Geoforum 19174 67

The new structure for the National Health Service falls between the complete separation from local government, which has been decided upon for water and the integration chosen for education and the social services. The National Health Service Reo~ani~tion Act [12] has set up thirteen new Regional Health Autorities, which are somewhat similar to the Water Authorities, but below them are Area Health Authorities the boundaries of which coincide with the non-metropolitan counties and metropolitan districts. In this way it is hoped that the National Health Service will be able to enjoy both access to regional resources and a degree of local control.

Conclusions

The most strikting feature of the local government reorganisation in England and Wales is the strong element of political expendiency it contains. By keeping the majority of the rural counties intact in the new non-metropolitan counties and most of the cities independent within the metropolitan districts, the government has succeeded in pleasing both the landed gentry and the big city bosses. Whether they have also increased the possibility for public

participation in the government process is more open to question. There are now many fewer elected post in the first and second tiers of local government and it is to be hoped that the needs of minorities have not been swamped in the rush to rationalise. Certainly the flexibility indtroduced by the Boundary Commissions is a welcome innovation and it should ensure, that adjustments are made to the system, when and where they are required. It remains a fact, however, that in comparison with many other European countries, there is still a high degree of central control over local affairs in England and Wales. It will be interesting to see

whether it proves necessary to institute some form of regionat government in the future.

References

Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London, Report cmnd. 1164 London l-t. M. S. 0. 1960.

Royal Commission on Local Government in England, Report cmnd. 4040 London H.M.S.O. 1969.

Royal Commission on the Constitution, Report cmnd.

5460-l London H. M. S. 0. 1973.

Royal Commission on Local Government in England.

op. cit.

DICKSON, R. E. (1964): City und Region. London: Routledge and Keegan Paul.

FREEMAN, T. W. (1968): Geography and Regional

Administration. iondon: Hutchinson.

WISE, M. (7971): “Regionai Identity”. G. E. CHERRY (ed.): Loco1 Government Reform. Regional Studies Association.

Hampshire County Council, Report on the Feusibility of

Major Urban Growth. London H. M. S. 0. 1966.

Royal Commission on Local Government in England, op. cit.

BLACKSELL, M. (1974): “Reformed England and Wales“, Geogl. Mug., XLVf, No. 6, pp. 235-240.

The Public and General Acts. Water Act, Chapter 37. London H. M. S. 0. 1973.

The Public and General Acts. The Notional Health Service

Reorganisatjon Act, London H. M. S. 0. 1973

Scale and the Dimensions of Socioeconomic Spatial

Variation

Harold CARTER, Aberystwyth*

Social geography is concerned with the spatial expression of the structuring of populations according to socio-economic criteria, such as social class or wealth, age and family size. In the context of enquiry so defined perhaps the widest range of most successful work has been in the field of social area analysis. Indeed so many studies have produced the same results that already some astring- ent questions are being asked: should the development of a theory of residential differentiation restrict itself primarily t0 those gross dimensions of variation which have been examined in numerous studies?: Are we to avoid the witless replications of methodologies and analyses long since generalized? The conrequ- ence of impatience with the repetition of standard analyses, where debate tends to move to the niceties of methodology rather than the significance of results, has been the diversion of research to a behavioural approach with an emphasis shifted to the atom&d individual rather than the areal aggregate. Valuable though this alternative line of development is, by moving to an extreme of scale it sacrifices the insight which is to be gained by scrutinizing intermediate scales in order to assess the universality of the gross dimensions of variation, or otherwise, specificaliy to test whether these dimensions are ‘gross’.

Most factorial ecologies have led to the identification of a series of standard components, the gross dimensions noted above, which command the differentiation of social space in the city. Table 1 reproduces the components identified by DAVIES and LEWIS (1973) in a recently published study of Leicester, England.

Table 1

First order dimensions of Leicester (after Davies and Lewis).

1. Socio-Economic Status 2. Mobility 3. Stage in Life Cycle 4. Substandardness 5. Mobile Young Adult 6. Ethnicity 7. Economic Participation 8. Urban Fringe 9. Femaies

The authors write: ‘In Leicester, the two largest eigenvalues, accounting for 17.6 and 9.9 percent of the variance respectively, represent socioeconomic status (factor I ) and lifezycle status (factor 3)‘. These are the two factors universally identified along with a third, ethnicity, which also emerges from the Leicester study as factor 6. fn Leicester the movement of populations tends to mask some of the clarity with which these factors energe, whilst an interesting urban fringe factor is identified.

