DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND SOCIAL STUDIES

P.O. Box 342-01000

Thika
Email: Info@mku.ac.ke
Web: www.mku.ac.

UNIT CODE: BHU1216

UNIT NAME: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

COURSE OUTLINE

Purpose

To introduce students to concepts of human geography, man’s role in changing the face of the
earth, special relationship of phenomena and use of the environmental and organization of the
society

Learning outcome

-to describe the relationship between structures and processes

-to gain knowledge/ strategies in solving problems caused by distribution of people and their
activities.

WEEK 1

Introduction- overview

WEEK 2

1- The Philosophy and methodology of human geography.

-its scope, evolution, content and structure.

3- the major philosophies in Human Geography .

- Empiricism, positivism, humanism and Marxism

WEEK 3

1- Methodology in human Geography

-Data collection methods.

- Questionnaires, interviews, observation, etc

WEEK 4

1- Evolution of human Geography

-Evolutionary phases

-Emperical observation

-environmental observation

-regional/areal geography

WEEK 5

2- introduction to basic geographical concepts

-nomothetic, idiographic and racial approaches.

WEEK 6

1-Components of Spatial organization

-the spatial perspective

-spatial distribution

-types of spatial distribution

2- Spatial interaction

-spatial relations

3-Spatial patterns
WEEK 7

CONCEPT OF REGIONS

-Introduction

-Types of regions

WEEK 8

Movement and Migration patterns

Space perception and locational decisions

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

Human geography is a branch of the social sciences that studies the world, its people,
communities, and cultures with an emphasis on relations of and across space and place. Human
geography differs from physical geography mainly in that it has a greater focus on studying
human activities and is more receptive to qualitative research methodologies. As a discipline,
human geography is particularly diverse with respect to its methods and theoretical approaches
to study.

MAJOR PHILOSOPHIES IN HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

Empiricism
The empirical approach is based on factual realities; therefore, the acquisition of knowledge is a
necessary process of verification. Empiricism rejects generalizations and, rejected by other
philosophies, forms the basic framework of positivism. Traditional regional geography was
empiricist in nature.

Positivism
Positivism believes that human geography should be objective in nature without the biases of
personal beliefs. As a result, humans and physical objects can be treated similarly.

Positivism was closely associated with quantitative methods and theory development in the
1960s. An integral part of spatial analysis, positivism developed into a scientific method that
studies facts, conceptualization, hypothetical derivations, and the creation of laws on
verification. The roots of positivism can be traced to the work of Comte, who distinguished
between science on one hand and religion and metaphysics on the other.
Humanism
Humanism developed in the 1970s to challenge positivism. It emphasizes the role of humans as
decision-makers; the way humans perceive their world, land, landscapes, and regions; and
subjectivity in general.
There are several humanistic philosophies: pragmatism, phenomenology, existentialism, and
idealism:
 Pragmatism believes that every human action is based on human perceptions and
practical experience. It is closely related to empiricism.
 Phenomenology believes that knowledge is subjective and an understanding of the
individual human is crucial to it.
 Existentialism and idealism have not been very influential in geography.

Marxism
Karl Marx was a revolutionary who tried to understand society and social change by referring to
historical changes in social relations (historical materialism). To trace the history of economic
change, he summarized the following:
 forces of production, e.g. raw materials
 relations of production, or the ways in which production process is organized, e.g.
ownership and control
 mode of production, or the culmination of forces and relations, e.g. feudalism
 ‘superstructure’, which refers to the legal and political systems, social consciousness, and
the larger human geographic world
 infrastructure, which in this case is the economic structure of the capitalist world that
determines the superstructure of the human geographic world

Marxism maintains that economic processes control human behaviour and focuses on social and
environmental ills. Its long-term goal is to create a transformation from capitalism to socialism.

HUMAN GEOGRAPHIC CONCEPTS

Two basic principles of human geography are
 geographic literacy: to know the facts, to know where places are
 geographic knowledge: to explain the facts
The terms discussed below are essential to human geography and facilitate the understanding of
how human behaviour affects the earth’s surface.

Space
Absolute space exists in areal extent. It is objective and forms the basis of map-making,
chorology, and spatial analysis (very similar to the ideas of Kant). Relative space is area as
perceived by society that keeps changing. Human geographers are skeptical of spatial analysis
because they believe space itself does not have any content and its importance lies only in its
human context.

Location
Location is a position within space, not necessarily on the earth’s surface. Absolute location
identifies a position with mathematical reference to latitude and longitude and thus does not
change. Relative location identifies a position relative to one or more locations that may change.
A toponym is the place name that also helps identify location.
Place
Place refers to a location with a specific identity, e.g. home. A sense of place is evoked in
relation to a distinctive place with special significance. Sacred space refers to a place that is
respected usually for a religious purpose. Mundane space is occupied by humans but has no
particular quality. The concept of ‘placelessness’ refers to landscapes that are relatively similar.

Topophilia refers to the love of a place while topophobia refers to the dislike of a place.

Region
A formal region is an area with one or more common features. Defining formal regions is a
subjective matter.

A functional region is an area with locations related to either each other or to a specific location.
With the increasing use of spatial analysis in the 1960s, the concept of functional regions became
more popular.
Distance
Distance is measured in standard units such as kilometres, while human geographers measure
distances in terms of time and cost. Distance may be relative or absolute.

The distribution and pattern of geographic facts is explained with reference to distances. The
concept of distance decay refers to the effect of increasing distance on time and cost.

Accessibility refers to the ease with which a location can be reached. Interaction refers to the
movement between locations.

Agglomeration refers to the close concentration of activities in a particular location while

deglomeration refers to decentralization or movement away from concentrations.

Scale
Scales may be spatial, temporal, or social. Spatial scale may be used in two ways:
 the ratio of the distance on the map to the distance on the ground
 different scales exist for different types of area
Temporal scale is important for historical and cultural perspectives. Social scale refers to the
individual scale of analysis in human terms.

Diffusion
Diffusion represents one way in which change occurs in geography. It is the spread of a
phenomenon over space and growth over time, e.g. the migration of people.

Hagerstrand developed several concepts based on diffusion:

 the neighbourhood effect where diffusion spreads from the nearest to the farthest
 the hierarchical effect where diffusion moves from larger centres to smaller ones
 the S-shaped curve confirming that diffusion starts at a slow pace and then progresses
rapidly
Perception
Perception and mental images form an integral part of human geography. Mental images and
maps are important for the following reasons:
 They make people aware of the degree of connectivity in world concerns. Mental maps
change with new circumstances.
 Mental maps show that humans have different perceptions of environments. This helps to
explain population movements.
 Mental maps of certain individuals, such as decision-makers, are important as they decide
where to locate things.
 Distorted mental maps can present serious problems, particularly if one is in an unknown
area.

