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With contribution from world renowned geographers, this edited book is on the spirit and purpose of geography, on the fundamentals concepts, philosophy and methodology of geography_as a discipline. It is designed to convey this essence of modern geography in a jargon-free and easy to read style.
Responding to the changes taking place in the post-Cold War era, the editors of this volume have brought together more than forty distinguished Soviet and U.S. geographers to redefine geography as a discipline and to examine its relationship to other sciences and to the arts. Challenging inevitable barriers of language and of differing social, cultural, and scientific backgrounds, each contributor provides personal insight and perspective, shedding unique light onto this often poorly understood discipline. The book covers a broad sweep of issues, ranging from the methods of geography to examples of practical work done by geographers in Russia and the former republics and the United States. The contributors explore and define advances in quantitative technique, increasingly sophisticated methodology, and the essential relationship between these changes and theory building. They also examine the application of geography in Soviet and U.S. schools as well as the demands that shifting world events are placing on the discipline. The discussions not only reveal the individual perspectives of each geographer but also provide a unique forum for the exploration of similarities and differences within the world's two largest geographic communities. The volume concludes with an afterword by Torsten Hager strand.
This book is the latest and most comprehensive reference to the regional geography of Spain, taking into account emergent issues such as biodiversity, climate change and nationalism. It appeals to scientists as well as to students and instructors and all fields of geography, regional, environmental and cultural studies, and business related disciplines. It covers the whole range of topics from the physical to the human geography of Spain and provides detailed insights into all 17 autonomous communities. Dozens of GIS maps and hundreds of photographs and images including remote sensing imagery make this volume a must have for every geography department.
Responding to the changes taking place in the post-Cold War era, the editors of this volume have brought together more than forty distinguished Soviet and U.S. geographers to redefine geography as a discipline and to examine its relationship to other sciences and to the arts. Challenging inevitable barriers of language and of differing social, cultural, and scientific backgrounds, each contributor provides personal insight and perspective, shedding unique light onto this often poorly understood discipline. The book covers a broad sweep of issues, ranging from the methods of geography to examples of practical work done by geographers in Russia and the former republics and the United States. The contributors explore and define advances in quantitative technique, increasingly sophisticated methodology, and the essential relationship between these changes and theory building. They also examine the application of geography in Soviet and U.S. schools as well as the demands that shifting world events are placing on the discipline. The discussions not only reveal the individual perspectives of each geographer but also provide a unique forum for the exploration of similarities and differences within the world's two largest geographic communities. The volume concludes with an afterword by Torsten Hager strand.
"Offers a singularly courageous, personal account of learning how to pour the poetics of space into the art of life." -- Geografishe Annales B: Human Geography
Little did Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and other ‘gentlemen scientists’ know, when they were making their scientific discoveries, that some centuries later they would inspire a new field of scientific practice and innovation, called citizen science. The current growth and availability of citizen science projects and relevant applications to support citizen involvement is massive; every citizen has an opportunity to become a scientist and contribute to a scientific discipline, without having any professional qualifications. With geographic interfaces being the common approach to support collection, analysis and dissemination of data contributed by participants, ‘geographic citizen science’ is being approached from different angles. Geographic Citizen Science Design takes an anthropological and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) stance to provide the theoretical and methodological foundations to support the design, development and evaluation of citizen science projects and their user-friendly applications. Through a careful selection of case studies in the urban and non-urban contexts of the Global North and South, the chapters provide insights into the design and interaction barriers, as well as on the lessons learned from the engagement of a diverse set of participants; for example, literate and non-literate people with a range of technical skills, and with different cultural backgrounds. Looking at the field through the lenses of specific case studies, the book captures the current state of the art in research and development of geographic citizen science and provides critical insight to inform technological innovation and future research in this area.
