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.
2.
3.
4.
5.
►
Location
Human-environment interactions
Region—led to regional science
Place
Movement—mobility of people
Left out landscape!
►
►
The material character of a place
This class revolves around each theme
Five Themes
►
Integration in place

►
Interdependencies between places

►
How and why people or things found in the
same place influence each other
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
Functional Regions
Formal Region
Maps and Regions
► Perceptual
of people
regions—primarily in the minds
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?