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The rise (and decline) of American regional science: Lessons for the new economic geography?
Abstract
Regional science weaves in and out of the story of post-war economic geography. The vision of one man, the American economist Walter Isard, regional science represented the first systematic attempt to further joint work between geographers and economists. Within this context, the tasks of the paper are twofold. The first is to provide an interpretative history of the rise of regional science, and to a much lesser extent its decline. The interpretative framework derives from science studies, and in particular the work of Bruno Latour. The history is based on archival material and interviews. The second is to speculate briefly on the implications of both the interpretive framework used in the paper, and the history of regional science told, for the new economic geography that similarly attempts to convene discussions between economists and geographers. Copyright 2004, Oxford University Press.
... Geography's insecure evolution versus economics' self-confident involution Geographers and economists are the natural inhabitants of the field of research concerned with space and economy. Nevertheless, the history of the dialogue between them, since the origins of regional science in the mid-1950s as the first systematic attempt to incorporate space to neoclassical economics (Barnes, 2004), has been mostly characterized by indifference with some moments of tension and conflict. Both communities acknowledge similar roots in German location theory, but the 'salient feature of this relationship is mutual ignorance rather than two disciplines at war with each other' (Duranton and Rodr ıguez-Pose, 2005). ...
... Regional science was, to some extent, a movement that brought geography and economics close together. However, after a period of two decades of rapid growth, regional science had fallen into something of a malaise by the 1980s (Barnes, 2004). At the same time, in the late 1970s and into the 1980s, after a period in which political economy came to the fore within geography (Bodman, 2010), economic geographers focused their attention on globallocal interactions in the guises of industrial restructuring and spatial divisions of labour (Massey, 1984), flexible specialization, post-Fordism and industrial districts (Phelps, 1992;Scott, 1988), challenging the ideas of physical space and Euclidean distance. ...
... 1. 1980-1989: a period that follows the rise of regional science and the quantitative turn in geography in the previous decades, and during which regional science seemed to decline (Barnes, 2004) and when political economy and global-local interactions came to the fore within economic geography (Bodman, 2010) (8611 articles and reviews). 2. 1990-1999: a period in which new economic geography emerged and became a focus of attention in economic research and in the field of space and economy, and when the conflict between economic geography proper and geographic economics started (Martin, 1999;Martin and Sunley 1996) (13,022 articles and reviews). ...
This article analyses the evolution of the field of studies of space and economy (economic geography) between 1980 and 2017. Using a sample of 55 journals from the Web of Science, we study the existing subfields of research, the interaction between communities of geographers and economists and the changing role played by those journals that act as bridges for dialogue between these communities. For this purpose, we analyse the Bibliographic Coupling network of journals in four periods to identify groups of strongly interlinked journals that could represent research communities within the field of economic geography; and we also study the betweenness measure of centrality to identify those journals that have played the role of bridges between disciplines and estimate the level of interdisciplinarity of these journals. Results confirm the increasing complexity and fragmentation of the field of economy and space. We also find that there are spaces for dialogue and pluralism, but they are still peripheral to the core journals of academic communities related to space and economy both in geography and economics, and not yet strong enough to create a distinct academic community.
... Geography's insecure evolution versus economics' self-confident involution Geographers and economists are the natural inhabitants of the field of research concerned with space and economy. Nevertheless, the history of the dialogue between them, since the origins of regional science in the mid-1950s as the first systematic attempt to incorporate space to neoclassical economics (Barnes, 2004), has been mostly characterized by indifference with some moments of tension and conflict. Both communities acknowledge similar roots in German location theory, but the 'salient feature of this relationship is mutual ignorance rather than two disciplines at war with each other' (Duranton and Rodr ıguez-Pose, 2005). ...
... Regional science was, to some extent, a movement that brought geography and economics close together. However, after a period of two decades of rapid growth, regional science had fallen into something of a malaise by the 1980s (Barnes, 2004). At the same time, in the late 1970s and into the 1980s, after a period in which political economy came to the fore within geography (Bodman, 2010), economic geographers focused their attention on globallocal interactions in the guises of industrial restructuring and spatial divisions of labour (Massey, 1984), flexible specialization, post-Fordism and industrial districts (Phelps, 1992;Scott, 1988), challenging the ideas of physical space and Euclidean distance. ...
... 1. 1980-1989: a period that follows the rise of regional science and the quantitative turn in geography in the previous decades, and during which regional science seemed to decline (Barnes, 2004) and when political economy and global-local interactions came to the fore within economic geography (Bodman, 2010) (8611 articles and reviews). 2. 1990-1999: a period in which new economic geography emerged and became a focus of attention in economic research and in the field of space and economy, and when the conflict between economic geography proper and geographic economics started (Martin, 1999;Martin and Sunley 1996) (13,022 articles and reviews). ...
This article analyses the evolution of the field of studies of space and economy (economic geography) between 1980 and 2017. Using a sample of 55 journals from the Web of Science, we study the existing subfields of research, the interaction between communities of geographers and economists and the changing role played by those journals that act as bridges for dialogue between these communities. For this purpose, we analyse the Bibliographic Coupling network of journals in four periods to identify groups of strongly interlinked journals that could represent research communities within the field of economic geography; and we also study the between-ness measure of centrality to identify those journals that have played the role of bridges between disciplines and estimate the level of interdisciplinarity of these journals. Results confirm the increasing complexity and fragmentation of the field of economy and space. We also find that there are spaces for dialogue and pluralism, but they are still peripheral to the core journals of academic communities related to space and economy both in geography and economics, and not yet strong enough to create a distinct academic community.
... In the 1950s, a quantitatively oriented urban geography became an increasingly important field in Anglo-American geography. This interest eventually contributed to the creation of what became known as regional science (Barnes, 2004). In Sweden, however, descriptive regional geography was still influential, although Swedish geographers -particularly economic geographers -were quite familiar with quantitative urban geography (Pred, 1983). ...
... In this regard, one of the arguments presented by Trevor Barnes (2004) in his study of the rise and fall of regional science in the United States is illuminating. Barnes observes that regional science emerged in tandem with the post-war economic boom in the decades after World War II, and that one of the reasons for why the discipline fell apart was that these material conditions eventually changed. ...
The compact city has become the preferred and mainstream model for urban, peri-urban and sometimes even rural planning in the Nordic context. However, the compact city is increasingly contested as a model for sustainability and may be criticized for a functionalistic perspective on social practices and transitions. Besides, the compact city model is part of increasing transnational or global urban policy mobilities including generic models and strategies, and it may be argued that this contributes to the de-contextualisation of urban planning and development. In this chapter we scrutinize the spatialities of the compact city model and examine how the compact city model has played out in the Nordic context – focusing in particular on Oslo. We ask: how is the compact city developed and promoted as a spatial model? We argue that although the compact city has to some extent been promoted in influential policy circles as a universal model, the compact city in Oslo has some distinct features shaped by the Nordic context. In particular, these features can be attributed to welfare state governance centred on the public sector, yet it is also here we find some of the most significant differences between the Nordic countries. In closing, we discuss whether there is such a thing as a Nordic compact city model, and point to some of its political, social and cultural implications. Is there a pathway for a re-contextualized, relational and grounded compact city model?
... In the 1950s, a quantitatively oriented urban geography became an increasingly important field in Anglo-American geography. This interest eventually contributed to the creation of what became known as regional science (Barnes, 2004). In Sweden, however, descriptive regional geography was still influential, although Swedish geographers -particularly economic geographers -were quite familiar with quantitative urban geography (Pred, 1983). ...
... In this regard, one of the arguments presented by Trevor Barnes (2004) in his study of the rise and fall of regional science in the United States is illuminating. Barnes observes that regional science emerged in tandem with the post-war economic boom in the decades after World War II, and that one of the reasons for why the discipline fell apart was that these material conditions eventually changed. ...
Radical geography came only patchily to Nordic geography, and the development of theoretical Marxist geography was even sparser. But in the radical geography environment at Copenhagen University, a group of geographers in the 1970s developed a vocal and self-assured Marxist theory, which became known as the territorial-structure approach and drew its inspiration from the work of the GDR geographer Gerhard Schmidt-Renner. In this chapter we present a critical discussion of the territorial-structure approach as an example of an early theorisation of geography from a Marxist perspective. We discuss the central controversies that came to surround the approach, and we discuss the territorial-structure approach as a conscious effort to resist disciplinary specialisation and fragmentation of (human) geography. Our aim is not to resurrect the territorial-structure approach, but rather to investigate this theory as an important step towards socio-spatial theory in Nordic geography.
... In the 1950s, a quantitatively oriented urban geography became an increasingly important field in Anglo-American geography. This interest eventually contributed to the creation of what became known as regional science (Barnes, 2004). In Sweden, however, descriptive regional geography was still influential, although Swedish geographers -particularly economic geographers -were quite familiar with quantitative urban geography (Pred, 1983). ...
