Book reviews

considering industrial requirements, private sector investment, local au- thority planning, office development, property values and public provision for transport. A complex picture emerges which leads on to section five dealing with ‘Property development’ where six contributions cover house building, planning policies, shopping development research, new towns, the 1971 planning act and ways of measur- ing the performance of the project management process. Section six in- cludes ‘Case studies’, the Cambridge Science Park receives special consid- eration as also RICS research into valuation methods. This section is essentially presenting the backgrounds to three research projects undertaken at Leicester Polytechnic and the Polytechnic of the South Bank.

Priorities

On the last day of the conference a ‘Plenary session’ was held to discuss priorities, constraints, and the general climate for research work in land management. The proceedings of the plenary session form the substance of

sections seven and eight. Much of the discussion relates to the present poli- cies and attitudes of the Royal Institu- tion of Chartered Surveyors, and the Economic and Social Research Coun- cil.

The publication of the proceedings of the conference will be of great interest to all those involved in the various aspects of land management. Additionally the subject matter of the book is of fundamental importance in matters appertaining to land use - where there remains much scope for research. It is clear that those who attended the conference found it be- neficial. There was general agreement that, because of the great benefits of the cross fertilization of ideas and the need to continue to encourage re- search, a second conference was desir- able at a relatively early date. Essen- tial matters which needed considera- tion as well as actual research topics included fund raising, research ap- plications, research methodology, and alternative approaches to research.

Into the hands of planners

ENERGY POLICY AND LAND-USE

PLANNING: AN INTERNATIONAL

PERSPECTIVE

edited by David R. Cope, Peter Hills

and Peter James

Pergamon, Oxford, UK, 1984

The industrial revolution was based on very cheap energy, at first coal and later oil and natural gas. Since the second world war, cheap oil has caused an enormous expansion in road and air transport, for which it is likely to be always by far the most conve- nient fuel; however, it has also dis- placed coal for industrial heating (fur- naces and steam raising), domestic heating (natural gas is used wherever it can be piped) and for chemical feedstock.

The dramatic rise in oil prices which followed the 1973 Arab Israeli war

W. G. V. Balchin Ilkley, UK

has been regarded as a disaster by the exponents of perpetual growth economics and has led to continuously rising unemployment and continuous (though fluctuating) recession. If one takes a longer view however, the world owes a great debt to the OPEC countries for halting the unsustainable idea that the rich countries could go on indefinitely increasing their energy consumption per capita every year and that the poor countries could have enough food as a result of the oil based ‘green revolution’. Unfortu- nately. instead of using the oil price rise as a warning to redirect all energy planning efforts towards fuel economy measures (such as district heating by pass out heat from rebuilt city-based power stations) which could easily halve the UK’s per capita energy use, ‘the most common response to the energy crisis in many countries, has been massive investment, and plans

for more, in energy resources to open up new supplies and reduce depend- ence on imported oil’ (pp l-2). The book is a series of papers by different authors on the feasibility, desirability, possible alternatives, and possibilities for social conflict due to the land use related to these investment plans. ‘The energy industries are major users and polluters of land, water, air and other resources’ (p 2).

The chapter on ‘Local impacts of power station developments’ is written by a member of a team carrying out a Central Electricity and Generating Board sponsored research project. ‘Even in the climate of economic recession and public expenditure res- traint of the early l%Os, future ex- penditure on power stations in Britain is planned to increase substantially’ (p 143). Planning effects considered include local employment and ash disposal but there is no mention of SO, or, in this chapter, of radioactiv- ity.

There is however, a chapter on ‘Radioactive waste management’ by the principal editor who lectures in Environmental planning at Notting- ham University. The chart on the nuclear fuel cycle shows only one of the two main uses of stored plutonium - its potential use for fast breeder reactors. The aim of producing a ‘progressive logical development of radioactive waste policy’ has not so far been matched by the equally essential ‘progressive, systematic treatment of planning and public discussion aspects of policy formation’ (p 244). This is because it is feared that such a public discussion would reveal planning fea- tures of tasks and dangers which would certainly be left to our descen- dents with no benefit whatsoever to them.

The case of nuclear power in The Netherlands is discussed in one chap- ter. This is interesting as The Nether- lands has a very high population densi- ty and very energy intensive industry. More than half the national primary energy consumption is from their natural gas and even if the intended energy conservation policy is carried out, Dutch gas reserves will be ex- hausted in about 40 years. Indigenous coal production ended in the early

82 LAND USE POLICY January 1985

Book reviews/Publications

project’s possible adverse consequences.

Planning and Urban Growth in Southern Europe edited by Martin Wynn (Mansell. London, 1984, 210 pp, f20.00) Five countries - Greece. Italy, Portugal, Spain and Turkey - are examined. They are seen to have experienced different scales and rates of urbanization and indus- trialization, yet the problems arising from these processes have much in common. For geographers interested in southern Europe and for urban and regional planners in- terested in comparative patterns of de- velopment, the analyses in this book will prove valuable.

Regional Development: Problems and Poli- cies in Eastern and Western Europe edited by George Dcmko (Croom Helm, London, 1984, 283 pp. f 17.95) To be reviewed.

Regional Restructuring Under Advanced Capitalism edited by Phil O’Keefc (Croom Helm, Beckenham UK. 19X4. I34 pp. fl4.9S) This book considers the crisis in the world economy. It looks in particular at how the regional crisis affects the political outlook and political actions of the working class in afflicted areas. The theories and analysis put forward apply throughout the world in both advanced and less developed coun- tries.

