Have just finished John Kay's highly enjoyable Obliquity: "in many spheres of life [...] our goals are best achieved when we approach them indirectly."
I am thinking of appropriating the term to make the case for expanding successful areas - e.g. through increasing the supply of housing - to help those currently stuck in less successful areas. A little more user friendly than appealing to the 'underlying adjustments that occur to re-establish spatial equilibrium.'
CEP Urban and Spatial Programme Blog (formerly SERC)
