No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
Valuing physical geography
Abstract
The way in which the component branches of physical geography are valued is different from the value of the whole of physical geography. Whereas the component branches were valued increasingly during the twentieth century, trends in those branches have centrifugally moved towards a more integrated physical geography. Attempting a valuation of physical geography, looking at value as a verb and as a noun, for each of six constituencies-physical geographers, human geographers and geographers in general, education, other disciplines, environmental managers and decision makers, the general public-indicates the challenges that remain and the opportunities for reinforcement of the considerable recent progress made. Dangers can arise in each of the suggested six constituencies, but there can be opportunities or challenges. Reflecting on the way in which the discipline has evolved is valuable in that it ensures that all potential developments are identified and great opportunities are not missed.
... Turner's work was, in many ways, characteristic of its time: other geographers were working on similar topics, especially in the latter part of Turner's career, but most of their work focussed on English industrialisation and its relations to the city, country and region (see for instance Butlin, 1981;Gregory, 1988;Langton, 1984). Turner's work was resolutely Scottish and he took a case-study approach, placing detailed archival research alongside an exploration of the physical geography of his chosen region to better understand patterns of industrial development over decades and, sometimes, centuries (see, for instance, Gregory and Walling (1987) for a contemporary treatment of interactions between physical and human geographies; and Gregory (2004) for a historical survey of work on the topic). Despite its relatively limited spatial and topical range, Turner's work was meticulous and nuanced in its understanding of the 'space economies' of East Scotland's textile industries; yet up to now it has been largely neglected in the wider literature on the growth of Britain's textile industries overall, especially during the crucial phase of development during the classic 'First Industrial Revolution' period, ca.1770-1850. ...
For more than three decades between the 1950s and the 1980s, W.H.K. (Keith) Turner was a valued colleague and teacher in the Department of Geography at University College, Dundee (later, the University of Dundee). During that time, he researched extensively on the industrial development of Dundee and its environs, as well as the linen industry in East-Central Scotland more generally. His approach, combining a detailed understanding of human geography in its local setting alongside a recognition of the importance of physical geography on the development of industrial landscapes, was exemplary in its clarity and insight; and his recognition and explication of what he described as 'industrial inertia'-the long-term inertial effects of landscape features and natural resource use on patterns of industrial development-offers scholars the potential to look anew at long-established questions about how, when and why industrialisation took place during the First Industrial Revolution in Britain. In this review, we argue that Turner's approach deserves a much wider audience, and much greater consideration in future work on patterns of industrialisation in Scotland and beyond.
... Recently, more than four decades after what went on to become a revolution in thinking in Human Geography, Lave et al. (2014, 2– –3) call for the " active integration of physical and critical human geography, as demonstrated in the work of geographers who combine critical attention to relations of social power with deep knowledge of a particular field of biophysical science or technology in the service of social and environmental transformation " in a " new integrative intellectual practice " that they call Critical Physical Geography. Debates over the relative merits of a better integration of the discipline are commonplace (e.g., Johnston 1983Johnston , 1998 Gregory 1992; Liverman 1999; Sluyter et al. 2006) but I find myself deeply seduced by the argument of Lave et al. (2014). This is not only because it captures the notion that humans and the environment are at once both constitutive of and constituted by their continual interaction— and as such are co-produced in ways that cause us to interrogate simplistic accounts of human impacts upon the environment. ...
Key Messages
Isabelle Stengers' critique of 21 st ‐century science points to the need to change how we relate to the subjects that we study, under the umbrella of “slow science.”
Human geographer William Bunge's notion of geographical expedition may be a means of doing this, even if “expedition” is a term to be used cautiously.
Slow science may allow a more creative and critical Physical Geography centred on the very curiosity that makes being a scientist so interesting.
... conceptions of geography. This has specific implication for physical geography sub-disciplines because, as Gregory (2004) discovered, some physical geography sub-disciplines are more valued than others. ...
