1991•Geographical ReviewRequires access
Region as a Socio-Environmental System: An Introduction to Systemic Regional Geography
John Fraser Hart, Dov Nir
Open publisher page 25 citations
Abstract
Introduction: The State of the Art.- Geography, as life itself, is built on dichotomies.- Geography - art or science?.- Objectivity and subjectivity in geographical research.- Use and misuse of geography.- The systems approach as a way of thinking in regional geography.- one: Concepts of Regional Thought in Geography.- The dawn of regional thought.- The new world.- The years 1859-1953: regional geography at its perigee.- two: The 'Quantitative Revolution': Regional Geography at Its Apogee.- Positivistic approaches and topical studies.- Theories contributed by the quantitative revolution.- Appreciation and criticism of the 'quantitative revolution'.- Pluralism: 'dernier cri' or 'cul-de-sac'?.- Regional Sciences and Landscape Analysis.- three: Regions, Zones, Boundaries.- Concepts of region.- Defmitions and types of regions and zones.- Homogeneous and nodal regions.- Definitions of boundaries and limits.- Region and literature.- four: Region as a System.- Basical remarks on the systems approach.- Systems approach in geography.- Systems approach in regional geography.- five: Towards a Model of The Region as an Open System.- The model of Ritter and Hettner.- The 'central problem' model.- The model of systemic region.- Application of the model: the Region of Bet Shean, Israel.- Application of the region model to a single-feature region.- six: The Philosophy Beyond the Regional Model.- Geography, positivism and phenomenology.- Dialectical reasoning as the basis for the concept of systemic region.- seven: Methods in Regional Geography.- Air photos.- Analysis of maps.- Delimitations of boundaries.- Dealing with variables.- Distribution of variables.- Topology.- Comparison.- Comparative regional geography.- Case study.- eight: Contribution of Regional Geography to Society.- Application of regional geography in planning.- Regionalization, regionalism and regional development.- Freedom and geographical acting.- Conclusion: Commitments and Future of Systemic Regional Geography.