The Restructuring of Geographical Scale: Coalescence and Fragmentation of the Northern Core Region

Abstract

In order to understand the dimensions and significance of contemporary regional restructuring and in order to provide a coherent basis for a “new regional geography,” it is vital to tackle the question of scale. We hypothesize in this paper that the scale at which economic regions are constituted is periodically transformed, and we attempt to demonstrate this with respect to the coalescence in the postwar period of a single region comprising the Northern Core. A coalescence index is devised to measure levels of coalescence in experiences of manufacturing employment, service employment, value added, number of manufacturing establishments, and unemployment rates. The pattern which emerges might be interpreted in several ways, but it seems that the coalescence of a relatively homogeneous Northern Core by the mid-1970s has been superseded by a more fragmented pattern in the 1980s. While suggestive of complex changes in the regional scale, this inquiry also points toward further empirical research.