Dave Valler | Oxford Brookes University (original) (raw)

Papers by Dave Valler

Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit, 2001

Raumforschung und Raumordnung | Spatial Research and Planning

Oxford-Oxfordshire, UK, and the Verband Region Stuttgart or the Metro Region in Germany are two o... more Oxford-Oxfordshire, UK, and the Verband Region Stuttgart or the Metro Region in Germany are two of Europe’s high-tech powerhouses, facing similar challenges concerning housing and infrastructure provision and accommodating regional as well as local economic growth. Based on desktop studies and semi-structured expert interviews, this paper examines the respective institutional, political and cultural contexts for strategic planning in the two distinct settings, aiming to identify the evolving balance of socio-spatial dimensions influencing each case. While the interplay of territory, place, scale and network is different across the two cases, both face ongoing dilemmas. In the Stuttgart region, an established and smoothly running economic and spatial growth-machine has stuttered as growth has reached capacity and localities have asserted their constitutional controls on urban expansion. In Oxford (and the wider county of Oxfordshire), there has been a contrasting dislocation between ...

Conference paper on divergent policy styles and the management of major economic and housing grow... more Conference paper on divergent policy styles and the management of major economic and housing growth in both Cambridge and Oxford sub-regions.

Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 2014

The South East of England is Britain's 'problem region' of unsettled administrative and political... more The South East of England is Britain's 'problem region' of unsettled administrative and political arrangements centred on a dense web of generally small settlements and their complex interrelations. Surrounding and tied to the international finance and political centres of London, much of the rest of the semi-rural southeast region nevertheless exhibits a degree of polycentricity. Notably, within the South East of England are a series of scientific and hi-tech hot-spots critical to future UK economic growth. However, the achievement of significant growth in and around hi-tech spaces is challenging, given the context of semi-rurality and historic infrastructure shortfalls in some of these locations. Growth is therefore associated with significant planning dilemmas, a situation which has prompted the introduction of 'soft' planning spaces as a means to transcend sclerotic governance structures and planning policy stasis. However, these sub-regional arrangements may also represent a vehicle for the re-assertion of territory, refracting and reinforcing local political conflict rather than cultivating an unambiguous form of post-politics. We illustrate these issues with regard to the emergence of the 'Science Vale UK' area in southern Oxfordshire, and consider some of the broader implications of planning for growth in such a distinctive settlement pattern.

Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 2014

Environment and Planning A, 2010

The emergence over the last 30–40 years of what is variously termed edge city, edgeless, and post... more The emergence over the last 30–40 years of what is variously termed edge city, edgeless, and postsuburban development in North America and elsewhere raises a set of challenges for urban theory and existing ways of understanding the politics of urban growth and management. These challenges and their global import have been outlined in their broadest terms by members of a ‘Los Angeles School’. In this paper we try to develop the detail of some of these challenges in ways that might allow for comparative analysis. We begin by considering three analytical dimensions along which distinctively postsuburban settlements might be identified. These dimensions are not without their limitations but we regard them as a heuristic device around which to centre ongoing comparative research. We then go on to highlight three political contradictions attending postsuburban growth which appear to flow from some of these defining dimensions. To the extent that such postsuburban growth and politics are d...

Urban Science, Nov 20, 2017

As a state project to locate the nation within the global knowledge economy, Singapore's Technolo... more As a state project to locate the nation within the global knowledge economy, Singapore's Technology Corridor has acted as a testbed for experimenting with different models of an international scientific community. Its landscape, from garden-style science parks modelled after Silicon Valley to monuments for multidisciplinary research such as One North, reflects the dynamic interaction among various political and ideological aspirations-ideoscapes-driving the built environment. Through both documentary research and semi-structured interviews of scientists and entrepreneurs, we examine how mostly foreign expat and some Singaporean researchers have experienced Singapore's unique science 'scape and adapted to a hybrid work and living environment. Testimony of the scientific sojourners of Singapore's diverse ethnoscape-from China and India to Europe and the United States-reveal the blending of different styles of scientific work and the interconnected flows of intellectual labour.