But if these elements or components are to be identified in cities of the western world then the degree of clarity with which they emerge should also distinguish between cities, and provide if not a standard functional classification, at least an indication of the extent to which ‘modernising’ forces are at work. That this is applicable has been demonstrated by BERRY (1972) in his study

* Prof. Harold CARTER, M. A., Department of Geography, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK

68 Geoforum 19/74

of the ‘Latent Structure of the American Urban System’. BERRY

derives his ‘latent structure’ by abstracting factors from a 1762

(cities) by 97 (variables) data matrix. The fourteen factors are

shown in Table 2. As in all such studies the input data control the

derived factors, but even so there is a close association with intra-

city studies. The first factor is a size related feature, but the next

three are the dimensions which recur in social area analyses. In his

conclusion BERRY writes, ‘In every society the principal dimen-

sions of socio-economic differentiation are those of social status

and age structure, or stage in life cycle. However, only at the

highest levels of development do these factors appear to operate

independently, at somewhat lower levels of welfare (Britain) there

remains a correlation between income and family structure, and

only the rich and elderly can segregate themselves in retirement

resorts and spas’. Further, ‘a culturally heterogeneous society will

be characterized by separate ethnic or racial dimensions’. TWO

points of real importance emerge from this discussion. The first is

that the same dimensions distinguish between towns as between

areas within them, operating at contrasted scales. The second is

that a developmental sequence is proposed where the influences of

modernization result in a greater clarity in the dimensions. In

functional terms as modernization progresses emphasis passes from

primary through secondary production to tertiary and quaternary

services, and in consequence distinctive functional speciatisms are

obliterated, and towns become more alike along the ‘latent

dimensions’ identified by BERRY. Thus internal restructuring and

external contrast are linked to the same process. This paper seeks

to undertake an analysis at a contrasted scale, that of a British

county, intermediate between intra-city and national space, in

order to test whether the same dimensions are replicated.

Recent changes, common to the whole of Western Europe, have

meant extensive pit closures and consequent depopulation of this

coalfield upland. In contrast the coastal areas, particularly those

near to the cities of Cardiff and Swansea, have experienced popula-

tion growth, particularly suburban extension. In addition new

industry has sought sites at the point where the entrenched valleys

open out on to the coastal plateau, as for example at Bridgend and

Llantrisant (HUMPHRYS), Fig. 1.

For the county area a data matrix was assembled of 27 local

government areas, as on Fig. 2, by 70 variables, as listed in the

appendix. This was subjected to an R mode Principal Components

Analysis. This technique collapses a set of correlated variables on

to a smaller number of basic dimensions or composite variables or

components. Principal Components analysis involves an orthogonal

transformation of the set of variables and was used since factor

analysis, and the various rotation procedures, are to be preferred

when ‘some hypothesis as to the number of common factors under-

lying the set of variables in the research problem’ is present

(KING, 1969). There is no such hypothesis in this investigation

and hence the simpler technique was chosen. ‘The question of how

many components should be interpreted is a vexing one... A con-

venient rule of thumb seems to be to evaluate all components

with eigenvalues equal to or greater than one, or alternatively to

evaluate each one which accounts for’a sufficiently high proportion’,

say at least 5 percent of the total variance’ (KING, 1969). Where

Table 3

Ranked Variables loading on Component 1. 30 % of Variation.

Table 2

Latent dimensions of the American Urban System in 1960.

1. Functional size of cities in an urban hierarchy

2. Socio-economic status of the city residents

3. Stage in family cycle of the city residents

4. Non white population and home ownership

5. Recent population growth experience

6. Economic base: College towns

7. Population proportion that is foreign born or of foreign stock

8. Recent employment expansion

9. Economic base: manufacturing

10. Extent of female participation in the labour force

11. Economic base: specialized service centres

12. Economic base: military

13. Economic base: mining

Positive Loadings

Vari- Load-

able Name

No. ing

38

50

43

28

64

41

54

14. Extent to which elderly males participate in labour force 34

The county of Glamorgan is the most densely populated of the

Welsh counties (1.25 million county population) and includes

areas contrasted both physically and economically (Fig. 1). In the

county’s physical geography there exists a major divide between

Blaenau Morganwg which is part of the core upland massif of

Wales and Bro Morganwg (or the Vale of Glamorgan) and Gower

which are parts of the low coastal plateau which fringes the country.