Development
Development refers to the measures of economic growth, social welfare, and modernization.
Certain areas are more developed than others. For example, the highly developed St Lawrence
lowlands of Quebec and Ontario are surrounded by the lesser developed Maritime area and the
North.

Discourse
According to Michel Foucault, the history of ideas is a history of changing discourses in which
 there is a relationship between power and knowledge
 truth is relative and is based on the power relations within the societies that create it

Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasing interaction and integration of the world, economically,
politically, and culturally. It is both the result and the cause of the increasing interconnections of
places and peoples. It increases the volume of movement and the speed of movement across
countries. Components of globalization include technological advances in communications and
increasing predominance of transnational corporations.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS
1-Highlite the shortcomings of environmental determinants approach to the study of man
environment relationship
2- distinguish between environmental determinism and positivism

METHODS IN HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

Course objectives
• To introduce learners to a range of social science research methods in human geography.
• To provide practical experience of finding, collecting and analysing different forms of data.
• To understand the potential and limitations of different forms of data in human geography.
• To prepare you for planning and implementing a successful third year dissertation.

Methods covered
Quantitative analysis:
• Accessing and downloading remote data sets: making use of the Internet.
• Geographical Information Systems (GIS): making sense of spatial data.
• Basic statistics: descriptive statistics, graphs, significance tests, correlation and regression
• The use of the EXCEL, GEODA and STATA software packages
• Principles of sampling and questionnaire design; coding, data entry and analysis of results.

Qualitative analysis:
• Interviews and focus groups: interviewing as a primary research method; framing questions;
coding and discourse analysis.
• Observational methods and an introduction to ethnographic techniques.
• Archives, texts and images: newspapers, censuses, maps, photographs and a variety of literary
and artistic sources.

DATA COLLECTION METHODS

Questionnaires

In contrast with interviews, where an enumerator poses questions directly, questionnaires refer to
forms filled in by respondents alone. Questionnaires can be handed out or sent by mail and later
collected or returned by stamped addressed envelope. This method can be adopted for the entire
population or sampled sectors.

Questionnaires may be used to collect regular or infrequent routine data, and data for specialised
studies. While the information in this section applies to questionnaires for all these uses,
examples will concern only routine data, whether regular or infrequent. Some of the data often
obtained through questionnaires include demographic characteristics, fishing practices, opinions
of stakeholders on fisheries issues or management, general information on fishers and household
food budgets.

A questionnaire requires respondents to fill out the form themselves, and so requires a high level
of literacy. Where multiple languages are common, questionnaires should be prepared using the
major languages of the target group. Special care needs to be taken in these cases to ensure
accurate translations.

In order to maximise return rates, questionnaires should be designed to be as simple and clear as
possible, with targeted sections and questions. Most importantly, questionnaires should also be
as short as possible. If the questionnaire is being given to a sample population, then it may be
preferable to prepare several smaller, more targeted questionnaires, each provided to a sub-
sample. If the questionnaire is used for a complete enumeration, then special care needs to be
taken to avoid overburdening the respondent. If, for instance, several agencies require the same
data, attempts should be made to co-ordinate its collection to avoid duplication.

The information that can be obtained through questionnaires consists of almost any data variable.
For example, catch or landing information can be collected through questionnaire from fishers,
market middle-persons, market sellers and buyers, processors etc. Likewise, socio-economic data
can also be obtained through questionnaires from a variety of sources. However, in all cases
variables obtained are an opinion and not a direct measurement, and so may be subject to serious
errors. Using direct observations (6.3.4) or reporting systems (6.3.5) for these sorts of data is
more reliable.
Questionnaires, like interviews, can contain either structured questions with blanks to be filled
in, multiple choice questions, or they can contain open-ended questions where the respondent is
encouraged to reply at length and choose their own focus to some extent.

To facilitate filling out forms and data entry in a structured format, the form should ideally be
machine-readable, or at least laid out with data fields clearly identifiable and responses pre-
coded. In general, writing should be reduced to a minimum (e.g. tick boxes, multiple choices),
preferably being limited to numerals. In an open-ended format, keywords and other structuring
procedures should be imposed later to facilitate database entry and analysis, if necessary.

Interviews

In contrast with interviews, where an enumerator poses questions directly, questionnaires refer to
forms filled in by respondents alone. Questionnaires can be handed out or sent by mail and later
collected or returned by stamped addressed envelope. This method can be adopted for the entire
population or sampled sectors.

Questionnaires may be used to collect regular or infrequent routine data, and data for specialised
studies. While the information in this section applies to questionnaires for all these uses,
examples will concern only routine data, whether regular or infrequent. Some of the data often
obtained through questionnaires include demographic characteristics, fishing practices, opinions
of stakeholders on fisheries issues or management, general information on fishers and household
food budgets.

A questionnaire requires respondents to fill out the form themselves, and so requires a high level
of literacy. Where multiple languages are common, questionnaires should be prepared using the
major languages of the target group. Special care needs to be taken in these cases to ensure
accurate translations.

In order to maximise return rates, questionnaires should be designed to be as simple and clear as
possible, with targeted sections and questions. Most importantly, questionnaires should also be
as short as possible. If the questionnaire is being given to a sample population, then it may be
preferable to prepare several smaller, more targeted questionnaires, each provided to a sub-
sample. If the questionnaire is used for a complete enumeration, then special care needs to be
taken to avoid overburdening the respondent. If, for instance, several agencies require the same
data, attempts should be made to co-ordinate its collection to avoid duplication.

The information that can be obtained through questionnaires consists of almost any data variable.
For example, catch or landing information can be collected through questionnaire from fishers,
market middle-persons, market sellers and buyers, processors etc. Likewise, socio-economic data
can also be obtained through questionnaires from a variety of sources. However, in all cases
variables obtained are an opinion and not a direct measurement, and so may be subject to serious
errors. Using direct observations (6.3.4) or reporting systems (6.3.5) for these sorts of data is
more reliable.

Questionnaires, like interviews, can contain either structured questions with blanks to be filled
in, multiple choice questions, or they can contain open-ended questions where the respondent is
encouraged to reply at length and choose their own focus to some extent.

To facilitate filling out forms and data entry in a structured format, the form should ideally be
machine-readable, or at least laid out with data fields clearly identifiable and responses pre-
coded. In general, writing should be reduced to a minimum (e.g. tick boxes, multiple choices),
preferably being limited to numerals. In an open-ended format, keywords and other structuring
procedures should be imposed later to facilitate database entry and analysis, if necessary. making
multiple fishing trips in one day. For these, the interview may cover planned activities as well as
activities already completed.

