Newcastle as Postindustrial City - Essay Example

1 TO WHAT EXTENT CAN NEWCASTLE BE DESCRIBED AS A POST-INDUSTRIAL INTRODUCTION Daniel Bell has achieved prominence as one of those who established the concept of post-industrial society. Bell had pushed the concept of changes to the social structure, economy, occupational system, and the values and norms of such countries as the United States and USSR. In his 1973 text The Coming of Post-Industrial Society as well as the 1976 book The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, Bell audaciously predicted that scientific research and abstract thinking of pure science would subjugate and would have an ascendancy over the practical activities of technology. He first noticed that service industries i.e. information services and even entertainment, were gradually replacing heavy industries. He thus launched the concept of post-industrial society wherein an economic transition occurred from a manufacturing based economy to a service based economy. To post-industrial society, he ascribed the attributes of global diffusion of capital, the deterioration of the manufacturing sector, the imbalance of international trade, the shift in the balance of employment to the service sector, the "preeminence of a professional and technical class, the primacy of technical, and especially theoretical knowledge, the planning and control of technology; and the rise of intellectual technology" (Bell,1973,p377). In this society, intellectual and technical work, the universities and research institutions attain new prominence (Leggatt, 1985,p 20). People often wonder why some regions advance economically more rapidly than others, even those situated nearby, which find it difficult to keep up with the general economic trend and thus only fall into decline. They also ask why certain periods seem to be especially 2 propitious to economic growth in some areas (Julien,2007,p 1). This phenomenon can be explained by the fact that entrepreneurs create new information through innovation and convert such information into opportunities. Such knowledge fuels competencies and expertise and hence competitive capacity, which is the sum total of ideas obtained from networks coupled with resources and skills. An efficient learning system (training and R&D), reinforcement of technology by more knowledge and know-how and government support complete success to this knowledge based economy (Castells,2004,p314-316). Since time immemorial, cities had been cauldrons of creativity. Today, creative economy stews in cities, the sites of universities, which have become generators and centres of knowledge. Cities create broad environment that attracts talents all over the globe, the most critical resource to the creative economy spawned by knowledge economy. Both have accelerated "development of high-technology industries and regions". This creative economy remolded practically all aspects of economic development as "knowledge and creativity have replaced natural resources and the efficiency of physical labour as sources of wealth creation and economic growth" (Florida,2005,pp 49,50,68,144). THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY OF NEWCASTLE/THE CHANGING NATURE OF NEWCASTLE Newcastle Upon Tyne City is an administrative center borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England, on the Tyne River. With Gateshead, Jarrow, North and South Shields, it forms the Tyneside conurbation which in 2001 had a combined population of 879,996 (Office for National Statistics, 2001). 3 As Newcastle entered the 21st century, it left behind a rich historical legacy, evidenced by ruins of castles and abbeys, cathedrals, churches and country houses which tell of Newcastle's past (Robinson, 2002,p317). Founded by the Roman Emperor Hadrian (Colls,2001,p293), who built the 76-mile Hadrian's Wall to debar barbarians from barging into Pons Aelius or modern Newcastle and others in the environs (Frere,1987,p113-5), Hadrian's Wall is still visible along Newcastle's West Road. But Newcastle's best legacy to Britain is that it once served as England's northern fortress which must be defended from the onslaught of Danish and Scottish armies. As early as 1530, Newcastle had become a coalmining centre of England, whose coal exports contributed immensely to England's coffers. By the 19th century, Newcastle became a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution. It gained ascendancy as a "veritable workshop of the world" shining industrially with its industries "built around coal, iron and steel, engineering (notably shipbuilding, armaments, and railways) and chemicals (Hudson,2005,p581). Newcastle, founded by the Romans and later on incorporated as part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, reveals the heritage of both civilizations. Newcastle quayside became the hub of life when the city was engaged in coal exportation and shipbuilding as a community of closely-knit keelmen and their families resided around the area. In its place was the Quayside, which reflects the social legacies of Newcastle ancestors. "For decades, the Quayside was a focal point for family outings. The Quayside was an industrious place but also a place characterized by comradeship