Population geography

The author reviews current trends in the study of population geography and identifies a movement of the subdiscipline during the 1980s toward a possible redefinition as spatial demography. He then outlines the main research topics pursued by population geographers during this period. The geographical scope is worldwide.     

Population geography

"This is the last of three reports discussing major avenues of progress in the alleviation of population geography's poor reputation. The first examined the route of policy-relevant research, the second considered the importance of sound scholarship and, as promised, this report will explore the part that can be played by improved communication and dissemination of our work...."     

Population geography

The author reviews recent research activities and policy-oriented studies that reflect the increasing concern of population geographers with population redistribution and related government policies     

Population geography

This paper reviews the general patterns of demographic change, historical population geography and migration and works that were published during 1995-96. The review includes works of geographers, demographers, historians, and others, where there are clear geographical implications. The aim of the review is to show that population geography thrives and indicates some of the challenges it faces in the light of developments both in related areas of geography and beyond the discipline in, for example, demography and history. The paper begins by examining recent methodological and substantive trends in economic, social and cultural geography. Then, it demonstrates the relevance of demographic phenomena to those fields where they are largely ignored.     

Population geography

The status of population geography as a field of study in Australian universities is first discussed. The author then reviews studies on various aspects of Australian population geography, including fertility, mortality, international migration, internal migration, and the geography of aging populations.     

Population geography

The author reviews recent changes in population research from a geographical perspective. "The deaths in 1990 of two of France's most distinguished demographers, Alfred Sauvy (1899-1990) and Jean Bourgeois-Pichat (1912-90)...seem an appropriate starting point from which to review progress in population research in the early 1990s....Relative to the lifespans and works of Bourgeois-Pichat and Sauvy, it is possible to discern progress in population studies as a whole and population geography in particular. Advances in technical aspects of measuring mortality, fertility and migration have been most marked, as have attempts to inter-relate these demographic processes. Progress towards explanation of population-related phenomena has been slower. Advances have not been towards building more sophisticated general theories, but towards new and more insightful forms of explanation." The author then summarizes other research literature on fertility, migration, and population subgroups. The geographical scope is worldwide.     

Population geography: disorder,death and future directions

This is one in a series of reports on research trends in population geography. The author suggests that recent political changes concerning the breakup of the former Soviet Union and a possible decline in concern among developed countries about the problems of developing ones should affect the research agenda. Particular attention is given to studies done on differential mortality and internal migration in developed countries.     

Restructuring physical geography

The tripartite division of physical geography into geomorphology, climatology and biogeography is still often quoted, but developments in the last two decades have resulted in restructuring of the discipline. Significant publications by physical geographers now occur dominantly in multidisciplinary rather than in core geography journals. Analysis of the contents of ten journals and of the submissions to the 1996 UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) demonstrate the current pre-eminence of two sub-disciplines: geomorphology with hydrology, and Quaternary environmental change. Complementing research in the sub-disciplines, six trends towards a more integrated physical geography are identified as indicators of restructuring that has already occurred. Three futures are suggested for physical geography. The first, the status quo, is thought to be unlikely. The second, the disappearance of physical geography into other disciplinary areas would leave holistic investigations to other disciplines and so is undesirable. Thus, the third alternative, a renaissance of a more integrated physical geography, provides the most likely future. It is supported by existing integrative trends, provides a natural sequel to reductionist specialization, reflects the strong identity for the geographical approach to the earth and environmental sciences and the spatio-analytical approach integrating deductive and inductive studies, and it focuses on human–environmental interactions that could have implications for geography as a whole.     

Reassessing Kant's geography

This article offers a critical reassessment of Immanuel Kant's lectures on Physische Geographie and his contribution to geographical thought more generally. There are a number of reasons why this reassessment is needed: the lectures are finally about to be published in English translation; careful philological work in German has exposed how corrupted the standard text of the lectures is; and philosophers are finally beginning to critically integrate an understanding of the Geography into their overall assessment of Kant's work. English speaking geographers will therefore soon have access to the lectures in a way that they have not done before, but they need to be aware both of the problems of the edition being translated and the work philosophers have undertaken on their situation in Kant's work and their impact. More broadly, the reassessment requires us to reconsider the position Kant occupies in the discipline of geography as a whole. The article examines the history of the lectures and their publication in some detail; discusses Kant's purpose in giving them; and looks at the way in which he structured geographical knowledge and understood its relation to history and philosophy. In terms of the broader focus particular attention is given to the topics of race and space. While these lectures are undoubtedly of largely historical interest, it is for precisely that reason that an examination of them and Kant's thought more generally is of relevance today to the history of the discipline of geography.     

China's urban geography

"In this paper I seek to review recent work on Chinese urban geography and to appraise the development of China's urban geography as a field of study both inside and outside China. The temporal scope will span scholarship finished and published mainly during the 1980s." The focus is on works published in English. The author examines the primary topics of interest, methodologies and theories, and available sources of data.