Using rock art as an alternative science pedagogy
This paper provides the editorial to accompany a Special Issue of ‘Earth Surface Processes and Landforms’ produced to honour the memory of the late Professor Ken Gregory, a key figure in late 20th and early 21st century geography and geomorphology. It provides an overview of Ken Gregory’s career in research, teaching, and university administration, and elaborates on his key research contributions and legacy across geography and geomorphology. Ten, interrelated, research themes are identified where Ken made particular impacts: 1) river catchment processes and process‐form relationships; 2) wood in rivers; 3) anthropogenic impacts on rivers and catchments; 4) approaches to river management that better respect natural processes; 5) public perceptions of rivers; 6) quantitative palaeohydrology; 7) chronology of river floods and deposits; 8) key physical geography/geomorphology concepts and their metrics; 9) the nature of the discipline of physical geography; and 10) concepts in physical geography teaching. These themes provide a framework to introduce the papers in this Special Issue. Through his publications, leadership style, personality, and positive influence on the many people with whom he interacted, Ken Gregory has left a legacy that will continue to inspire present and future generations of geographers and geomorphologists.
The physical geographic research contributes to understand the dynamic nature of the earth and its natural and human induced transformations. In that way geographers are scholarly contributing to the issues related to environment, economy and society. It is worth knowing the situation of contemporary physical geographic research in Bangladesh. The research analyzed the four professional journals of Bangladesh in order to comprehend the contemporary trend and approaches followed in research themes over a span of twenty years. Among the total 497 research articles surveyed, 186 articles (37% of total) were on physical geography and over the time the publication of physical geographic research follows a declining trend. Within physical geographic research it appears that majority of the articles appears in cross-sectoral (multi sub-fields/inter disciplinary/multi-disciplinary), instead of core physical geographic areas like geomorphology, climatology, soil and bio-geography, water, marine and coastal geography. This scenario demonstrates highly skewed direction of research theme selection, where physical geographers prefer to choose topics that relates to environmental concerns and societal needs. Lower rate of bio-geography, soil geography research is reflection of poor motivation of researchers. In terms of tools, it also demonstrates that remote sensing and GIS / geo-informatics are gaining momentum across the broad physical geographic domain. As physical geographic research in Bangladesh evolves reflecting the stated trends, it is high time to take necessary steps (e.g., specialization of professional organization, maintaining regularity and online publication of journals, motivating researchers through funding/ training/ seminars and/ schooling etc.) to promote core physical geographic research. ________________________________________ 1 Professor,
In 1985, more than thirty geomorphologists, planetary scientists, and remote sensing specialists gathered at a conference center in Oracle, Arizona, to discuss an emerging area of research that they called “mega-geomorphology.” Building on a conference of the same name held in London in 1981, they argued that new techniques of remote sensing and insights emerging from the study of extraterrestrial planets had created opportunities for geomorphology to broaden its spatial and temporal scope. This new approach was, however, neither unproblematic nor uncontested. In the discussions around mega-geomorphology that took place in the mid-1980s, the perceived conflict between the use of remote-sensing techniques to observe phenomena on vast spatial scales, on one hand, and the disciplinary centrality of fieldwork and field experience to geomorphology, on the other, was a recurrent theme. In response, mega-geomorphologists attempted to re-situate fieldwork and re-narrate disciplinary histories in such a way as to make remote sensing and planetary science not only compatible with geomorphological traditions but also means of revitalizing them. Only partially successful, these attempts reveal that the process of adopting a planetary perspective in geomorphology, as in other earth sciences, was neither straightforward nor inevitable. They also show how the field and fieldwork could remain central to geomorphology while also being extensively revised in light of new technical possibilities and theoretical frameworks.
Exploring the shifting ways in which geographers have studied nature, this book emphasizes the relationships and differences between human geography, physical geography and resource and hazards geography. The first to consider the topic of nature in modern geography as a whole, this distinctive text looks at all its major meanings, from the human body and psyche through to the non-human world, and develops the argument that student readers should abandon the idea of knowing what nature is in favour of a close scrutiny of what agendas lie behind competing conceptions of it. It deals with, amongst others, the following areas: the idea of nature the 'nature' of geography de-naturalization and re-naturalization after-nature. As everything from global warming to GM foods becomes headline news, the use and abuse of nature is on the agenda as never before. Synthesizing a wealth of diverse and complex information, this text makes the significant theories, debates and information on nature accessible to students of geography, environmental studies, sociology, and cultural studies.
