Time geography

From Geography

Time geography emphasises constraints rather than choices on individuals within a historical setting. “An individual can never free himself from … constraints” (Hagerstrand, 1970).

Starting points:'

1. Each individual describes a path in time and space

2. Types of paths: life path, weekly path, daily path

3. Stops or stations delineated in space and time are essential elements of paths

4. Paths can be visualized in space-time plots

There are three different forms of constraints:

1. Capability constraints: In daily life humans are committed to different things like eating and sleeping to function well.

2. Coupling constraints: People are dependent from others to fulfill an activity. They are also dependent from possibilities within spaces. This is the result of human interactions.

3. Authority constraints: People are dependent from limited opening hours to fulfill their activities. For example; people aren't able to shop at 3 pm.

Hägerstrand came up with a idea of a space and time path to illustrate how a person finds and navigates his way in spatial environments. "The physical area around a given individual is reduced to a two-dimensional plane, on which his or her location and destination are represented as zero-dimensional points." (Pred, 1981).

Conclusion: Time geography links space and time into a coherent framework and is suitable for detailed comparison of access levels of different population groups.

Criticism

The criticism on Time-geography exist of two main streams. The first one points out the importance of the physical in Time-geography and thereby the absence of human thought-and-action and the social understanding of time and space.

The other main criticism of Time-geography focuses on the assumption that time and space are objective and transparent. Besides that, also the absence of race, gender, sexuality etc. is criticized.

References:

Gregory, D., Johnston, R., Pratt, G., Watts, M. & Whatmore, S. (2009). The dictionary of human geography. Wiley-Blackwell

Hägerstrand, T. (1970). What about people in regional science. Lund: Gleerup.

Pred, A.(1981). Space and time in geography: Essays dedicated to Torsten Hagerstrand. Lund: Gleerup.

Published by Bas Boselie (s0813141) & Chriss van Pul (s0801364) Edited by Fenki Evers & ANton de Hoogh