David Foot – författare

Britain’s great cloak of natural forest disappeared mostly in prehistoric times. Over the passage of time and by the industrial revolution, Britain’s economy had become almost entirely dependent on timber imports from abroad. Shipping blockades in the First World War meant a frantic search for woodlands that could be cut down to make vital pit props and sawn wood for wartime construction. After the war, Britain’s tree cover was near to an all-time low. Only since 1919 have practical measures been taken to reverse the long history of forest decline, and a hundred years of tree planting has seen the forest cover of Britain more than double. Today, tree planting in Britain is motivated more by environmental and social concerns than purely timber production.In Woods and People, David Foot reveals the story of twentieth-century forest creation, and the eureka moment in the 1980s that challenged foresters and conservationists to work together on new ideas.

This detailed and informative study makes a timely contribution to a subject that has been the focus of much public discussion and debate in Ontario and elsewhere, namely the size and growth of the public sector. Working with the Public Accounts and other sources, Professor Foot offers both an historical account of, and an explanation for, the growth of provincial revenues and expenditures since the early 1950s. By concentrating on an analysis of the development of a single government over time, rather than adopting the traditional cross-section approach of analysing a number of junior-level governments.The study's conclusions are both informative and provocative. On the revenue side, a rate-base approach which separates discretionary from automatic changes in revenue determinants is shown to provide sufficient flexibility to accommodate the analysis and explanation of a wide range of specific revenues. On the expenditure side, the provincial government is found to adjust reasonably slowly to new levels of desired expenditures which appear to be determined primarily by demand variables. Of particular interest are findings which suggest that urbanization and elections have had little effect on expenditures and that available federal money has tended to be a substitute for provincial funds. In addition, the author notes that provincial expenditure patterns are consistent with either a revenue-led interpretation, where the recent availability of pension funds has stimulated expenditures, or a leading-sector interpretation, which implies a longer-run coordinated view of provincial public development.This study should stimulate a more informed discussion of the determinants and effects of provincial public finance in Ontario. It will appeal not only to those interested in the behaviour of junior-level governments but also to anyone interested in the size and growth of the public sector, in Ontario or elsewhere.

First published in 1981. Urban modelling techniques are an established tool in assessing the possible repercussions of major changes in land use. This book is an introductory guide to the various models that have been developed and to how they can be applied in planning practice, particularly with relation to land use activities such as residential, industrial and retail development, and changes in the transport network. The author has provided a coherent and reliable introductory text which will be welcomed by students and teachers in search of a guide to current methods in the field of urban modelling.