T/re Resourcefir/ Ear/h edited hy Julian L. Simon and Herman Kahn (Basil Blackwell, New York. NY. USA and Oxford. UK. 19x4. 585 pp. flJ.95) The Re.sourceju/ Ear/h challcngcs the claims made hy the Global Report to the President. It concludes that in 2000 the world will be less crowded, less polluted. more ecoloyicnllv stable and less vulner-

1970s because coal was uneconomic but coal and nuclear fission are the only practical alternatives to oil and gas for ‘the replacement of the existing generating capacity and for any even-

tual growth of consumption’ (p 168, reviewer’s italics). ‘It is now an aim to meet at least 40% of electricity de- mand in the year 2000 by coal fired generation’. ‘At the end of 1977, a new cabinet decided that as far as possible, nuclear power should be a policy of the last resort in a country as populous as The Netherlands and that the 1974 plans for 3 000 MW(e) should not be implemented until the problem of nuclear waste disposal had been finally resolved as well as uncer- tainties over the safety of nuclear plants’ (p 171). This may be compared with the UK where ‘confusion, delay and political expediency have char- acterised the unfolding of the events!’

(P 277). The concluding chapter can also be

well summarized by two quotations. ‘Each of the main energy “great pow- ers” was too powerful to be denied its share of the cake, so that expectations were met by positing a high-demand future a proposal rendered even more suspect by the post-1979 recession . too little was being spent on the exploration of other alternatives, particularly conservation’ (p 284). ‘Energy is a complex subject and develooers have often taken

Publications Approaches to the Study of the Environ- mental Implications of Contemporary Urbanization edited by Rodney White and Ian Burton, MAB, UNESCO (Prepared in cooperation with IFIAS-Project Ecoville, HMSO, Norwich, UK, 1984. 143 pp, f5.25) To be reviewed.

Countryside Planning Yearbook 1984. Volume 5, (Geo Books, Norwich, UK, 1984. 227 pp. f9.59. $19.00 [hardback], f 15.00. $30.00 [paperback]) The Yearbook is an annual landscape, countryside and planning manual which catalogues and analyses the literature and legislative action affecting rural policy and practice in the UK over the last year.

Environmental Law Handbook (seventh edition) by J. Gordon Arbuckle, G. Wil- liam Frick, Ridgway M. Hall Jr. Marshall Lee Miller, Thomas F.P. Sullivan and Timothy A. Vanderver Jr (Government Institutes. Rockville. MD, USA. 19X4, 507

PP? $48)

Farm and Community Forestry (Earthscan, Washington. DC. 1984, 236 pp) This report describes the main approaches to farm and community forestry. It ex- amines the reasons why people plant trees and the constraints which may prevent them from doing so. The report is aimed at policy makers as well as the scientific and technical community and is part of a series aimed at providing reliable and practical information on selected energy issues in the Third World.

ad\,antage of their monopoly of exper- Foreign Owner.ship of US Farmland: An able to r&ours&-supply disruption than

tise to limit the influence of planners Economic Analysis of US Farmland by today.

on their activities’ (p 293). David N. Laband (Lexington Books. Lex- ington. MA. USA. 1984. I25 pp f22.50) ReLaiew of Agricultural Policies in OECD

I make no apology for quoting the To be reviewed. Member Countries /9X0-lY82 (HMSO. -_ _ - actual words in the book, since these are necessarily more telling the re- viewer’s interpretation of them. In spite of the fact that the chapters have many authors. the book does give a clear overall account of the situation in the UK and of the requisites for a proper long-term energy policy involv- ing maximum conservation of energy and land resources for the benefit of the next century. This means that planners. independent of energy sup- pliers and with expertise to foresee all consequences should have the ulti- mate decision.

Professor M. W. Thring

Queen Mary College

London, UK

The Industrial Geography of Canada by Anthony Blackbourn and R.S. Putnam (Croom Helm. Beckenham, UK, I9X4,201 pp, f 16.95) This book provides a comprehensive ovcr- view of Canadian industry. It introduces Canada’s physical and human resources. describes the existing settlement pattern and charts the development of industry from 1945.

Natural Systems for Development edited by Richard A. Carpenter for the East-Wes,t Environment and Policy Institute (Macmil- lan. London. 1984. 485 pp. f36.95) This book. subtitled ‘What planners need to know’ is intended to hc a practical handbook for planners and policy makers. It is written in non-technical language hy experts in Asia. the Pacific and the USA. and the handbook warns against any

Norwich. UK. 1984, 217 pp. f7.SO) To he reviewed.

Rural Land U.ses and Planning: A Compa- rati\ae Stucly of the Netherlands and the United States by R. Burncll Held and Dirk W. Visser (Elsevier. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. available also from Elsevicr. New York. NY. USA. 1984. 445 pp) To he reviewed.

Select C‘ommrttee on the European Corn- munities Report on Agriculture and the Environment (HMSO. Norwich. UK, 1984. 352 pp, fl4.50)

Urbanization and .~ettlernent Systems: Inter- national Perspectil*e.s edited hy L.S. Bourne, R. Sinclair and K. Dzieworiski (Oxford University Press. Oxford. UK. 19x4. 475 pp) To be reviewed.

LAND USE POLICY January 1985 83