Applied Geography

Applied Geography The GeoJournal Library Volume 77 ManagingEditor: MaxBarlow,ConcordiaUniversity, Montreal,Canada FoundingSeriesEditor: WolfTietze,Helmstedt,Germany EditorialBoard: PaulClaval,France YehudaGradus,Israel RistoLaulajainen,Sweden SamOckPark,SouthKorea HermanvanderWusten,TheNetherlands Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedattheendofthisvolume. Applied Geography A World Perspective editedby ANTOINE BAILLY UniversityofGeneva, Switzerland LAY JAMES GIBSON UniversityofArizona, Tucson,USA Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V. A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 978-90-481-6656-5 ISBN 978-1-4020-2442-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-2442-9 Printed an acid-free paper Funded by European Union (ERBIC 18CT 970152) All Rights Reserved © 2004 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2004. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2004 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or Iransmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, reccording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 AntoinesBaillyandLayJamesGibson PartI: Historyandepistemologicalfoundations Chapter1 ManaginggeographyafterY2K 9 AntoineBaillyandLayJamesGibson Chapter2 Theprinciplesandpracticeofappliedgeography 23 MichaelPacione Chapter3 Historicalfoundationsofappliedgeography 47 MichelPhlipponneau Chapter4 Politicalgeography,publicpolicyandtheriseofpolicyanalysis 69 KingsleyE.Haynes,QingshuXieandLeiDing Chapter5 Theroleofgeographicinformationscienceinappliedgeography 95 ArthurGetis Chapter6 Economicbasetheoryandappliedgeography 113 LayJamesGibson Chapter7 Retaillocationandconsumerspatialchoicebehavior 133 HarryTimmermans PartII: Aworldperspective Chapter8 AppliedgeographyinWesternandSouthernEurope 151 JorgeGaspar vi TABLEOFCONTENTS Chapter9 AppliedgeographyinCentralEurope 169 Gyo¨rgyEnyedi Chapter10 Appliedgeographyin20thcenturyNorthAmerica:Aperspective 187 JohnW.Frazier PartIII: Casestudies Chapter11 Disability,disadvantage,anddiscrimination:Anoverviewwith specialemphasisonblindnessintheusa 213 ReginaldG.Golledge Chapter12 HumanWay?nding 233 ReginaldG.Golledge Chapter13 Internationaltrade 253 JessieP.H.PoonandJamesE.McConnell Chapter14 Medicometryandregionaldevelopment 273 AntoineS.Bailly Chapter15 Monitoringandbenchmarkingregionalandlocalperformance 287 RobertStimson Chapter16 Appliedgeographyforthefuture 305 AntoineBaillyandLayJamesGibson Chapter17 Biographiesand?elds 309 Index 319 ANTOINESBAILLYANDLAYJAMESGIBSON INTRODUCTION Applied Geography: A World Perspective makes geography’s utility as an applied science explicit. It has been argued that geographic applications in corporations, governmentagenciesandinnon-governmentalorganizations“justhappen.”Manyge- ographers,however,arelesstrusting.Geography’spositionasanacademicdiscipline has been challenged frequently over the years. Further, geographic approaches have oftenbeenadoptedbythosewithlittleornoformaltrainingingeographyperse.The authorswhohavecontributedtothisbookfeelthatthereisrealvaluetohavingastrong andreadilyrecognizabledisciplineofgeography.Wewantgeographytogetfullcredit foritscontributionstopolicyandpracticeandwewantgraduatesofouruniversity-based programsgetfullconsiderationwhentheyapplyforpositionsinindustry,government, andinNGO’s. The book is organized around three main themes: “History and Epistemological Foundations”ofappliedgeography;“AWorldPerspective”onthepracticeofapplied geography in different regions; and ?nally “Case Studies” which show how applied geographycancontributetoproblemsolvingindifferentinstitutionalenvironments. Part 1, History and epistemological foundations has seven of the book’s 15 papers. The?rstpaperbyAntoineBaillyandLayGibsonsetsthetone.Theauthorsbuildthe case for an aggressive and proactive approach for establishing geography as a vital problem-solving discipline and for making applied geography an explicit part of the geographycurriculum. Michael Pacione deals with the Principles and Practices of Applied Geography and morespeci?callythewaysthattheworldsofpracticeandtheoryintersect.Hischapter isorganizedintoninemainsections.Theseaddressthede?nitionofappliedgeography; theconceptofusefulknowledge;therelationshipbetweenpureandappliedresearch; thevalueofappliedgeography;thequestionofvaluesinappliedgeography;typesof appliedgeographicalresearch;thepracticeofappliedgeography;thehistoryofapplied geography;andtheprospectsforappliedgeography. ThepaperbyMichelPhlipponneaufavors“Frenchgeography;”neverthelessitcomple- mentsPacione’spapernicely.Whereasthelatterpaperisespeciallygoodatqualifying 1 A.BaillyandL.J.Gibson(eds.),AppliedGeography,1–5. (cid:2)C 2004KluwerAcademicPublishers. 2 ANTOINESBAILLYANDLAYJAMESGIBSON and positioning the special role of applied geography in the contemporary world, Phlipponneau’spaperdigsdeepintothehistoryofappliedworkincludinggeography and early explorations, the roles of geographical societies in heightening awareness of geography, and involvement by geographers in surveying and mapping. A special treatarehisfrequentmentionsoftheInternationalGeographicalUnion,itsgrowthand development,andtheplaceofappliedworkintheIGU’sagenda. ThepaperbyKingsleyHaynesetal.