... In this regard, one of the arguments presented by Trevor Barnes (2004) in his study of the rise and fall of regional science in the United States is illuminating. Barnes observes that regional science emerged in tandem with the post-war economic boom in the decades after World War II, and that one of the reasons for why the discipline fell apart was that these material conditions eventually changed. ...
This chapter focuses on some socio-spatial views by Nordic geographers who have studied the tendencies of politicisation vs. depoliticisation of human/nature relationships. First, I introduce early formulations of politics of nature research by showing the epistemological grounding and argumentation for the political in Nordic nature studies. This is followed by an overview of studies that have focused on depoliticising drives and turns in contemporary human/nature practices. The variations in handling and conceptualising the dominating aspects of neoliberal environmental governance will be described. Thereafter, I address some approaches of research within Nordic geography that are entangled in the processes and actors defending and promoting a (re)politicisation in nature-use. Finally, I discuss the Nordic content and bearing found in the geographical contributions included in this study.
... In the 1950s, a quantitatively oriented urban geography became an increasingly important field in Anglo-American geography. This interest eventually contributed to the creation of what became known as regional science (Barnes, 2004). In Sweden, however, descriptive regional geography was still influential, although Swedish geographers -particularly economic geographers -were quite familiar with quantitative urban geography (Pred, 1983). ...
... In this regard, one of the arguments presented by Trevor Barnes (2004) in his study of the rise and fall of regional science in the United States is illuminating. Barnes observes that regional science emerged in tandem with the post-war economic boom in the decades after World War II, and that one of the reasons for why the discipline fell apart was that these material conditions eventually changed. ...
In this chapter we discuss how demands for social justice and struggles around social reproduction have evolved in the Nordic “periphery”, placing the struggles within a context of critical socio-spatial theorizing and earlier geographical research on uneven development within Nordic welfare states. We give examples from Sweden of how resistance in the northern periphery increasingly mobilizes around spatial justice and social reproduction rather than mainly around employment. Demands about the right to spatial justice challenge the rewarding of a specific place – usually the urban – of modernity, meaning-making and hub for democracy and resistance. And thus oppose the naturalization of uneven rual-urban geographies. Nordic critical geographers have researched inequalities within Nordic welfare states, including center-periphery divides and conflicts, and examined how these have increased with welfare state retrenchment. Feminist geographers highlight the centrality of battles around social reproduction – the right to environmental security, work, food, housing, healthcare, education, a meaningful and dignified life in both urban and rural places. We identify a tradition of empirically based geographical research on material conditions and changing socio-spatial forms of production and consumption, which suggests a socio-spatial theory useful in an era of crisis and increased privatization of nature and social reproduction.
... In the 1950s, a quantitatively oriented urban geography became an increasingly important field in Anglo-American geography. This interest eventually contributed to the creation of what became known as regional science (Barnes, 2004). In Sweden, however, descriptive regional geography was still influential, although Swedish geographers -particularly economic geographers -were quite familiar with quantitative urban geography (Pred, 1983). ...
... In this regard, one of the arguments presented by Trevor Barnes (2004) in his study of the rise and fall of regional science in the United States is illuminating. Barnes observes that regional science emerged in tandem with the post-war economic boom in the decades after World War II, and that one of the reasons for why the discipline fell apart was that these material conditions eventually changed. ...
Research in economic geography on innovation and regional development is an important and thriving research area in Scandinavia, which has contributed significantly to theoretical and empirical advancements beyond the Scandinavian research environments. This chapter demonstrates how the field has developed and changed its focus over the years, touching upon and developing around central academic and societal topics from deindustrialisation, clusters and regional innovation systems to creativity, green transition and changing regional development paths. The chapter focuses on how research milieus have developed in Scandinavia, how theories, methodologies and methods have advanced and how researchers have worked together nationally and internationally during the last four decades.
... In the 1950s, a quantitatively oriented urban geography became an increasingly important field in Anglo-American geography. This interest eventually contributed to the creation of what became known as regional science (Barnes, 2004). In Sweden, however, descriptive regional geography was still influential, although Swedish geographers -particularly economic geographers -were quite familiar with quantitative urban geography (Pred, 1983). ...
... In this regard, one of the arguments presented by Trevor Barnes (2004) in his study of the rise and fall of regional science in the United States is illuminating. Barnes observes that regional science emerged in tandem with the post-war economic boom in the decades after World War II, and that one of the reasons for why the discipline fell apart was that these material conditions eventually changed. ...
Through tracing what ‘landscape’ has meant, and the political and intellectual work that ‘landscape’ does, we in this chapter explore the shifting nature of Nordic landscape geography. We thereby aim to introduce readers to the role of the landscape concept within Nordic scholarship and critically engage with contemporary debates over the nature and meaning of landscape. Landscape was an important political concept long before the advent of geography as a discipline in the Nordic countries, though what landscape denoted differed between various national and linguistic settings. Based in our mapping of the concept as it has evolved within geography and related disciplines, we centre on three strands of landscape scholarship today: mediations on a particularly ‘Nordic’ substantive landscape concept, attempts to utilise landscape as a concept to influence planning, and attempts to utilise landscape as a concept to grasp environmental issues. Scrutinising these current traditions leads us to primarily underline the necessity of relational approaches to steer the concept away from a problematic and narrow emphasis on the local scale. Yet, and importantly, various relational approaches take analysis in different directions, leading us to also underscore the necessity of critically scrutinising where particular relational approaches might lead landscape geography.
... In the 1950s, a quantitatively oriented urban geography became an increasingly important field in Anglo-American geography. This interest eventually contributed to the creation of what became known as regional science (Barnes, 2004). In Sweden, however, descriptive regional geography was still influential, although Swedish geographers -particularly economic geographers -were quite familiar with quantitative urban geography (Pred, 1983). ...
... In this regard, one of the arguments presented by Trevor Barnes (2004) in his study of the rise and fall of regional science in the United States is illuminating. Barnes observes that regional science emerged in tandem with the post-war economic boom in the decades after World War II, and that one of the reasons for why the discipline fell apart was that these material conditions eventually changed. ...
The development of Nordic gender geography is closely related to societal transformation. The way the gendered labour market is structured and re-structured is a recurrent theme for investigation. In this chapter, we discuss Nordic gender geography since its establishment in the 1980s, with the aim of scrutinising long-term and contemporary trends and challenges. We discern an engagement in issues based on socio-spatial conditions, where agency, identity and intersectional perspectives work together with materiality, institutions and structures. Nordic gender geography thereby contributes with a contextual gender theory, emphasising space as both a designer and an interpreter of gender relations. Regional and local gender relations become a player in the structure-agency relationship, and we argue that socio-spatial gender theorising can modify the idea of universal and all-embracing theoretical explanation of how gender is constructed. Nordic gender geography constitutes a prevailing and growing potential for a significant contribution to gender theory and to socio-spatial analysis of power.
... In the 1950s, a quantitatively oriented urban geography became an increasingly important field in Anglo-American geography. This interest eventually contributed to the creation of what became known as regional science (Barnes, 2004). In Sweden, however, descriptive regional geography was still influential, although Swedish geographers -particularly economic geographers -were quite familiar with quantitative urban geography (Pred, 1983). ...
... In this regard, one of the arguments presented by Trevor Barnes (2004) in his study of the rise and fall of regional science in the United States is illuminating. Barnes observes that regional science emerged in tandem with the post-war economic boom in the decades after World War II, and that one of the reasons for why the discipline fell apart was that these material conditions eventually changed. ...
As an example of socio-spatial theorization within the Nordic context, this chapter is written as an autobiographic narrative of my intellectual development from the 1970s to 2021. It is a story involving a steady positioning in the ‘Nordic’ context, but within that a range of shifts in affiliations, as well as a participation in different intellectual networks – both Danish, Nordic and ‘International’ – all of which have influenced my thinking. The chapter is arranged in four parts: First, a presentation of some Nordic predecessors. This is followed by an intellectual history of what I call theoretical approximations to (a) a non-deterministic social ecology, (b) towards a theory of practice, and (c) an engagement with the formulation of a critical phenomenology – all involving issues of the urban question, of everyday life and of modalities of social space.
... In the 1950s, a quantitatively oriented urban geography became an increasingly important field in Anglo-American geography. This interest eventually contributed to the creation of what became known as regional science (Barnes, 2004). In Sweden, however, descriptive regional geography was still influential, although Swedish geographers -particularly economic geographers -were quite familiar with quantitative urban geography (Pred, 1983). ...
... In this regard, one of the arguments presented by Trevor Barnes (2004) in his study of the rise and fall of regional science in the United States is illuminating. Barnes observes that regional science emerged in tandem with the post-war economic boom in the decades after World War II, and that one of the reasons for why the discipline fell apart was that these material conditions eventually changed. ...
