ABSTRACT

Urban geography has long been concerned with patterns of residential location and models of urban structure (Johnston, 1980). Despite agreement over certain observable regularities in the spatial distribution of social classes and life-cycle groups there continues to be considerable debate over the explanation of this empirical evidence. Indeed, within urban geography we have witnessed the use of Darwinian ecological models and their derivatives through factorial ecology, behavioural and inter-actionist approaches, trade-off models deriving from neoclassical economics, Weberian urban managerialism and most recently Marxist political economy as frameworks for the explanation of spatial distributions. Each approach has asserted the importance of different relationships and processes while the level and complexity of the concepts used varies from explanations at the level of individual behaviour to an analysis of the nature of capitalism. The purpose of this chapter is to consider the links between explanation at the level of societal processes and the operational behaviour observable in the allocation of residential mortgages at the branch level. As such, the chapter seeks to draw together the concerns of urban political economy and urban managerialism to provide a framework for the interpretation of urban phenomena at the local level. It is perhaps worth stressing at this point that the term 'urban' is used simply for convenience; it is not intended to imply that a set of distinctive urban processes can be identified.