GIS and quantitative geography

The purpose of this paper is to explore the development of the GIS revolution within the field of geography in the 1980s and 1990s, taking into consideration the influence of external and internal factors on disciplinary change. Geography is rapidly changing by the impact of external factors on geographical research and also as a consequence of economic recession and cutbacks in higher education. Most geography departments in universities have tried to approach this impact by promoting or shifting to human geography as an applied science, and by offering relevant skills through GIS as an approach to contemporary problems. It is concluded that quantitative geography is essential for the further expansion of GIS within geography and also for the survival of geography. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

American geographers and the geography of East Central Europe

In the context of American geography's distinguished record in area studies around the world, East Central Europe stands out as a region that has attracted particular scrutiny over the time-span of activity by the Association of American Geographers. While the work done prior to 1918 was inevitably cast in an imperial framework with some hints of environmental determinism, the subsequent emergence of a new Europe — along with more explicitly humanistic perspectives in a discipline that was continuing to grow rapidly — led to a surge in field activity which was maintained through the communist years despite the formidable restrictions of the early post-war years. While there is a great diversity in the contributions made it is evident that there has been a continuing preoccupation with political power and the region's geopolitical significance evaluated in the context of changing great power relations. Also the big questions of economic and social geography — resources, culture and planning systems — have been examined; while a number of geographers have dedicated significant proportions of their total career activity to in-depth primary research on their chosen specialisms.     

Spatial imaginary and geography: A plea for the geography of representations

After twenty years of work on the geography of representations, how is it still possible to define geography as “the science of space”, ie as direct knowledge of material reality? This conception of the discipline — based on Cartesian precepts of evidence (eg the observer's independent certainty), reductionism (ie a disaggregation into sets of simple elements), causality (ie the presupposition of a linear linkage between cause and effect) and exhaustiveness (ie the certainty that nothing essential has been omitted) — has been thrown into question by the geography of representations' holistic approach. How can our scientific practices be separated from our interior existence with its affective and emotional aspects? Is not scientific action an extension of being? Mustn't the geographer, above and beyond the observation of concrete phenomena, also understand the subtle and complex — at times random and hidden — links which unite human beings and their life-space, be it from the viewpoint of the poet, or of all those who take alternative approaches to geography? What I would like to demonstrate is (1) how in an historically and socially given environment, the individual constructs his own reality in linking together the structural, functional and symbolic; (2) how the representation of the landscape is related to our existential experience; and (3) how the imaginary and the real are connected in each place.     

The spatiality of multifunctional agriculture: A human geography perspective

Based on reconceptualisations of multifunctional agriculture as a normative spectrum of decision-making (strong to weak multifunctionality) bounded by productivist and non-productivist action and thought [Hollander, G.M., 2004. Agricultural trade liberalization, multifunctionality, and sugar in the south Florida landscape. Geoforum 35, 299-312; Holmes, J., 2006. Impulses towards a multifunctional transition in rural Australia: gaps in the research agenda. Journal of Rural Studies 22, 142-160; Wilson, G.A., 2007. Multifunctional Agriculture: A Transition Theory Perspective. CAB International, Wallingford], this paper argues that there is currently insufficient research into the geography of multifunctionality. Building on current human geography debates about issues of scale, the paper suggests that we should conceive of multifunctionality as a spatially complex nested hierarchy comprising different interlinked ’layers’ of multifunctional decision-making ranging from the farm level to the national and global levels. It suggests that the notion of multifunctional agriculture only makes sense if it is applied at the farm level as the most important spatial scale for the implementation of multifunctional action ‘on the ground’. Multifunctionality can be interpreted as having ’direct’ expression only at the ’lower’ geographical scales (i.e. farm, community and regional levels in particular) while the regional, national and global levels show ’indirect’ expressions of multifunctionality that are mediated by local level actors in order to find tangible expression on the ground. The notion of global-level multifunctionality is the most challenging, as this level lacks political and ideological coherence about the required directions necessary for implementation of strong multifunctionality pathways. The paper concludes by arguing that much work still awaits those investigating the spatiality of multifunctionality, in particular with regard to the question whether global-level strong multifunctionality is possible, or whether strong multifunctionality in one territory is predicated on weak multifunctionality in others.     