and repartee" (Miles,2005,p918). Today, Quayside is now 4 a commercial hub where bars, shops, restaurants and public parks abound and where so much noise is generated, thus, earning for Newcastle the title 'the noisiest city in UK" (BBC News,2007). Here, residents converse in Geordie, the native dialect which originates from the Anglo-Saxons (Colls & Lancaster, 2005,p xvii). Studies also show that "the North East has both the strongest regional identity and is the most inclined to support regional government" (Tomaney & Mawson,2002,p144). Newcastle is probably the most mercurial and ebullient city in UK as through the years it leapfrogged everybody else with its amazing transformations. From Roman frontier to Norman stronghold to Great Medieval town to home of the railways to industrial powerhouse and to Georgian planned town, Newcastle was forced to innovate and take initiatives to modernise both its social and economic structures after the wholesale collapse of its industrial base. From being a 'coal hole of the north' it had become a city of palaces, thanks to Richard Grainger's efforts in urban planning and the erecting of such structures as Grainger Market and the Theatre Royal. The latter has touched off a cultural renaissance and a mushrooming of museums, concert halls, art galleries, art schools that led to its being voted in 2006 as the arts capital of UK, beating London and Edinburgh, in a survey conducted by the Artsworld TV channel (BBC News,2006). This was solidified by its being voted in 2007 as the Best City in the North by the Daily Telegraph (Greenwood,2007, Telegraph.co.uk). All these accolades are attained despite a fragmented structure of local governance which spawned apathy from the people and disaffection to politics and politicians in the area. Local 5 politics have been accused as sterile, unimaginative and visionless (Robinson,2002,p327). Attempts for regional devolution had suffered a resounding defeat as a 2004 referendum as to whether a directly elected regional assembly should be inaugurated in North East England ensued in an emphatic "no" bringing back to stalemate the issue of local governance (BBC News,2004). EVIDENCE FOR CONTEMPORARY CHANGE Newcastle was the nucleus of the heartland of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries and a veritable industrial powerhouse. The local banking sector, the national government and British businessmen were there to provide support to its industries, the latter marketing its products for the needs of the burgeoning British Empire as well as for countries served by British businessmen. As an example, its railway locomotive products were once in demand for use in railway construction in South America (Hudson,2005,p583). Its products positioned North East England as a major contributor to Britain's reputation as the world's major economic power. This unprecedented industrialisation changed the face of Newcastle as immigrants from all over Britain and Ireland converged into the new industrial capital, caused its expansion and its conurbation with other adjacent towns as industrial "culture grew out of industrialization-culture which have lasted longer than the industrial base" (Robinson,2002,p318). But the interwar years saw the sudden collapse of these industries which ultimately led to severe unemployment. Rearmament for World War II provided ephemeral hope for resurgence but after the economic boom of the 1950's, Newcastle's traditional industries skidded to a final 6 decline accelerated by a world-wide recession. By the end of the 20th century, what was left of the much vaunted leviathan industry were the Teesside chemical industry, some shipbuilding and ship repair, one coal mine, and the offshore construction industry that served the oil rig in the North Sea (Robinson,2002,p318). One study summarised the causes of this deindustrialisation as : maturity thesis, where economies naturally go through the agriculture to industry to services stages; the trade specialisation thesis, where industrialisation has become redundant and manufacturing revenues are no longer desirable because trading, specifically services, turns out to be more profitable; and failure thesis, where technology from other countries has attained overweening superiority that traditional technology has been relegated to the dustbin of failures (Rowthorn & Wells,1987,p24). Other causes for loss of UK's competitiveness were lack of investment, "poor economic growth, low growth of manufacturing output, poor productivity and profit performance" (Smith,2003,p396). This loss of competitiveness was acutely illustrated by the demise of the shipbuilding industry in UK, as exemplified by the closure of the Swan Hunter shipyard in 1993. Accused of its demise were "the under performance of the UK shipbuilding industry and the impact of government policies toward the sector" (Tomaney et al,1999,p403), the advent of specialised, technical changes adopted by Japan, Sweden etc., and the changing market conditions, especially the demand for larger, standardised vessels such as oil tankers which require utilisation of novel welding and pre-fabrication production techniques and necessitate a "large scale and capital intensive forms of production" (Tomaney,1999,p403). 