Altitudes in the upland area rise to some 400 metres, although

the deeply incised valleys break up the high areas into interfluves

and remnants, while the average altitude of the coastal fringe is

about 100 metres. Economically Bro Morganwg has been mainly

agricultural with, in Welsh terms, high percentages of crop land,

whilst Blaenau Morganwg, containing the bulk of the South Wales

Coalfield, has been an area of iron working and coal mining.

62

Social Class IV 92

&V

Without cars 88

Socio-Econ.

Gps 7.10 & 15 87

Mining 77

Without bath 75

Sot. Econ. Gps

8,9, 12, 14 69

Walking to

work 68

Declining indus-

tries 67

Large house-

holds 59

Negative Loadings

Vari- Load-

able Name

No. ing

Work by car 94 48

40

36

39

51

65

52

31

17

19

45

11

42

16

35

59

13

Socio. Econ. Gps.

l&2 92

Social Class I, II 92

Socio. Econ. Gps.

3 and 4 90

With two or

more cars 89

With amenities 87

With garage 86

Service Trandes 86

Recent Movers

(ii) 85

Recent Movers

(iii) 84

Students 80

Pop. Change 76

Socio. Econ. Gps.

S&6 71

Recent Movers (i) 69

Change Econ.

Active Males 67

Renting Private

Furnished 65

Born in Ireland 58

Geoforum 19/74 69

the eigenvalue (GOULD, 1967) falls below one then the explana- tion of the component or composite variable is no greater than any one of the original variables. In this case six components have been extracted (eigenvalues, 21.4,9.8,8.6,7.3,4.8 and 3.7) and the principle of interpreted components accounting for at least 5 percent of the total variance has been operated.

who have immigrated tend to be in this family building stage and mobile with larger households and a high density of occupation. There are no direct associations with asocial class measure but the negative loadings suggest that the link is with the lower socio- economic groups.

There is little difficulty in interpreting Table 3 for quite simply it displays a comprehensive dimension of S&o-Economic Siotus. It contrasts the upper social classes and the affluent, mobile well housed section of the population, with the lower social and economic groups, poorer, poorly housed and less mobile. it also depicts the existing conjunction of social status and family status for the large household variable suggests the continuation of the extended family. particularly in the mining areas where primary production is still an important activity. Again subs~ndardness, which most British social area analyses identify, is associated with this component and reflects the contrasts in age and quality of housing between interior coatfield and coastal plateau.

fable 5

Ranked Variables Loading on Component Iii. 12 % of Variation: Cumulative Explanation 57 %.

Positive Loadings

Vari- able

Load- Name

No. ing

46

69

Table 4 60

Ranked Variables Loading on Component il. 15 % of Variation: Cumulation explanation 45 %.

68

Positive Loadings

Vari- able Name L.oad- No.

mgs

4 Elderly a2

56. Owner Occupier 74

3 Middle Aged 70

61 Two Person Households 69

5 Females 58

Negative Loadings

Vari- able No.

Name Load- ings

1

2

6

22

10

15

12

32

16

53

62

69

57

Young Adults

Mature Adults

Females Fertile Ratio

Immigrant Change

Children

Born Foreign

Born outside Britain

Employed Govt.

Recent Movers

0)

Work by Private Bus

Large Households

Room Density 1.5 +

Council Tennants

JO

67

67

64

63

60

58

56

53

52

52

51

48

Table 4 at first also appears to show fairly simple dimension which can be termed Life Cycle of i%mi/y Status. It identifies the middle aged and elderly who make up small stable households after their children have left home. They form a house owning group, a particular South Wales characteristic, while the high pro- portion of females indicates the longer survival chances of women. In contrast is set the younger mature element, who have families, and hence a high room density, and amongst whom an element of mobility ischaracteristic. Associated with this group are the characteristics of living on public housing estates and travelling to work by ‘bus. It is also noticeable that an ethnic element is ap- parent, for although they are not distinctive in Glamorgan, these