In an interview approach for boat/gear activities, the enumerators work according to a

schedule of homeport visits to record data on boat/gear activities. Enumerators can be mobile
(that is homeports are visited on a rotational basis) or resident at a specific sampling site. In
either case, their job is to determine the total number of fishing units (and if feasible, fishing
gears) for all boat/gear types based at that homeport and number of those that have been fishing
during the sampling day.

There are several ways of recording boat/gear activities. In many cases, they combine the
interview method with direct observations. Direct observations can be used to identify inactive
fishing units by observing those that are moored or beached, and the total number of vessels
based at the homeport are already known, perhaps from a frame survey or register. Often
enumerators will still have to verify that vessels are fishing as opposed to other activities by
using interviews during the visit.

The pure interview approach can be used in those cases where a pre-determined sub-set of the
fishing units has been selected. The enumerator's job is to trace all fishers on the list and, by
means of interviewing, find out those that had been active during the sampling day. For sites
involving a workable number of fishing units (e.g. not larger than 20), the interview may involve
all fishing units.

Sometimes it is possible to ask questions on fishing activity which refer to the previous day or
even to two days back. This extra information increases the sample size significantly with little
extra cost, ultimately resulting in better estimates of total fishing effort. Experience has shown
that most of the variability in boat/gear activity is in time rather than space.

Observations

Observation is a primary method of collecting data by human, mechanical, electrical or

electronics means with direct or indirect contact. As per Langley P, “Observations involve
looking and listening very carefully. We all watch other people sometimes but we do not usually
watch them in order to discover particular information about their behavior. This is what
observation in social science involves.”

Observation is the main source of information in the field research. The researcher goes into the
field and observes the conditions in their natural state.

There are many types of observation, direct or indirect, participant or non-participant, obtrusive
or non-obtrusive, structured or non-structured. The observation is important and actual behavior
of people is observed and not what people say they did or feel. For example, people value health
but they would pick up food they know to fatty. It is useful when the subject cannot provide
information or can only provide inaccurate information like people addicted to drugs. But at the
same time, in observation the researcher does not get any insight into what people may be
thinking.

OBTRUSIVE AND UNOBTRUSIVE

Obtrusive mean visible, thrusting out or evident. It is like class monitor, traffic warden or
inspector. On the other hand, unobtrusive mean hidden, camouflaged or low-key. In such
method, the researcher is not required to intrude. Also, it reduced bias. It enables to obtain data
from a source other than people like instead of asking people which soft drink they like, an
unobtrusive source would to collect empty cans from garbage dumps and analyse their brands.
There are other such examples: to ascertain popularity of journal, one can observe its wear and
tear in a library. Also, entry counters in a super market provide very strong evidence that from
which side the customers come in. Likewise, number of hits on a web site can be related to its
usefulness or popularity. Hidden cameras can show consumer behavior in the store.

In participative observation, the observers becomes a participant in the program or culture or

context being observed. It may require long time as the researcher needs to become accepted as a
natural part of the culture. On the other hand, if one needs to observe child-mother interactions,
one would resort to non-participative observations looking from a one-way mirror to note verbal
or non-verbal cues being given by the mother and the child

Strength and weaknesses of observation

Observation is a generic method that involves the collection, interpretation and comparison of
data. It shares these characteristics with the case study method. It is therefore particularly well
suited to the analysis of the effects of an intervention that is innovative or unfamiliar, and
especially the clarification of confounding factors that influence the apparent success or failure
of the interventions evaluated.

Observational techniques serve to reveal the discrepancy between the way in which public
interventions are understood high up at decision-making level, and the way in which it is
understood in the field; it highlights the interpretation made of it by individuals in an operational
situation.
The observation is generally limited to a small number of settings. Generalisation is therefore
possible only if the intervention is sufficiently homogeneous across sites.

It is based on spontaneous or naturalistic data, gathered by an independent and experienced

observer. The reliability of the observation depends to a large extent on the professional know-
how of the observer-analyst. It is however possible to introduce a structured observational
template that can be used by less experienced researchers, when gathering data across a large
number of settings.

Despite its advantages, observation requires meticulous preparation to enable the observer to fit
into the observed context without disturbing anyone [what sort of preparation?], as well as
considerable time for data collection. making it an expensive method.

The technique allows data to be gathered in difficult situations where other survey techniques
cannot be used.

A major strength of using observational techniques, especially those based on Grounded Theory,
is that they can capture unexpected data which other methods can miss. The researcher does not
define categories of data before going out into the field but is open to "what's there" - the theory
emerges from the data on the ground rather than pre-defined theory influencing what data is
collected.

The extent to which the observer can be present without disturbing or influencing research
subjects is never nil; it is usually recommended that observers maintain self-awareness about
how they impact the environment they are researching and to take account of it in their data
collection. In participant observation the researcher aims to become part of a community or
environment rather than maintaining a detached status.

NOMOTHETIC AND IDIOGRAPHIC APPROACHES

Geography over the last century has progressed through a series of radical changes. Before the
mid-20th century the approach was idiographic. This concept is based on exploration and the
study of “individuals”. By the mid-20th century the Earth had been mapped and explored so
there was need for an advance in geography from idiographic approaches to the harder science of
nomothetic approaches. This is where research is taken out to develop laws and patterns to
identify geographical circumstances.

This shift from idiographic approaches to nomothetic approaches was known as the quantitative
revolution. This gave arise to positivist geography, “the belief that an understanding of
phenomena is solely grounded on sense data; what cannot be tested empirically cannot be
regarded as proven.” By the late 20th century many Geographers believed that the positivist
approach to Geography was too basic so there was greater need for development on the
discipline. The whole concept behind this was towards the end of the 20th century geographers
were opening their minds to even greater possibilities than nomothetic concepts.

The 1960s saw geography being defined in terms of special science. There are two aspects in
this: space and science (or being scientific).

The first aspect is that whereas history deals with time (in places), geography deals in spaces.
This means set areas. This seems a regular relationship, where one space is simply a
mathematical relationship to any other space. That lends itself to the second aspect, being
science. Geography, instead of being a member of the intellectual arts, becomes a science, and
all sorts of mathematical and science based approaches take place.

Of course the space is filled; it is not just an area of dimensions. However, the filling is one with
regular patterns compared with other spaces. So if there is a river, or an urban area, these have
characteristics open to scientific study like other areas with or without these.

This method (for it is about method) is called nomothetic. It is mathematical and therefore most
objective; and scientific, and therefore predictive. It is a quantitative system.

