Approaches In Human Geography Research Articles

Home in cybersymbiosis: making home with digital oddkin

ABSTRACT Acknowledging the history of more-than-human approaches in human geography, and the entrenchment of computational devices in the home, this paper advances the concept of cybersymbiosis as framework to think about the way we make home with computational devices. Doing so provides a speculative tool for thinking through our relationships with devices and the way we make home with them in critical ways. Three insights are identified: first, that these relationships are made and change over time; second, that our relationships with technology are often characterised by ambivalence, meaning it is not just about control and exploitation but extends to the mutually defining nature of those relationships; and third, that our relationships with home technologies can be conceptualised as a speculative ecology. Understanding our co-habitation with such devices can bring more sustainable and ethical approaches to our increasingly digitised homelives.

Policy diffusion, policy transfer, and policy mobilities revisited: A call for more interdisciplinary approaches in human geography

AbstractGeographers and urban studies scholars tend to rely on policy mobilities approaches to explain processes of policy spread, whereas political scientists and public policy scholars usually draw on either policy diffusion or policy transfer. I challenge this widespread scholarly practice of selecting approaches based on the association with a certain discipline. Instead, first and foremost, the specific research aim(s) and question(s) should shape the choice of theoretical lens. Analytical or policy outcome‐oriented studies should rely on policy diffusion and policy transfer, while a policy mobilities approach is best suited for more (policy) critical analysis. The approaches can also complement each other to a certain degree. Analytical and policy outcome‐oriented approaches need a stronger critical perspective while policy mobilities scholars need to underpin their critique with constructive suggestions on how to improve established practices.

How is the Third Law of Geography different?

ABSTRACT Three overarching principles governing patterns of geographic phenomena have been proposed that have been referred to by some as ‘laws of geography’. The first and the second principles address the spatial proximity and spatial heterogeneity of geographic phenomena. These principles, while powerful, fail to resonate with much geographical inquiry. The more recently proposed third principle concerns geographic similarity. The differences of it from the first two can be perceived in three basic aspects: principle expressed, form of expression and role of geographic examples (samples). The third principle emphasizes the geographic context of geographic variables in the form of geographic configuration, compared to a single spatial dimension that are emphasized in the first two principles. The third principle focuses on the comparative nature in the geographic configuration in terms of similarity, that is, in the form of ‘similar to’, as opposed to the relationships ‘between’ that are key to the first and second principles. The third principle emphasizes the individual representation of geographic examples, as opposed to the global representation of geographic examples. These differences not only distinguish the third principle as an important addition to the other two, but also provide a potentially transformative way to address the rigid requirements on samples in geographic analysis, particularly during this age when the collection and provision of geographic data are crowd-sourced and VGI-based. These differences also point to the potential of the third principle opening up a space of inquiry that would resonate more successfully with place-based approaches in human geography.

LOCALIZING CONTENT MODERATION: APPROACHING THE ORIENTATIONAL SPACES OF FACEBOOK GROUP ADMINS AND MODS

This paper contributes to the burgeoning literature on content moderation by focusing on its practice in relation to localized social media contexts, an area which remains under-researched. It makes two key contributions. Firstly, it presents the results of a study on moderation practices in relation to place-named Facebook groups across Greater London. Drawing on in-depth interviews with administrators and moderators from 16 Facebook groups, we focus on exploring how such administrators and moderators negotiate an apparent ‘orientational’ tension between ‘translocality’ and ‘locality’. On the one hand, we explore how administrators and moderators oriented partly to what might be understood as the 'translocal' space of Facebook as a platform. On the other hand, we also sought to understand how such administrators and moderators orient to the localised situation surrounding the place-named Facebook group. Our second key contribution aligns with the conference theme on co-dependence and social media, outlining a conceptual approach for researching the geographical contexts or ‘place’ of content moderation more broadly. We emphasize the inherent, practical locality of content moderation. Drawing on a long tradition of relational approaches in human geography, cultural anthropology and philosophy, we conceptualize ‘locality’ as something produced through practical action, rather being pre-given, specific geographical locations. Approaching the place or context of content moderation relationally, rather than via geographical scales such as local or global, might not only provide a more context sensitive approach, but also, underline the limits of large-scale moderation, whether by platforms or governments, or through human or algorithmic interventions.

A systems approach to address the impact of second victim phenomenon.

Over the last decade, second victim phenomenon (SVP) has been identified as a serious issue for healthcare workers (HCWs). Results from a 2018 survey of Canadian HCWs demonstrated that the majority of those who responded had experienced SVP and indicated that there was a lack of support in the workplace. The overall objectives of this paper are to a) heighten the awareness about SVP and its impact on HCWs and 2) to recommend an organizational/systems approach to support HCWs as second victims. This will be accomplished by first defining SVP and its relationship to patient safety. We will apply a health geography framework which incorporates the concepts of location, place, human interaction, movement and region to demonstrate the variability across care settings and the need for a systems approach to support HCWs. A human geography approaches to SVP would allow policymakers, leadership teams and managers within a health care setting to uniquely tailor their support systems to their individual contexts, which in turn will create a workplace culture of safety that builds on the organization's unique qualities.