Approaching Nordic human geography as an evolving community of practice with strong historical-geographical legacies, this chapter introduces the two overarching themes of the book. On the one hand, we foreground how geography has been, and is, theorised in Nordic human geography, particularly (but not exclusively) as socio-spatial theory. On the other hand, if often intersecting with the former, we seek to highlight the importance of historical-geographical context in geographical theorising and research. Following from this, and acknowledging that the balancing of these themes differs between the individual contributions, the chapter outlines the approach of the book.
... In the 1950s, a quantitatively oriented urban geography became an increasingly important field in Anglo-American geography. This interest eventually contributed to the creation of what became known as regional science (Barnes, 2004). In Sweden, however, descriptive regional geography was still influential, although Swedish geographers -particularly economic geographers -were quite familiar with quantitative urban geography (Pred, 1983). ...
... In this regard, one of the arguments presented by Trevor Barnes (2004) in his study of the rise and fall of regional science in the United States is illuminating. Barnes observes that regional science emerged in tandem with the post-war economic boom in the decades after World War II, and that one of the reasons for why the discipline fell apart was that these material conditions eventually changed. ...
Throughout its recorded history, the aims of geography have shifted between synthesis and specialized systematic studies. Cosmography, as understood by Alexander von Humboldt and others, presented an ambitious synthesis of climate, topography, biogeography, settlement and human life. Explorations financed by geographical societies gradually led to growth of specialized disciplines, particularly in natural sciences. This broad activity was regarded as geography by the general public and those that established geography chairs 1870–1910. The first professors adhered to synthesis of human and physical geography and found relevant research themes. Initially geography was dominated by environmental determinism, possibilism and a focus on regional geography through synthesis. Gradually specialized research in systematic branches led to a nomothetic shift to spatial science, inspiring models in both human and physical geography. Synthesis of physical and human geography remained an aim within spatial science but provided few integrating research exemplars. Synthesis of physical and human geo-factors was fundamental for the first professors and was seen as a goal for many geographers in the following generations, but has been difficult to attain in research projects. However, present global changes give our discipline new relevance for research on global sustainability.
... In the 1950s, a quantitatively oriented urban geography became an increasingly important field in Anglo-American geography. This interest eventually contributed to the creation of what became known as regional science (Barnes, 2004). In Sweden, however, descriptive regional geography was still influential, although Swedish geographers -particularly economic geographers -were quite familiar with quantitative urban geography (Pred, 1983). ...
... In this regard, one of the arguments presented by Trevor Barnes (2004) in his study of the rise and fall of regional science in the United States is illuminating. Barnes observes that regional science emerged in tandem with the post-war economic boom in the decades after World War II, and that one of the reasons for why the discipline fell apart was that these material conditions eventually changed. ...
In intellectual histories of geography as well as in international relations, geopolitics is usually the business of great powers, understood as the expansion of hard power through territorial control. However, the existence of a ‘ Geopolitik of the weak’ has also been theorised, premised on the ability of smaller states – such as the Nordic countries – to secure their survival through a wider range of policy instruments. In this chapter, we analyse key themes in the work of two Nordic geographical thinkers deeply concerned with the place and status of their home countries in the era of high modernity – Rudolf Kjellén and Gudmund Hatt. Relying upon their scholarly works as well as relevant public debates circa 1905–1945, we trace the ‘small-state geopoliticking’ of Hatt and Kjellén, identifying three key characteristics of their style of small-state geopolitics: (1) determinism is qualified by voluntarism; (2) space is complemented by future; and (3) external expansion is sublimated into internal progress. In its reconceptualisation of living space as primarily concerned with existential survival as premised upon future progress, rather than outward-oriented territorial expansion, small-state geopolitics emerges as a highly situated, somewhat quaint but nonetheless significant element in Nordic theorising of geography.
... In the 1950s, a quantitatively oriented urban geography became an increasingly important field in Anglo-American geography. This interest eventually contributed to the creation of what became known as regional science (Barnes, 2004). In Sweden, however, descriptive regional geography was still influential, although Swedish geographers -particularly economic geographers -were quite familiar with quantitative urban geography (Pred, 1983). ...
... In this regard, one of the arguments presented by Trevor Barnes (2004) in his study of the rise and fall of regional science in the United States is illuminating. Barnes observes that regional science emerged in tandem with the post-war economic boom in the decades after World War II, and that one of the reasons for why the discipline fell apart was that these material conditions eventually changed. ...
Research on displacement has a long trajectory in Western geography and urban studies. In a Swedish context theory formation around displacement re-emerged in the 2010s as a response to an increasingly heated housing market, increased gentrification and growing homelessness, and as a consequence of ‘renoviction’ processes. Learning from empirical research in Sweden, the Nordic experiences differ from the Anglo-American context, and set ground for a theoretical discussion on how to understand the specificities of displacement processes in (post-)welfare societies. In this chapter we investigate some Swedish manifestations of displacement that cannot easily be grasped by conceptual apparatuses often developed in an Anglo-American context. The process of displacement in a Swedish (and Nordic) context is often more indirect and slower but its eventual outcomes have the same damaging effects on its victims. The chapter provides both an historical and contemporary view of Swedish displacement processes and practices, and we argue that we cannot uncritically import a conceptual apparatus that grew out of other socio-spatial contexts and develop particular understandings of displacement based on Nordic empirical observations.
... In the 1950s, a quantitatively oriented urban geography became an increasingly important field in Anglo-American geography. This interest eventually contributed to the creation of what became known as regional science (Barnes, 2004). In Sweden, however, descriptive regional geography was still influential, although Swedish geographers -particularly economic geographers -were quite familiar with quantitative urban geography (Pred, 1983). ...
... In this regard, one of the arguments presented by Trevor Barnes (2004) in his study of the rise and fall of regional science in the United States is illuminating. Barnes observes that regional science emerged in tandem with the post-war economic boom in the decades after World War II, and that one of the reasons for why the discipline fell apart was that these material conditions eventually changed. ...
This chapter explores the emergence and eventual decline of a distinctive kind of planning-oriented human geography in post-war Sweden and the closely related adaptation of Walter Christaller’s central place theory by geographers such as Torsten Hägerstrand and Sven Godlund. The rapidly expanding Swedish welfare state gave rise to a demand for skills and expertise of a kind many geographers were eager to provide, and Christaller’s abstract framework allowed them to position themselves as producers of socially useful knowledge. Eventually, however, several voices raised concerns about how the focus on planning and the dominance of reductive theories such as central place theory constrained the academic development of the discipline. The end of the expansive phase of the welfare state also decreased the demand for the expertise geographers had provided. In essence, the popularity of central place theory was tethered to a particular historical moment, and it only allowed for rather narrow analyses of socio-spatial relations. Nonetheless, the theory played a key role in the transformation of Swedish human geography into a modern social science, insofar as the comparatively novel understanding of space it provided contributed to the development of more complex and philosophical theories and approaches to geography.
... Πρωτοποριακό και θεμελιώδες στον κλάδο της Περιφερειακής Επιστήμης και στο πεδίο των μελετών της περιφερειακής ανάπτυξης μπορεί να θεωρηθεί το έργο του W. Isard τη δεκαετία του 1960 (Barnes 2004(Barnes , Λαμπριανίδης 2000. Ο Isard ασκεί κριτική στα νεοκλασικά οικονομικά και στην οικονομική θεωρία που αντιμετωπίζει τα οικονομικά φαινόμενα σαν να συμβαίνουν όπως παρατηρεί εύστοχα, σ' έναν «φανταστικό κόσμο χωρίς διαστάσεις» 2 . ...
... Σήμερα, δύο επιστημονικοί κλάδοι εκ θεμελίων, αναπτύσσουν ενδιαφέρον και έχουν ως αντικείμενο τη μελέτη του χώρου και της γεωγραφίας των οικονομικών φαινομένων. Από τη μία, η Οικονομική Γεωγραφία (ΟΓ), με αφετηρία την επιστήμη της Ανθρωπογεωγραφίας, από την άλλη, η Περιφερειακή Οικονομική που τουλάχιστον από τη δεκαετία του 2000 θεωρείται ότι ανανεώνεται στις μεθόδους και τα εργαλεία κάτω από το ερευνητικό πρόγραμμα της Νέας Οικονομικής Γεωγραφίας (ΝΟΓ) (Barnes 2004(Barnes , Ροβολής 2004. Η αφετηρία εδώ είναι τα Οικονομικά, κι όπως εύστοχα παρατηρεί ο Ροβολής (2004), οι περισσότεροι, ακόμα και οι κριτικοί και ετερόδοξοι οικονομολόγοι θα μπορούσαν να ταυτιστούν καλύτερα με τις μεθόδους και τα ερωτήματα που θέτει αυτή η δεύτερη πλευρά, για την ανάλυση των οικονομικών προβλημάτων του χώρου. ...