Town Planning Review, 2012

ABSTRACT This article provides a preliminary examination of the emerging implications of UK Coali... more ABSTRACT This article provides a preliminary examination of the emerging implications of UK Coalition Government planning policy as a key part of its growth agenda. Attention is directed in particular to the adoption of localism in planning policy, which is presented by the Coalition as a vital key to unlock economic growth. The empirical focus is on the 'Science Vale UK' (SVUK) area of southern Oxfordshire, a major concentration of the hi-tech, science-based economy that the Coalition government sees as pivotal to future economic development. However, the expansion of such areas often generates significant challenges, particularly in the dispersed, semi-rural environment which characterises much of the South East of England. In light of the early evidence from SVUK, the article speculates that the implications of localism for planning policy will be more complex than has been portrayed by advocates and critics alike, but that localism also faces ongoing strategic challenges in managing and achieving growth in this context.

Environment and Planning A, 2004

In this paper we seek to exploit some of the insights of a strategic^relational approach (SRA) in... more In this paper we seek to exploit some of the insights of a strategic^relational approach (SRA) in examining the response of business interests to the newly devolved and regionalised governance context in Britain. (1) Introduced by Jessop (1990, 2001) and Hay (Hay, 2002; Hay and Jessop, 1995) the SRA marks an attempt to transcend one of the key problems in social theory, the structure^agency dualism. In essence, this is achieved through an understanding of structure and agency as purely analytical categories that do not exist in reality; rather, in the real world, structures are constituted only by their impacts on agents, and agency takes place only within a structured context. In place of approaches that seek to emphasise either structure or agency in explaining real-world changes, or even treat structure and agency in isolation from each other, the SRA seeks to understand the recursive nature of this relationship öthat particular structures, in a variety of ways, privilege some forms of agency, and that agents reflect on the nature of

Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 2014

Abstract. The South East of England is Britain’s ‘problem region ’ of unsettled administrative an... more Abstract. The South East of England is Britain’s ‘problem region ’ of unsettled administrative and political arrangements centred on a dense web of generally small settlements and their complex interrelations. Surrounding and tied to the international finance and political centres of London, much of the rest of the semirural South East region nevertheless exhibits a degree of polycentricity. Notably, within the South East of England are a series of ‘high-tech ’ hot spots critical to future UK economic growth. However, the achievement of significant growth in and around high-tech spaces is challenging, given the context of semirurality and historic infrastructure shortfalls in some of these locations. Growth is therefore associated with significant planning dilemmas, a situation which has prompted the introduction of ‘soft ’ planning spaces as a means to transcend sclerotic governance structures and planning policy stasis. Yet, these subregional arrangements may also represent a vehi...

Town Planning Review, 2016

The UK Coalition Government's commitment to 'localism' in Planning is in marked contrast to the e... more The UK Coalition Government's commitment to 'localism' in Planning is in marked contrast to the emphasis on cross-boundary strategic planning initiatives under the previous Labour Government. Against this background the paper examines the implications of evolving economic governance arrangements in three sub-regional 'soft-spaces' in England's SouthEast region. A distinctive evaluative frame derives a set of criteria for 'good economic governance' as perceived by the stakeholders concerned, and a judgement regarding the 'quality' of economic governance in each case is presented. The conclusion triangulates these results against economic growth outcomes across the respective sub-regions.

Local Economy, May 8, 2000

Since the mid-1990s policy “integration” has become an increasingly salient theme within central ... more Since the mid-1990s policy “integration” has become an increasingly salient theme within central government and local government policy-making. In this paper we report survey findings tracing the recent emergence of explicitly “integrated” local economic and social strategies, and the evolving position of ostensibly social themes in local economic strategies. These highlight some of the more important policy and institutional changes that have characterised local economic strategy in the post-Thatcher era. Subsequently, in the light of this initial data we outline a number of possible directions for further research.

