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The city of Newcastle has experienced significant transformations of identity. The city's contemporary reconstruction is a deliberate shift from industrial to post‐industrial identity. An industrial identity is now held to be debilitating for places, while a post‐industrial vision proffers an impression of improvement. The notion that places are constructed, symbolically as well as materially, allows us to problematise the identity of place, and to expose the ideologies and the actors behind such (re)constructions. Creative literature, media comment and autobiographical material provide insight into the landscapes and discourses of the city's changing identity, and into persisting patriarchal ideology, Anglo‐centrism and elitism.

Purpose -The purpose of this research is to examine the hypothesis that under-representation of women in Australian universities reflects barriers in the academic promotion process. Design/methodology/approach -This study uses three complementary approaches. Promotion policies and guidelines are examined using content analysis of documents from all Australian universities. A sample of 17 universities was selected for interviews with key gatekeepers to examine promotions practice. Data on promotions by level and gender were analysed for 16 of these universities 2000-2002.Findings -The analysis of promotions policies and guidelines established a range of practice. Policies supporting women's participation and success in promotions included explicit consideration of part-time and non-traditional careers, clear equity statements, and gender representation on promotions committees. Interviews emphasised the importance of support for and identification of female candidates, and the need for the establishment of institution-wide and performance targets for senior managers. Implicitly, most interviewees accepted the premise that women experienced barriers in the promotion process, including reticence in applying and stereotypically gendered notions of merit. However, the analysis of promotions data showed a more encouraging picture. Application rates and success rates for women are similar to men's and, at professorial level, slightly higher. Nonetheless women remain under-represented at senior levels, comprising only 16 per cent of the professoriate. Practical implications -The study provided a report to the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) with a number of recommendations for improving University promotions policies. These recommendations are available on the AVCC website and have applicability beyond the Australian university sector. Originality/value -This study is an original study across all Australian universities which has international applicability and policy relevance.

In this paper certain sociospatial processes currently affecting the evolution of the inner city are considered, namely the processes of gentrification, polarisation and marginalisation. It is argued that these processes are increasing in importance as a result of deindustrialisation, demographic trends, the activities of the state, and changes in ideology; these forces then being reflected in the operation of the housing market. Marginalised groups in urban society can be categorised through their relationships to three elements of capitalist-patriarchal control, namely economic standards, social norms, and legal codes. Constraints on the residential location and activity spaces of marginal groups are examined by means of case studies of the impoverished elderly, the lesbian community, and down-and-out groups in Paris in the 1980s.

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