Από τη σκοπιά των οικονομολόγων ο χώρος δημιουργεί ασυνέχειες και δυσκολίες στο κυρίαρχο οικονομικό υπόδειγμα που συχνά αναφέρεται ότι εξετάζει τα οικονομικά φαινόμενα σα να συμβαίνουν σε «έναν κόσμο θαυμάτων χωρίς διαστάσεις» κατά την γνωστή φράση του Isard ή «στο κεφάλι μίας παροιμιώδους καρφίτσας». Ακόμα όμως και στο πλαίσιο μίας πολιτικο-οικονομικής και ριζοσπαστικής παράδοσης, παραμένει υποδεέστερος και ανενεργός τουλάχιστον δίπλα στο χρόνο και την ιστορία. Η εργασία επικεντρώνεται στη διάσταση του χώρου, όπως αυτή εισάγεται στην οικονομική θεωρία και ενσωματώνεται σε κριτικές σχολές σκέψης είτε μέσα είτε έξω από την οικονομική πραγματεία. Επίσης, στοχεύει σε μία πρώτη διερεύνηση ενός αναλυτικού πλαισίου πολιτικής οικονομίας, που θα ενσωματώνει εξίσου τη γεωγραφική και ιστορική διάσταση για την κατανόηση των προβλημάτων της παραγωγής και της ανάπτυξης. Στο πλαίσιο αυτό, αναζητούνται διαφορές και κοινές θέσεις ανάμεσα στις επιστημονικές πειθαρχίες της Οικονομικής Γεωγραφίας και των Οικονομικών, με έμφαση στην εξελικτική τους πορεία και υποστηρίζεται ότι οι οικονομολόγοι μπορούν να μάθουν από τους γεωγράφους αλλά και αναστοχαζόμενοι τα έργα των κλασικών της πολιτικής οικονομίας.
... From the rise of China to the GFC, the marginalist 4 The Journal of Economic Geography was, in part, founded with the explicit aim of fostering a dialogue between spatial economists and economic geographers, and, indeed a number of papers in early issues bear testimony to this discursive effort (e.g. Barnes, 2004;Overman, 2004;Scott, 2004). 5 It is simply wrong to suggest that the modern descendants of classical location theory are inherently toolkit of neoclassical equilibrium dynamics with representative agents are simply no match for the capricious realities of an unstable financialised global economic system. ...
... 8 See Bieri (2019b) for more detail. The particular case of the history of regional science and its changing relationship with economic geography is discussed inScott (2000) andBarnes (2004). ...
This review assesses the evolution of economic geography over the past two decades, picking up where Scott’s (2000) intellectual history of the field’s "great-half century" ends. It is part retrospective and part prospective; as such, it aims beyond a historical review to outline some ideas about important factors that drove the recent developments of economic geography. Specifically, I identify three main themes: i) the "Methodenstreit" over the New Economic Geography and the alleged intellectual imperialism of geographical economics; ii) the search for engaged pluralism amid concerns of a dominance of Anglo-American economic geography; and -- perhaps most strikingly -- iii) the rapid (re)emergence of sub-fields after the Great Financial Crisis, such as the geography of money and finance and political economic geography, both with a particular focus on spatial disparities and inequality. Focusing on new developments in the geography of money and finance, I also illustrate how the three themes (economic imperialism, pluralism, and financialisation) have shaped the discipline's most recent intellectual history. The review concludes by outlining elements of a vision for a pluralist post-crisis economic geography.
... In the 1950s, geographers were abandoning their idiographic focus (description of areas and regions as unique places) and were becoming receptive to the idea of turning their science into a nomothetic discipline, using positivism in its methods. For Walter Isard, Regional Science was the first systematic attempt to join the work of economists and geographers (BARNES, 2004). ...
... In 1954, in line with important developments in the research field, the Regional Science Association was born in Detroit (BOYCE, 2004). At that time, an interdisciplinary organization was proposed (ISSERMAN, 1993) and it was marked by the use of formal neoclassical theory supported by rigorous statistical techniques that tried to explain a space economy (BARNES, 2004). ...
This paper is a study of the full content of the articles published by RPER, the Portuguese Review of Regional Studies, since its launching, in 2003, until the first quarter of 2015. RPER is the journal edited by the Portuguese section of European Regional Science Association, which was established in the first half of the eighties of the 20th century. The Association (APDR) and the Journal are the result of the contribution of researchers and technicians from different scientific fields, going from Economics to Geography, Sociology, Engineering and Architecture, mainly, who take as their main focus the territory, that is, the socio-economic life as it involves in concrete sites, conditioned by their resources and capabilities, historical and cultural heritage and institutions. Content analysis was undertaken in order to identify the main subjects chosen along the total period under analysis, the nature of the articles published (more theoretical or empirical) and the main analytical framework used. The analysis takes also sub-periods in order to investigate major trends found in terms of subjects chosen and analytical methods, questioning the rationale behind that. The paper concludes with a few notes regarding the social echo that the research got and with the identification of the main limitations of the research performed. In a first part of the article, to serve as a basis for the empirical approach developed, a summary review of the genesis and evolution of Regional Science at international level is undertaken.
... In the 1950s, geographers were abandoning their idiographic focus (description of areas and regions as unique places) and were becoming receptive to the idea of turning their science into a nomothetic discipline, using positivism in its methods. For Walter Isard, Regional Science was the first systematic attempt to join the work of economists and geographers (BARNES, 2004). ...
... In 1954, in line with important developments in the research field, the Regional Science Association was born in Detroit (BOYCE, 2004). At that time, an interdisciplinary organization was proposed (ISSERMAN, 1993) and it was marked by the use of formal neoclassical theory supported by rigorous statistical techniques that tried to explain a space economy (BARNES, 2004). ...
This paper is a study of the full content of articles published by RPER, the Portuguese Review of Regional Studies, from the time it was launched in 2003 until the first quarter of 2015. RPER is a journal edited by the Portuguese section of the European Regional Science Association, which was established in the first half of the 1980s. The Association (APDR) and the journal are the result of contributions by researchers and technicians from different scientific fields, including mainly Economics, Geography, Sociology, Engineering and Architecture. The main focus of these contributions is the socio-economic life of concrete sites, and the way this life is conditioned by resources and capabilities, the historical and cultural heritage and institutions. Content analysis was undertaken to identify the main subjects chosen during the total period under analysis, the nature of the articles published (theoretical or empirical) and the main analytical framework used. The analysis also covers sub-periods to investigate major trends found in terms of subjects chosen and analytical methods, questioning the rationale behind them. The paper concludes with a few notes regarding the social echo the research received and an identification of the main limitations of the research. In the first part of the article, we conduct a summary review of the genesis and evolution of Regional Science at international level to serve as a basis for the empirical approach developed.
... De nombreux articles font le point sur les différents aspects de la question, ce qui montre l'intérêt et la vivacité de la pensée contemporaine : R. Martin (1996,1999), N. Ettlinger. (2003), J. S. Boggs et N. M. Rantisi (2003), T. Barnes (1992Barnes ( , 2000Barnes ( , 2001Barnes ( , 2002Barnes ( , 2004, A. J. Scott (2000), N. Castrée (2004), H. Wai-Chung Yeung (2003), J. D. Fellmann (1986), P. Hampton (1987), M. Hess (2004), R. A. Erickson (1989), ou le Français P.-H. Derycke (1998Derycke ( , 2002, entre autres. ...
Cet article veut montrer l 'évolution des grandes tendances de la géographie économique française au cours d'un siècle. D'abord les précurseurs sont mis en valeur avec leurs savoir faire, il s 'agit d'une période d'émergence. La deuxième période est consacrée à la science régionale, et à ses différentes perspectives, des marxistes à un auteur comme P. Claval. La troisième partie présente « le tournant territorial », et ses diverses tendances, comme celle de la régulation ou celle de la proximité, entre autres. Actuellement deux grands axes divergent au sein de la géographie économique, jouant les enjeux de la complémentarité.
... Isard) так называемыми региональными исследованиями, в которых фактор пространственных размещений встраивался в неоклассические модели равновесия 12 . Конечной единицей анализа в обоих подходах был homo еconomicus (человек экономический), хотя Изард попытался по меньшей мере сблизить позиции географии и экономической теории [Barnes 2004]. Итак, уже в 1960-х годах представители поведенческой экономической теории стремились расширить набор факторов, влияющих на принятие решений, за счёт таких компонент, как научение, доступ к информации и способность ею распорядиться [Pred 1967]. ...
