Studying complex places : change and continuity in York and Dijon
This study considers the methodological implications of a critical realist and complex systems perspective to social phenomena in general, and to cities and urban regions in particular. Using three broad methodological approaches, namely the use of official statistics, visual sources and group interviews with children, different representations of York and Dijon are produced. Through an integrated and reflexive analysis of the findings, an argument is developed to show that an emergent pattern of change and continuity since the 1970s is common to both places. This is then related to the desired and projected changes to the cities voiced by the children, who, it is argued, are active agents shaping the present and future trajectories of their