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Summary. In recent years, amid the debates of sustainable development and urban compactness, there has been a widening interest to reintroduce high-rise living in cities. Several European cities including London and Manchester are once again building high-rise housing as part of their urban housing strategy. Elsewhere, in Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore are distinguished by their high-rise public housing developments. With nearly half of the world's population living in urban areas, the unfolding trend is towards a more urban-style development with taller buildings included as an inevitable housing solution. Drawing on findings from a study of Singapore public housing residents' living experience, this paper aims to look at the increasingly important question of the liveability of high-rise living by discussing the occupants' appreciation and concerns of high-rise.

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As air transport for leisure trips, business travel and goods shipment increased rapidly over the past several decades, the emergence of airport cities has been hypothesised. Busy commercial airports may be emerging as central transport nodes in large metropolitan areas, much as ports and rail terminals were in the past, anchoring employment servicing passengers, facilitating frequent travellers and providing a spatial focus for unrelated firms. An analysis of small-area employment data for the areas surrounding 25 major US airports and the related central cities reveals the concentration of employment within 2.5 miles of these airports to be substantial—approximately half that within 2.5 miles of the central point of the corresponding CBDs—and growing. The analysis refocuses a question about the nature of spatial differentiation within metropolitan regions supporting multiple employment nodes.

Appold S. J. (2005) Locational patterns of US industrial research: mimetic isomorphism and the emergence of geographic charisma, Regional Studies39, 17-39. The emergence of new industrial spaces over the past several decades that have radically altered the economic geography of the USA raises questions about the mechanisms responsible for their formation. Existing theories predict either continued concentration or spatial dispersion; none predicts the rise of new geographic agglomerations of establishments. A behavioural theory of agglomeration formation explains the emergence of regionally dispersed, local agglomerations by means of mimetic behaviour. A method for detecting social influence in cross- sectional data is applied to data on the 1985 locations by county of over 10  000 privately owned research laboratories to show that the theoretical model accurately reproduces a key aspect of the existing spatial pattern. The results suggest that laboratories are, to a significant extent, reacting to each other's actions, creating symbolic, rather than functional, communities and that the locus of power determining local growth is diffused among location decision-makers. Appold S. J. (2005) La distribution géographique des centres de recherche industrielle aux Etats-Unis: l'homomorphisme mimétique et la naissance du charisme géographique, Regional Studies39, 17-39. La naissance de nouveaux espaces industriels dans les dernières décennies, qui ont transformé sensiblement la géographie économique des Etats-Unis, remet en question les mécanismes qui les étayent. Les théories actuelles prévoient une concentration ou une dispersion géographique persistantes; aucune ne prévoit l'essor de nouvelles agglomérations géographiques d'établissements. Une théorie du comportement qui porte sur le développement des agglomérations explique la naissance des agglomérations locales, dispersées sur le plan régional, à partir du comportement mimétique. On applique une méthode qui cherche à découvrir l'influence sociale des données transversales aux données 1985 sur les emplacements, par comté, auprès de plus de 10.000 centres de recherche privés afin de démontrer que le modèle théorique reproduit précisément un aspect clé de la distribution géographique actuelle. Les résultats laissent supposer que les centres de recherche réagissent, dans une large mesure, aux actions d'autrui, ce qui finit par la création de communautés plutôt symboliques que fonctionnelles, et que le lieu du pouvoir qui détermine la croissance locale se voit diffuser parmi les décideurs. Appold S. J. (2005) Die Standortmuster der industriellen Forschung in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika: mimetischer Isomorphismus, und das Entstehen geographischen Charismas, Regional Studies39, 17-39. Die Entstehung neuer Industrieräume in den letzten Jahrzehnten, welche die Wirtschaftsgeographie der Vereinigten Staaten radikal verändert hat, wirft Fragen über die Mechanismen auf, die für ihre Formierung verantwortlich sind. Bereits bestehende Theorien sagen entweder fortschreite...

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High-rise flats occupy an ambiguous position in contemporary discussions of urbanism. While allowing for densely populated walking environments, they are widely seen as culturally inappropriate and, whether based on theories of life cycle or lifestyle, especially unsuitable for families with children. Despite the frequent discussion, empirical research into the impact of housing on daily life is rare and, because of strong selection effects, lacks generalisability. The high-rise flats of Singapore provide the opportunity for a natural experiment isolating the impact of neighbourhood density from domestic density in that the prevalence of high-rises with large flats makes it possible to isolate the treatment effects of apartment living on families from the selection effects of housing choice. On the basis of comparisons of adult time-use diaries across household types and societies, it is concluded that the direct effect of apartment living on families is minimal. Nevertheless, planning and management issues along with broader economic and fertility trends will probably moderate any potential movement of families into flats.