... Isard) так называемыми региональными исследованиями, в которых фактор пространственных размещений встраивался в неоклассические модели равновесия 12 . Конечной единицей анализа в обоих подходах был homo еconomicus (человек экономический), хотя Изард попытался по меньшей мере сблизить позиции географии и экономической теории [Barnes 2004]. Итак, уже в 1960-х годах представители поведенческой экономической теории стремились расширить набор факторов, влияющих на принятие решений, за счёт таких компонент, как научение, доступ к информации и способность ею распорядиться [Pred 1967]. ...
... Isard) так называемыми региональными исследованиями, в которых фактор пространственных размещений встраивался в неоклассические модели равновесия 12 . Конечной единицей анализа в обоих подходах был homo еconomicus (человек экономический), хотя Изард попытался по меньшей мере сблизить позиции географии и экономической теории [Barnes 2004]. Итак, уже в 1960-х годах представители поведенческой экономической теории стремились расширить набор факторов, влияющих на принятие решений, за счёт таких компонент, как научение, доступ к информации и способность ею распорядиться [Pred 1967]. ...
... Isard) так называемыми региональными исследованиями, в которых фактор пространственных размещений встраивался в неоклассические модели равновесия 12 . Конечной единицей анализа в обоих подходах был homo еconomicus (человек экономический), хотя Изард попытался по меньшей мере сблизить позиции географии и экономической теории [Barnes 2004]. Итак, уже в 1960-х годах представители поведенческой экономической теории стремились расширить набор факторов, влияющих на принятие решений, за счёт таких компонент, как научение, доступ к информации и способность ею распорядиться [Pred 1967]. ...
... Isard) так называемыми региональными исследованиями, в которых фактор пространственных размещений встраивался в неоклассические модели равновесия 12 . Конечной единицей анализа в обоих подходах был homo еconomicus (человек экономический), хотя Изард попытался по меньшей мере сблизить позиции географии и экономической теории [Barnes 2004]. Итак, уже в 1960-х годах представители поведенческой экономической теории стремились расширить набор факторов, влияющих на принятие решений, за счёт таких компонент, как научение, доступ к информации и способность ею распорядиться [Pred 1967]. ...
... Isard) так называемыми региональными исследованиями, в которых фактор пространственных размещений встраивался в неоклассические модели равновесия 12 . Конечной единицей анализа в обоих подходах был homo еconomicus (человек экономический), хотя Изард попытался по меньшей мере сблизить позиции географии и экономической теории [Barnes 2004]. Итак, уже в 1960-х годах представители поведенческой экономической теории стремились расширить набор факторов, влияющих на принятие решений, за счёт таких компонент, как научение, доступ к информации и способность ею распорядиться [Pred 1967]. ...
... Technological convergence to the new web-based digital environment, coupled with continued efforts to address global critical issues, could also facilitate further synthetic development of urban modeling. Otherwise, urban modeling could suffer the same fate as regional science (Barnes, 2004). By looking at urban modeling efforts through a metaphorical perspective, we can better understand what Couclelis (1984) called the ''prior structure'' of the models. ...
Previous assessment on urban analysis and modeling efforts has concentrated primarily on technical and methodological details without probing the underlying root metaphors embedded in the diverse modeling efforts. This chapter presents a comprehensive review of four major traditions in urban modeling during the past 50 years - spatial morphology, social physics, social biology, and spatial events. Using Pepper's world hypotheses as a guiding framework, this chapter argues that the root metaphors embedded in the four urban modeling traditions correspond to those in Pepper's world hypotheses - the world as forms, machines, organism, and arenas. It is argued that what we traditionally regard as progress is, in fact, a shift of metaphors used for conceptualizing cities. In this context, what we must recognize is the process whereby meaning is produced from metaphor to metaphor, rather than, as it was often assumed by urban modelers, between model and the world. We need not only to check the validity of our models from the technical perspective in terms of data accuracy and consistency with empirical results, but also to scrutinize the driving conceptual metaphors deeply embedded in the models. Only then can we weave the insights gained from the urban modeling efforts with other urban narratives to have a more sensible urban future.
The first two decades of the 21st century, which are characterized by some researchers as a «polycrisis», updated the requirement for relevance to social theories, including theories of spatial development. New economic geography (NEG) is one of the significant innovations among scientific directions in the field of spatial economics of the late 20th – early 21st centuries, which currently appears rather as an unproductive generator of scientific ideas reflecting current public needs. As a study of the publications of leading researchers in this area has shown, NEG is characterized by such features as methodological reductionism, high encapsulation and self-referentiality, reflecting the prevailing desire to extract academic rent. The development of a relatively new theoretical concept as regional / urban resilience seems more promising against this background
This is the second volume of a study on contemporary geographical thought or geophilosophy of modernity, whose methodological framework is characterized by three goals. The first is general education and refers to the need of students of the II cycle of geography studies, in terms of theoretical foundation, to expand their knowledge of contemporary geographical thought. The second goal concerns interdisciplinarity in modern social-humanistic research (propaedeutic framework), based on which students should acquire ideas about the interdependence of specific scientific disciplines (philosophy, social theory, economics, history, psychology, geography). Finally, the third goal has a more practical/political-geographical meaning. It refers to the understanding of turning social events in the modern history of Europe (world wars, economic crises, social stratification), and in the background of which there were significant social-geographic disagreements caused by political-geographical ambitions of vital political actors (colonialism, imperialism, class, and race relations). This third goal is due to the current political-geographical situation in Europe. The author allows readers to think about the sustainability of existing solutions (democratic and spatial functional) and their analogy with historically similar problems on European soil. It implies two spatial scales, large (geopolitical) and small (sustainability of the development of local communities), where a valuable tool for orientation is represented by the elements of Foucauldian geoepistemology, "space/power/knowledge."
This study aims to provide a comprehensive examination of the evolution of regional science, a scholarly domain in the social sciences that applies analytical and quantitative approaches and methods to understand and address urban, rural, or regional problems. We conducted a bibliometric analysis of 8,509 articles published in six regional science flagship journals (including the Journal of Regional Science, Annals of Regional Science, Regional Science and Urban Economics, Papers in Regional Science, Regional Science Policy and Practice, and International Regional Science Review) from 1958 – 2021. The analysis presents an objective data‐driven and unprecedented visualization of the field's intellectual, social, and conceptual structure and trends from the beginning to the present. It also provides a rich portrayal of the epistemology of regional science and illuminates matters related to regional science education and training. We find that regional science has moved well beyond its origins, shifting away from a heavy focus on theory and abstraction to modeling/simulation, empirical analysis, and policy research. We also find that there has been increasing attention to “people” in regions and the spatial characteristics of social problems, and some important shifts in the regional science community itself, particularly in terms of patterns of collaboration and the geography of scholarship. Findings of this paper provide implications for future directions of research and education for regional science. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Physical geography continues to have complex relationships both with Geography as a whole and the natural sciences. At a time when the nature and future of physical geography and its sub-disciplines has been questioned, I explore these changing relationships and their impacts on the discipline itself and on our collective ability to understand and address environmental crises. The exploration is through the themes of disciplinary shape and institutional change, physical geography’s content and interactions, and how its practitioners badge themselves in an increasingly inter- even trans-disciplinary world. I conclude that there is now a fluidity between disciplines in which Geography holds an important place in research addressing key environmental challenges. This is evidenced by records of publication, conferences and employment mobility between the silos of academic departments. More than ever, the challenges facing environment and society today require collective, inclusive, efforts to achieve solutions that are beyond the capacity of a single discipline. Geography’s complexity and frequent rewiring position it well to be part of the research into global grand challenges that require disciplinary agility. Fears over Geography’s shape and practice can be more than offset by the need to contribute to holistic endeavours, so long as vital sub-disciplinary building blocks are not lost in desiloing endeavours.
The aim of the paper is to explore and map out regional science perspectives on global development, assessed on the basis of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations (UN). The issue is important, since in general the methodological glue that unites interdisciplinary approaches – like regional science – may not work without a uniform or shared view on the reality and the mutual consistency of societal aims. The question whether the hierarchy of UN Development Goals is supported by regional science approaches related to geographical space, disciplinary expertise, and sustainability viewpoints is addressed in the present study, using a Q- method technique. To that end, a survey questionnaire among a group of internationally renowned regional scientists from all over the world was systematically administered and analyzed. The results are related to characteristic features of the respondents (regional scientists) examined. Our findings indicate that location, disciplinary field, and cognitive mindset do influence the ranking by regional scientists of the sustainability goals concerned. The lessons are that it is important to specify explicitly the assumptions of each sustainable development study and to understand whether the researcher’s attitudes regarding sustainable development require a ‘complementary’ perspective.
