Ray Riley
Articles
A top-down bottom-up approach to manufacturing change. Some evidence from Łódź, Poland
Geographia Polonica (1999) vol. 72, iss. 1, pp. 7-28 | 
Full text
Abstract
It is argued that the emergence of new manufacturing is heavily determined by the way local bottom-up influences or 'agents' - urban managers, producer services both specific and non-specific to particular industries, and new-firm founders - adjust to wider top-down economic and political 'structures'. To set this structurationist approach in context, a brief resume of the changing thrusts of research in industrial geography since the 1950s is presented. The approach is exemplified for Poland before and after 198$. The paper then focuses on the work of the four bottom-up influences, offering evidence from Łódź and Poland's central macro-region.
Keywords: theory of industrial geography, top-down bottom-up approach, structuration-ism, urban managers, producer services, small firms, Polish central macro-region, Łódź
, Department of Geography, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth POI 3HE, U. K.
Retailing and urban managerialism: process and pattern in Łódź, Poland
Geographia Polonica (1994) vol. 63, pp. 25-36 | Full text
Abstract
It is argued that positive explanations of retail location in Polish cities have simply described spatial patterns and have inadequately explored causative processes. Central to the latter is the concept of urban managerialism. The paper focuses on the Łódź managers, or gatekeepers, who have laid down the rules for privatisation, drawn up minimum bid-rents for different zones, and have discriminated in favour of certain types of shop. Recent retail changes in the main shopping street, Piotrkowska, are analysed, and an assessment made of the role of the urban managers.
Keywords: bid-rent zones, Łódź, privatisation, retailing, urban managerialism
, Department of Geography, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth POI 3HE, U. K.
, Instytut Geografii Ekonomicznej, Uniwersytet Łódzki, al. Kościuszki 21, 90-418 Łódź