Nomothetic and idiographic are terms used by Kantian philosopher Wilhelm Windelband to
describe two distinct approaches to knowledge, each one corresponding to a different intellectual
tendency, and each one corresponding to a different branch of academe

It likes the certain reportability of the quantitative approach where real statistics can be
presented and comparisons and contrasts made, away from the subjective geography that was
before it. Geography seems to have stronger foundations.

This sort of geography will come close to economics. It will do measurements about the most
efficient use of space, in relationships. Diagrams and maps can be created in the abstract for
business and shopping and housing areas, for road planning, for criteria regarding cost and
benefit. So there is human geography involved, but in terms of producing functioning efficient
outcomes.

If this geography is social science based (if it accepts it is not quite science) then it is the most
objective and systematic kind closest to the method of science (top down). However
methodology can go closer to the arts again.
The more arts based approach to geography is called idiographic. It recognises that whilst
human beings do form patterns of activity (which social science methods can show), geography
is about qualitative methods to illustrate the full range of human beings.

Idiographic is based on what Kant described as a tendency to specify, and is typical for the
humanities. It describes the effort to understand the meaning of contingent, unique, and often
subjective phenomena

It criticises nomothetic geography for having a simplified and indeed dehumanised and power
led theory of the person. That is the geography of the existing system, as it is indeed a system
portraying a system. Its objectivity becomes a pretence. It is not scientific as such but scientistic:
in other words it adopts the ideology of science.

This idiographic geography is much more anthropological (bottom up). Spaces become places,
where there is indeed human feeling involved. There are not just human features and influence,
but human mental maps. There are attachments and fleeting associations. The identity with
place becomes part of what it means to be ourselves.

This is about asking people what they think and experience. Perhaps there are groups to be
identified, and they live in identifiable places, but the process of identification is itself through
asking, and recording and reproducing some narrative account. It means either not trying
efficient outcomes as such (or at least relegating these) or building into calculations of planning
the sense of place that people have. It may be as simple (in planning terms) as not building a road
through the middle of an existing community.

This form of geography is about taking account of the spiritual dimension. This does not
necessarily mean religions, though in fact religions do have histories of engaging with place and
space (especially Islam in its great Abbasid dynasty period when town planning was very much
an engagement with liveable cities). It means something beyond the rational (it does not exclude
it, as the rational was excluded not in Islamic town planning). It is that inherent extra
dimension in being human, in having affinities and emotional responses, in seeking identities
and contact with other human people in meaningful ways. It should mean too a sense of beauty,
which may even be an aesthetic of the rational, scientific and mathematical.

This geography goes further because it asks about the point of things in essential human
characteristics. This is about human intentions and approaches, which have a quality to them of
which research would intend to find the essence (phenomenological ). It is about being
conscious in the world with qualities of intentions: we have being in the place and therefore
relationship bound. This existentialism is then doing-based existence in places. Clearly there are
overlaps with theology in both essences of the mind and being in relationship.

These relationships become more human, it can be argued, when time is taken into account. All
geographical "maps" exist in time and through time. So history does come in but because it is a
part of geography. This is necessary for both natural geography (whatever this is in
contemporary terms) and especially human geography. Our sense of place is time based, and
even imaginary time is significant for human meaning and sense of place. Hull (add "Kingston
upon" and it changes its construct), for example, is a whole series of mental spaces and indeed
times. These times are also joined, and unevenly. The fact that times matter in a mental manner
does not lend itself to scientism!

Time even introduces a geography of teleology. This is where an end point determines the
evolving picture of the transition of a place through time.

The idiographic geography is making a return as we become more sophisticated, and especially
as space is becoming virtual (and unevenly shrunk) in many areas of communication and
intellectual life, and time is speeding up in qualititative experiential terms. idiographic
geography gives rise to a more sophisticated analysis, and engages geography with the narrative
basis of life lived.

EVOLUTION OF HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

Different Evolutionary Phases

1-Empirical Observation- Old school science; armchair analysis.

Empiricism is a theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily from
sensory experience. One of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along
with rationalism, idealism, and historicism, empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and
evidence, especially sensory experience, in the formation of ideas, over the notion of innate ideas
or traditions; empiricists may argue however that traditions (or customs) arise due to relations of
previous sense experiences.

Empiricism in the philosophy of science emphasizes evidence, especially as discovered in

experiments. It is a fundamental part of the scientific method that all hypotheses and theories
must be tested against observations of the natural world rather than resting solely on a priori
reasoning, intuition, or revelation.

Philosophers associated with empiricism include Aristotle, Alhazen, Avicenna, Ibn Tufail,
Robert Grosseteste, William of Ockham, Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, Robert Boyle, John
Locke, George Berkeley, Hermann von Helmholtz, David Hume, Leopold von Ranke, John
Stuart Mill, and Karl Popper.

2. Environmental Determinism-Darwinism taken to the extreme.

Environmental determinism, also known as climatic determinism or geographical
determinism, is the view that the physical environment sets limits on human environment.

The fundamental argument of the environmental determinists was that aspects of physical
geography, particularly climate, influenced the psychological mind-set of individuals, which in
turn defined the behaviour and culture of the society that those individuals formed. For example,
tropical climates were said to cause laziness, relaxed attitudes and promiscuity, while the
frequent variability in the weather of the middle latitudes led to more determined and driven
work ethics. Because these environmental influences operate slowly on human biology, it was
important to trace the migrations of groups to see what environmental conditions they had
evolved under. Key proponents of this notion have included Ellen Churchill Semple, Ellsworth
Huntington, Thomas Griffith Taylor, and possibly Jared Diamond or Philip M. Parker. Although
Diamond's work does make connections between environmental and climatic conditions and
societal development, it is published with the stated intention of disproving racist and eurocentric
theories of development.

3. Areal Studies / Regional Geography-Breaking the world up into different places

Regional geography is the study of world regions. Attention is paid to unique characteristics of
a particular region such as natural elements, human elements, and regionalization which covers
the techniques of delineating space into regions.

Regional geography is also a certain approach to geographical study, comparable to quantitative

geography or critical geography. This approach prevailed during the second half of the 19th
century and the first half of the 20th century, a period when then regional geography paradigm
was central within the geographical sciences. It was later criticised for its descriptiveness and the
lack of theory. Strong criticism was leveled against it in particular during the 1950s and the
quantitative revolution. Main critics were G. H. T. Kimble and Fred K. Schaefer.

The regional geography paradigm has had an impact on many other geographical sciences,
including economic geography and geomorphology. Regional geography is still taught in some
universities as a study of the major regions of the world, such as Northern and Latin America,
Europe, and Asia and their countries. In addition, the notion of a city-regional approach to the
study of geography gained some credence in the mid-1990s through the work of geographers
such as Saskia Sassen, although it was also criticized, for example by Peter Storper.

