Geographical Theories

Reginald G. Golledge

University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers from University of California Transportation Center

Abstract: The emergence of geographical theory was an inevitable product of the desire to systematize existing geographic knowledge and to use that systematized base to explore new areas of knowledge. Although the usefulness of theory and predictive models in geography is by now a matter of record, it was not always the case. The usefulness and need for theories was often disputed, despite the oft-repeated argument that theories of location explained the laws of spatial distributions, theories of interaction explain the laws of movement and spatial behaviour, theories of growth and development explain the nature of past, present, and future states of being, and theories of decision-making and choice explain observable regularities and repeatable trends in individual, group, institutional and governmental behaviours. Hudson (1969) argued that a theory represents a direct attempt to provide a logical system or nesting place for previously noted regularities – in his case concerning changes in rural settlement patterns. While Hudson’s task was specific, the sentiment he expressed has widespread relevance for the emergence and adoption of geographical theories generally.

Keywords: Social; and; Behavioral; Sciences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001-01-01
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/1vr640bw.pdf;origin=repeccitec (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt1vr640bw

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers from University of California Transportation Center Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Lisa Schiff ().