Contemporary fiddling in human geography while Rome burns: has quantitative analysis been largely abandoned--and should it be?

Chris Hamnett [Geoforum 34 (2003) 1] has certainly been provocative in his claim that the nature of much contemporary human geography means that the discipline ‘will cease to be taken seriously in the world beyond the narrow confines of academe’ (p. 1). Much of his critique focuses on what he terms ‘post-modernism, new cultural geography and the interpretative turn’ (p. 2) practiced by those he identifies as ‘the new intellectual dilettanti’ (p. 3). In responding, however, our concern is not with that aspect of his critique, but rather with Hamnett’s misrepresentation of one section of contemporary human geography.     

Beyond the Anglo-American hegemony in human geography: a European perspective

Over the past five years or so, Anglo-American hegemony in human geography has been widely debated. This debate has highlighted the obstacles put in the way of the building of a more international geographical discipline. In this paper, we reflect on the possibilities and also the limitations of Europe as a context for the experimentation with a more cross-national discipline. In doing so, we notice on the one hand the increasing attention towards the Europeanisation of human geography, particularly at an institutional level, but on the other hand we also notice the lack of some basic forms and tools of communication and exchange that might facilitate the mobilisation of scholars around the ‘European project’. The paper tries to offer a contribution to this issue by discussing the ways in which a European journal of human geography might be conceived and also concretely organised. In this respect the paper takes into account issues of language, access to scientific knowledge and recognition of cultural and academic diversities.

Bringing geography to the community: community-based learning and the geography classroom

Community-based learning is a pedagogical technique designed to bring students out of the classroom and into their communities. Students typically pair with local nonprofit organizations to complete work which ties into their scholarship. Faculty, students, and community members can all benefit from these partnerships, and university-community relations are strengthened by them. These connections deepen the educational experience and improve student success and retention, and build civic engagement skills that benefit the university community and the student’s home community (Strait, Turk, and Nordyke in: JR Strait, K Nordyke (eds), Pedagogy Of Civic Engagement, High-Impact Practices, and e-Service- L Earning, Stylus Publishing, Virginian, 2015; Bednarz in Journal of Geography in Higher Education 32:87–100, 2008; Mohan in Journal of Geography in Higher Education 19:129–142, 1995). Spatial citizenship, while vital to such engagement and to effective community participation, is seldom taught in traditional pedagogy (Kanwischer, Schulze, and Gryl in: Thomas Jekel, Adrijana Car, Josef Strobl, and Gerald Griesebner (eds), Spatial citizenship—dimensions of a curriculum, Wichmann Verlag, Berlin, 2012). Connecting place to pedagogy with spatially-enabled learning helps students investigate complex global concepts at a manageable local scale. Geography is an intrinsic part of scholarship, to varying degrees, and spatial thinking can bring added dimension and value to the educational process (Vogler in: Thomas Jekel, Adrijana Car, Josef Strobl, and Gerald Griesebner (eds), Wichmann Verlag, Berlin, 2012). The intersectionalities which exist within the community, when examined with a spatial lens, are the core of community geography, a praxis-focused method of engaged scholarship (Shannon in Progress in Human Geography, 10.1177/0309132520961468, 2020). Community-based learning is not clearly defined, yet some established models exist. Place-based learning communities move cohorts of students through a curriculum that is centered on local community issues, with the community as both laboratory and lens, and building place attachment (Schweizer, Davis, and Thompson in Environmental Communication 7:42–62, 2013). Service learning, while less clearly defined, typically involves direct work with community organizations, identifying, investigating, and contributing to solutions for local issues (Strait, Turk, and Nordyke in: JR Strait, K Nordyke (eds), Pedagogy Of Civic Engagement, High-Impact Practices, and e-Service- L Earning, Stylus Publishing, Virginian, 2015; Cal Corps Public Service in Designing Community-Based Courses, 1–45, 2015). Built around the concept of place, the added dimension of improved spatial citizenship benefits both community and students. This paper will review community-based learning as practiced through upper-division service learning courses in geography at two universities, and the development of a new course, as methods of engagement with local communities through a spatial lens.

