The Dictionary of Human Geography

Comp. by: LElumalai Stage : Revises1 ChapterID: 9781405132879_4_P Date:1/4/09
Time:15:20:56 Filepath:H:/00_Blackwell/00_3B2/Gregory-9781405132879/appln/3B2/re-
vises/9781405132879_4_P.3d

public transport service. However, due todis-

tance decay, the further a person lives from

these immobile public goods, the less is the

usage of them, and their (potential) benefit.

Theconflictover the production of these

types of impure public goods, in the form of

turf politics, is an important aspect ofter-

ritorial justice. The third and final type are

public goods impurely distributed, due to

decisions by thestateto vary geographical

provision (Bennett, 1990). At each stage of

the distribution of public goods, political

decision-makingwill determine how much

of a good is provided, when and to whom.

So, while one local government might decide

not to provide one type of public good, a

neighbouring authority might, producing a

series of geographies of uneven provision.

Moreover, there might be differences within a

local or national governmentterritoryon the

basis of the privileging of one geographical

area’s need over another (cf.pork barrel)

(Pinch, 1997). kwa

Suggested reading

Bennett (1990); Pinch (1997).

public policy Geographers have paid close

attention to the creation, implementation,

monitoring and evaluation of public policies.

Work in this area has increased in recent years

in capitalist countries because of: (a) the grow-

ing importance of thestatein economic and

social affairs, offering enhanced opportunities

for such work; (b) increased governmental

recognition of environmental and spatial prob-

lems awaiting resolution; (c) the desire among

individual geographers to contribute to attacks

on such problems; and (d) the perceived need

for geographers to demonstrate therelevance

of their field and so promote their discipline’s

claim for resources within higher education

institutions in increasingly materialist

situations.

Most geographical analyses have been con-

cerned with evaluating policies addressed at

identified ‘spatial problems of environment,

economy and society’ (House, 1983) and with

assessment of their ‘geographical impact and

degree of effectiveness’: in the volume of

essays that he edited onUnited States public

policy,

.. .Critique stops short of prescription but

there is some attempt to look ahead and

also, in some cases, to set the problems

within a theoretical, as well as an oper-

ational, framework. (pp. v–vi)

He saw the benefits of such work as

twofold:

.. .[T]o non-geographical academic or lay

audiences ... [it reflects] a particular set of

perspectives on some urgent problems

which face policy-makers in our very critical

times. To geographers in training, the rele-

vance of applications of the discipline

should be a major concern, whether to add

practical purpose to their studies, or to point

in the direction of possible professional car-

eers outside the education field.

House identified the discipline’s technocratic

skills and its practitioners’ ability to synthesize

the many component parts of a complex prob-

lem as the geographical perspectives most

valuable to public policy study (see his survey

of early British contributions in House, 1973);

later promotions of geographers’ utility have

stressed their technical skills, such as those

associated with geographic information

systems (see National Research Council,

1997). Others, such as C.J. Smith (1988),

suggest that because many social problems

are exacerbated, if not created, by environ-

mental, time, place and circumstance contexts

(cf.contextual effect), then changing those

contexts, through the geography of service

provision and delivery, can be as influential

as moves to solve the problems.

The nature of geographers’ applied contri-

butions has been largely pragmatic, reflecting

the available opportunities and the ability of

geographers to capitalise on them with their

technocratic skills, hence the current promo-

tion ofremote sensingand GIS (Openshaw,

1989). Whereas some geographers claim that

such involvement is necessary for the discip-

line’s survival (Berry, 1970; Abler, 1993a),

others have queried this by pointing to the role

of much public policy as sustaining, if not

enhancing, the inequalities and exploitation

that are inherent to capitalism: hence

Harvey’s (1974b) question ‘What kind of

geography for what kind of public policy?’

(cf.applied geography). rj

Suggested reading

Abler (1993a); Berry (1970); Harvey (1974b);

House (1973, 1983); Openshaw (1989); Smith,

C.J. (1988).

public^private partnership (PPPs) A collab-

orative project involving thestate apparatus

and private companies, with the latter

involved in some aspects of the provision of

Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_P Final Proof page 600 1.4.2009 3:20pm

PUBLIC POLICY