Notable figures in regional geography were Alfred Hettner in Germany, with his concept of
chorology; Paul Vidal de la Blache in France, with the possibilism approach (possibilism being a
softer notion than environmental determinism); and, in the United States, Richard Hartshorne
with his concept of areal differentiation.

Some geographers have also attempted to reintroduce a certain amount of regionalism since the
1980s. This involves a complex definition of regions and their interactions with others.
4. Quantitative Revolution-Stats can solve the world’s problems!
In the history of geography, the quantitative revolution (QR or Quantitative Revolution) was
one of the four major turning-points of modern geography -- the other three being environmental
determinism, regional geography and critical geography). The quantitative revolution occurred
during the 1950s and 1960s and marked a rapid change in the method behind geographical
research, from regional geography into a spatial science.[The main claim for the quantitative
revolution is that it led to a shift from a descriptive (idiographic) geography to an empirical law-
making (nomothetic)

Burton (1963) described the Quantitative Revolution as "a radical transformation of [the] spirit
and purpose" of Geography. By this he meant a new-found enthusiasm for the use of numerical
techniques of some kind, directed towards elucidating the details of Earth surface patterns - or
what became known as ‘spatial science’. However, for what is perhaps the most (in)famous
episode in the discipline’s history, the exact identity of the QR remains elusive. Few would
dispute the fact that major change did occur, but different people hold up different heroes (or
villains!), working on different things, in different places, at different times. The QR involved a
mish-mash of techniques, including the use of:

 descriptive statistics;
 inferential statistics (e.g. correlation and regression);
 basic mathematical equations: e.g. the gravity model of social physics, or the Coulomb
equation;
 deterministic models: e.g. Von Thünen’s and Weber’s location models, both of which
were resurrected in the 1950s and 1960s;
 stochastic models, involving concepts of probability, such as some of the work on spatial
diffusion processes.

The common factor linking all this was its preference for numbers over words, and a belief in its
superior scientific pedigree (see ‘positivism’, below).

Was it important? Work of the QR/spatial science tradition was certainly closer to what was
expected of academic research in the 1950s and 1960s than was the regional geography which
preceded it. However, this does not mean it was superior - it was just different, but different in a
way which matched the prevailing mood. This mood changed by the late 1960s, with a
significant number of geographers beginning to question the wisdom - and even the morality - of
this quantitative turn. Much of what has happened in geography over the last 30 years can be
read as a product of the QR, either as a hardening of its traditions (mostly in physical geography
and related disciplines), or as an attempt to dismantle the damage done (mostly in human
geography).
5. Systematic Geograph-Top‐down theoretical approaches.
6. Post Modern Geography-We don’t know anything. Let’s not presume anything

SAMPLE QUESTIONS
1- Explain the phases of evolution.

COMPONENT OF SPATIAL ORGANISATION

Objectives

The student is able to:

 Explain the meaning of the spatial concepts of next to, behind, in front of, left, right,
inside, outside, and between (e.g., moving people or desks to new locations, labeling
spots in the room).
 Describe the meaning of the spatial concepts of distance, direction, and location used in
selected literature (e.g., read an account of Paul Revere’s ride and describe it in terms of
locations [start to end], movement, region of action, distance, direction).
 Construct a story built on spatial concepts using directions, locations, distances, and
movements in the plot (e.g., cardinal directions, relative and exact locations, real or
imaginary locations, statements of distances).
 dentify features and patterns on geographic representations or remotely sensed images
and describe the differences in the features and patterns (e.g., straight lines of roads
forming a grid, curving roads in mountain areas, farmland and pastures versus the
patterns of cities and suburbs).
 Compare distances and populations of towns and cities along a highway that runs through
a state and look for patterns or trends (e.g., regularity of distances between towns of a
certain size, the variability in distance from interstate highways between larger cities and
smaller cities, sizes of towns closer or farther away from larger cities).
 Describe and compare the natural features and human factors using geographic
representations that may influence where people live (e.g., access to water, climatic
conditions, rivers, and bridges).
What is Geography?

There are many definitions of "geography". Most students think that geography is memorizing
the locations of countries, capitals, rivers, etc. Geography is really much more than this. It is
best to remember that geographers try to answer three questions:

1. Where?
2. Why there?
3. Why do we care?

The geographically informed person must understand that physical and human phenomena are
distributed across Earth’s surface and see meaning in their arrangements across space.
Geography usually starts with questions such as, “Where?” “What is it like here?” and “Why is
this located there and not here?” When considering “where” questions, geographers seek
regularities—that is, patterns as well as relationships among phenomena (the features of Earth
and activities that take place on Earth). They describe and explain patterns in terms of distance,
direction, density, and distribution. They use spatial concepts, processes, and models as powerful
tools for explaining the world at all scales, local to global.

The Spatial Perspective

Geographers can study anything that has a significant spatial component. Geographers
concentrate on the "where" and by doing this they may be able to gain a better understanding of
what is being studied than if the "where" were ignored. This is the "Spatial Perspective" that is
peculiar to the study of geography. This perspective is useful in a wide variety of fields and
therefore you have a wide variety of sub-disciplines in the field of geography (like political
geography, cultural geography, physical geography, etc.). Businesses use geography when they
decide WHERE to locate a new plant. Real estate developers use geography when they decide
WHERE to build a new housing development. You have used geography when you decided
WHERE to look for a job, or WHERE to go on vacation, or WHERE to go to school. If the
WHERE is important, then geographers can study it.
History Analogy

History and Geography are quite similar. When historians study a topic they focus on the
WHEN. Hence you can have subjects like the: history of war, the history of sports, the history of
comic books, etc. Geographers can study these same issues, and virtually anything else, but the
geographer's perspective is SPATIAL, rather than TEMPORAL like the historians. Hence there
can also be the geography of war, the geography of sports, and the geography of comic books.
What geographers add to such topics is the spatial perspective.

MAPS: primary tool to see the spatial perspective

Maps allow geographers to better see spatial relationships. They are the fundamental tools of the
geographer.

Place-name geography, the memorization of locations on maps, is an important component of

this geography course. Just like knowing how to read is necessary before one studies
Shakespearean literature, knowing certain map locations is necessary before one studies
geography. But if you know how to read it does not mean that you understand Shakespearean
literature. Also, if you only know map locations, you definitely do not know geography. You
may know the WHERE, but not the WHY THERE, and the WHY DO WE CARE.

Two Common Misperceptions

There are two common misperceptions about geography. The first I have discussed above.
Geography is not just place-name geography. The more important, and more fun, components of
the study of geography are the WHY THERE and the WHY DO WE CARE.