We explore disciplinary boundary-making in geographical economics or “the new economic geography” with attention to the approaches taken by, and attempts at communication among, scholars with primary affiliations in economics, geography, and regional science. The Dixit-Stiglitz general equilibrium approach to monopolistic competition and increasing returns was applied to agglomeration and location by Paul Krugman, who had previously pioneered the “new trade theory” building on the Dixit-Stiglitz model, and, independently and slightly earlier, by Masahisa Fujita and his student Heshem Abdel-Rahman, starting from regional science, a tradition with its own departments, doctorates, conferences, and journals distinct from economics and geography. Economic geography, as studied by geographers, had already taken a quantitative and theoretical turn in the 1960s, reviving an earlier tradition of German location theory overshadowed within geography after World War II by areal differentiation. Another strand of economic geography pursued by geographers was influenced by economic theory but by non-neoclassical Marxian and Sraffian economics. Debates between these scholars raised questions whether these analyses were multidisciplinary, drawing on distinct disciplines, or crossed disciplinary boundaries (as when geographical economics in the style of economists is undertaken in geography departments) or transcends disciplinary boundaries, or involved the emergence of a new discipline.
This review surveys the key themes in the evolution of economic geography over the past two decades, picking up where Scott’s (2000) intellectual history of the field’s ‘great-half century’ ends. It is part retrospective and part prospective, and thus deliberately interpretative in its assessment of the most recent ideational developments in economic geography. Specifically, this article identifies three separate, but related themes: i) the Methodenstreit over the New Economic Geography and the alleged intellectual imperialism of geographical economics; ii) the search for ‘integrative pluralism’ amid concerns of a dominance of Anglo-American economic geography; and iii) the rapid
re-emergence of the geography of money and finance and geographical political economy after the Global Financial Crisis—this time with a particular focus on spatial disparities and inequality; focusing on these new developments in the geography of money and finance, I then illustrate how the other two themes (economic imperialism and the quest for pluralism) have reflexively shaped the development of this rapidly expanding strand of economic geography. The review concludes by outlining elements of a vision for a pluralist post-crisis economic geography.
Unlike many other theoretical frameworks, David Harvey’s ’uneven geographical development’ concept has gained up to now only moderate attention from geographers in post-Communist countries. In Hungary, academic papers published in geography have hardly taken attempts to introduce Harvey’s approach to the local scientific discourse. Even references to the concept are near absent. Hence, the main goal of our paper is to give an overview of this approach. First we reveal the context in which the concept emerged in Anglophone geography in the last quarter of the 20th century, and soon gained broad international reputation. Second, we identify its philosophical roots and underlying theoretical tradition. Then we present the main findings of the concept about the functioning of capitalism and the reasons for ’uneven geographical development’, and show how other neo-Marxist thinkers have improved the Harveyian approach.
Zusammenfassung
Die (Human-)Geographie ist eine bemerkenswerte Disziplin. Organisatorisch ist sie relativ gut etabliert, doch ihre Forschungsbeiträge spielen in der Wissenschaft eine untergeordnete Rolle. Diese Leistungs- und Erfolgsdifferenz legt grundsätzlich eine stärkere Differenzierung zwischen dem Forschungsfeld einer Disziplin und ihrer Etablierung als Fach nahe. Vor dem Hintergrund dieser Unterscheidung kann erstens verdeutlicht werden, dass es der Geographie auf der Grundlage ihrer Kontingenzformel Raum nicht gelungen ist, ihre Gegen standsorientierung durch eine distinkte forschungsfeldkonstituierende Problemstellung zu ersetzen. Diese Schwierigkeit lässt sich aus systemtheoretischer Perspektive auf die Dualität von Raum als Medium und Materie sowie auf das Primat funktionaler Differenzierung und den damit verbundenen thematischen Zuständigkeiten sozial wissen schaftlicher Disziplinen in der modernen Gesellschaft zurückführen. Ausgehend von der Annahme der steten Relevanz von Raum erscheint die Geographie stattdessen als Disziplin multipler Orientierung. Ihre dennoch erfolgreiche Etablierung als Fach, so die zweite These, fußt auf außerwissenschaftlichen Anlehnungskontexten (hauptsächlich Bildung), über die gesellschaftliche Legitimität hergestellt wird.
The recent financial crisis has been a powerful reminder that the intersectoral flow of funds is also – always and everywhere – a local phenomenon with real effects. Yet, the contemporary canon of regional economic theory has enshrined the classical dichotomy, treating the spheres of money and production as analytically distinct. Consequently, the current literature has little to say about monetary phenomena and their spatial consequences. The widespread disengagement of regional scientists with respect to issues of money, credit and banking represents a radical break with the discipline's intellectual origins over half a century ago. This chapter reexamines the monetary content of some of the foundational works in regional science. In particular, I argue that August Lösch and Walter Isard, the former a student of Joseph Schumpeter's and the latter a student of Alvin Hansen's, both represent important branches in the long lineage of 20 th century continental and U.S. monetary thought, respectively. In doing so, this chapter also outlines key elements of a research agenda that reengages with regional aspects of money and credit, casting them as central pillars of a Lösch-Isard synthesis.
Since the early 1980s, the region has been central to thinking about the emerging character of the global economy. In fields as diverse as business management, industrial relations, economic geography, sociology, and planning, the regional scale has emerged as an organizing concept for interpretations of economic change. This book is both a critique of the "new regionalism" and a return to the "regional question," including all of its concerns with equity and uneven development. It will challenge researchers and students to consider the region as a central scale of action in the global economy. At the core of the book are case studies of two industries that rely on skilled, innovative, and flexible workers - the optics and imaging industry and the film and television industry. Combined with this is a discussion of the regions that constitute their production centers. The authors' intensive research on photonics and entertainment media firms, both large and small, leads them to question some basic assumptions behind the new regionalism and to develop an alternative framework for understanding regional economic development policy. Finally, there is a re-examination of what the regional question means for the concept of the learning region. © 2007 Susan Christopherson and Jennifer Clark. All rights reserved.
Introduction. Although some aspects of the study of geography are common across a large number of countries, nevertheless a marked ‘geography of geographies’ has emerged since the Second World War. Until then, there was considerable common ground that geography was the study of areal differentiation or chorology; it described and provided accounts for inter-regional differences in environments, human activities, and the interactions between the two. The widely adopted foundations for such an approach were laid down by German and French geographers - with a major American defence of that approach published in 1939 (Hartshorne 1939; see also Entrikin and Brunn 1990; Hartshorne 1959). Those foundations were rapidly eroded in the anglophone world during the immediate post-war decades. Human geography in the United Kingdom, the United States, and most of the former British Empire took a new set of paths and contacts with practices in other language realms declined, although Scandinavia and the Netherlands were exceptions - much of the research done there is published in English and contacts with English-speaking geographers were strengthened post-1950, with the anglophone ‘new geographies’ adapted to local circumstances (Öhman and Simonsen 2003). Some national traditions were sustained in other language realms, such as the dominance of the regional monograph in French practice (Clout 2009; see also Clout 2003), but many aspects of the ‘new paths’ taken within anglophone geography were later adopted there in some form, fostered by two-way contacts (not least attendance at the annual meetings of the Association of American Geographers, which took on a pronounced international complexion from the 1990s on).
This article discusses the evolution of the major trends in economic geography over the course of a century. First, the precursors of these trends are highlighted in terms of their knowledge during their period of emergence. The second period is then devoted to regional science, and its several turning points, including Marxists but also others like the author Paul Claval. The final phase reflects the "territorial turning point" in modern geography, and its many trends, such as regulation and the proximities between them. I conclude by positing the existence of two major axes that harmoniously diverge within economic geography, and that are playing complementary roles.
This volume stands as a key general resource for archaeologists working in the region extending from Louisiana through Mississippi north to Missouri and Kentucky, and it represents an opportunity to influence for decades a large part of the archaeological work to take place in the Southeast. The book responds to a need for a comprehensive archaeological overview of the Lower Mississippi Valley that forms a portion of an interstate corridor spanning nine states that will run from southern Michigan to the Texas-Mexico border. The culturally sensitive Mississippi Delta is one of the richest archaeological areas in North America, and it is crucial that research designs be comprehensive, coordinated, and meet current preservation and future research needs. The authors are well-respected researchers from both within and outside the region with expertise in the full range of topics that comprise American archaeology. They examine matters of method and theory, the application of materials science, geophysics, and other high-tech tools in archaeology that provide for optimum data-recovery. Copyright
Introduction: Engaged Pluralism?Geographical Economics: A New Trading Space?An Evolutionary ExchangeConclusions: Conversations and Critical PluralismReferences
This paper offers a concise holistic-historical perspective on regional science. It positions regional science among various related disciplinary approaches and presents a comprehensive image of its multi-faceted architecture.