70

22

9

58

Small Pensioner Households 76

Room density 1.5 + 69

One Person Households 66

Rooms per person 63

Room density 0.5 - 63

Immigration change 55

Fertility Ratio 54

Rented Private Unfurnished 52

Negative Loadings

Vari- able Name

Load-

No. ing

13

24

26

21

Econ. Active 78

Gainfully Employ. 78

Females Employ. 71

Recent Single Movers 56

Component Ill (Table 5) is a little more diffiiult to interpret but can broadly be called Economic Pwticipation. It loads negatively on the economically active including working women. Positively it seems associated with two economically inactive groups, the retired which would include the small and one person households, and the female at home which would link with the fertility ratio. This contrast between two inactive groups, the retired and the non employed female would also explain the rather odd associa- tion with both a high and a low density of occupation.

Table 6

Ranked Variables Loading on Componant IV. 10 % of Variation: Cumulative explanation 67 %.

27 Agri. Employ. 60

8 Married females 59

34 Declining lndus- tries 51

55 Not usually resident 60

30

14

60

21

37

Transport Employ.

New Common- wealth

One Person

Households

Single Movers

Social Class III

59

54

55

51

5f

70 Geoforum 19/74

In many ways Component IV (Table 6) depicts a clear dimension

which can be called Rurul-Urban Fringe. The positive associations

with commuters, agricultural employment and married females all

characterise the rural margins of the urban areas, though the

loading on declining industries indicates that long journeys are

also characteristic of mining areas where pit cfosures have brought

about enforced daily commuting. The negative associations aptly

depict the city centre. The transient nature of the centre of the

city is caught by the loadings on local and single movers and on

those not usually resident at the enumerated address. The ethnic

element is stressed by those born in new commonwealth countries

and the relation to transport employment probably reflects the

same feature. Finally the ‘rooming house’ characteristic is caught

by the loading on one person households. The negative loadings

thus almost in classic form display city centre features. At the

scale of this investigation it is appropriate that the ethnic status

dimension is subsumed into that of city core as against residential

commuter fringe.

Table 7

Ranked Variables Loading on Component V. 7 % of Variation:

Cumulative explanation 74 %.

23

44

Growth Industry 71 Households 57

Sot. Econ. 63 Sharing

Grouo II 51 dwellings 56

The fifth component (Table 7) can be described as one identifying

Growing ~ff~~fuc~~ri~g Industry. The two highest positive loadings

clearly dominate while the lower positive loading on socio-eco-

nomic group II, unskilled manual workers, emphasises the same

point. The negative loadings on shared dwellings and flats probably

indicate the large provision of council housing for these populations,

partly confirmed by the next highest positive loading (38) on the

component which is the proportion who are council tennants.

Table 8

Ranked Variable Loading on Component VI. 5 % of Variation:

Cumulative explanation 79 %.

Positive Loadings I Negative Loadings

Vari- Load-

Vari-

able Name able Name Load-

No. ing

No. ing

25 Unemployed 59 7 Single 55

I 24 Emoloved 51

Lomponenc VI ( I able XJ IS a straight forward Employment

component. ~eanin~ut interpre~tion of component VII is dif-

ficult and since it covers only 4 % of the variation it was thought

appropriate to limit the investigation to the first six components.

Perhaps it is also worth pointing out at this stage that a simple

unrotated component analysis has been carried out with no

manipulation to approximate desired resulfs. The components are

listed in Table 9 and the immediate parallel with the Leicester

study (Table 1) and with BERRY’s latent structures (Table 2) is

ctear.

Table 9

Components of Socio-Economic Variation in Glamorgan

i. Socio-Economic Status

ii. Life Cycle or Family Status

iii. Economic Participation

iv. Rural Urban Fringe/City Centre

v. Growing Manufacturing Industry

vi. Employment

Two conclusions can be drawn from this. The first is that the

parallelism was inevitable given the variable mix and that the result

merely confirms that one derives from these sorts of analyses

merely what one puts into them. The second is that, in spite of

such difficulties the same components are identifiable on a different

scale and that in Glamorgan one is not onfy dealing with a series

of relatively small discrete settlements which themselves display

the characteristic internal variation (HERBERT, 1970; EVANS,

19731, but also with a loosely structured regional city or conurba-

tion where the various ecological areas of the city are found in a

multi-nucleated situation; or, again, that the interpretation of

socio-economic space at this scale is related to the same basic com-

ponents of variation as at the individual city scale. Certainly the

situation is not simple as an analysis of the distribution of the

components will show.

