Defining city-region boundaries for governance or policy requires robust data analysis reflecting a conceptualisation of city-regions. Geddes introduced the concept to England and both fundamental and contingent features he identified remain valid. Subsequent work has not clarified issues raised...

This paper develops a tiered geography of local housing market areas (HMAs) that provides a national framework for spatial planning. It is derived from a theoretical understanding of the economic basis of HMAs. The analysis explores the relationships between the tiers of the HMA geography and...

Within the context of theoretical and policy debates about the new economic geography and an urban renaissance, this paper examines how far and in what way ‘Our cities are back', as claimed by England's Core Cities Group. It focuses on 1984-2007 employment changes for the eight Core Cities and...