Biogeographies: Transcending anthropocentrism in the Anthropocene

Biogeographies: Transcending anthropocentrism in the Anthropocene

Uneven Development of a Post-Industrial City as Exemplified by Łódź

The social and economic structure of towns and cities has always been characterised by a considerable degree of internal complexity. In consequence, the urban space as a human construct becomes non-uniform, and subject to various transformations over time. Unevenness across urban space may be described by reference to different dimensions, which can be objective i.e.: relating to the society, economy or urban planning or else symbolic, as inhabitants assign values to it, based on their individual experience and imagination. Drawing on theoretical concepts of a postmodernist and post-structuralist approach in human geography characterising social space as dynamic, reproduced constantly, and deemed to arise out of various different social discourses and practices, the paper uses both, quantitative and qualitative methods to identify the places which are significant for the Polish city of Łodź in context of its transition since the 19th century. Attention was paid to selected aspects of spatial change, with the focus being on the contemporary development of Łodź, as associated with a new dynamism of large-scale urban developments. A key aspect of the work has been the attempt to identify those parts of the Łodź cityspace that inhabitants identify with either development or crisis, as well as the transitions characterising what people imagine in a period of rapid structural change associated with revived investment in the post-communist and at the same time post-industrial city, most especially in the wake of Poland’s EU accession.

FUNCTIONAL AND COMPONENT STRUCTURE OF THE POPULATION TRADING SERVICESYSTEM

Formulation the problem. Over the past decade the of population trading has seen substantial qualitative changes, particularly the ownership form of retail, restaurant business institutions changed, the range of products expanded, new types of stores, forms of trade (supermarkets, hypermarkets, shopping malls, internet commerce, vending machines etc.) appeared. These changes affect the functional and component structure of population trading that has become more complicated. All it needs is detailed study, clarification of the conceptual and terminological apparatus. Scientific literature highlights theoretical and practical aspects of the population trading service. There are many classifications of retail, restaurant business institutions, products. However, there is lack of references regarding approach to understanding the population trading service.The aim of the publication is to highlight features of the functional and component structure of population trading system. Research results. Conceptual and terminological apparatus to study the of population trading forms such as: trade, trading activity, trading complex of the administrative region, population trading service, trade and restaurant industry infrastructure. Functional and component structure of the of population trading consists of subsystems of retail trade, restaurant industry, and enterprises. Retail trade is formed by shops, semi-stationary objects of retail trade, markets, trade not in stores, shopping malls, which have branched structure. Restaurant industry consists of cafes, bars, restaurants, canteens, buffet, snack bars, cafeterias, supply of finished food. Service enterprises are finance and credit, research and design, transport, insurance, logistic, security, maintenance and engineering, accounting, legal, informational, repair and construction, transportation and other ones. The classifications of retail trade and restaurant industry institution were developed by various criteria: by shape, type, degree of sustainability location, ownership, size, frequency, prices level, product range, location, etc. Goods were classified by frequency demand, frequency and mode of storage, manufacturing site, frequency use, seasonality, raw sign, etc.Scientific novelty. Based on the concept of the social and geographicl and approach in human geography the definition of system of population trading service has been proposed as a functional component of the social and geographical system. Based on the model of socioactogenezis the technological scheme of satisfying social needs through the of population trading was created by the author which includes four successive stages: social needs awareness, creating the of goals, formation of the executive system, and getting results. The of population trading is a part of the executive system, and a link in the goods movement from producer to consumer, it connects supply and demand of goods.

Controversias, hibridez y diseño urbano: Abrir el candado de la representación y multiplicar los posibles del espacio público

The proliferation of relational approaches in human geography is reanimating urban studies which have shown signs of exhaustion. Diff erent theoretical tools incited from actor-network theory (ANT) and non-representational theory (NRT) are opening the conditions of possibility of the objects of study of our discipline, expanding their political ecologies and challenging the idea of public space conceived as a self-evident container. Moreover, this epistemological crisis coincides with a crisis of political representation that has eroded the notion of delegation, questioning the role of experts in the politics of urban design. In my paper, I study the urban controversy of the plaza de Lesseps in Barcelona, a contentious case study of urban planning which last refurbishment caused an unprecedented process of citizen participation that revealed a profound crisis of representation. In the light of the claims showed for this controversy, I want to rethink the public space, breaking the fence which the notion of representation restricted not only its study but also its design.

