Human Geography

Geographical Perspective ► Understanding change over time is critically important ► Immanuel Kant argued we need disciplines focused on the perspectives of time

Immanuel Kant and Geography “I treat [Geography] not with the completeness and philosophical exactitude in each part, which is a matter for physics and natural history, but with the rational curiosity of a traveler who collates his collection of observations, and reflects on its design.”

Geographical Perspective ► Human geography melds many disciplines  Offers insights into subject matter covered by other disciplines  Seeks to understand changing spatial arrangements over time ► Sometimes described as the “why of where” ► During the 1980s, campaigns began to reintroduce geography into school systems ► National Geographic Society  Led the campaign to encourage education in geography  National Geographic Society introduced the “Five Themes” of geography

Five Themes 1.Location 2.Human-environment interactions 3.Region—led to regional science 4.Place 5.Movement—mobility of people ► Left out landscape! ► The material character of a place ► This class revolves around each theme

Five Themes ► Integration in place  How and why people or things found in the same place influence each other ► Interdependencies between places  Nature and significance of patterns and networks that tie places together ► Interdependencies among scales  Tied to geography’s spatial perspective

Geography’s Importance ► Allows unique insights by focusing on spatial organization and material character of Earth’s surface ► Examples where Geography helps:  Assess impacts of changing political boundaries on citizenship  Assess where medical facilities should be located for given population (and in the future!)  Develop land-use maps  Can answer questions about what future actions may have on environment and humans

Using Spatial Perspective ► Maps and geography are seen as synonymous  Why?  What is a map?  Map making is as old as geography itself

The First Map??

Using Spatial Perspective ► Maps have been used many ways  Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Using Spatial Perspective ► Geographers study BOTH the physical and human properties of places  Earth's surface, elevation and relief, atmospheric conditions, etc.  Settlement layouts, population patterns, transport networks, land use, etc. ► Geographers have a special interest in the quality of places ► Location plays a key role (remember absolute & relative?)

Maps and Regions ► Help define and delimit a region ► How do we delimit regions?  Example...

Maps and Regions ► All regions have area, location, and boundaries ► Formal regions are homogeneous in either physical or cultural characteristics  Physical criteria, e.g., desert basins  Cultural criteria, e.g., a region within which a certain language, say Basque, is spoken by about 90 percent of the people ► Functional regions  The product of interactions, and movement of various kinds  Cities with surrounding areas of interaction  A spatial system, its boundaries defined by the limits of that system

Formal RegionFunctional Regions

Maps and Regions ► Perceptual regions—primarily in the minds of people

Maps and The Human Mind ► Our egocentric viewpoints  Shaped by our cultural environment?  Humans have a built-in cultural bias  Examples: Mexico and Egypt ► Mental maps  The map a person carries in their mind  Derived from visual observation of the real world  Developed over years of seeing maps  People use them everyday  Vague mental maps can lead to major policy mistakes ► Berlin conference in 1884…

Maps and The Human Mind ► Environmental perception  Generated from our mental map ► Perceptions of a place never visited may be quite different from reality

Maps and The Human Mind ► Need more than absolute location ► Maps offer us a lot of information, but how can we understand the cultural (or physical?) without being there? ► The map is our window on the world  If you could move to any place of your choice,... where would you like to live?

Human Geography & Terrorism

Actual Tube Routes

Nearby Attractions

Non-executed Attacks

Greater London

Formal Region Cut-off

Discussion Questions The editor of a city newspaper has appointed you to her staff, and your first job as a geographer is to draw a map of the region within which the paper sells (its market).  How will you go about doing this? When you finish your map, you notice the region is sort of asymmetrical: the paper sells 100 miles north of the city, but only 60 miles to the south.  What could explain this variable “reach” of the newspaper?

Discussion Questions Imagine yourself living and working in a small, rural town. Your family owns and operates a small department store located at the busiest intersection in town, where the through-road crosses the main shopping street. Now the State Highway Department is building a four-lane highway that will bypass your town by six miles.  How will this change your store’s relative location?  How will it affect your market?  What might you and other shop owners do to counter the impact of the new highway?