Component One (Fig. 3) clearly separates those areas of the rural

south of the county and the fringes of the large nuclei of Swansea

and Cardiff, from the northern core of working class, mining areas

in the industrial valleys. The contrast is not zonal or sectorat in

this case but simply regional.

The second component, which has been termed a life cycle or

family status component, shows positive scores as recorded in

Table 10.

Table 10

Standardised Scores on Component II - Positive Scores

Porthcawl 4.3

Aberdare 3.4

Pontardawe 3.3

Penarth 3.0

Rhondda 2.9

(For location of areas see Fig. 2).

There are two quite distinct elements apparent in these scores.

Porthcawl and Penarth are two coastal resorts in Glamorgan to

which people traditionally retire. They are, in part, the product of

a regional life cycle movement of popuiation across Glamorgan

from its northern industrialized valleys to its southern coastal

fringe on retirement. But three coatfield areas also score highly

and this reflects the elderty populations which are left in these

areas as a consequence of the outmigration of the young. The

Rhondda is the most well known for there the massive programme

of pit closures and consequent depopulation has left behind an

ageing population. The traditionally high owner-occupier rates in

South Wales are also reflected in this situation where the young

have moved away to new council estates.

Economic participation as identified by Component III displays a

clear relation to the areas of economic well being. The negative

loadings stress the centres of economic activity in the west and the

east and at the valley mouths (Table 11).

Geoforum 19/74 71

Table 11

Standardised Scores on Component II I - Negative Scores

Cowbridge R. D. 5.1 Cardiff R. D. 3.0 Cardiff C. B. 2.7 Port Talbot M. B. 2.6 Llantrisant U. D. 2.1

The fourth component was seen to identify on Urban Fringe - City Centre contrast (Table 12).

Table 12

Standard&d Component Scores on Component IV.

Cardiff R. D. Swansea C. B. 4.3

Pontypridd U. D. 2.2 Penarth U. D. 2.1

Here again the pattern is not simple since two fringe elements are encompassed. The first of these is the rural areas adjacent to Cardiff and Swansea which register high positive scores and are

typical commuter country. lower scores are, however, registered by industrial urban districts and these are made up of areas where the decline of mining has made a work force, which is middie aged and relatively immobile in a migratory sense, to accept the need for commuting to pits which are still working or to light industry some distance away. This is the sort of fringe of mining villages and industry which GIGGS has shown in Nottingham. Negative scores pick out quite clearly Swansea and the Cardiff urban complex made up of Cardiff itself, Barry and Penarth.

Component V, although it has been identified as Growing Manufac- turing Industry, might well be called a Steel Company of Wales Component for it emphasises Port Talbot, the location of the Abbey Works, and includes the adjacent areas to west and east. A specific industrial complex is thus clearly isolated.

This brief consideration implies that not only can the main dimens- ions of standard factorial ecologies be identified, but that a spatial study suggests that in spite of the looseness of structure, itself partly a consequence of physical diversity, the county can be looked upon as a multi-nucleated construct where the forces operative replicate those at work in the single city, and, by exten- sion, in the system of cities. If BERRY’s study implies a process of change, a latent structure, then this can be seen as operative not only upon the city system but at a series of scales down to the micro level. This study can clearly present no conclusions of a behavioural nature but it can be argued that the individual residenti- al location decision must be related to the money available, the space demands generated by the size of family and the nature of family relations, and by the cultural milieu within which the indi- vidual operates, These are nothing more than socioeconomic status, family status and ethnicity, the last translated from a

ulo-6OOft (O-180m.]

~600-t250~(~80-3BDm.)

ever 125Oft (ever 380m.j

-** CwntvBemdery

0 5 10 I

IS mk

0 5 10 15 20 25 km

Fig. 1

Glamorgan: Relief and Place Names.