The interaction between physical and human geography is obvious as both are two sub disciplines of parent subject Geography. But it has been felt that the gap between the two sub disciplines has been increasing as time passed. It has been tried to seek answer of the question that why the gap between these two sister disciplines has been increasing day by day putting the Tobler's first law of Geography, 'Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things' as the base statement in the growth of specialization also. If we follow the first law of Geography, physical and human geography place nearest of each other than the subject of sociology, political science, economics etc. as they bifurcated from the same discipline. But most probably it's the geographers attitudes due to which the gap between physical and human geography has been increasing. The development of Geospatial Technology opens up new vistas to the geographers for the spatial or geographical analysis of the infinitely complex earth. It helps improve the data acquisition, analysis, interpretation and storing irrespective to physical or human geography. This paper will try to analyse the role of Geospatial Technology in dislocating or bridging the gap between physical and human geography as a holistic science for the people and place.
The American scientific community currently is being challenged to provide the basic and applied research that is necessary for the nation to make better decisions related to the environment. Concern with the environment has led to the demand for a more synthetic perspective, one that identifies linkages among the cultural, social, political, economic, physical, biological, chemical, and geological systems that govern our world. Geography has a historic opportunity to position itself at the nexus of the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities, and to lead the search for synthesis. In order to achieve this goal, however, we must leave the isolated intellectual realms into which we have retreated, dampen the fires of criticism that have polarized us, rethink the way graduate education is structured, foster new networks of communication, and develop a disciplinary culture that values both specialized analytical research and broader integrative research.
In Australia it has been suggested that degradation of streams and catchments must be halted by restoring some semblance of naturalness, while reflecting concern for both river stability and environmental quality. This could apply to many other areas of the world, although some countries are too poor to give priority to river restoration. However, all urban channels lie somewhere on the Wolman curve (Figure 1), which now needs to be extended to include channelisation and restoration techniques. Whichever option is selected, it is necessary to undertake management of the urban channel system within a catchment framework.
Geography's status as a subject within the national curriculum for England and Wales has come under renewed pressure in recent years. This has been highlighted by the recent Green Paper, 'Schools Building on Success'(DfES, 2001a), and subsequent responses. In documenting recent research on the delivery of the subject at key stages 2 and 3 and the transition between these key phases of education, this article evaluates geography's current curriculum status and the pressures being placed upon it, and provides suggestions for future action to ensure that pupils continue to receive their geography entitlement. In particular, there is a need for more concerted action by members of the geography teaching community in these key stages.
The paper discusses the growth of British applied geomorphology over the last thirty years. It is largely based on the work of one team of geomorphologists, the published and unpublished work of J.C. Doornkamp and the company Geomorphological Services Ltd. It highlights the importance of the book Geomorphology and Environmental Management (Cooke and Doornkamp 1971, 1990) and of the contribution that applied geomorphology can make to the well-being of the earth and its inhabitants. It is not intended as a review of the work of John Doornkamp but it will be obvious how much he has contributed to society and the reputation of his university and department.
Geography as an integral branch of knowledge has suffered by an increasing division both between physical and human geography and between specialisms within each. It is argued that neither physical nor human geography has a viable independent existence, but in the absence of a unified geography will disintegrate into component specialisms at risk of absorption by neighbouring disciplines. The case is made for a unified geography, derived from Forster and reinforced by the social commitment of Kropotkin, and the argument is illustrated by a consideration of population, resources and environmental hazard in coastal Bangladesh, the geography of which cannot be comprehended without a simultaneous consideration of both physical and human conditions. The nature of a unified and committed geography provides criteria for the selection of significant and critical problems for research, in place of the trivia too often studied, and thus supplies an agenda for the future.
