The Functional Region Alvin Simms Dept. of Geography

The Functional Region The functional region, is a region defined exclusively from human activity!

Interactions and Functional Regions  Identify how people, business and public services interact within rural or urban areas.  How does this interaction affect travel patterns?  Analysis of interactions provide insight to distribution of economic activities and social services!  This type of analysis can reveal inequalities in the distribution of services, industries or resources.

Interaction and Distance Relationships Help Define Functional Region Boundaries

What Are Functional Regions?  Analysis of interactions represents a functional approach to regional planning!  Functional regions and interactions amongst communities ignore administrative boundaries  A functional region is a complex structure of communities and linkages …  where there may exist a dominant community (centre) through which a majority of interactions flow.  Also interested in lower order centres!

Economic Zones

Paradigms of the Dominant Centre The Walter Christaller Model. According to this model, a dominance relationship is established between several orders of the hierarchy. This relationship implies that a centre of a lower order must rely on a centre of higher order for goods and services not being supplied.

Paradigms of the Dominant Centre: The Alan Pred Model. Adaptation of Christaller’s model by Pred provided more flexibility. The hierarchical structure becomes less rigid, but more complex. In this instance centres of the same order are not necessarily of the same hierarchical level. This indicates that some centres offer more diversified goods and services than other centres, even if they are of the same size.

Paradigms of the Dominant Centre: The Alan Pred Model Interdependency implies that central places can exchange similar goods and services. Complementarity enables several centres of a similar order to specialize in specific activities and supply themselves in goods and services they do not have from other centres.

The Classic Centre-Periphery Interaction Model Is it appropriate for Newfoundland & Labrador? Centre Periphery Scarce Labour Abundant Capital Abundant Labour Flow of people, materials and products created by demand for services Demands for goods/services yields payments and interactions between centre and periphery Shortage of labour in centre creates stimulus for labour flows/migration from periphery Supply of labour from periphery will create labour shortage in periphery and raise wages and incomes Adequate Capital Adequate Labour Capital flows to periphery Scarce Capital

Functional Regions  Dominant centres tend to reflect the centralization of economies and public services  Within a region dominant centres can shift due to changing economic circumstances.  Communities that make up the functional region, other than the dominant centre, become residential rather than employment centres.  The geographical extent of functional regions are both temporally and spatially dynamic!

Investigated Network or Interactions Between Communities A methodology for identifying functional regions Set Factor (s) Labour Health Public/Private Services Economic Linkages Evaluate links and interaction according to factor classes Extract patterns and identify functional regions and centres Analyze characteristics and viability of functional regions [1] Decision support information! [2] Implications for policy and governance!

Interregional flows stimulated by growth of a town Source: Adapted from Barkley, Henry and Bao (1996) Firms in the innovative or growing stage of product life cycle locate in town to benefit from agglomeration economies, markets and specialized labour Firms in mature stage of product life cycle locate in rural areas to take advantage of low wages and land costs Firms and/or employment Rural residents migrate to town for better access to employment and urban lifestyle Rural labour commutes to town for employment. Urban families relocate to rural residences because of lower housing costs and perceived higher quality of life People Spending in rural markets declines due to increased competition from town producers Town growth provides expanding market for rural producers Spending on goods & services Negative effect on peripheryPositive effect on peripheryFlow Type

Interregional flows stimulated by growth of a town Source: Adapted from Barkley, Henry and Bao (1996) Rural to town migration is selective of the better educated and more highly skilled rural residents Town centres are the generators and diffusers of information and Innovation for surrounding rural areas. Social attitudes in rural areas are transformed by the "demonstration effects" of expanding markets in the town Knowledge and technology Rural funds are invested in towns to take advantage of relatively rapidly growing goods and services markets Funds of town residents are invested in rural areas to take advantage of relatively low labour and land costs Investment funds Flow TypePositive effect on peripheryNegative effect on periphery

Expanding "grey" spending power attracted to rural areas by high quality environments Attraction of urban locations for younger time- poor/money rich households to dominant centres A new demographic profile Spread of knowledge, culture and business networks across province Strong spatial clustering of innovation dynamics within cities Dynamics of innovation and learning Improvements in communication infrastructures reduces friction of distance Drive for economic diversification in all areas. Benefits arising from spatial economic clustering and strong economic infrastructures. Changing patterns of economic activities Tendencies to spatial dispersal Tendencies to spatial agglomeration Integrating and mediating forces Dynamics of changing functional regional boundaries: The role of integrating and mediating forces

Transformation of capacity easier under smaller jurisdictions. Strategic planning with a spatial focus easier in large agglomerations Government and policy making Promotes the discovery of nature and the importance of preserving rural cultural inheritance Encourages use of resources within existing agglomerations Environmental sustainability Search for locales which foster the expression of identify Ability in urban areas to foster multiple identities New bases for culture, identity and citizenship Urban values increasingly widespread. Attraction of nature and rurality and avoidance of urban tensions Attraction of urban lifestyles and socio-spatial concentration of similar lifestyle groups Social change and differentiating lifestyles Integrating and Mediating Forces Tendencies to spatial agglomeration Tendencies to spatial dispersal

Functional Regions Study  Generally functional regions are defined by a single interaction, such as labour flows!  Current research examining multiple interactions (e.g. health, other government services, private services, etc.)  Analysis will identify overlaps or gaps between different functional regions.  Analysis will identify the role and function of communities within the regions as will as their relationship with dominant centres.  Analysis of socio-economic and demographic characteristics will help determine both the viability of the functional region and the communities that make up the region.