Human geography: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Study of cultures, communities, and activities of peoples of the world}}

'''Human geography''', also known as '''anthropogeography''', is a branch of [[geography]] that studies how people interact with places. It focuses on the spatial relationships between [[human]] communities, cultures, economies, and their environments. Examples include patterns like [[urban sprawl]] and [[urban redevelopment]].<ref name="HGDICT">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2000 |title=Human Geography |encyclopedia=The Dictionary of Human Geography |publisher=Blackwell |location=Oxford |last=Johnston |first=Ron |editor-last=Johnston |editor-first=Ron |pages=353–360 |editor2-last=Gregory |editor2-first=Derek |editor3-last=Pratt |editor3-first=Geraldine |display-editors=3 |editor4-last=Watts |editor4-first=Michael}}</ref> It looks at how social interactions connect with the environment using both [[Qualitative geography|qualitative]] (descriptive) and [[Quantitative geography|quantitative]] (numerical) methods.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Human Geography |url=http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpsubject/socsci/humangeog/humangeography.html |last=Russel |first=Polly |website=British Library |access-date=26 February 2017 |archive-date=26 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226212854/http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpsubject/socsci/humangeog/humangeography.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Human Geography |url=http://www.geog.uni-heidelberg.de/human/index_en.html |last=Reinhold |first=Dennie |date=7 February 2017 |website=www.geog.uni-heidelberg.de |language=en |access-date=23 February 2017 |archive-date=23 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240923015926/https://www.geog.uni-heidelberg.de/human/index_en.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This multidisciplinary field draws from sociology, anthropology, economics, and environmental science, helping build a more complete understanding of how human activity shapes the spaces we live in.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rubenstein |first=James M. |title=Cultural Landscape, The: An Introduction to Human Geography |publisher=Pearson |year=2020 |isbn=9780135729625 |edition=13th}}</ref>

{{History of geography sidebar}}{{See also|History of geography}}

The [[National Geographic Society]] was founded in the United States in 1888 and began publication of the ''National Geographic'' magazine which became, and continues to be, a great popularizer of geographic information. The society has long supported geographic research and education on geographical topics.

The Association of American Geographers was founded in 1904 and was renamed the [[American Association of Geographers]] in 2016 to better reflect the increasingly international character of its membership.

One of the first examples of geographic methods being used for purposes other than to describe and theorize the physical properties of the earth is [[John Snow (physician)|John Snow's]] map of the [[1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak]]. Though Snow was primarily a [[physician]] and a pioneer of [[epidemiology]] rather than a geographer, his map is probably one of the earliest examples of [[health geography]].

The now fairly distinct differences between the subfields of physical and human geography developed at a later date. The connection between both physical and human properties of geography is most apparent in the theory of [[environmental determinism]], made popular in the 19th century by [[Carl Ritter]] and others, and has close links to the field of [[evolutionary biology]] of the time. Environmental determinism is the theory that people's physical, mental and moral habits are directly due to the influence of their natural environment. However, by the mid-19th century, environmental determinism was under attack for lacking methodological rigor associated with modern science, and later as a means to justify [[racism]] and [[imperialism]].

A similar concern with both human and physical aspects is apparent during the later 19th and first half of the 20th centuries focused on [[regional geography]]. The goal of regional geography, through something known as [[regionalisation]], was to delineate space into regions and then understand and describe the unique characteristics of each region through both human and physical aspects. With links to [[Possibilism (geography)|possibilism]] and [[cultural ecology]] some of the same notions of causal effect of the environment on society and culture remain with environmental determinism.

By the 1960s, however, the [[quantitative revolution]] led to strong criticism of regional geography. Due to a perceived lack of scientific rigor in an overly descriptive nature of the discipline, and a continued separation of geography from its two subfields of physical and human geography and from [[geology]], geographers in the mid-20th century began to apply statistical and mathematical models in order to solve spatial problems.<ref name="HGDICT" /> Much of the development during the quantitative revolution is now apparent in the use of [[geographic information systems]]; the use of statistics, spatial modeling, and positivist approaches are still important to many branches of human geography. Well-known geographers from this period are [[Fred K. Schaefer]], [[Waldo Tobler]], [[William Garrison (geographer)|William Garrison]], [[Peter Haggett]], [[Richard Chorley|Richard J. Chorley]], [[William Bunge]], and [[Torsten Hägerstrand]].

