Social and economic effects of spatial distribution in island communities: comparing the Isles of Scilly and Isle of Wight, UK

There has been increasing awareness that communities based on islands are subject to particular island-related factors (the so-called ‘island effect’). This paper sheds empirical light on how the island effect differs in different kinds of island communities, specifically solitary islands on the one hand and archipelagos on the other. It does so by comparing two subnational island jurisdictions (SNIJs) in England: the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight. By analysing census statistics, we show how the spatial distribution in the Isles of Scilly (an archipelago) and the Isle of Wight (a solitary island) is interrelated with patterns of population and employment. Although the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight are both tourism economies, the data indicates that, in social and economic terms, the Isles of Scilly benefits while the Isle of Wight suffers as a result of their different patterns of spatial distribution. We conclude that an island community’s spatial distribution has a significant influence on its societal development and that the island effect differs among islands with different patterns of spatial distribution.