Western Europe: A Systematic Human Geography. 2nd Edition

This is one of the few systematic texts on the human geography of western Europe. Its topic-by-topic approach allows a proper examination of the processes which have created spatial variations in human activity. However, whilst the first edition of this book examined the forces creating and remaking the human landscape of western Europe during the post-war era of almost continuous economic growth, the second edition has been set within a more pessimistic environment of stagnation and decline. The oil crisis of 1973-4 was an important turning point in the human geography of western Europe and the late 1970s and 1980s have been characterized by a reversal of many of the processes which were so important in the 1960s. Therefore, as well as emphasizing the complex and diverse nature of western Europe, with its regional disparities, core-periphery relationships, temporal changes, and varied government policies. This book, therefore, describes such processes as counter-urbanization, return migration, de-industrialization, the urban-rural manufacturing shift, increasing unemployment and regional differences, and planning orthodoxies for decline rather than growth. Readership: sixth form students and first-degree students and also anyone who wants an introduction to the present human geography of western Europe.