This book explores the intersection of geographical knowledge and artistic research in terms of both creative methods and practice-based research. In doing so it brings together geography’s ‘creative turn’ with the art world’s ‘research turn.’ Based on a decade and a half of ethnographic stories of working at the intersection of creative arts practices and geographical research, this book offers a much-needed critical account of these forms of knowledge production. Adopting a geohumanities approach to investigating how these forms of knowledge are produced, consumed, and circulated, it queries what imaginaries and practices of the key sites of knowledge making (including the field, the artist’s studio, the PhD thesis, and the exhibition) emerge and how these might challenge existing understandings of these locations. Inspired by the geographies of science and knowledge, art history and theory, and accounts of working within and beyond disciplines, this book seeks to understand the geographies of research at the intersection of geography and creative arts practices, how these geographies challenge existing understandings of these disciplines and practices, and what they might contribute to our wider discussions of working beyond disciplines, including through artistic research. This book offers a timely contribution to the emerging fields of artistic research and geohumanities, and will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers.
As political, economic, and environmental issues increasingly spread across the globe, the science of geography is being rediscovered by scientists, policymakers, and educators alike. Geography has been made a core subject in U.S. schools, and scientists from a variety of disciplines are using analytical tools originally developed by geographers. Rediscovering Geography presents a broad overview of geography's renewed importance in a changing world. Through discussions and highlighted case studies, this book illustrates geography's impact on international trade, environmental change, population growth, information infrastructure, the condition of cities, the spread of AIDS, and much more. The committee examines some of the more significant tools for data collection, storage, analysis, and display, with examples of major contributions made by geographers. Rediscovering Geography provides a blueprint for the future of the discipline, recommending how to strengthen its intellectual and institutional foundation and meet the demand for geographic expertise among professionals and the public.
"There is a growing unease among geographers with the notion of geography as spatial analysis but, as yet, no book has appeared which is able to assimilate and develop the profound methodological developments and changes in philosophy which have occurred since the sixties. Ideology, Science and Human Geography re-examines the nature of geography after the positivist revolution and provides a critique of the discipline from the perspective of the social sciences in general. For Gregory, the new geography's commitment to the paradigms of natural science was simply a reaffirmation of the Victorian tradition of geography. The ideological consequences of this are discussed in relation to recent changes in the social sciences to argue that a scientific geography must provide explanations which are at once structural, reflexive and committed. In questioning many of the assumptions of quantitative methodology the book seeks, above all, to reinstate man into the study of geography." -- Publisher's description
'Gunnar Törnqvist, one of the world's most distinguished economic geographers, can fairly claim to have discovered the notion of the geography of creativity over thirty years ago. This remarkable book summarises his immensely original and important research on the subject, which now dominates the geographical literature. It is the book that the world has been waiting for him to publish.' Sir Peter Hall, University College London, UK 'This book offers a comprehensive perspective on the salience of context in fostering or hindering creativity. After several decades of research and teaching, Gunnar Törnqvist has become a foremost authority on the subject. Here, his elegant conceptual overview is complemented by a methodologically-innovative scrutiny of career journeys, including those of Nobel Prize laureates. The Geography of Creativity will be warmly welcomed by not only cultural geographers, but also by scholars in various fields of social science and humanities.' Anne Buttimer, University College Dublin, Ireland What is creativity and who exactly is creative? In this insightful and highly readable book, Gunnar Tornqvist attempts to answer these questions by arguing that geographical millieux are hotbeds for creativity and renewal places where pioneers in art, technology and science have gathered and developed their special abilities. In light of ongoing social and economic transformations, special attention is paid to the institutional settings in firms and universities. The goal is to identify those features which facilitate and those which impede the creative process. Individual lives are illustrated through the autobiographies of hundreds of Nobel Laureates. Their life paths reveal the importance of geographic mobility and contact patterns for the development of creativity and international prestige. From these biographies we can also see how local millieux and schools have influenced many scientists. The Geography of Creativity will be of great benefit to academics and students in regional science, economic geography and economics.