     

On the role of evidence in physical and human geography

While physical geographers are united in a commitment to the scientific method with its emphasis on quantitative evidence, human geographers face a dilemma in deciding whether to adopt a scientific or humanistic approach in their research. The scientific approach offers a more secure, objective knowledge, but limits the scholar to a relatively narrow range of topics. The humanistic approach allows the scholar to explore a wide range of human experiences, but it lacks rigorous procedures of objective verification. The difficulty of the application of theoretical ideas to human societies can, to some extent, be avoided by adopting an historical approach, with an emphasis on the empirical investigation of human activity as a reflection of ideas. As long as human geographers have a commitment to basing their interpretations of geographical phenomena on objective evidence the possibility of a profitable co-operation exists among proponents of different philosophical approaches. A unified human geography embracing scholars of diverse views depends for its success on the identification of geographical problems that transcend philosophical and theoretical points of view.     

基于RS及GIS的泥石流等地质灾害三维定量评价

随着泥石流等地质灾害的频繁发生,定量分析灾害发生的风险性已经成为越来越重要的课题。综合运用RS（遥感）和GIS（地理信息系统）等技术,对地质灾害数据进行采集、存储、检索、建模、分析,以期定量评价灾害发生的风险性,并以此作为参考,给泥石流等灾害可能发生的地区提出合理建议。     

Proximity,subjectivity, and space: Rethinking distance in human geography

This paper critically reviews the current status of the concept of distance in human geography in order to argue that recent experimentally-driven work in construal-level theory offers ample opportunities for recasting distance as a key geographical trope. After analysing the four entangled dimensions of distance revealed by construal-level theory (spatial distance; temporal distance; social distance; and hypothetical distance), the paper articulates this research program from experimental psychology with geographical work on non-representational theory, geographical imaginations/imaginative geographies, learning as a geographical process, TimeSpace theorising, and ontogenetic understandings of space. It is argued that the subjective understanding of distance afforded by construal-level theory can rescue distance from its entrenched association with positivistic geography and spatial analysis.     

Economic geography and organized crime: A critical review

This review argues that organized crime accounts for a significant proportion of global economic activity but despite this has yet to receive substantive attention from economic geographers. It argues that the study of organized crime would expand the empirical terrain of economic geography and produce more holistic, nuanced accounts of globalisation but also that economic geography has much to offer the existing literatures of organized crime. The paper briefly discusses the nature and extent of the global organized crime economy and then goes onto consider the relatively limited explorations of the spatialities of organized crime to date. It then explores the often blurred distinctions between licit and illicit economic practices before considering what empirical investigations of organized crime might add to our understanding of processes of contemporary globalisation.     

Scale and the other: Levinas and geography

This paper seeks to contribute to Geography's recent conversation of identity, landscape, scale and difference. It brings into dialogue previously divergent discussions about space, place and difference and proposes an approach that treats time, space, place and scale as co-equal conceptual and/or analytical elements of cultural landscapes. It argues that many philosophical debates about embodiment, emplacement and difference abstract a universalized notion of `place', `body' and `self' which confounds and conflates scale issues and consequently confuses the dialectical interplay of `time', `space', `being' and `culture' across scales. The paper takes the work of Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995) and the discursive communities around it as a philosophical entry point into these debates.     

Applications of GIS to urban planning and management: Problems facing Japanese local governments

Japanese local governments consist of about 3,380 municipalities in 2000. The total survey undertaken in 1997 says that GIS was implemented in 455 (14.3%) out of 3,182 municipalities that answered to the survey. This paper considers GIS utilization, especially focusing on urban planning and management in Japanese local government. Typical GIS applications in the urban planning and management are divided into three businesses: inquiry on the content of urban plan decision, register management, and planning. The most successful GIS application in the local government is an inquiry system on the content of urban plan decision. ‘Mappy’, Urban Plan Information Inquiry System developed by Yokohama City, is introduced as an example. The register management treats the registers for urban planned road, urban park, and urban open space, and the receipt book for development permission application. GIS can systematize their management based on maps. District diagnosis system using GIS performed two analyses in Ichikawa City. One is the calculation of area and ratio for land-use. The other is the measurement of land-use purity. GIS can calculate the degree of purity (namely occupancy rate) of specified land-use in the land-use zoning system. Most of Japanese local governments implement GIS and obtain moderate results. However, it is reported that some municipalities that paid huge amount of budget to implement GIS hardly used them. The final section will consider various issues in the use of administrative GIS. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.