Urban Science, Jan 29, 2019

Science and technology spaces around the world are, simultaneously, major physical, technological... more Science and technology spaces around the world are, simultaneously, major physical, technological and symbolic forms, key elements of economic strategy, and sites of international labour movements and knowledge transfer. They are thus the product of multiple imaginations, with multiple, potentially divergent, objectives. In this paper, we compare three international science spaces as 'ethnoscapes', emphasising the distinctive perceptions, cultures and identities amongst international science and technology migrants and visitors at these sites. This, we contend, sharpens a sense of the 'international-ness' of science spaces in various dimensions, given the particular experiences of scientific migrants and visitors moving into different nations, locations and facilities, their roles in constructing international communities, and their navigation of alternative spaces. It also offers insight into the production of contextual (rather than spatial or physical) localities, as international scientists and technologists experience and constitute larger formations, building on their perceptions of varied and interacting science 'scapes.

Territory, Politics, Governance

Planning Theory & Practice

Territory, Politics, Governance, 2016

A major reason for the peripheral treatment of political conflict in established theories of urba... more A major reason for the peripheral treatment of political conflict in established theories of urban development derives from the tendency to underplay questions of territory and spatial governance. In this paper we examine the implications of territorial discrepancy amongst governance arrangements and introduce the notion of 'urban political dissonance' in order to engage sustained patterns of conflict or incongruity. This focus implies examination of strategic action on the part of competing urban interests which may result in policy incoherence, institutional manoeuvring in pursuit of divergent objectives, and difficulties in finding workable compromise, with potentially significant implications for economic development outcomes. An illustrative case study is presented of growth politics in Oxford, U.K., where a central and unresolved dilemma over the physical expansion of the city has effectively defined the nature of development politics for a generation, leading to ongoing political conflict and policy incongruity.

In this paper we seek to exploit some of the insights of a strategic-relational approach in exami... more In this paper we seek to exploit some of the insights of a strategic-relational approach in
examining the response of business interests to the newly devolved and regionalised governance
context in Britain. In the analysis, the focus is directed particularly at the changing context within
which business politics operates in the British regions and, importantly, on the perceptions of business
actors and interests of their position in these changing contexts. In this way, we seek to move beyond
established structuralist and agency-oriented approaches to business interest representation, which
have tended to underplay the influence and complexity of business perceptions in exploring the
changing form of business representation. Subsequently, we present some further brief comments on the respective capacities of groups and organisations representing business, and the strategic processes
that underlie business responses to the new governance arrangements, which will be important to the
further development of analysis founded in the strategic-relational approach. In broad terms, we argue
that business perceptions of the devolutionary context have underscored a limited restructuring of
business interest representation in Britain, as business groups register the ongoing centralism that
characterises the British polity. In addition, the organisation of business interest representation
displays a strong path dependency, reflecting a degree of institutional stasis and the strength of
perceived structures in this sphere. However, a series of relatively modest changes are underway as
a variety of business interests adopt particular kinds of strategies given their specific aims and
capacities.

The 2010–15 UK coalition government's commitment to 'localism' in planning was in marked contrast... more The 2010–15 UK coalition government's commitment to 'localism' in planning was in marked contrast to the emphasis on cross-boundary strategic planning initiatives under the preceding Labour government. Against this background, the paper examines the implications of evolving economic governance arrangements in three subregional 'soft spaces' in England's South East region. A distinctive evaluative frame derives a set of criteria for 'good economic governance' as perceived by the stakeholders concerned, and a judgement regarding the 'quality' of economic governance in each case is presented. The conclusion triangulates these results against economic growth outcomes across the respective subregions.

This article provides a preliminary examination of the emerging implications of UK Coalition Gove... more This article provides a preliminary examination of the emerging implications of UK Coalition Government planning policy as a key part of its growth agenda. Attention is directed in particular to the adoption of localism in planning policy, which is presented by the Coalition as a vital key to unlock economic growth. The empirical focus is on the 'Science Vale UK' (SVUK) area of southern Oxfordshire, a major concentration of the hi-tech, science-based economy that the Coalition government sees as pivotal to future economic development. However, the expansion of such areas often generates significant challenges, particularly in the dispersed, semi-rural environment which characterises much of the South East of England. In light of the early evidence from SVUK, the article speculates that the implications of localism for planning policy will be more complex than has been portrayed by advocates and critics alike, but that localism also faces ongoing strategic challenges in managing and achieving growth in this context.