Attention and geographical praxis

Attention is, according to Bernhard Waldenfels, “like the salt in the soup, which is indispensable, but which one scarcely notices” (Waldenfels 2004, 15). This paper presents the concept of attention, as well as a critical political economy built upon it, as potentially fruitful additions to constructivist approaches in human geography. These additions are aimed at rehabilitating the recently neglected importance of direction, the directedness of human engagements. In pursuing this goal, the paper offers a clarification of the long-standing problem of the apparent persistence of stable geo-social orders despite growing recognition of the contingency of all such orders. The argument consists of a detailed explication of the concept of attention, an overview of recent discussions of the political economy of attention in neoliberal capitalism, and finally a series of suggestions as to how central aspects of constructivist human geography could be rendered more precise through an engagement with attention. Concretely, this last section addresses the social geography of everyday regionalization of Benno Werlen, studies of city marketing and capitalist landscapes, and finally, problems relating to the reflexive positioning of human geographic research.

Beyond the history of ideas

This paper comments on the recent debate on the limits of the history of ideas approach in human geography. The commentary reflects firstly in general on the importance of ‘keywords’ in social life and academic cultures, before commenting on John Agnew’s article concerning the limits of a genealogical approach in the history of ideas and on the roles of geopolitics, region and territory as geographical keywords. The commentary also problematizes the significance of linguistic contexts in shaping academic languages and how hegemonic languages modify our understanding of relevant categories.

Landscape in Czech geography and the problem of relevance of Anglo-American human geography approaches

The article is a response to the discussion on the concept of landscape in Czech geography initiated in No. 1 of Geografie–Sborník ČGS in 2008. This discussion has drawn attention on some possibilities for the future development of human geographic research on landscape in Czechia inspired by Anglo-American human geography. The aim of this article is to contribute to this discussion by presenting own place, time, culture and subject specific views of the conception of landscape in Anglo-American human geography and its past development as well as to suggest possible sources of inspiration for landscape research in Czech geography.

Some Remarks on the Environmental Determinants : Factors Affecting the Quality of Urban Life

Actually, a number of arguments arising from the actual experience of performance as a whole in developed areas and indications of cross-cultural differentiation in developing areas prove that there are certain limitations in implementing environmental policies and international commitments aimed at steering a course towards sustainable futures for European regions. Since the choice of a particular method for a specific project assessment depends on the cultural context, in addition to the political and administrative structures, public participation becomes fundamental in playing more effective roles in environmental decision procedures in European regions.In fact, among the number of approaches in human geography, positivist and humanistic approaches used together seem particularly meaningful in respect to regional differentiation in efforts leading to ecologically sustainable development. From the viewpoint of ecology, location and public participation, in other words for a bottom-up approach to European integration through international cooperation, the human eco-centric view seems the most appropriate viewpoint, since it is based on the human relationships and place dependencies. However, without explicit environmental premises, the sustainability debate seems indeterminate.Just as, certain findings verify the hypothesis that the community perception of urban health risks is key to understanding how a community perceives health risks, so is it recognized that not take into account the responding behavioural reactions to urban health risks for the affected community results in a failure to obtain objective measures of risk to design urban and regional environment projects.Specifically, from the standpoint of an ecologically sustainable development, it may be useful to examine the satisfaction rates of people in certain urban areas by utilizing selected models in order to evaluate likely planning decisions. In this paper, the performance of the Istanbul metropolitan area is examined by using a number of independent variables covering housing conditions, accessibility conditions, social and cultural parameters and environmental impact as a whole, besides also utilizing some European experience in this field.JEL Classification: R10, Q56, C31

Dialectics and difference: against Harvey's dialectical ‘post-Marxism’

David Harvey's recent book, Justice, nature and the geography of difference (JNGD), engages with a central philosophical debate that continues to dominate human geography: the tension between the radical Marxist project of recent decades and the apparently disempowering relativism and ‘play of difference’ of postmodern thought. In this book, Harvey continues to argue for a revised ‘post-Marxist’ approach in human geography which remains based on Hegelian-Marxian principles of dialectical thought. This article develops a critique of that stance, drawing on the work of Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. I argue that dialectical thinking, as well as Harvey's version of ‘post-Marxism’, has been undermined by the wide-ranging ‘post-’ critique. I suggest that Harvey has failed to appreciate the full force of this critique and the implications it has for ‘post-Marxist’ ontology and epistemology. I argue that ‘post-Marxism’, along with much contemporary human geography, is constrained by an inflexible ontology which excessively prioritizes space in the theory produced, and which implements inflexible concepts. Instead, using the insights of several ‘post-’ writers, I contend there is a need to develop an ontology of ‘context’ leading to the production of ‘contextual theories’. Such theories utilize flexible concepts in a multilayered understanding of ontology and epistemology. I compare how an approach which produces a ‘contextual theory’ might lead to more politically empowering theory than ‘post-Marxism’ with reference to one of Harvey's case studies in JNGD.