Debris dams of coarse woody debris have a significant influence on channel processes in forested areas but few detailed studies have been made of variations within a single basin. Results from previous research are standardised and show that average variations throughout basins include densities of debris dams up to 40 per 100 metres of channel and can involve a loading value of up to 225 kg per m2 of channel. Variations have been ascribed to distance downstream, to channel width, to land-use effects, to felling, and to the management of coarse woody debris in streams. This study of the Lymington Basin, 110.4 km2 in drainage area, shows that the input of storm debris resulting from blowdown accounts for 45% of the gross load. The remaining 55% net load varies to distance downstream, to land use with the greatest loads in deciduous woodland areas, and according to management removal of debris from streams and multiple regression equations are provided. It is deduced that as a consequence of long-term management the present channel debris may be as little as 7% of the total net load that could have been present if no management had occurred.
Developments in physical geography since 1985 include not only continuation of pre-existing trends towards quantification, model building, process investigations, human impact and applications, but also changes prompted by the range of new techniques available, the original branches becoming less clearly defined, and the development of integrating themes. Advances in remote sensing, geographical information systems and information technology have enabled a more global approach; a second new development has been the advent of a more culturally-based approach throughout many branches of physical geography. By 2000 a series of issues can be identified including the increasingly holistic trend, greater awareness of a global approach and of environmental change problems, and of the timely opportunities which can arise from closer links with human geography and with other disciplines. Extrapolating present trends provides an optimistic picture for physical geography involving four trends which require a more integrated approach, greater concern for environmental futures and closer links to human geography and closer links to other disciplines. As physical geography evolves reflecting these trends it is suggested that pluralist approaches will be an increasing feature so that departments in individual institutions of higher education will become increasingly distinctive according to the links that they have with other disciplines and to the expertise of their staff.
Description of characteristics and process following appropriate synthesis of point‐specific observations is still, perhaps surprisingly, required to further our understanding of climate. Numerical modelling of climate appears to be deterministic and well understood and yet there is often a mis‐match between the time and space scales of the models, and their integral parameterisations, and the projected ‘predictions’. Quantitative synthesis based upon appropriate description of process and spatial analysis are urgently needed in contemporary climatology. It is my contention that geographers have much to offer to both the ‘atmospheric physiography’ and ‘meteoronomical modelling’ aspects of modern climate study.
This paper provides a discussion of Massey's (1999) account of the role of space-time in human and physical geography. Recognizing the relative (but not absolute) paucity of comment from physical geographers on questions of approach and method, the paper seeks to demonstrate three things. First, it casts a history of a narrow part of geomorphology in a similar vein to a part of human geography to demonstrate that it is possible to find strong shared characteristics in the ways in which the two subjects are being approached. This emphasizes the importance of analyses that recognize both space and time in seeking explanation in physical geography and which has important implications for: (i) the nature of laws and processes in geomorphology; and hence (ii) the interpretation of specific landforms and their histories. Second, the paper argues that much of what Massey addresses relates to the closure required to make things amenable to study, something that is characteristic of almost every type of research. This has long been acknowledged in science in general and in physical geography in particular, but is often forgotten. Third, the paper uses this consideration of closure to address the issue of the relational nature of different sorts of space-time models. Following Massey’s argument that the sort of space-time model that we adopt needs to be informed by the entities that we study, the paper concludes that some of the space-time models that Massey critiques (e.g. classical Newtonian mechanics) may still be fundamental to what we do, and in no sense necessarily ahistorical.
This paper explores the possibility that there may be commonalities between physical geography and human geography in emerging ways of conceptualizing space, time and space-time. It argues that one of the things holding physical and human geography apart for so long has been their relationship to physics as an assumed model of ‘science'. It is proposed here that not only is this an inadequate model of science but that it has led us astray in our inherited conceptualizations of both time and space. The urge to think ‘historically’ is now evident in both physical and human geography. The paper argues that this both forms the basis for a possible conversation and also obliges us to rethink our notions of space/space-time.