Handbook of Local and Regional Development, 2014

Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit, 2001

Raumforschung und Raumordnung | Spatial Research and Planning

Oxford-Oxfordshire, UK, and the Verband Region Stuttgart or the Metro Region in Germany are two o... more Oxford-Oxfordshire, UK, and the Verband Region Stuttgart or the Metro Region in Germany are two of Europe’s high-tech powerhouses, facing similar challenges concerning housing and infrastructure provision and accommodating regional as well as local economic growth. Based on desktop studies and semi-structured expert interviews, this paper examines the respective institutional, political and cultural contexts for strategic planning in the two distinct settings, aiming to identify the evolving balance of socio-spatial dimensions influencing each case. While the interplay of territory, place, scale and network is different across the two cases, both face ongoing dilemmas. In the Stuttgart region, an established and smoothly running economic and spatial growth-machine has stuttered as growth has reached capacity and localities have asserted their constitutional controls on urban expansion. In Oxford (and the wider county of Oxfordshire), there has been a contrasting dislocation between ...

Conference paper on divergent policy styles and the management of major economic and housing grow... more Conference paper on divergent policy styles and the management of major economic and housing growth in both Cambridge and Oxford sub-regions.

Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 2014

The South East of England is Britain's 'problem region' of unsettled administrative and political... more The South East of England is Britain's 'problem region' of unsettled administrative and political arrangements centred on a dense web of generally small settlements and their complex interrelations. Surrounding and tied to the international finance and political centres of London, much of the rest of the semi-rural southeast region nevertheless exhibits a degree of polycentricity. Notably, within the South East of England are a series of scientific and hi-tech hot-spots critical to future UK economic growth. However, the achievement of significant growth in and around hi-tech spaces is challenging, given the context of semi-rurality and historic infrastructure shortfalls in some of these locations. Growth is therefore associated with significant planning dilemmas, a situation which has prompted the introduction of 'soft' planning spaces as a means to transcend sclerotic governance structures and planning policy stasis. However, these sub-regional arrangements may also represent a vehicle for the re-assertion of territory, refracting and reinforcing local political conflict rather than cultivating an unambiguous form of post-politics. We illustrate these issues with regard to the emergence of the 'Science Vale UK' area in southern Oxfordshire, and consider some of the broader implications of planning for growth in such a distinctive settlement pattern.

Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 2014

Environment and Planning A, 2010

The emergence over the last 30–40 years of what is variously termed edge city, edgeless, and post... more The emergence over the last 30–40 years of what is variously termed edge city, edgeless, and postsuburban development in North America and elsewhere raises a set of challenges for urban theory and existing ways of understanding the politics of urban growth and management. These challenges and their global import have been outlined in their broadest terms by members of a ‘Los Angeles School’. In this paper we try to develop the detail of some of these challenges in ways that might allow for comparative analysis. We begin by considering three analytical dimensions along which distinctively postsuburban settlements might be identified. These dimensions are not without their limitations but we regard them as a heuristic device around which to centre ongoing comparative research. We then go on to highlight three political contradictions attending postsuburban growth which appear to flow from some of these defining dimensions. To the extent that such postsuburban growth and politics are d...

Urban Science, Nov 20, 2017

As a state project to locate the nation within the global knowledge economy, Singapore's Technolo... more As a state project to locate the nation within the global knowledge economy, Singapore's Technology Corridor has acted as a testbed for experimenting with different models of an international scientific community. Its landscape, from garden-style science parks modelled after Silicon Valley to monuments for multidisciplinary research such as One North, reflects the dynamic interaction among various political and ideological aspirations-ideoscapes-driving the built environment. Through both documentary research and semi-structured interviews of scientists and entrepreneurs, we examine how mostly foreign expat and some Singaporean researchers have experienced Singapore's unique science 'scape and adapted to a hybrid work and living environment. Testimony of the scientific sojourners of Singapore's diverse ethnoscape-from China and India to Europe and the United States-reveal the blending of different styles of scientific work and the interconnected flows of intellectual labour.