From the 1970s, a number of critiques of the positivism now associated with geography emerged. Known under the term '[[critical geography]],' these critiques signaled another turning point in the discipline. [[Behavioural geography|Behavioral geography]] emerged for some time as a means to understand how people made perceived spaces and places and made locational decisions. The more influential 'radical geography' emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. It draws heavily on [[Marxist geography|Marxist]] theory and techniques and is associated with geographers such as [[David Harvey]] and [[Richard Peet]]. Radical geographers seek to say meaningful things about problems recognized through quantitative methods,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harvey |first=David |title=Social Justice and the City |publisher=Edward Arnold |year=1973 |location=London |pages=128–129 }}</ref> provide explanations rather than descriptions, put forward alternatives and solutions, and be politically engaged,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography: Celebrating Over 40 years of Radical Geography 1969–2009 |url=http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0066-4812&site=1 |last=Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography |year=2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091010193949/http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0066-4812&site=1 |archive-date=10 October 2009 |access-date=31 May 2010 }}</ref> rather than using the detachment associated with positivists. (The detachment and [[objectivity (science)|objectivity]] of the quantitative revolution was itself critiqued by radical geographers as being a tool of capital). Radical geography and the links to Marxism and related theories remain an important part of contemporary human geography (See: ''[[Antipode (journal)|Antipode]]''). Critical geography also saw the introduction of 'humanistic geography', associated with the work of [[Yi-Fu Tuan]], which pushed for a much more [[qualitative data|qualitative]] approach in methodology.

The changes under critical geography have led to contemporary approaches in the discipline such as [[feminist geography]], [[Cultural geography#"New cultural geography"|new cultural geography]], [[settlement geography]], and the engagement with [[postmodern]] and [[post-structural]] theories and philosophies.

[[Development geography]] is the study of the Earth's geography with reference to the [[standard of living]] and the [[quality of life]] of its human inhabitants, 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.

Medical or [[health geography]] is the application of geographical information, perspectives, and methods to the study of [[health]], [[disease]], and [[health care]]. Health geography deals with the spatial relations and patterns between people and the environment. This is a sub-discipline of human geography, researching how and why diseases are spread and contained.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dummer |first=Trevor J.B. |date=22 April 2008 |title=Health geography: supporting public health policy and planning |journal=CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal |volume=178 |issue=9 |pages=1177–1180 |doi=10.1503/cmaj.071783 |issn=0820-3946 |pmc=2292766 |pmid=18427094}}</ref>

[[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 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.

[[Settlement geography]], including [[urban geography]], is the study of [[urban area|urban]] and [[rural area]]s with specific regards to spatial, relational and theoretical aspects of settlement. That is the study of areas which have a concentration of [[building]]s and [[infrastructure]]. These are areas where the majority of [[economy|economic]] activities are in the [[secondary sector of the economy|secondary sector]] and [[tertiary sector of the economy|tertiary sectors]].

[[Urban geography]] is the study of cities, towns, and other areas of relatively dense settlement. Two main interests are site (how a settlement is positioned relative to the physical environment) and situation (how a settlement is positioned relative to other settlements). Another area of interest is the internal organization of urban areas with regard to different demographic groups and the layout of infrastructure. This subdiscipline also draws on ideas from other branches of Human Geography to see their involvement in the processes and patterns evident in an [[urban area]].<ref name="Palm">{{Cite journal |last=Palm |first=Risa |date=1982 |title=Urban geography: city structures |journal=Progress in Geography |language=en |volume=6 |pages=89–95 |doi=10.1177/030913258200600104|s2cid=157288359 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kaplan |first1=Dave H. |title=Urban Geography, 3rd. Edition |last2=Holloway |first2=Steven |last3=Wheeler |first3=James O. |publisher=Wiley |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-118-57385-3 |location=Hoboken, NJ}}</ref>

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.