Spatial turn

From Geography

The term Spatial turn refers to the change in thought of social and human scientists to the spaces of built environment as a means to understand both historical and social sciences. The spatial turn is a paradigm shift that occured in the late 1980´s. The name can sound a bit redundant, because the study of geography has always put emphasis on space.

This turn exists of a different way of examining space and social interactions. It is deemed important to use space in understanding human subjects and the production of cultural phenomena (Warf & Arias, 2009, p. 2).

The spatial turn in the humanities and social sciences is a response to a longstanding ontological and epistemological bias that privileged time over space in all the human sciences, including spatial disciplines like geography and architecture (Soja, 2008)

Influential thinkers that participated in the Spatial turn are Jacques Derrida, David Harvey, Doreen Massey, Michel Foucault, and Edward Said.

References

• Warf, B. & Arias. F. (2009). The spatial turn: interdisciplinary perspectives. New York: Routledge.

• Allweil, Y. (2010) Beyond the Spatial Turn: Architectural History at the Intersection of the Social Sciences and Built

Form. Berkeley, University of California.

Created by User: BoudewijnIdema 18 september 2011, 19:55 (UTC) Edited by Peter de Boer (4119711). Oktober 2011