(PoliticalGeography,PublicPolicyandtheRise ofPolicyAnalysis)alsocomplementsthePacionepaperandPhlipponeau’spapertoo inthatitlooksattrendsinacademicgeographyanditsin?uenceonappliedgeography. Butthereisamajordifference,Pacionefocusesongeographybroadlyde?nedwhereas Haynesfocusesonpoliticalgeographyandpublicpolicy.Hebeginswithabriefreview of the literature on political geography and a categorization of scale issues. He then movesontotwosimplebutextremelyappropriateappliedcasestudieswhichshowhow geographicfactorsaffectpublicpolicyanalysisandhowappliedpublicpolicystudies canbecarriedoutwithsensitivitytogeographicconsiderations.Thetwocasestudies are regional income convergence and the rise of regional transportation management institutions. The paper by Arthur Getis represents a change in direction – to technology driven applied geography. He points out that powerful new technologies have emerged that greatlyimproveourabilitytocollect,store,manage,view,analyze,andutilizeinfor- mationregardingthecriticalissuesofourtime.Thesetechnologiesincludegeographic information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), satellite-based remote sensing,andagreatvarietyofremarkablesoftwarethatallowsfortheanalysisofthe compellingproblems.Theissuesincludeglobalization,globalwarming,pollution,se- curity, crime, public health, transportation, energy supplies, and population growth. GeographicInformationScience(GISc)ismorethanjustGISandithasgivenriseto anessentiallymultidisciplinaryapproachtoappliedproblems.Nosinglepersonisan expertinalloftheseareas.Itisnecessarytoemphasizecoordinationandcollaboration andto?ndbridgesthatreducebarriersbetweendisciplines. WhereasGetisfeaturedatechnique,LayGibsonfocusesonaconcept–economicbase theory. Gibson’s paper deals explicitly with the ways that economic base theory can contributetopracticalunderstandingsofvaluetoregionalplanninganddevelopment professionals who need to better understand how regions work and how they might workevenbetter.Basetheoryisoftenemployedasaresearchtoolonthepromisethat it can produce a multiplier. But it can do much more if the practitioner thinks to ask or if the applied geographer bothers to offer. This article identi?es seven economic development problems commonly faced by development practitioners and regional plannersandillustrateshowsolutionscanbedrawnfromtheapplicationofeconomic basetheory. INTRODUCTION 3 The ?nal paper in this section was prepared by Harry Timmermans; it deals with “RetailLocationandConsumerSpatialChoiceBehavior.”Heremindsusthatgeogra- pherstraditionallyhavemadesubstantialcontributionstoretailmanagementandretail policy. Retail location decisions have a major impact on the success of a store. The saying“location,location,location”suggeststhatbadlocationdecisionsaredif?cult to compensate by other elements of the marketing mix such as pricing, merchandis- ingandpromotion.Spaceandlocationaretheverycoreofthegeographydiscipline; hencemanygeographicaltheories,resultsofspatialanalysesandspatialmethodsare potentially relevant for better informed decisions in retailing. But he also discusses the role of retail geography in land-use policy development. For example, to avoid emptydowntownareas,retailpolicyinmanycountrieshasstimulatedretailbusiness indowntownareasandprohibitedretailgrowthinout-of-townorperipherallocation by implementing appropriate planning control. Equity issues (good accessibility and a basic provision of retail stores in every neighborhood) have also been high on the policyagenda,especiallyinEuropeancountriesinthe1970’sand1980’s. TherearethreepapersinPart2,AWorldPerspective.Thethreepaperscovercritical regions but there is clearly a bias toward the Western World. Jorges Gaspar’s paper focuses on Western and Southern Europe. Whereas the historical origins of applied geography are considered, his real emphasis is on geographers as key players in the regionalplanningmovementandontheemergenceoftheEuropeanCommunityandit’s roleinstimulatingthedemandforappliedgeographers.Healsodiscussestheshifting fortunesofgeographyasaprimaryandsecondaryschoolsubjectandtheimplications oftheseshiftsforuniversitybasedgeographydepartments. Gyo¨rgyEnyedi’spaperfocusesonEast-CentralEurope.Inanominalwayhedealswith someofthesametopicsthatGasperdealswithbuttherealstoryinthispaperisthemove away from communism and to capitalism. The implications for applied geographers havebeenenormous;assomeopportunitiesdisapper,otherscomeintoplay.Insome respectsappliedgeographersinthisrealmhaveneededtototallyreinventthemselves. The?nalpaperinthissectionisareviewofappliedgeographyinNorthAmerica.John Frazier approaches applied geography from all sides. He talks about the in?uence of individuals,abouttherolesofacademicdepartments,andhetalksabouttheemergence of applied geography both as a part of the agenda of the Association of American Geographers and as the agenda of the free-standing national Applied Geography Conference which is now in its 26th year. Frazier ends his chapter with a thought- fulessayon“TheFutureofAppliedGeographyinNorthAmerica.” Thethirdand?nalgroupofpapersisfoundinPart3,CaseStudies.Thiscollectionof ?vepapersfocusesondifferentsettingswheregeographyhasorcanmakeacontribution to?ndinganswerstorealquestionsandsolutionstorealproblems.