Town Planning Review, 2012

ABSTRACT This article provides a preliminary examination of the emerging implications of UK Coali... more ABSTRACT This article provides a preliminary examination of the emerging implications of UK Coalition Government planning policy as a key part of its growth agenda. Attention is directed in particular to the adoption of localism in planning policy, which is presented by the Coalition as a vital key to unlock economic growth. The empirical focus is on the 'Science Vale UK' (SVUK) area of southern Oxfordshire, a major concentration of the hi-tech, science-based economy that the Coalition government sees as pivotal to future economic development. However, the expansion of such areas often generates significant challenges, particularly in the dispersed, semi-rural environment which characterises much of the South East of England. In light of the early evidence from SVUK, the article speculates that the implications of localism for planning policy will be more complex than has been portrayed by advocates and critics alike, but that localism also faces ongoing strategic challenges in managing and achieving growth in this context.

Environment and Planning A, 2004

In this paper we seek to exploit some of the insights of a strategic^relational approach (SRA) in... more In this paper we seek to exploit some of the insights of a strategic^relational approach (SRA) in examining the response of business interests to the newly devolved and regionalised governance context in Britain. (1) Introduced by Jessop (1990, 2001) and Hay (Hay, 2002; Hay and Jessop, 1995) the SRA marks an attempt to transcend one of the key problems in social theory, the structure^agency dualism. In essence, this is achieved through an understanding of structure and agency as purely analytical categories that do not exist in reality; rather, in the real world, structures are constituted only by their impacts on agents, and agency takes place only within a structured context. In place of approaches that seek to emphasise either structure or agency in explaining real-world changes, or even treat structure and agency in isolation from each other, the SRA seeks to understand the recursive nature of this relationship öthat particular structures, in a variety of ways, privilege some forms of agency, and that agents reflect on the nature of

Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 2014

Abstract. The South East of England is Britain’s ‘problem region ’ of unsettled administrative an... more Abstract. The South East of England is Britain’s ‘problem region ’ of unsettled administrative and political arrangements centred on a dense web of generally small settlements and their complex interrelations. Surrounding and tied to the international finance and political centres of London, much of the rest of the semirural South East region nevertheless exhibits a degree of polycentricity. Notably, within the South East of England are a series of ‘high-tech ’ hot spots critical to future UK economic growth. However, the achievement of significant growth in and around high-tech spaces is challenging, given the context of semirurality and historic infrastructure shortfalls in some of these locations. Growth is therefore associated with significant planning dilemmas, a situation which has prompted the introduction of ‘soft ’ planning spaces as a means to transcend sclerotic governance structures and planning policy stasis. Yet, these subregional arrangements may also represent a vehi...

Town Planning Review, 2016

The UK Coalition Government's commitment to 'localism' in Planning is in marked contrast to the e... more The UK Coalition Government's commitment to 'localism' in Planning is in marked contrast to the emphasis on cross-boundary strategic planning initiatives under the previous Labour Government. Against this background the paper examines the implications of evolving economic governance arrangements in three sub-regional 'soft-spaces' in England's SouthEast region. A distinctive evaluative frame derives a set of criteria for 'good economic governance' as perceived by the stakeholders concerned, and a judgement regarding the 'quality' of economic governance in each case is presented. The conclusion triangulates these results against economic growth outcomes across the respective sub-regions.

Local Economy, May 8, 2000

Since the mid-1990s policy “integration” has become an increasingly salient theme within central ... more Since the mid-1990s policy “integration” has become an increasingly salient theme within central government and local government policy-making. In this paper we report survey findings tracing the recent emergence of explicitly “integrated” local economic and social strategies, and the evolving position of ostensibly social themes in local economic strategies. These highlight some of the more important policy and institutional changes that have characterised local economic strategy in the post-Thatcher era. Subsequently, in the light of this initial data we outline a number of possible directions for further research.

