From Geography

Spatial Science

Spatial science ushered a brand new approach to from the beginning of the 1950's and onwards. Scientists who emphasized this new approach were initially to be found in North Amercia, and later on also in Great Britain. These scientists were convinced that in geography, to make progression, oppertunities lay in 'casting geograpghy as a fully fledged science of spatial patterns and relationships: as a science as any other science, the only difference that the purpose of geography was not to seek out laws of atomic motion, chemical reactions and so on, but to specify the fundamental laws of spatial organisation present in both natural landscapes and human activities in these landscapes' (Coke et. al. 1991. p. 66). An important difference between early geographists such as Woolridge, who strongly rooted in chatholicism an humanism in geographic views, and this 'new' movement called spatial science, was that spatical science looked upon geography with a 'newtonic' view. This means that their view on human geography was built upon a handful of foundational spatial laws, equal to to Newton's 'law of gravitational attraction'. Some key authors in spatial science are Christaller, Von Thunen an Weber.

However, from within de discipline itself there became to rise critics on spatial science. The main point of critique was that the laws that were used to understand, examine and even predict social situations, could not be applied in many contexts, because they needed 'special' care. There were just too many factors they had to deal with, that not in line with the laws. These factors were 'distorting' the ideal patterns of location and movement. At the same time, other geopgraphers began to focus not so much on the behavioural aspects of locating dfactories or visiting supermarktets, but more on de cognitive aspects of human beings perceiving and processing spatial-environmental stimuli (the lay outs of biuldings, roads, settlement and regions). This change meant a shift from focussing on looking at human beings operating in a 'space' to human beings reacting to that same space.

These new founding meant a new interest within the discipline that became know as behavioural geography. This concept of behavioural geography is sometimes described as the bridge between the 'peopleless' landscapes of spatial science and the 'peopled' landscapes fro humanistic geography.

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References=

Cloke, P., Philo, C. & Sadler, D. (1991). Approaching Human Geography: An Introduction to Contemporary and Theoretical Debates. New York: Guilfort Press.

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page created (20-09-2012): Kamiel Nuyens

Text added by Kamiel Nuyens

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page enhanced by KamielNuijens (25-10-2012)