7 UK tried to come to the rescue of the endangered industry. UK's Shipbuilding Industry Act of 1967 and the industry nationalisation in 1977 were valiant but futile attempts as the regrouped firms slowly introduced series production until caught by the oil crisis of 1973. The privatisation scheme of the government however, made the shipbuilding businesses stay afloat. Warship and supply and surface vessel builder, it remained viable despite being denied access to the shipbuilder subsidy Intervention Funding by the UK government. This and UK's own procurement policies, caused the now privatised Swan Hunter to trim down its 4,500 workforce to 3,700 (Tomaney,1999,p404). The collapse of North East's traditional industries led to mass unemployment and social conflicts that threatened the government. The Miners' Lockout and General Strike of 1926 taught the government to be responsive to the working conditions of the labourers (Williamson,1982,p165). UK's solution to the dilemma included expanding the regional policy i.e. provision of new factory spaces and incentives for firms to locate in the North East region and the welfare state and the powers of local government, which ultimately led to the idea of devolution and nationalising the industries which rendered Newcastle's region a "state managed region". But because the nationalised industries proved to be unprofitable, the government made a turnaround of policies, shifting it to the "neoliberal politics of privatisation" (Hudson,2005,p584). Because the region had been characterised by intraregional inequality i.e. in incomes, living conditions, and gender employment, the government decided to contract the once expanded regional policy. The government also decided to assign new powers and 8 responsibilities to existing state organisations i.e. the Regional Economic Planning Council and New Town Development Corporations. Newcastle, since the collapse of its indigenous industries, had to struggle to adapt a structural economic change that will resolve the economic, social, and political malaise that had gripped the region since that collapse. The first step taken to de-industrialise was to form task forces for economic development to "coordinate economic development activities, to address the unemployment job losses and to minimize its effect on workers and their families" (Pike,2002,p724). In times of economic and social distress, people were forced to be innovative. With thousands of male workers unemployed, it moved to attract new manufacturing industries into the region. This signaled the emergence of branch plant economy as foreign inward investments proved to be the missing link in the puzzle, the search for an important source of new employment opportunities. With this step came the need to build infrastructures i.e. industrial parks, new towns, roads, water services etc. and to make use of every available space for the manufacturing industries. Since the 1960's, 80% of such manufacturing investments were foreign owned, most of which had main industries located elsewhere such as in Japan and USA. "The phenomenal growth of foreign inward direct investments in the UK has underpinned the industrial structure of many of Britain's more disadvantaged regions and helped compensate for the loss of indigenous manufacturing employment" (Wren & Jones,2004,p517). A cursory look at the statistics of employment seemed to support the thesis that FDI is the remedy to the 9 collapse of the traditional industries. In 1963, 8500 persons were employed by FDIs in Newcastle and its environs. This went up to 53,000 in 1978 and 80,000 in 1993 (Wren & Jones,2004,p517). The entrenchment of FDIs in Newcastle's region was greatly helped by the government's efforts to attract major investors in the region and most importantly, by its open door policy to all FDIs. This means that UK provided minimal monitoring and regulatory intervention resulting to an evolution of a lightly regulated framework. Moreover, it offered financial incentives that finally convinced such companies as Nissan, Siemens and Fujitsu and Black and Decker to establish their branches in the region. However, as fast as Siemens and Fujitsu entrenched themselves to Newcastle, as fast too was their closure of their premises. Loewendahl used the Siemens and Fujitsu experience to point out the mismanagement and weaknesses of the FDI programme. Siemens' and Fujitsu's declared reason for their hasty exit was the "sharp and unexpected deterioration in product market conditions". Loewendahl, however, asserted that this was just the tip of the iceberg and points to UK's failure to focus the resources towards supporting technology and the lack of after-care policies in embedding foreign investors. He also noted that while UK was good in attracting investors, yet it was a failure in the maximisation of the economic contribution of FDIs to the economic development of the region and was also unsuccessful because it lacked an industrial strategy that would link FDI to indigenous competitiveness (Loewendahl,2003,p335). Heim, meanwhile, added that the North East was ideal for standardised production but not for 10 work involving R&D (Heim,1987,p375). Phelps seems to be moving to the