Urban Science, Jan 29, 2019

Science and technology spaces around the world are, simultaneously, major physical, technological... more Science and technology spaces around the world are, simultaneously, major physical, technological and symbolic forms, key elements of economic strategy, and sites of international labour movements and knowledge transfer. They are thus the product of multiple imaginations, with multiple, potentially divergent, objectives. In this paper, we compare three international science spaces as 'ethnoscapes', emphasising the distinctive perceptions, cultures and identities amongst international science and technology migrants and visitors at these sites. This, we contend, sharpens a sense of the 'international-ness' of science spaces in various dimensions, given the particular experiences of scientific migrants and visitors moving into different nations, locations and facilities, their roles in constructing international communities, and their navigation of alternative spaces. It also offers insight into the production of contextual (rather than spatial or physical) localities, as international scientists and technologists experience and constitute larger formations, building on their perceptions of varied and interacting science 'scapes.

Territory, Politics, Governance

Planning Theory & Practice

Territory, Politics, Governance, 2016

A major reason for the peripheral treatment of political conflict in established theories of urba... more A major reason for the peripheral treatment of political conflict in established theories of urban development derives from the tendency to underplay questions of territory and spatial governance. In this paper we examine the implications of territorial discrepancy amongst governance arrangements and introduce the notion of 'urban political dissonance' in order to engage sustained patterns of conflict or incongruity. This focus implies examination of strategic action on the part of competing urban interests which may result in policy incoherence, institutional manoeuvring in pursuit of divergent objectives, and difficulties in finding workable compromise, with potentially significant implications for economic development outcomes. An illustrative case study is presented of growth politics in Oxford, U.K., where a central and unresolved dilemma over the physical expansion of the city has effectively defined the nature of development politics for a generation, leading to ongoing political conflict and policy incongruity.

In this paper we seek to exploit some of the insights of a strategic-relational approach in exami... more In this paper we seek to exploit some of the insights of a strategic-relational approach in
examining the response of business interests to the newly devolved and regionalised governance
context in Britain. In the analysis, the focus is directed particularly at the changing context within
which business politics operates in the British regions and, importantly, on the perceptions of business
actors and interests of their position in these changing contexts. In this way, we seek to move beyond
established structuralist and agency-oriented approaches to business interest representation, which
have tended to underplay the influence and complexity of business perceptions in exploring the
changing form of business representation. Subsequently, we present some further brief comments on the respective capacities of groups and organisations representing business, and the strategic processes
that underlie business responses to the new governance arrangements, which will be important to the
further development of analysis founded in the strategic-relational approach. In broad terms, we argue
that business perceptions of the devolutionary context have underscored a limited restructuring of
business interest representation in Britain, as business groups register the ongoing centralism that
characterises the British polity. In addition, the organisation of business interest representation
displays a strong path dependency, reflecting a degree of institutional stasis and the strength of
perceived structures in this sphere. However, a series of relatively modest changes are underway as
a variety of business interests adopt particular kinds of strategies given their specific aims and
capacities.

The 2010–15 UK coalition government's commitment to 'localism' in planning was in marked contrast... more The 2010–15 UK coalition government's commitment to 'localism' in planning was in marked contrast to the emphasis on cross-boundary strategic planning initiatives under the preceding Labour government. Against this background, the paper examines the implications of evolving economic governance arrangements in three subregional 'soft spaces' in England's South East region. A distinctive evaluative frame derives a set of criteria for 'good economic governance' as perceived by the stakeholders concerned, and a judgement regarding the 'quality' of economic governance in each case is presented. The conclusion triangulates these results against economic growth outcomes across the respective subregions.

This article provides a preliminary examination of the emerging implications of UK Coalition Gove... more This article provides a preliminary examination of the emerging implications of UK Coalition Government planning policy as a key part of its growth agenda. Attention is directed in particular to the adoption of localism in planning policy, which is presented by the Coalition as a vital key to unlock economic growth. The empirical focus is on the 'Science Vale UK' (SVUK) area of southern Oxfordshire, a major concentration of the hi-tech, science-based economy that the Coalition government sees as pivotal to future economic development. However, the expansion of such areas often generates significant challenges, particularly in the dispersed, semi-rural environment which characterises much of the South East of England. In light of the early evidence from SVUK, the article speculates that the implications of localism for planning policy will be more complex than has been portrayed by advocates and critics alike, but that localism also faces ongoing strategic challenges in managing and achieving growth in this context.

Handbook of Local and Regional Development, 2014