72 Geoforum 19/74

narrow ‘colour’ definition to a broader cultural one. The action designed analyses at a great variety of scales so that it might be space of the individual is conditioned by the resources he can possible to argue for the organization of socio-economic space deploy, by the family commitments by which he is constrained through the same components, in the context of a development and, in this ethnic sense, by the notions of territoriality by which sequence, and consisting of a series of scaled structures super- he is bound. This paper suggests that in place of a witless replica- imposed one upon the other.The resultant patterns wilt be complex tion of factorial ecologies what is required is a series of carefully and unique but the process and its components will be universal.

6 1 a 6 6 i6rnL

6 2 1 6 6 ICI i* 11 tl bn

ig. 2 Fig. 3

Local Government Areas in Glamorgan. Component 1. Socio-Economic Status. Upper and tower Quartiles of Loadings on Component 1. I

Positive Loadings

Negat tve Loadings

Geoforum 19/74 73

Appendix

Description of Variables

Demographic

I. % of total population aged is-24 (young adults)

2. % of total population aged 25-44 (mature adults)

3. % of total population aged 45-59 (middle age)

4. % of totat population aged 60 and over (old age) 5. % of females in total population

6.. % of females aged 15-44 in total population (fertile female

ratio)

7. % of single persons in adult population

8. % of married females in adult female population

9. persons aged O-4 as % of females aged IS-44 (fertility ratio)

10. % of total population aged 0-l 4 (children)

11. % total population change 195 l-1961

Mig~tion

12. % of total population born outside British Isles

13. % of total population born in Eire or N. Ireland

14. % of total population born in New Commonwealth

15. % of total population born in foreign countries or at sea

16. % of total population who have moved residence within the

last year (recent movers)

17. % of totai population who have moved residence within the

past five years

18. % of total population moving residence within their local

authority area during the past five years (local movers)

19. % of total population who have moved into a new local

authority area during the past five years (new residents)

20. % of movers within the past five years that are female

21. % of movers within the past five years that are single

22. % immigration change 1961--1966

Economic

23. % of economically active adults within the adult population

24. % of adult population gainfully employed on census day

25. % of economically active persons who are unemployed

26. % of adult females who are employed

27. % of employed population engaged in agriculture

28. % of employed population engaged in mining

29. % of employed population engaged in manufacturing, con-

struction and utilities

30. % of employed population engaged in transport

31. 46 of employed population engaged in distribution and

service industries

32. % of employed population engaged in national or local

government service

33. % of employed population engaged in declining industries

35. % change in economically active male population 1961-1966

Socio-Occupational

36. % economically active males in social classes I and II

37. % economically active males in social class III

38. % economically active males in social classes IV and V

39. % economically active males in socio-economic groups 3 and

4 (professional)

40. % economically active males in sociosconomic groups 1,2

and 13 (employers and managers)

41. % economically active males in socioeconomic groups 8,

9, 12 and 14 (foreman /skilled workers)

42. % economically active males in socio-economic groups 5 and

6 (non~anual intermed)

43. % economically active males in socio-economic groups 7, IO

and 15 (personal service / agriculture)

44. % economically active males in socio-economic group I1 (unskilled manual workers)

45. % of adult population (aged 15 +) who are students in

educational establishments

46. 46 of 1 and 2 person households with persons of pensionable

age

Commuting f Cars

47. % of employed persons working outside the local authority in

which they live

% of employed persons travelling to work by their own car or

motorcycle

48.

49.

50.

51.

52.

53.

54.

5.5.

Car ratio: number of cars in area divided by total population

% of households without cars

% of households with two or more cars

% of total cars garaged within the dwelling curtilage

% of employed persons rraveiling to work by private bus

% of employed persons walking to work

Number of persons enumerated on census day who are not

USUdiiy resident in that local authority area (non-residents)

Household

56.

57.

58

59.

60.

61.

62.

63.

64.

65.

% of households owning and occupying their own residence

% of households that are council tenants

% of households renting private unfurnished property

% of households renting private furnished property

% of households containing only one person

% of households containing two persons

% of households containing six or more persons

% of households sharing dwellings

% of households with no fixed bath

% of households with exclusive use of hot water, W. C., and

fixed bath

66.

67.

68.

69.

% of households with l-2 rooms

% of households with 7 or more rooms

Number of rooms per person

% of households with density greater than 1.5 persons per

room

70. % of households with density less than 0.5 persons per room

Note

All variables, unless otherwise defined, refer to the 1966 Sample

Census. Variables 33 and 34 are as defined by D. M. SMITH f1965),

“Recent Changes in the Regional Pattern of British Industry”,

Tyd. Econ. Sot. Geogr.