same direction as he affirmed that there is little evidence that the FDI branch plant is 'imbedded' in the region because there is a weak relationship between the branch plant and the entities in the region although the FDIs have some contact with regional development agencies and utilise local vocational training program. In effect, it is proven that FDIs are not firmly rooted in Newcastle's environs (Phelps,2003,p37) and this lack of embeddedness reflects the further integration of FDIs to "an increasingly international spatial division of labour" (Phelps,1993,p87). One prominent effect of the presence of FDIs was the bursting of the social patterns of inequality. While males made up the workforce of the coal mines, the shipbuilding and steel-working industries relegating women to house jobs, the advent of the FDIs provided opportunities for women workers and in fact many manufacturing jobs targeted women labour in their workforce such as in clothing and consumer electronics. Indeed, there was a shift of labour employment where the movement was from heavy manual, industrial work "done by men on shifts to semi or unskilled routine assembly work done mostly by married women" (Wheelock, 1990,p54). Many men, therefore were left out for employment as this sector turned out to be the declining sector and women the rising sector. "Indeed, many women became both the sole wage earner and carried on as the main unwaged domestic worker in a situation which brought its own sociopsychological pressures and tensions" (Hudson,2005,p587). From year to year, the male employment dilemma worsened as more indigenous industries closed down. The Great Northern Coalfield in Durham, which used to employ 166,000 only employed a measly 38,000 in 1974 11 and hence on its activities petered out before it completely halted (Beatty & Fothergill,1996,p637). Despite the presence of FDIs, the economy of North East England still lags behind the national average on most performance measures. There is still low productivity, a low level of R&D investments despite the presence of several universities in Newcastle and a low level of entrepreneurship as measured by the rate of businesses that are opened. Meanwhile, unemployment levels remain startlingly low. To resolve the economic and social malaise, it was evident that further de-industrialisation was needed. Extended de-industialisation had to be done because there was continuing decline in economic output as well as employment and a continuous decline in North East's share of world trade in manufactured goods as well as a balance of trade deficit. These economic problems forced policy prescriptions to be switched from "state to private ownership, from large to small firms, from manufacturing to service sector activities, from inward investment to indigenous growth." (Hudson,2005,p589). These triggered a shift to more market-oriented approach and a shift of investment to development areas, which meant a focus for mobile forms of manufacturing investment that was labour intensive. Despite this shift, North East still relies on the manufacturing sector for its economy. FDIs still remain an important source of employment opportunities to many of the region's denizens, especially women. The problem with inward investments is that they are susceptible to shrinkage and closures during periods of accelerated economic structuring and the region is always faced with the spectre of possible plant closures and its resultant major job losses. This 12 vulnerability is rooted in "high levels of external control and the bias in the region's manufacturing sector toward branch plant activities" (Tomaney & Mawson,2002,p138). Thus, Newcastle has to find other sources of stable employment opportunities. Newcastle and North East England were beneficiaries to the UK civil service reform on work and employment programme. Sir Gilbert Fleming initiated a programme of relocation of civil service personnel from London to the peripheries of England. Fleming not only relocated but increased the number of civil servants so that by 1976, there were already 748,000 civil servants. It had been an incontrovertible fact that these civil servants played a key role in the economic and social management of the economy (Marshall et al,1999,p811). These civil servants representing the public sector neutralised the weak performance of the North East's private sector and thus their role in its economy and society is invaluable. The lost male world of coalmining, shipbuilding and steelmaking had left a vacuum that had not been entirely filled by the manufacturing industry. Newcastle's think tank had come up with call centres, teaching, tourism, the knowledge economy and the service sector to fill the yawning gap (Byrne,2004,p196). These not only brought about Newcastle's social, cultural and economic regeneration but also an urban regeneration that was the outcome of a massive financial investment in flagship, iconic regeneration projects. The latter radically rearticulated "the meaning of place and space in the so-called post-industrial world" (Miles,2005,p913). The late 1990s saw the emergence of call centres as a possible source of mass employment. Newcastle rode the bandwagon and spent its energies to