Human geography is an interdisciplinary field combining approaches from academic
geography with the traditional subject matter of
social science, thus emphasizing population issues such as
tourism,
urbanisation, and so on.
Scope
Human geography broadly differs from
physical geography in that it has a greater focus on studying intangible or abstract patterns surrounding human activity and is more receptive to qualitative research methodologies. It encompasses
human,
political,
cultural,
social and
economic aspects of the
social sciences. While the major focus of human geography is not the physical landscape of the Earth (see
physical geography), it is not possible to discuss human geography without going into the physical landscape, on which human activities are being played out and
environmental geography is emerging, as an important link between the two. Human geography is methodologically diverse, using both
qualitative methods and
quantitative methods, including
case studies,
survey research,
statistical analysis and model building, among others. Thematically, human geography may be concerned with an array of human enterprises, from villages and cities, schools, health, commerce and trade, to name a few. The spatial human architecture of a variety of institutions and practices unites these entities within the discipline. For example, a human geographer might be concerned with the geographic patterns of communicable diseases, school performance in rural versus urban school districts or the rise of innovative technology clusters.
Fields of human geography
The main fields of study in human geography focus around the core fields of:
Development
Development geography is the study of the
Earth's
geography with reference to the
standard of living and
quality of life of its human inhabitants.
Economic
Economic geography is the study of the location, distribution and spatial organization of economic activities across the Earth. The subject matter investigated is strongly influenced by the researcher's methodological approach.
Health
Health geography is the application of geographical information, perspectives, and methods to the study of
health,
disease, and
health care.
Historical
Historical Geography is the study of the human, physical, fictional, theoretical, and "real" geographies of the past. Historical geography studies a wide variety of issues and topics. A common theme is the study of the geographies of the past and how a place or region changes through time. Many historical geographers study geographical patterns through time, including how people have interacted with their environment, and created the cultural landscape.
Political
Political geography is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures.
Population
Population geography is the study of the ways in which spatial variations in the distribution, composition, migration, and growth of populations are related to the nature of places.
Tourism
Tourism geography is the study of
travel and
tourism as an industry, as a human activity, and especially as a
place-based experience.
Tropical
Tropical geography refers the study of
tropical regions and their inhabitants. It is closely affiliated with the development and criticism of
imperialism and
colonization.
Urban
Urban geography is the study of
urban areas with specific regards to spatial and relational aspects and theories. That is the study of areas which have a high concentration of
buildings and
infrastructure. These are areas where the majority of
economic activities are in the
secondary sector and
tertiary sectors. They probably have a high
population density.
Philosophical approaches
Within each of the subfields, various philosophical approaches can be used in research; therefore, an urban geographer could be a Feminist or Marxist geographer, etc.
Such approaches are:
List of notable human geographers
Carl Ritter - considered to be one of the founding fathers of modern geography
- Carl Ritter (1779 – 1859), considered to be one of the founding fathers of modern geography and first chair in geography at the Humboldt University of Berlin, also noted for his use of organic analogy in his works.
- Steve Butcher, Professor of Human Geographical Studies at Kent State University
- Allen J. Scott (born 1938), winner of Vautrin Lud Prize in 2003 and the Anders Retzius Gold medal 2009; author of numerous books and papers on economic and urban geography, known for his work on regional development, new industrial spaces, agglomeration theory, global city-regions and the cultural economy.
- Edward Soja (born 1941), noted for his work on regional development, planning and governance, along with coining the terms synekism and postmetropolis.
- Gillian Rose (born 1962), most famous for her critique: Feminism & Geography: The Limits of Geographical Knowledge (1993), which was one of the first moves towards a development of feminist geography.
Human geography journals
As with all social sciences, human geographers publish research and other written work in a variety of academic journals. Whilst human geography is interdisciplinary, there are a number of journals with a human geography focus.
These include:
See also