Also, geography is not static. Geography is about CHANGE. The movement of people, goods,
ideas, pollution, and even NFL football teams immediately catch the geographer's eye. WHERE
are they going? WHY are they moving? And WHY does it matter? As we progress through this
course, pay attention to these, and many other, changes.
Systematic vs. Regional Geography

There are two basic approaches to the study of world geography. The REGIONAL approach
studies the many characteristics of each region (or realm) of the world. This is the approach of
your textbook and the main approach used in this course. SYSTEMATIC geography, on the
other hand, studies one issue and looks at its spatial variations in all parts of the globe. College
courses in systematic geography include: physical geography, economic geography, cultural
geography, political geography, etc.

Spatial distribution
Spatial distribution is a statistical interpretation and description of a population with reference to
distribution, composition.

A spatial distribution is the arrangement of a phenomenon across the Earth's surface and a
graphical display of such an arrangement is an important tool in geographical and environmental
statistics. A graphical display of a spatial distribution may summarize raw data directly or may
reflect the outcome of more sophisticated data analysis. Many different aspects of a phenomenon
can be shown in a single graphical display by using a suitable choice of different colours to
represent differences. eg Many police departments colour-code a city map based on crime
statistics.

three Types of Spatial Distribution

Three types of spatial distribution are usually considered:

Random Spatial Distribution: Situation in which individuals are randomly distributed in a
space; probability of an individual's being located at any given point is the same irrespective of
location in the space.

Random distribution, also known as unpredictable spacing, is the least common form of
distribution in nature and occurs when the members of a given species are found in
homogeneous environments in which the position of each individual is independent of the other
individuals: they neither attract nor repel one another. Random distribution is rare in nature as
biotic factors, such as the interactions with neighboring individuals, and abiotic factors, such as
climate or soil conditions, generally cause organisms to be either clustered or spread apart.
Random distribution usually occurs in habitats where environmental conditions and resources are
consistent. This pattern of dispersion is characterized by the lack of any strong social interactions
between species.

For example; When dandelion seeds are dispersed by wind, random distribution will often occur
as the seedlings land in random places determined by uncontrollable factors. Tropical fig trees
exhibit random distribution as well because of wind pollination. In addition to tropical fig trees
and dandelion seeds, oyster larvae can travel hundreds of kilometers powered by sea currents,
which causes random distribution when the larvae land in random places. Although random is
thought to be unpredictable, it is the only dispersion that has a mathematical equation to
represent it. This is due to the individualistic characteristics of random dispersion based on the
idea that every species has equal opportunity and access to resources.

Random spatial distribution is simulated using poisson distribution.

Simplest example: 100 people are fishing in the same lake for the same time (e.g. 3 h); they have
equal probability to catch a fish per unit time.
Question: How many fishers catch 0, 1, 2, 3 etc. fish?

No. of fish No. of Proportion Poisson

captured, fishers of fishers distribution
i n(i) p(i) n'(i)=Np'(i)
0 11 0.11 10

1 25 0.25 23

2 21 0.21 27

3 25 0.25 20

4 9 0.09 12

5 7 0.07 5

6 2 0.02 2

7 0 0.00 1

Total N=100 1.00 100

Mean number of fish captured by 1 fisher, M = 2.30, and standard deviation, SD = 1.41.

Poisson distribution is described by equation:

where m is the mean and i!= 1×2×3× ... ×i, 0!=1; 1!=1.

Theorem: In poisson distribution, mean = variance:

Two main methods of parameter estimation

1. Method of moments (m = M)
2. Non-linear regression (iterative approximation)

In the table above we used the method of moments: m = M = 2.3.

Chi-square test is used to test if sample distribution is different from theoretical distribution.
The equation is:
where n(i) is the sample distribution (e.g., the number of fishers that captured i fish), and n'(i) is
theoretical distribution (e.g., expected number of fishers that captured i fish according to poisson
distribution). In our example,

The number of degrees of freedom is equal to the number of distribution classes (7 classes in our
example) minus the number of parameters that were used to adjust the theoretical distribution to
the sample distribution. We used 2 parameters: m=2.3 and N = 100. Thus,

df = 7 - 2 = 5

Critical value for chi-square for df = 5 and P = 0.05 is 11.07.

Conclusion: Sample distribution does not differ significantly from the poisson distribution.

Note. Chi-square test cannot prove that sample distribution is the same as the theoretical
distribution! If there is no significant differences, it may mean two things: sample distribution is
really very close to the theoretical distribution, or there may be just not enough data to
distinguish these distributions. Suggestion: Use multiple hypothesis, i.e., compare sample
distribution with several theoretical distributions.

Relationship between fishers (our example) and spatial distribution. Imagine, we sample a
population by counting organisms in sample areas (e.g., 1 sq.m.). Then, each sample area is
equivalent to a fisher and the number of organisms found is equivalent to the number of fish
captured. The notion "random distribution" can be defined using the model of random deposition
of individual organisms. We start from empty space and put the first organism by random
selection of its coordinates. The organism may end in a sample area (=fish captured). Then we
add the second organism, and so on.

Thus, the proportion of samples in which i organisms were found will correspond to the poisson
distribution.
Quick test for the type of spatial pattern:
Coefficient of dispersion:
if CD << 1 then regular distribution
if CD » 1 then random distribution
if CD >> 1 then aggregated distribution

Poisson distributions are asymmetric at low mean values, and almost symmetric at higher mean
values:

When mean increases to infinity, poisson distribution coincides with a normal distribution

Aggregated spatial distributions

A case where individuals in a space occur in clusters too dense to be explained by chance.

There is no universal theoretical model for aggregated spatial distributions. However, there are
empirical models, e.g., negative binomial distribution (NBD) which work very well in the
majority of cases. NBD is described by the equation:

where m is mean, k is "coefficient of aggregation" (aggregation increases with decreasing k).

The zero term (the proportion of empty samples) equals to:
Other terms can be estimated by iteration:

Estimating NBD parameters using the method of moments:

m=M

For a random distribution, CD=1 and k is infinite. When k increases to infinity then NBD
distribution coincides with poisson distribution.