attract investments in call centres to Newcastle (Richardson,2000,p357). By mid 2000, over 50,000 workers had been 13 employed in call centres and that makes up to 4% of the regional workforce and over half of service jobs in Newcastle (DTI 2004). And call centres proved to have injected life to the ailing regional economy. But call centres can be imperiled by possible displacements and thus may not be relied upon because call centres, which are geographically mobile, can seek out cheaper locations where their costs of production may be diminished (Richardson,2000,p360). The collapse of Newcastle's industrial economy forced it to seek replacement for natural resources and physical labour as sources of economic growth. It found in knowledge and creative economy, which can be outsourced from science cities, the keys to the economic competitiveness and productivity. The concept of science city, which originated in Southeast Asia, requires the "triple helix" of government, universities and businesses to closely interact to generate open innovative activities and tacit knowledge exchange that translate to creation of new businesses, fortification of existing businesses and attraction of external businesses. The effective interplay by this "triple helix" determines its success (Etzkowitz,2008,p1). If successful, it will result to mass employment and regional development which will reduce persistent inequalities among regions. Science cities require an infrastructure called science parks, which are basically a cluster of universities, financial districts and research institutions and hospitals. These in turn demand local labour markets for highly skilled workforce. Chances are high that Newcastle Science City will achieve resounding success because NSC fulfills the 3 elements to a successful network science city. First, NSC has a creative global 14 hub composed of the Newcastle University, the General Hospital and the International Centre For Life, where Prof. Alison Murdoch and Dr. Miodrag Stojkovic are creating human stem cells for research in diseases such as diabetes (Jansen et al,2008,p251). This therapeutic cloning research is licenced by HFEA. Second, NSC has nodes of excellence or highly focused activities outside NSC urban area. These come from Renewable Energies in Blyth, Process Technologies in Wilton and Engineering Commercialisation activities in Durham University. Third, there are outlying businesses i.e. SMEs which bring out the tacit knowledge and productivity gains from the Science City and thus are the main gainers in the knowledge economy (Benneworth,2007,p5). As usual, the losers are the traditional industries, which are completely shut out of the picture. Because of intense governmental support, the ideal location, the infrastructure and the institutions, Newcastle is poised to succeed in the knowledge economy. CONCLUSION Post-industrial society has been defined as one wherein an economic transition occurred from a manufacturing base economy to a service based economy. Here, while the manufacturing sector deteriorates, the service sector and intellectual technology ascends to prominence. Before, male blue collar, manual employment dominated but now women are the favoured employees while professions especially in the sciences and technical work gained importance. While industrial culture revolved around the indigenous industries, the post-industrial culture is characterised by urban regeneration and massive financial investments in flagship regeneration and iconic projects. Universities and technical knowledge and science parks make this period a 15 knowledge and creative economy. Newcastle went through all these changes and displays all the characteristics of a post-industrial society. Thus, it is a post-industrial city in all sense of the word. Newcastle is indeed a post-industrial city because it exhibits all the characteristics and transformations undergone by a post-industrial society. First, Newcastle underwent a transition from agriculture to industrial to manufacturing and finally to services. Its economy was from an industrial to knowledge and creative economy. It went through a shift from state to private ownership, from manufacturing to service sector activities, from industrial to inward investment and finally to indigenous growth with market-oriented approach. There is also a shift of investment to flagship regeneration and iconic projects that emphasized arts, culture, entertainment and high-end infrastructures. The knowledge economy that it spawned resulted to a science city that promises bright future to Newcastle as a new hub of medical and technological research. Today, the call centre industry, the government services, education, health, research institutions, tourism, entertainment and cultural activities and others belonging to the service industry are going on strong and promise to provide Newcastle with a bright future as a post-industrial city not to mention solution to its unemployment and social inequality problems. Despite this trend of direction, Newcastle never turned its back on manufacturing industries and indigenous industries. Nissan, Black and Decker and other branch plant foreign direct investments are still churning out their manufactured products and their existence are still 16 warmly welcomed and cherished by Newcastle. They still remain an important source of employment opportunities while a Northumberland coal mine , the Teesside chemical industry, some shipbuilding and ship repair industries and a North Sea offshore construction industry still stubbornly persist proving that Newcastle has not completely left its industrial and manufacturing past. All of the proofs presented hereinabove show that Newcastle is indeed a post-industrial city with a post-industrial society but only to an extent of around 70% as there are still vestiges left of its industrial and manufacturing past. BIBLIOGRAPHY BBC News (2004) 'North East votes 'no' to assembly', BBC News. Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/political/3984387.stm [Accessed Nov.5, 2004] BBC News (2006) 'North East voted arts capital', BBC News. Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tyne/6216475.stm [Accessed Dec. 29,2006]. BBC News (2007) 'Noisy Newcastle tops league table', BBC News. Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/UK_news/england/6320799.stm [Accessed Feb.3, 2007] Beatty,C. & Fothergill, S. (1996) 'Labour market adjustment in areas of chronic industrial decline: the case of the UK coalfields', Regional Studies, 30(2), 637. Bell, D. (1973) The Coming of A Post-Industrial Society, New York: Basic Books Benneworth, P. (2007) Newcastle: A Science City In Action: Linking Science and the City. Available:http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/ps.benneworth/sciencecity.pdf Byrne, D. & Wharton,C. (2004) 'Loft-living Bombay calling: culture, work and everyday life in post-industrial Tyneside', Capital and Class, 84: 196. Castells, M. (2004) The Power of Identity, Wiley-Blackwell. Colls, R. & Lancaster,B. (2001) Newcastle Upon Tyne, Phillimore. Colls, R & Lancaster, B. (2005) Geordies: Roots of Regionalism, Northumbria University Press. DTI (2004) The UK Call Centre Industry: A Study, A Report by CM Insight , Contact Babel, Call and Contact Centre Association. London: Department of Trade and Industry. Etzkowitz, H. (2008) The Triple Helix: University-Industry-Government Innovation In Action , London: Routledge. Florida, R. (2005) Cities and the Creative Class, London, Routledge. Frere, S.S. (1987) Brittania: A History of Roman Britain, London: Routledge Greenwood, L. (2007) 'And the winner is.Newcastle', The Daily Telegraph. Available: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/3357546/And-the-winner-is-Newcastle.html Heim,C. (1987) 'R&D, defense, and spatial divisions of labor in 20th century Britain', Journal of Economic History,47(2):375. Hudson, R. (2005) 'Rethinking change in old industrial regions: reflecting on the experiences of North East England', Environment and Planning A, 37: 581. Jansen, S.; Schroter, E. & Stehr, N. (2008) Mehrwertiger Kapitalismus, VS Verlag Julien, P.A. (2007) A Theory of Local Entrepreneurship In The Knowledge Economy, New York: Edward Elgar Publishing. Leggatt, T. (1985) The Evolution of Industrial Systems London: Taylor & Francis Loewendahl, H.B. (2001) Bargaining With Multinationals: The Investment of Siemens and Nissan in North East England, Basingstoke: Palgrave. Office for National Statistics (2001) The UK's Major Urban Areas. Available: http://www.statistics.gov/downloads/theme_compendia/fom2005/03_FOPM_UrbanAreas.pdf [Accessed March 21,2003]. Marshall, J.N.; Richardson, R. & Hopkins, J. (1999) 'The employment implications of civil service reform in the United Kingdom: national and regional evidence from the North East of England', Environment and Planning A, 31: 811 Miles, S. (2005) Our Tyne: Iconic Regeneration and the Revitalisation of Identity in Newcastle-Gateshead, Urban Studies 42(5), 918. Phelps,N.A. (1993) 'Branch plants and the evolving spatial division of labor: a study of material linkage change in the northern region of England', Regional Studies 27(2):87 Phelps, N,A. et al (2003) Embedding the multinationals: institutions and the development of overseas manufacturing affiliates in Wales and North East England', Regional Studies 37(1):37 Pike, A. (2002) 'Task forces and the organization of economic development: the case of North East region of England', Environment and Planning C, 20, 724. Richardson, R.; Belt,V. & Marshall, J.N. 'Taking calls to Newcastle: the regional implications of the growth in call centres', Regional Studies, 34.4:357-358. Robinson, F. (2002) The North East: A Journey Through Time, City, vol.6, no.3,2002, Carfax Publishing. Rowthorn, R.E. & Wells, J.R. (1987) De-Industrialisation and Foreign Trade, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Smith, S. (2003) Labour Economics, London: Routledge. Tomaney, J. & Mawson, J. (2002) England, The Policy Press Tomaney, J.; Pike, A. & Cornford, J. (1999) 'The political economy of a shipyard house: the case of Swan Hunter on Tyneside', Regional Studies, 33, 5:403-404. Wheelock, J. (1990) Husbands At Home, Taylor & Francis. Williamson, B. (1982) Class, Culture and Community, Routledge. Wren, C. & Jones, J. (2004) 'Inward foreign direct investment and employment: a project-based analysis in North East England', Journal of Economic Geography, 4 (5), 517. Read More