References

BERRY, B. J. L. (1972): Latent Structure of rhe American Urban

System. Chapter 1 in BERRY, 8. f. L, (Ed.): City C~ussjfjcu~io~

Hmdbook. New York.

DAVIES, W. K. D. and G. J. LEWIS (1973): The Urban Dimensions

of Leicester, England; in: CLARK, B. D. and M. B. GLEAVE,

(Eds.): Sociof PutCerns in Cities. 1. B. G. Special Pub. No. 5,

71-86.

EVANS, D. 1. (1973): A comparative study of urban social

structures in South Wales; in: CLARK, B. 0. and M. B. GLEAVE

(Eds.). Op. cit. supra, 87-102.

74 Geoforum 19174

GIGGS, J. A. (1970): Fringe expansion and the suburbanization

around Nottingham; a metropolitan area approach. East Mid-

land Geographer, 5,9-l 6.

GOULD, P. R. (1967): On the geographical interpretation of

Eigenvalues. Trans. Inst. Brit. Geogrs. 42,53-86.

HERBERT, D. T. (1970): Principal components analysis and

urban social structure, a Study of Cardiff and Swansea: in: CARTER, H., and W. K. 0. DAVIES (Eds.), Urban Essays:

Studies in the Geography of Wales. London.

HUMPHRYS, G. (1973): Sour/r W&s. Newton Abbot.

KING, L. j. (1969): Sturisticaf Ana/ysis in Geography. Englewood

Cliffs, N. j.

Two Types of Sea-side Tourism: Comparing the Islands

of Sylt and RSm, North Sea

V. KAMINSKE, Ettlingen*

This study briefly displays that physical, technical and behavioral

factors furnish different impact on a resort area as for example

the North Sea coast on both sides of the Danish-German border.

This area of North-Friestand challenges to compare the develop-

ment of the neighbouring islands of 5ylt and Ram (Fig. 1).

Natural suitability in terms of climate, coastal topography and

morphology is one prerequisite to prosperous seaside tourism,

Conducive infrastructure represents another important

condition.

Natural suitability

The North-Frisian Islands enjoy a typical North Sea climate:

clear air, fresh winds with frequent change of direction, and the

curing effect of iodiferous air are characteristic features. Air

temperature determines the period of the tourist season (late

May to late August). The average duration of sunshine is

remarkable: 200 h/month. Every third day, however, rainfall

amounts to 1 mm or more.

Table 1

Basic figures

Size in km2

Sand beach in km

Population, 1970

Guests, 1972

Nights spent by tourists

Sources:&1 and i9j

Sylt Romd

93.6 98.3

40 20

20 740 816

237 000 48 000

3 687 000 410 000

The North-Frisian Islands are surrounded by muddy tidal flats

with the exception of their western coasts. Here, grandious

sand beaches form an outstanding attraction to vacationers.

Syft’s beaches are mostly fringed by an active cliff covered by

* Volker KAMINSKE, O-7505 Ettlingen, A.-Kolping-

StraRe 26, Germany (WI.

dunes, whereas RBmo’s beach is a wide plain with a dormant

cliff behind and dunes only in the centre and on the east coast.

The two islands also differ in shape. Whilst the area is almost the

same, the shoreline of longish Sylt amounts to 90 km, that of

Rome to only 40 km (Table 1).

t--’ km

North -Sea

!i!

Fig. 1

Location of the islands of Ram and Sylt off the eastern shores

of the North Sea

Infrastructurat suitability

Another difference is represented by the population figures, and

consequently by the settlement pattern. It appears to be

centraiized and highly urbanized on Sylt; not so on Rome, where

single farms prevail (Table 2). It is obvious that the settlement

structure of Sylt provides considerably more opportunities for

tourists. The variety of accomodation comprises hotels up to the

highest categories, private rooms (bed and breakfast-type),

boarding houses, rest homes and camping sites. The tourist

industry dominates the island’s economy, and the authorities

expect the demand to increase. The original aim, simply to

provide relaxation and recovery is supplemented or even

replaced by the provision of entertainment. An increasing sum

of money is being invested into more diverse amusement

facilities every year. The dispersed settlement pattern of RBmG