Regular or uniform distribution

Less common than clumped distribution, uniform distribution, also known as even distribution,
is evenly spaced. Uniform distributions are found in populations in which the distance between
neighboring individuals is maximized. The need to maximize the space between individuals
generally arises from competition for a resource such as moisture or nutrients, or as a result of
direct social interactions between individuals within the population, such as territoriality. For
example, penguins often exhibit uniform spacing by aggressively defending their territory among
their neighbors. Plants also exhibit uniform distributions, like the creosote bushes in the
southwestern region of the United States. Salvia leucophylla is a species in California that
naturally grows in uniform spacing. This flower releases chemicals called terpenes which inhibit
the growth of other plants around it and results in uniform distribution. This is an example of
allelopathy, which is the release of chemicals from plant parts by leaching, root exudation,
volatilization, residue decomposition and other processes. Allelopathy can have beneficial,
harmful, or neutral effects on surrounding organisms. Some allelochemicals even have selective
effects on surrounding organisms; for example, the tree species Leucaena leucocephala exudes a
chemical that inhibits the growth of other plants but not those of its own species, and thus can
affect the distribution of specific rival species. Allelopathy usually results in uniform
distributions, and its potential to suppress weeds is being researched.Farming and agricultural
practices often create uniform distribution in areas where it would not previously exist, for
example, orange trees growing in rows on a plantation.

SPATIAL INTERACTION

Spatial interaction is a dynamic flow process from one location to another. It is a general concept
that may refer to the movement of human beings such as intraurban commuters or
intercontinental migrants but may also refer to traffic in goods such as raw materials or to flows
of intangibles such as information. While the origins of the term may be traced to French
geographers of the early twentieth century, Edward Ullman’s “Geography as Spatial Interaction”
is normally cited as the seminal statement of the concept. In Ullman’s conception there were
“three bases for spatial interaction” or more fundamentally, three reasons for why things move:
complementarity, transferability, and intervening opportunity.

Complementarity refers to the presence of a demand or deficit at one location and a supply or
surplus at another without which there is no economic rationale for any movement. A workplace
such as a factory or office tower is an example of a place with a demand for labor while a
residential neighborhood provides a source of workers. A sawmill requires logs while a forest
provides them. To adapt a metaphor from physics, complementarity is like a potential gradient
with goods and people flowing from a higher energy state where they are in surplus to a lower
energy state, where they are in deficit. From the realm of physical geography, wind is the flow of
air between complementary atmospheric zones: from a high pressure cell to a low pressure cell.
The complementary surplus-deficit relationship is commodity-specific, and if the deficit is
precisely specified, the direction and distance of movement will depend on the location where
there is a surplus of just that kind of good. Complementary relationships may be the impetus for
interaction between distant regions such as the flow of petroleum over thousands of miles from
the Middle East to Europe and within regions such as the flow of shoppers from residential
neighborhoods to small convenience stores over a distance of less than a mile or two.

David Ricardo’s classical economic concept of “comparative advantage” provides a relative

measure of the degree of economic complementarity between two countries based on their
opportunity costs. All other things being equal, one nation will export goods to another nation
when it can produce a unit quantity at a lower relative cost than the importing nation. In a similar
vein, John Dunning’s eclectic theory of foreign direct investment predicts that foreign
investment will take place when a firm in one country has such a powerful “firm-specific
advantage” that it can overcome the barriers to entry in a foreign country market in which there
is a “location-specific advantage” in factor costs such as land, labor or capital. Thus foreign
direct investment flows from regions with a surplus of capital to regions with a capital deficit,
creating the international ownership lineaments that make-up the multinational corporation.

Transferability refers to the cost of overcoming distance measured in real economic terms of
either time or travel cost. The cost of overcoming distance is known as the “friction of distance.”
If the friction of distance is too great, interaction will not occur in spite of a complementary
supply-demand relationship. Friction of distance depends on prevailing transportation technology
and the price of energy. In general, the friction of distance has decreased over time which is the
prime factor in globalization and the emergence of megacities. Daily commuter flows, for
example, are always subject to a travel time constraint with two hours being a typical maximum
for the one-way daily journey to work. High-value, low-weight goods such as jewelry are
imminently transferable and exported on a global scale while heavy, low-value goods such as
concrete blocks are usually used very close to where they are produced.
Intervening opportunity is the third basis for interaction although it typically is considered as the
reason for a lack of interaction between two complementary locations. Complementarity will
only generate a flow if there is no intervening, or closer, location. The flow of goods that would
otherwise occur between two complementary; locations may be diverted to a third location if it
represents an intervening opportunity: a closer complementary alternative with a cheaper overall
cost of transportation. However, Ullman noted that the trade diverting effect of an intervening
opportunity could eventually facilitate interaction between more distant complementary
locations. In his example, the nearest (intervening) source of logs would justify construction of a
short logging railway from the mill to the forest resource and when it was harvested, the railway
would be extended to the next intervening opportunity and so on until it ultimately reached a
more distant complementary location. Flows to the more distant complementary location might
never have been established had the transportation infrastructure not been constructed in a series
of incremental extensions to a series of intervening opportunities.

Important forms of spatial interaction such as traffic flows and migration may be predicted and
explained based on an analogy with Newton’s model of the gravitational attraction between
celestial bodies. Assuming that there is no intervening opportunity, the degree of
complementarity between any two regions is proportional to the product of the populations of the
origin and destination regions and inversely proportional to the distance between them,
representing transferability. Thus the level of spatial interaction may be specified as:

where Tij is the spatial interaction between origin i and destination j, Pi and Pj are their respective
populations, dij is the distance between them, and b is an exponent representing the interaction
retarding effect of the friction of distance which depends on transportation technology. To
calibrate this simple model, a constant, k, is introduced to account for scale differences.
The concept of spatial interaction can be traced to French geographers’ notions of géographie de
circulation, including both the movement of physical objects and the communication of
intangible ideas. But its fullest development as the most fundamental of all geographic concepts
came in the middle 1950s as the seminal contribution of Ed Ullman. Hitherto, geography had
been conceptualized as a way of describing the areal differentiation of sites. With the spatial
interaction concept, Ullman shifted attention to situation as a second and equally important
locational attribute. Areal differentiation emerged as the outcome of transportation and trade
which permitted specialization in particular economic activities and concentrations of various
social groups. Thus spatial interaction remains fundamental to understanding the development of
distinctive regional geographies.

SPATIAL RELATION

A spatial relation specifies how some object is located in space in relation to some reference
object. Since the reference object is usually much bigger than the object to locate, the latter is
often represented by a point. The reference object is often represented by a bounding box
(oblique or axis-parallel).

In Anatomy it might be the case that a spatial relation is not fully applicable. Thus, the degree of
applicability is defined which specifies from 0 till 100% how strongly a spatial relation holds.
Often researchers concentrate on defining the applicability function for various spatial relations.

In spatial databases and Geospatial topology the spatial relations are use for spatial analysis and
constraint specifications.

Commonly used spatial relations are: topological, directional and distance relations.
Topological relations

The DE-9IM model express important space relations because they are formally specified, and
are invariant to rotation, translation and scaling transformations.

