IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v33y2001i12p2127-2147.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stormy Weather: Cyclones, Harold Innis, and Port Alberni, BC

Author

Listed:
  • Trevor J Barnes

    (Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2, Canada)

  • Roger Hayter

    (Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada)

  • Elizabeth Hay

    (Epidemiology and Community Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, K1N 6N5, Canada)

Abstract

This paper uses the work of the Canadian economic historian, Harold Innis, to reflect on the nature of resource economies and the single-industry towns that form their backbone. For Innis resource or staple economies are subject to extreme spatial and temporal disruptions that are both creative and destructive. Single-industry towns are on the front line of both that creativity and that destructiveness. They enjoy rapid growth when a new resource is found, but are equally hastily abandoned when resources run out, or prices fall. Innis used the metaphor of the cyclone to depict this pattern of staples accumulation and consequent crisis. This paper will, first, elaborate on Innis's general cyclonic scheme that joins space, time, and staples production, and second, provide a case study of the forest-industry town of Port Alberni, British Columbia, to exemplify his argument.

Suggested Citation

  • Trevor J Barnes & Roger Hayter & Elizabeth Hay, 2001. "Stormy Weather: Cyclones, Harold Innis, and Port Alberni, BC," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 33(12), pages 2127-2147, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:33:y:2001:i:12:p:2127-2147
    DOI: 10.1068/a34187
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a34187
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a34187?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roger Hayter & David Edgington, 1997. "Cutting Against the Grain: A Case Study of MacMillan Bloedel’s Japan Strategy," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 73(2), pages 187-213, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Amélie Dumarcher & Yann Fournis, 2018. "Canadian resource governance against territories: resource regimes and local conflicts in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence provinces," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 51(1), pages 97-115, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David W Edgington & Roger Hayter, 2012. "New Relationships between Japanese and Taiwanese Electronics Firms," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(1), pages 68-88, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:33:y:2001:i:12:p:2127-2147. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.