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Managing a Conurbation: Birmingham and its Region
A. J. GERRARD and T. R. SLATER (Eds), 1996 Studley, Warwickshire: Brewin Books 324 pp.; 19.95 paperback
ISBN I 85858 083 8 (paperback); 1 85858 084 6 (hardback)
To anyone interested in Birmingham and/or trends in the urban environment in the widest sense, this is a valuable collection of 21 studies of some diversity in topic, style, coverage and length. The 29 authors are, I think, all present or past staff or research students of the University of Birmingham, virtually all within the School of Geography. The collection of studies reflects the work and expertise of that School, hence the diversity.
The book was prepared to revive the pre-1970s' practice of having a handbook of regional essays prepared and published by the geography department in the university chosen for the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1996, this was a Festival of Science at Birmingham University. The book therefore follows the handbook of 1950 which, according to the preface, set new standards for such handbooks in production, content and format and reflection of contemporary geographical scholarship. These are on the Birmingham economy in the 1990s (by J. R. Bryson, P. W. Daniels and N. D. Henry) and the advent of lean manufacture in the local vehicle industry (by Robert N. Gwynne). This too, with a modest price, backs up its lengthy text with 58 black and white photographs, 36 tables and 64 maps and figures with references at the end of each chapter and an index. However, two irritations are the absence of page numbers from the contents list and use of section headings at the top of each page making it a real bother to find individual studies.
While the collection claims to focus on Birmingham since 1950, the individual articles seem idiosyncratic and none too clear as to...