Although river channel management now generally uses soft rather than hard engineering techniques the considerable research achieved for woodland river channels has not been completely collated with reference to management implications. Research results from 22 research papers show how debris dams have a significant influence upon the morphological, the process and the ecological aspects of channels; vary in their permanence, and differ in stability according to the overall organic matter budget. A summary diagram contrasts the impact of dams on river channel morphology, process and ecology before and after dam removal. Four major types of specific recommendation about the management of channels in woodland areas are identified from 29 research papers are that (1) management should be undertaken against a background knowledge of the behaviour of coarse, woody debris under natural conditions and that the organic matter budget should be disturbed as little as possible; (2) logging operations should minimize the amount of disturbance to, and disruption of, channel processes; (3) management should optimize the maintenance of habitat diversity and minimize the ecological disturbance to the channel; (4) in some areas specific management practices may require the introduction of new material into the channel. These recommendations are applied to the New Forest, southern U.K., which has a long history of clearance and management of coarse woody debris and where the requirements for clearance in relation to fish, drainage, and aesthetic impact can be achieved by minimizing the amount of removal of material from the river channel. In managing channels with debris dams in woodland areas, it is desirable to work with the river in a holistic basin context.
The tripartite division of physical geography into geomorphology, climatology and biogeography is still often quoted, but developments in the last two decades have resulted in restructuring of the discipline. Significant publications by physical geographers now occur dominantly in multidisciplinary rather than in core geography journals. Analysis of the contents of ten journals and of the submissions to the 1996 UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) demonstrate the current pre-eminence of two sub-disciplines: geomorphology with hydrology, and Quaternary environmental change. Complementing research in the sub-disciplines, six trends towards a more integrated physical geography are identified as indicators of restructuring that has already occurred. Three futures are suggested for physical geography. The first, the status quo, is thought to be unlikely. The second, the disappearance of physical geography into other disciplinary areas would leave holistic investigations to other disciplines and so is undesirable. Thus, the third alternative, a renaissance of a more integrated physical geography, provides the most likely future. It is supported by existing integrative trends, provides a natural sequel to reductionist specialization, reflects the strong identity for the geographical approach to the earth and environmental sciences and the spatio-analytical approach integrating deductive and inductive studies, and it focuses on human–environmental interactions that could have implications for geography as a whole.
In managing urban stream channels there are pressures to use soft engineering techniques to restore channels wherever possible, to undertake management within a drainage basin context, to produce sustainable solutions and to consider community views. However, specific methods for characterizing the channel network in terms of possible management options have not been developed explicitly for urban areas. A method of characterizing the entire drainage network of urban areas, based upon segmentation of the stream channel network according to the incidence of road crossings and stormwater outfalls, is proposed together with consideration of ways in which the segments can be characterized, including stream channel hazards as a means of providing one basis for urban channel management.
Comparatively few studies of stream channel adjustment following urbanization have been undertaken in dryland environments. In the new master planned community of Fountain Hills, a residential area near Phoenix, Arizona developed since the 1970s, surveys in 1987 and 2001 of ephemeral wash channels show that they are larger than comparable channels in humid areas, reflecting the effects of rare but substantial floods. Morphological adjustment is spatially varied and is influenced by wide road crossings that are responsible for fragmentation of the adjusting channels into segments. By 2001, these segments are characterized by scour immediately downstream of a crossing and a relatively high width-depth ratio farther downstream before the next road crossing. Such spatially distributed responses have caused management problems unique to arid environments, so that, although road drainage was originally allowed to flow into the washes at the crossings, the stormwater network has now been augmented to improve drainage and to inhibit scour at the crossings. In maintaining such washes, consideration of channel adjustments as a result of urbanization could form the basis for an approach comparable to restoration methods in more humid areas.
The emphasis in geomorphological research over the past fifteen years or so, at least in Britain and North America, has been very much in surface process studies. The detailed examination and measurement of surface processes necessitates, for practi cal reasons if nothing ...
It is now generally admitted by plant ecologists, not only that vegetation is constantly undergoing various kinds of change, but that the increasing
habit of concentrating attention on these changes instead of studying plant communities as if they were static entities is leading to a far deeper insight into the nature of vegetation and the parts it plays in the world. A great part of vegetational change is generally known as succession, which has become a recognised technical term in ecology, though there still seems to be some difference of opinion as to the proper limits of its connotation; and it is the study of succession in the widest sense which has contributed and is contributing more than any other single line of investigation to the deeper knowledge alluded to.