Combining Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches to Social Research in Human Geography—An Impossible Mixture?

The author addresses the potential of a multiple-methods approach in human geography, an approach to social research which has received little explicit attention in the geographical literature to date. The relationship between epistemology and methodology is outlined, and the similarities and differences between quantitative and qualitative methods are described. Some problems surrounding subjectivity and objectivity in social research are also discussed. In addition, the relationship between methods and to whom the research is communicated is considered. It is hoped that the paper will stimulate future discussion both of the theoretical implications and of the practical use of a mixed-methods approach in human geography.

Reacting to Ground Truth

Ground Truth, a set of papers, edited by John Pickles, about the social implications of GIS, has contributed to the revival of an old debate between qualitative and quantitative approaches in human geography, This paper is intended to be a contribution to the debate: reactions and reflections triggered by the book rather than a review or evaluation of it. After acceptance of some of the criticisms of GIS and quantitative geography, attempts are made to defend them against other criticisms, and the paper concludes with some hopes for how the debate will continue.

Approaching Human Geography: Towards New Approaches in Human Geography?

This article is an extended review of a recently published book by P. Cloke, C. Philo and D. Sadler: Approaching human geography: an introduction to contemporary theoretical debates. London: Paul C...

Behavioural-geographical aspects of environmental quality

The behavioural approach in human geography accentuates the view of quality of the environment through man and his value orientations. The quality of environment from the point of view of human experience raises behavioural-geographical questions that are the core of the presented topic. Aspects of environmental imaginations and sensations as well as human value system are presented as variables affecting the structure of the perceived environment and human spatial behaviour. In this context, the authors present results of two behavioural studies that correspond to new models of man and environment from the viewpoint of a behavioural approach. The suggested humanistic approach in behavioural geography emphasizes above all the emotional aspect of the relationship between man and environment, which through environmental values, spatial sensations, and meanings, leads to human spatial behaviour.

Approaching Human Geography: Towards New Approaches in Human Geography?

Approaching Human Geography: Towards New Approaches in Human Geography?

The Ecological Approach in Human Geography

Traditionally, many geographers have been interested in the relations between methodologies of human geography and ecology, but their standpoints have been divergent. The purpose of this review is to clarify the context and directions of the ecological approach with reference to the methodology of sociology, anthropology and ecosystem theory in the U.S.A. and the U.K.In the Chicago School of sociology, human ecology is defined as the study of community. Human ecologists make a distinction between community and society. Society is based upon the cultural consensus of the inhabitants, while community is based upon their biotic competition and symbiosis. But the biotic community concept has been severely criticized. In response to this criticism, human ecology has divided into two schools. The Neo-orthodox school mainly studies spatial structures of communities. And Socio-cultural school emphasizes the individuals' perception and image of the space.Anthropologists, traditionally, have been interested in the geographical area and historical change of cultures. Steward has proposed a theory of cultural ecology which concerns adaptation of culture to environment. In contrast to him, other anthropologists propose a more biological, ecological anthropology that is based upon ecosystem theory or Darwinism.In addition, some geographers have introduced community theory (Morgan, Moss) and ecosystem theory (Stoddart) from biology, especially ecology. These are theoretical frameworks that attempt to dissolve the distinctions between physical and human geography and between idiographic and nomothetic approaches, in order to defend the unity of geography. The Chicago School of sociology inspired the theory which investigates the morphology and function of urban areas, which has in turn influenced urban geography. Anthropology has inspired ecological methodology which investigates man's adaptation to environment from the viewpoint of activities for subsistence. Such movements have affected current cultural geography.In sociology, anthropology and human geography, the ecological approach commonly concerns the process in which social behaviors adapt to and interact with space and environment, as well as the values and perceptions of man, and energy flows in that process.In conclusion, the author would like to understand the ecological approach in the following currents:1. Both geography and ecology are studies based upon region and place.2. Both geography and ecology endeavor to comprehend nature and society integratively.3. The ecological approach is wholistic.4. The ecological approach studies historical changes.5. The ecological approach treats circulation and economic phenomena.6. The ecological approach investigates the relations between internals and externals of population, community and ecosystem.7. The ecological approach is functional.8. The ecological approach is systematic.Many geographers, however, have criticized ecological approach for the following reasons: (1) Ecological approach is not deductive and analytical. (2) Ecological approach is based upon biological analogy, and is destitute of socioeconomic scope about human society. Therefore, in attempts to solve problems of environmental pollution geographically, it may be necessary to add wider social framework to ecological approach.