For any two spatial objects a and b, that can be points, lines and/or polygonal areas, there are 9
relations derived from DE-9IM:

Equals a = b
Topologically equal. Also (a ∩ b = a) ∧ (a ∩ b = b)
Disjoint a ∩ b = ∅
a and b are disjoint, have no point in common. They form a set of disconnected
geometries.
Intersects a∩b≠∅

Touches (a ∩ b ≠ ∅) ∧ (aο ∩ bο = ∅)
a touches b, they have at least one boundary point in common, but no interior
points.
Covers b lies in the interior of a (extends Contains). Other definitions: "no points of b lie in
the exterior of a", or "Every point of b is a point of (the interior of) a".
Contains a∩b=b
CoveredBy Covers(b,a)
Within a∩b=a

Directional relations can again be differentiated into external directional relations and internal
directional relations. An internal directional relation specifies where an object is located inside
the reference object while an external relations specifies where the object is located outside of
the reference objects.

 Examples for internal directional relations: left; on the back; athwart, abaft
 Examples for external directional relations: on the right of; behind; in front of, abeam,
astern

Distance relations specify how far is the object away from the reference object. Examples are:
at; nearby; in the vicinity; far away

SPATIAL PATTERNS

A spatial pattern is a perceptual structure, placement, or arrangement of objects on Earth. It also

includes the space in between those objects. Patterns may be recognized because of their
arrangement; maybe in a line or by a clustering of points. In attempting to recognize and
understand spatial patterns on maps, ask yourself the following questions:

 Is there an area that is more dense with objects than others?

 Is there an area that has fewer or no objects than others?
 Are there clusters of objects?
 Is there a randomness or uniformity to the location of the objects?
 Does there seem to be a relationship between individual objects (is one object located
where is its because of another)?

A point pattern is spatial pattern that is composed of closely arranged, somewhat organized,
points.

An example of spatial line patterns might be found on a map of roads or river networks. In
addition to the above questions, ask yourself:

 Are the lines leading from one to another or leading from another features?
 Are the lines connecting to each other in a meaningful manner?
Finally, consider area patterns. A few things to look for in terms of interpretation of areal
patterns are:

 Representative textures
 Colors and color transitions
 Areas that are adjacent or nearby to one another

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

1- Define the following terms

a) Spatial diffusion
b) Spatial perspective
c) Spatial interaction
2- Explain the factors that promote or inhibit spatial interaction

CHAPTER 3

THE CONCEPT OF REGIONS

A region can be either a "bounded territory", a functional region, an inhabited area, or a natural
feature often defined by various regularities, differences, perceptions, and processes.

Region is most commonly found as a term used in terrestrial and astrophysics sciences also an
area, notably among the different sub-disciplines of geography, studied by regional geographers.
Regions consist of subregions that contain clusters of like areas that are distinctive by their
uniformity of description based on a range of statistical data, for example demographic, and
locales. In astrophysics some regions have science-specific terms such as galactic clusters.

In Geography, regions can be broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography),

human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of Humanity and the
environment (environmental geography). Geographic regions and subregions are mostly
described by their imprecisely defined, and sometimes transitory boundaries, except in human
geography where jurisdiction areas such as national borders are clearly defined in law.

Apart from the global continental regions, there are also hydrospheric and atmospheric regions
that cover the oceans, and discrete climates above the land and water masses of the planet. The
land and water global regions are divided into subregions geographically bounded by large
geological features that influence large-scale ecologies, such as plains and steppes, forested
massifs, deserts, or mountainous regions. Subregions describe the areas within regions that are
easily distinguished in both the geological and ecological observable features.

As a way of describing spatial areas, the concept of regions is important and widely used among
the many branches of geography, each of which can describe areas in regional terms. For
example, ecoregion is a term used in environmental geography, cultural region in cultural
geography, bioregion in biogeography, and so on. The field of geography that studies regions
themselves is called regional geography.

In the fields of physical geography, ecology, biogeography, zoogeography, and environmental

geography, regions tend to be based on natural features such as ecosystems or biotopes, biomes,
drainage basins, natural regions, mountain ranges, soil types. Where human geography is
concerned, the regions and subregions are described by the discipline of ethnography.

A region has its own nature that could not be moved. The first nature is its natural environment
(landform, climate, etc.). The second nature is its physical elements complex that were built by
people in the past. The third nature is its socio-cultural context that could not be replaced by new
immigrants.

Four Different Types of Regions:

Formal/ Regional Authority: a formally recognized bounded territory, such as a state, a country,
a county, a plot of private property.

Functional/ Nodes in the Global Exchange: a region defined by a functional linkage such as the
sales area of the New York Times, cyberspace, mailing list, the market region of the ACME
Highspeed Elevator Company.

Perceptual/ Vernacular: a region defined by people's perspective, opinion, identity, or pattern of

settlement and often lacking clearly defined or agreed upon boundaries. Examples include your
neighborhood, the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest, Dixie, Europe, cultural areas, homelands.

Natural a region defined by its physical geography, climate, or ecosystem. Examples include a
rainforest ecosystem, a watershed, a mountain range, a coral reef, the "ring of fire,"or a desert.

Climatic Regions

The best one to know would be the Cool Temperate Oceanic climate of N.W. Europe. This is
the climate of Ireland that we are all familiar with. The influence of distance from the sea,
altitude, prevailing winds and the North Atlantic Drift on the climate should be noted. All of
these mean that Ireland’s climate does not display extremes of temperature, has a wetter west
than east, with the sunniest months in May and June. December is usually the dullest month.

Cultural Regions

These are usually associated with either language or religion. Obvious examples include the
Gaeltacht region of Ireland, the French speaking south (Wallonia) and the Flemish speaking
north (Flanders) of Belgium. On an international scale the Islamic World is often seen as a
single cultural region despite many variations within this large area.

Socio-economic Regions
Obvious choices here would be Core Regions which are major centres of growth, are highly
developed, have an urban industrial base, are centres of decision making and attract workers,
investment and raw materials (e.g. the Randstad; the Dublin Region). Peripheral Regions
which have marginal locations, offer few job opportunities, have lower standards of living, suffer
from out migration (the Mezzogiorno of S. Italy, the West of Ireland ). The examples chosen in
this section should be linked to the regions studied in the rest of this unit.

City/urban Regions.

This includes the city and the area. examples such as London or Paris .

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

1- Define region
2- Describe the various of regions

REFERENCES

Money D.C (2009) INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN GEOGRAPHY , Tutorial press-london

J.K Verma (2008) HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Gnosis

R K Tripath (2000) HUMAN GEOGRAPHY; Common wealth publishers

http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa042397.htm

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