It is to Henry Chandler Cowles that we owe, not indeed the first recognition or even the first study of succession, but certainly the first thorough working out of a strikingly complete and beautiful successional series (1899), which together with later more comprehensive studies ('01, '11) brought before the minds of ecologists the reality and the universality of the process in so vivid a manner as to stimulate everywhere-at least in the English speaking world-that interest and enthusiasm for the subject which has led and is leading to such great results. During the first decade of this century indeed Cowles did far more than any one else to create and to increase our knowledge of succession and to deduce its general laws. By acute and thorough observation and by lucid exposition he became the great pioneer in the subject. It is therefore natural and fitting that my contribution to a volume intended to express the honour and affection in which Cowles is held by his
fellow botanists should deal with this subject.
In 1920 and in 1926 I wrote general articles ('20, '29)1 on this and some related topics. My return to the subject to-day is immediately stimulated
by the appearance of Professor John Phillips' three articles in the Journal of Ecology ('34, '35) which seem to me to call rather urgently for comment and criticism. At the same time I shall take the opportunity of trying to clarify some of the logical foundations of modern vegetational theory. If some of my comments are blunt and provocative I am sure my old friend Dr. Clements and my younger friend Professor Phillips will forgive me. Bluntness makes for conciseness and has other advantages, always provided that it is not malicious and does not overstep the line which separates it from rudeness. And at the outset let me express my conviction that Dr. Clements has given us a theory of vegetation which has formed an indispensable foundation for the most fruitful modern work. With some parts of that theory and of its expression, however, I have never agreed, and when it is pushed to its logical limit and perhaps beyond, as by Professor Phillips, the revolt becomes irrepressible. But I am sure nevertheless that Clements is by far the greatest individual creator of the modern science of vegetation and that history will say so. For Phillips' work too, and particularly for his intellectual energy and single-mindedness, I have a great admiration. Phillips' articles remind one irresistibly of the exposition of a creed-of a closed system of religious or philosophical dogma. Clements appears as the major prophet and Phillips as the chief apostle, with the true apostolic fervour in abundant measure. Happily the odium theologicum is entirely absent: indeed the views of opponents are set out most fully and fairly, and the heresiarchs, and even the infidels, are treated with perfect courtesy. But while the survey is very complete and almost every conceivable shade of opinion which is or might be held is considered, there is a remarkable lack of any sustained criticism of opponents' arguments. Only here and there, as for instance in dealing with Gillman's and Michelmore's specific contentions, and in a few other places, does the author present scientific arguments. He is occupied for the most part in giving us the pure milk of the Clementsian word, in expounding and elaborating the organismal theory of vegetation.
This exposition, with its very full citations and references, is a useful piece of work, but it invites attack at almost every point. The three articles are respectively devoted to " Succession," " Development and the Climax " and " the Complex Organism." The greater part of the third article is mainly concerned with the relation of this last concept to the theory of " holism " as expounded by General Smuts and others, and is really a confession of the holistic faith. As to the repercussions of this faith on biology I shall have something to say in the sequel. But first let me deal with " Succession " and " Development and the Climax."
Effective science and well-informed public policy are the avenues to successful management of environmental resources. A critical review of geomorphology, hydrology, and public policy as employed in the management of the river resources of the western United States shows that the endeavours have been poorly connected to each other. Before about 1930, river management disregarded scientific input, while during the New Deal era federal support for river research stimulated a symbiotic relationship between science and policy. Renewed federal funding for research and the emergence of increasingly sophisticated theory and data for rivers during the 1950-1970 period enhanced the connection between science and public policy. In the post 1970 era of environmental protection and restricted research funding, hydrology and geomorphology have been slow to respond to policy needs for new scientific inputs. No longer centralized within a few groups and federal agencies, river research has become fragmented, and scientists have avoided politically sensitive policy issues.
O ne of the great scientific challenges of the 21st century is to forecast the future of planet Earth. As human activities push atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane concentrations far beyond anything seen for nearly half a million years (prompting the strongest statement yet from the