Recent years have seen an increasing amount of work by physicists on topics outside their traditional research domain, including geography. We explore the scope of this development, place it in a historical context dating back at least to statistical physics in the nineteenth century and trace the origins of more recent developments to the roots of computational science after World War II. Our primary purpose is not historical, however. Instead, we are concerned with understanding what geographers can learn from the many recent contributions by physicists to understanding spatiotemporal systems. Drawing on examples of work in this tradition by physicists, we argue that two apparently different modes of investigation are common: model-driven and data-driven approaches. The former is associated with complexity science, whereas the latter is more commonly associated with the fourth paradigm, more recently known as “big data.” Both modes share technical strengths and, more important, a capacity for generalization, which is absent from much work in geography. We argue that although some of this research lacks an appreciation of previous geographical contributions, when assessed critically, it nevertheless brings useful new perspectives, new methods, and new ideas to bear on topics central to geography, yet neglected in the discipline. We conclude with some suggestions for how geographers can build on these new approaches, both inside and outside the discipline.
The proposal for a more quantitative geography curriculum from Johnstonet al.(2014) is a welcome contribution to ongoing debates. However, their arguments rely in part on an overly pessimistic assessment of the current status of quantitative methods in the discipline - perhaps reflecting their UK focus. They also underplay the importance of geometry and the models of theoretical geography to any comprehensive treatment of quantitative methods in contemporary geography. These are themes that should be considered in any modern geography curriculum. The future of quantitative methods in geography seems secure and is likely to lead to different curricula in different geographical contexts.
Regional science is turning 40. Once the harbinger of a person’s imminent death, becoming 40 now ushers in a period of apprehension and reflection-the mid-life crisis. It is a time to confront the dreams of youth, take stock of the present, ponder the path that led from there to here, and discern future possibilities. If all goes well, reflection and self-assessment lead to a renewed sense of purpose and to the self-understanding, resolve, and motivation that will shape the next 40 years. Regional science has much to gain from a deliberate effort to assess its condition, directions, and options. I attempt to do so here, but, of course, one person and one paper cannot suffice for such a task. This paper will serve its goal if it sparks thought, discussion, and action leading to both a better understanding of regional science and a more vigorous and useful regional science.
Seeks to construct a composite theory of urbanization and planning in capitalist society through the development of 4 major themes. 1) The logic and dynamics of capitalism are identified as a broad enveloping structure out of which an urban process emerges. 2) The land-use patterns and problems that appear as firms and households interact among one another in urban space are elucidated. 3) The genesis and character of state intervention in the urban system are described. 4) An exposition is made of the overall urban dynamic that is engendered by the interrelations between the civil and the political within the city. -from Publisher
After initiating a provocative discussion on "regional science in crisis" (Bailly and Coffey 1994; Gibson 1994; Plane 1994; Stough 1994; Anas 1994; Vickerman 1994; Casetti 1995), we now wish to present some additional thoughts on how regional scientists can simultaneously make their field more relevant scientifically and more useful for society. At a time when resources are tight, when the number of regional science students is small, when administrators are scrutinizing our budgets and our ability to generate outside money, we need to do something to regain (or is it simply to gain?) our place in the sun. In this paper, we argue that regional scientists will not reestablish their field by using classical approaches to regional analysis alone. It is essential that we look at new ways to answer questions raised by our social, economic, and political institutions. More specifically, we make some observations concerning the history of regional science, its role within universities, and its nature, as well as offering some suggestions concerning how regional scientists can attempt to improve the situation.
The Regional Science Association was founded 50 years ago in December 1954; however, the institutional origins of the field were much earlier, perhaps when Walter Isard began his graduate studies in economics at Harvard University. This article briefly traces the history of the field of regional science and its association from those beginnings to the present. The focus of the article is the evolution of the association as an institution, and some of its major contributors, and to a much lesser extent, on the scope and scholarly content of the field. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin/Heidelberg 2003
The first in a two volume tribute to Walter Isard, the second being "Dynamics and Conflict in Regional structural Change", this book looks at new frontiers in regional science. Together they contains 50 papers by experts in this field, and look at subjects such as location theory.
In some countries in the East, when a child is born, a horoscope is usually made. If it is a boy, it specifies how healthy and wealthy he is going to be and in the case of a girl how beautiful she would be, what type of husband she is going to get and whether she will prevail over the husband in the family.
This is the first cross-over book into the history of science written by an historian of economics. It shows how 'history of technology' can be integrated with the history of economic ideas. The analysis combines Cold War history with the history of postwar economics in America and later elsewhere, revealing that the Pax Americana had much to do with abstruse and formal doctrines such as linear programming and game theory. It links the literature on 'cyborg' to economics, an element missing in literature to date. The treatment further calls into question the idea that economics has been immune to postmodern currents, arguing that neoclassical economics has participated in the deconstruction of the integral 'self'. Finally, it argues for an alliance of computational and institutional themes, and challenges the widespread impression that there is nothing else besides American neoclassical economic theory left standing after the demise of Marxism.
Using the example of the pioneer British university teacher and economic geographer G. G. Chisholm, the author discusses qualities desirable in a university teacher of geography, considers some of the problems of teaching geography in British universities and polytechnics at the present time and indicates some directions in which further improvements may be sought.
Science studies are an increasingly prominent interdisciplinary body of work. Now a diverse literature, one of its most consistent and common themes is a reluctance to accept the standard model of scientific explanation (‘internalism’) that conceives scientific knowledge, and the disciplines with which it is associated, as the product of a rationality that is progressively realized over time. Instead, science studies emphasize the importance of local circumstances in shaping knowledge, which, in turn, makes such knowledge messy and context-dependent. The purposes of this paper are twofold. The first is to provide a selective review of science studies. In particular, the paper recognizes three subtraditions within the larger genre: Mertonian institutionalism, the sociology of scientific knowledge, and cultural studies of science. The second purpose is to begin developing a case study in order to apply such literature, that of the institutional origins of economic geography during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and linked to a series of wider social processes around commercial trade and imperialism. To make the case study manageable, I concentrate on only two authors and their respective key books: the Scottish geographer George Chisholm, who wrote the first English-language economic geography textbook, A handbook of commercial geography (1889); and the American geographer J. Russell Smith, author of the first US college text in economic geography, Industrial and commercial geography (1913).
The importance of the rise of Operations Research (OR) for the postwar development of economics is a theme entirely absent from both the history of science and the history of economics. This paper explores a number of theses which will help to rectify that situation: (1) the existing history of OR, including the landmark paper by Fortun and Schweber (1993), stands in need of revision; (2) the neoclassical tradition in America had encountered some daunting obstacles in the 1930s; (3) the recruitment of a generation of economists into OR during World War II created a possible way out of this impasse; and (4) differences in analytical content of various schools of OR can be mapped on to postwar differences between schools of American neoclassical economics and, in particular, the Chicago School and the Cowles Commission. This narrative constitutes the outline of a thesis that World War II marked the second large-scale incursion of physicists into neoclassical economics.
Little-known remarks of William Alonso are presented in this article. They are seminal to the question addressed by the author of whether regional science is a discipline or field of study appropriate for departmental or equivalent status.
William Alonso was a brilliant scholar of extraordinary breadth who contributed greatly to regional science. This article addresses his contribution as an institutional analyst, in the broad sense of that term. It draws upon his analysis of the institutional history of American education in city and regional planning, both as an example of the quality of his work and as a framework for a discussion of the evolution of education in regional science. Alonso's analysis has much to tell us about how and why regional science has been so successful as a realm of interdisciplinary work even as it has receded as a departmental field in American universities.
This article takes a critical look at the collaboration between William Alonso and John Friedmann in compiling two early collections of readings on regional development and planning. Important as these volumes were at the time they appeared (1964 and 1975), helping to delineate a new field of study, the world has changed. Metropolitan regions have moved into the foreground of interest, and there is now a much greater concern with questions of environmental sustainability, technological innovations, and the consequences of spatial restructuring in advanced economies. But pulling materials together on these new topics represents a formidable task.
Over the past few years, a new 'geographical' economics has emerged, focused on the spatial agglomeration of industry and the long-run convergence of regional incomes. Several leading names are associated with this 'geographical turn', including Paul Krugman, Michael Porter, Robert Barro and W. Brian Arthur. This 'new economic geography', it is argued here, is neither that new, nor is it geography. Instead, it is a reworking (or re-invention)-using recent developments in formal (mathematical) mainstream economics-of traditional location theory and regional science. As such it is quite opposed to, and difficult to reconcile with, the work on regional development and industrial agglomeration being carried out in economic geography proper.
Recalls the ugly reaction of many older geographers to the new material, and the difficulty in publishing some of the pioneer work. Major universities were closing their geography departments, and the Social Science Research Council rejected a bid to give geography full status. The iniquities of the old style, and the successes of the new are outlined. Four main achievements stand out: 1) a genuine concern for philosophical issues is now found in geography; 2) ethical questions have been introduced, particularly by those with Marxist leanings; 3) Tobler has developed true cartographic research; 4) the acquisitions of mathematical techniques. - K.Clayton
ABSTRACT This paper explores the current state of regional science. Our principal thesis is that “mainstream” regional science is in a state of crisis. There arc two major symptoms that justify the use of the term crisis: a lack of relevance and a narrowness of perspective. On the one hand, the field has not sufficiently demonstrated that it can address real world problems. On the other hand, the openness and breadth that was the original goal of regional science is mostly conspicuous by its absence. In order to stimulate a debate on the nature and evolution of regional science, we present a set of orienting principles that indicate desirable directions for the future orientation of the field.
