stronger links with other branches of discipline; and 3) the relationship between population geography and other disciplines is important and represents a particular challenge. In this final report Ogden seeks to reinforce these points by focusing on three main aspects: the long-term view of demographic change; the continuing importance of the geography of populations; and migration which remains the area where geographers make the most notable and increasingly original contributions.

The state, housing policy and Afro‐Caribbean migration to France

Abstract Frances Afro‐Caribbean population forms a distinctive element in postwar migrant labour recruitment: of French nationality, with an equal balance of men and women, and strongly concentrated in public sector employment, especially in the Paris region. State policy strongly influenced the migration flow from the Caribbean islands, especially from the early 1960s. This article looks at aspects of the migrants’ housing experience, using aggregate statistics to establish general tenure patterns and interviews to recreate biographical histories. Afro‐Caribbean migrants avoided for the most part the worst excesses of the housing crisis of the 1960s and 1970s, though housing conditions ‐ especially for newly‐arriving migrants ‐ were frequently poor. Access to the public housing sector is shown to be crucial, though the role of the state was less direct (specifically aimed at the Caribbean population through the migration agency) than indirect (through the role of employers and the general involvement of...

Demography and pronatalism in France in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Abstract The fear of population decline in France is deep-rooted and complex. With a renewed decline in fertility in the 1970s, fresh concern has shown itself in the multiplication of books and comments, fitting into a pronatalist tradition which can be traced back at least one hundred and fifty years. In reviewing these works, and other new works on the history of population ideas in France, this paper emphasizes both the uniqueness of the French demographic case and the continuity of reactions both official and private. It isolates key periods of concern in the years before the First World War, in the 1930s and the late 1970s. It also draws attention to the proliferation of propaganda, four examples of which are re-published here.

People, Cities and Wealth. The Transformation of Traditional Society

1. What was the Industrial Revolution? Part I The background to the industrial revolution 2. The classical economists and the Industrial Revolution 3. The process of modernization and the Industrial Revolution in England 4. The supply of raw materials in the Industrial Revolution 5. Some reflections on corn yields and prices in pre-industrial economies Part II Urban growth 6. A simple model of Londons importance in changing English society and economy, 1650-1750 7. Urban growth and agricultural change: England and the continent in the early modern period Part III Population: marriage and reproduction 8. Fertility strategy for the individual and the group 9. The growth of population in 18th-century England: a conundrum resolved 10. Family limitation in pre-industrial England 11. The fall of marital fertility in 19th-century France: exemplar of exception?.