William J. Coffey

A Tale of Four Cities: Intrametropolitan Employment Distribution in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Ottawa – Hull, 1981 – 1996

Since the late 1980s there has been considerable interest in the intrametropolitan location of economic activity. A growing number of studies examine in detail the spatial structure of particular metropolitan areas, or present comparisons at a relatively aggregated spatial and sectoral level. From these studies, certain authors have deduced a general pattern of metropolitan spatial development—one involving the suburbanisation of economic activity and the weakening of the central business district. The scarcity of comparable data covering different cities renders these generalisations somewhat tentative, however. In this paper we use a unique database to compare the spatial structures, and their evolution over time, for the four largest Canadian metropolitan areas: Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Ottawa – Hull. These data allow highly disaggregated spatial (census-tract level) and sectoral (thirty economic sectors) analyses. The results, which illustrate the existence of three distinct patterns of development amongst these four metropolitan areas, call into question the existence of a single model. In doing so they also raise a series of questions regarding possible explanations for these differences.

The Growth and Location of High Order Services in the Canadian Urban System, 1971–1991

In spite of the considerable economic importance of high order (intermediate demand) services, research on the growth and location of these activities has remained at a fairly aggregate level. The behavior of the individual elements of this group has rarely been documented in detail. In this paper, we seek to determine if individual high order service activities are becoming spatially more concentrated or dispersed across the Canadian urban system, and to determine if differential rates of growth may be observed by region and by urban size category. These issues are of considerable importance in the ongoing debate concerning the impact of the tertiarization of the economy on uneven spatial development. We examine the performance and location of 17 individual high order service activities over a set of 152 Canadian urban areas with populations greater than 10,000 inhabitants. Most of these activities are highly concentrated in a small number of very large urban areas, and their level of concentration decli...

Producer Services and Systems of Flexible Production

During the decade of the 1980s, regional science began to devote more and more attention to the influence of two phenomena upon the structure and functioning of the space-economy: (1) service activities, in general, and producer services, in particular, and (2) flexible production systems. This paper explores the extent to which these two major preoccupations of contemporary regional science can be integrated, and attempts to contribute to the understanding of the growth and location of producer services by examining the manner in which an analytical framework based upon flexible production may be applied to the latter. The exploration begins with a summary and criticism of the flexible production approach. This is followed by a discussion of the growth of producer services and of the trends towards the increasing externalisation of these activities. Next, the appropriateness of employing a flexible production framework in the case of producer services is examined. The significance of the concept of flexible production for understanding the location of producer services is then explored. Finally, the paper examines the effects upon the labour force of flexibility in the production and use of producer services.

INTRAMETROPOLITAN EMPLOYMENT DISTRIBUTION IN MONTREAL, 1981-1996

A major theme in the recent urban literature concerns the intrametropolitan distribution of economic activities. In North American metropolitan areas, the most recent phase of post-World War II employment decentralization has involved high-order services and has culminated in the creation of “suburban downtowns” or “edge cities” that often are direct competitors to the central business district (CBD). In this paper, we examine (1) the extent to which Montreal has undergone a decentralization of employment over the period 1981-1996 and (2) whether the observed decentralization involves a reconcentration in a limited number of employment poles (polycentricity) or a more generalized dispersion (scatteration). Our analysis is based upon place-of-work employment data at the census tract level (n = 613) for total employment, service employment, business services, consumer services, and manufacturing. The results indicate that decentralization is indeed a reality in Montreal, and that it tends to be of a polycentric nature, rather than the more widely dispersed form that appears to be characterizing many United States metropolitan areas. Business services and, somewhat surprisingly, manufacturing play major roles in the process of multinucleation. [Key words: employment decentralization, employment centers, metropolitan structure, multinucleation.]

FORWARD AND BACKWARD LINKAGES OF PRODUCER-SERVICES ESTABLISHMENTS: EVIDENCE FROM THE MONTREAL METROPOLITAN AREA

Producer services are intermediate-demand functions that serve as inputs into the production of goods or of other services. Despite the obvious economic importance of producer services, research on these activities is still in a relatively early stage of development. This paper attempts to contribute to the general understanding of the structure and the functioning of producer services in metropolitan economies by providing concrete answers to several questions currently being debated by researchers. For example, do producer services exist primarily to respond to demand from the manufacturing sector, and to what extent are producer services exported beyond the boundaries of the local economy? The empirical analysis is based upon a survey, conducted in 1992 and 1993, of 324 producer-services establishments in the Montreal metropolitan area. An innovative aspect of the present study is to view producer-services establishments simultaneously as producers and as consumers of intermediate-demand inputs.

Urban Employment Subcenters and Sectoral Clustering in Montreal: Complementary Approaches to the Study of Urban Form

Since the late 1980s there has been renewed interest in the study of employment polynucleation within metropolitan areas, fed in part by the move to suburban locations of high-order service functions. In parallel, a growing body of research has underlined the role which proximity plays in information exchange, innovation and growth. So far there have been only limited attempts to merge these two approaches and investigate the degree to which local agglomeration economies and positive externalities may underpin the creation of suburban employment poles. In this paper a first step is taken in this direction by proposing an approach to systematically investigate the colocation of economic activities within a metropolitan context. It is found that the groups of economic activities which systematically tend to colocate closely mirror those activities which would be grouped together along sectoral lines.

Regional science: back to the future?

After initiating a provocative discussion on “regional science in crisis” (Bailly and Coffey 1994; Gibson 1994; Plane 1994; Stough 1994; Anas 1994; Vickerman 1994; Casetti 1995), we now wish to present some additional thoughts on how regional scientists can simultaneously make their field more relevant scientifically and more useful for society. At a time when resources are tight, when the number of regional science students is small, when administrators are scrutinizing our budgets and our ability to generate outside money, we need to do something to regain (or is it simply to gain?) our place in the sun. In this paper, we argue that regional scientists will not reestablish their field by using classical approaches to regional analysis alone. It is essential that we look at new ways to answer questions raised by our social, economic, and political institutions. More specifically, we make some observations concerning the history of regional science, its role within universities, and its nature, as well as offering some suggestions concerning how regional scientists can attempt to improve the situation.

Regional Medicometry: Health Expenditures, Regional Disparities, Problems and Policies

The fields of medical geography and of health economics have had long and fruitful histories. The analysis of the spatial distribution of specific illnesses and of the variations in levels of physical well-being is an ancient practice, having been initiated at the time of Hippocrates. In the 18th century, in order to better understand the antecedents of certain illness, physicians began investigating the relationships between the type and frequency of illnesses, on the one hand, and aspects of the human and physical environment on the other hand. In the 20th century, epidemiologists and geographers have further refined the understanding of the diffusion of various illnesses and of their associated causes and consequences.