In this article, I reflect upon and attempt to understand the changing theoretical nature of post–World War II Anglo-American economic geography. In particular, I contrast the kind of theorizing that first occurred in the discipline during the 1950s with the very different kind now carried out under what has been called the “cultural turn”or the “new economic geography.” I argue that, during this transition, not only did the use of specific theories alter, but the very idea and practice of theorization also changed. I characterize the phases of this movement by using the terms “epistemological” and “hermeneutic theorizing,” defined on the basis of works by pragmatist philosopher Richard Rorty and science studies writer Donna Haraway. I argue that “epistemological theorizing” best describes the first period of theorization in the discipline around the quantitative revolution of the late 1950s and early 1960s, and that it is bound by the quest for accurate (mirror) representation. In contrast, hermeneutic theorizing describes the kind of theorizing found in the new economic geography, marked by an interpretive mode of inquiry that is reflexive, open-ended, and catholic in its theoretical sources.
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Nearly half a century has passed since the publication of the seminal work of Professor Isard, Location and Space-Economy, which became the basis of a new field called regional science. As indicated by its subtitle (i.e., A General Theory Relating to Industrial Location, Market Areas, Land Use, Trade, and Urban Structure), the book was written with the aim of nothing less than initiating the development of a general theory of location and space-economy, embracing the total spatial array of economic activities. Such a theory was supposed to include both the traditional general equilibrium theory and the international trade theory as special cases. In this paper, first I shall discuss what were his possible ideas on the general theory, given the state of economic science at that time, and what were the main contributions of Location and Space-Economy in initiating the development of such a theory. Second, I review the major contributions of subsequent works by Professor Isard and other scholars from the viewpoint of the development of the general theory. Finally, I discuss possible future directions in developing such a theory.
Against the backdrop of a perceived 'crisis' within the field of Anglo-American regional science, in this paper we offer a brief overview of the early engagement of regional science with the regional concept, while placing its theoretical formulations within the wider sociohistorical context of the Cold War period and the rise of positivist social science. With regard to the development of regional science as a field of enquiry with its own theoretical and empirical postulates, attention focuses on what David Harvey has referred to as a "utopianism of spatial form", defined by the idea that spatial constructs can serve to control social processes in positive ways, thus using space to evade historical change. In building bridges from the Isardian promise of the past of regional science to its multiple futures, we suggest that the field today may break out of its current 'isolated state' by entering into creative dialogue with the metaphors animating three research streams: (1) an 'analytical turn' in Marxist economic geography; (2) a Marshallian 'New Regionalism'; and (3) a 'cultural turn' perceived to be occurring within the field of radical political economy. Each stream, addressed here as a successive and broader departure from the more orthodox "utopianism of spatial form" in spatial and regional science, is briefly surveyed in turn. Drawing on the metaphor of borders and borderlands, we conclude by arguing that rather than view each research strand as an 'improvement' on its predecessor they should be viewed as the grounds for a potentially rich cross-fertilization between spatial science and various fields of nonorthodox economics.
In this paper I use the notion of performance, especially as it has been theorized within the science studies literature, to begin to make sense of the history and continuing practices of economic geography. I argue that not only humans perform, but also objects. In this paper, I focus on the performance of books, and in particular, textbooks, or as Bruno Latour calls them, `immutable mobiles'. I argue that textbooks bring four attributes to their performance: they travel easily over distance, thereby bringing their message to a geographically diffuse audience; they allow for `an optical and semiotic homogeneity', that is, they take quite different pieces of the world, and bring them together, manipulating them and controlling them, on the same page; they represent an obligatory passage point in the sense that once they are accepted as the standard summary of a field they are necessarily acknowledged by successors; and finally, their effectiveness is in part a consequence of their rhetoric -- defined as the ability to draw together and integrate within the text a wide range of sources and authors. These arguments about the performance of textbooks are illustrated by two case studies. The first is George G Chisholm's Handbook of Commercial Geography , published in 1889, which helps launch economic geography as an academic discipline within Anglo-America. The second is Peter Haggett's Locational Analysis in Human Geography , published in 1965, which in many ways codifies the quantitative and theoretical revolution that first emerged in the United States in the late 1950s.
Bruno Latour is a vehement critic of the sociology of knowledge in general, and the Strong Program in particular. 1 For those who are familiar with his books Science in Action (Latour, 1987), The Pasteurization of France(Latour, 1988) and We Have Never Been Modern (Latour, 1993) the pivotal role played by these criticisms in Latour's writing will be evident. To those who only know his work by repute, or who have only read the first edition of Latour and Woolgar's Laboratory Life (Latour and Woolgar, 1979), presenting him as a critic of the sociology of knowl- edge may seem surprising. Latour's work and the Strong Program in the sociology of knowledge are frequently classed together under the label of 'social constructiv- ism', and this creates the impression that the two enterprises must be fundamentally similar. This is reinforced by the fact that Latour wants to go further than sociol- ogists of knowledge, whose work is said to represent something of a half-way house. He thinks sociologists are insufficiently radical in their critique of science (Latour, 1992, p. 273). Nevertheless, in reality, the two approaches are deeply opposed. In Latour's eyes the sociology of knowledge has been a failure, and it
This article contains the concluding remarks of the debate between David Bloor and Bruno Latour. The author points out several rhetorical devices used by Latour in place of argumentation, in order to avoid discussing the main differences between the two authors. He summarizes the discussion with the aim of not falling victim to Latour's tricks and discusses the asymmetries Latour mentions, ultimately demonstrating that they do not address the main critiques of actor-network theory. Bloor concludes that his opponent was unable to provide any rebuttals to claims that he had distorted the main points of the Strong Program. Moreover, Latour's arguments are founded upon an incorrect understanding of the thesis on incomplete determination. Latour claims that his opponent assumes that things do not play any role in their representations, but his opponent actually believes that things simply cannot explain the differences in various notions about them. Bloor responds to Latour's argument about the contradictions of dividing that which it is later difficult to connect, and explains that it is necessary to destroy with the aim of understanding a construction. Bloor also responds to the criticism that he has invented a third type of causality. He claims this criticism is unfounded and that he has not in fact done this; he instead writes that the connection between things and representations is not equivalent to causality. Bloor also claims that the sociology of knowledge is not in fact stagnating, as evidenced by a series of new and original studies produced following this research program. In conclusion, the author claims that by stepping away from a generalized principle of symmetry, Latour is actually renouncing his own position.
Over the past few years, a new 'geographical' economics has emerged, focused on the spatial agglomeration of industry and the long-run convergence of regional incomes. Several leading names are associated with this 'geographical turn,' including Paul Krugman, Michael Porter, Robert Barro, and W. Brian Arthur. This 'new economic geography,' it is argued here, is neither that new, nor is it geography. Instead, it is a reworking (or reinvention)--using recent developments in formal (mathematical) mainstream economics--of traditional location theory and regional science. As such, it is quite opposed to, and difficult to reconcile with, the work on regional development and industrial agglomeration being carried out in economic geography proper. Copyright 1999 by Oxford University Press.
Since 1990 there has been a renaissance of theoretical and empirical work on the spatial aspects of the economy--that is, where economic activity occurs and why. Using new tools--in particular, modeling techniques developed to analyze industrial organization, international trade, and economic growth--this "new economic geography" has emerged as one of the most exciting areas of contemporary economics. The authors show how seemingly disparate models reflect a few basic themes, and in so doing they develop a common "grammar" for discussing a variety of issues. They show how a common approach that emphasizes the three-way interaction among increasing returns, transportation costs, and the movement of productive factors can be applied to a wide range of issues in urban, regional, and international economics. This book is the first to provide a sound and unified explanation of the existence of large economic agglomerations at various spatial scales.
On the fiftieth birthday of my Foundations of Economic Analysis, a deluxe edition of it was embalmed in the German Klassiker der Nationalokonomie series alongside of Adam Smith, Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk, Irving Fisher, and many other illustrious suspects. With it, as customary, was published a slim volume in German, a Vademecum, with review essays by Jurg Niehans, Carl-Christian von Weizsacker, and a foreword by the editor Bertram Schefold. By invitation, like Tom Sawyer at his own funeral, I provided for German translation my own recollections under the title "How Foundations Came to Be." Here is the English original, slightly abridged; for some technicalities, readers are referred to the full German text. I remembered much, and, with the perspective of time, learned not a little.