Meaningful yet useless? Factors behind the retention of questionable concepts in human geography

Dymitrow, Mirek; Brauer, Rene

doi:10.1080/04353684.2017.1419071

Cited by 16 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 107 publications

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“…In line with calls to pay greater attention to how concepts operate at a cognitive level, how they gain foothold and are collectively maintained, and how to avoid harm by "unlearning" bad concepts, this paper has looked into the concept of 'rural' as a psychosocial process (Cloke, Johnston 2005b;Johnston, Sidaway 2015;Dymitrow, Brauer 2018). I have located 'rural' in a conceptual frame, that is, shifted the attention from 'rural' as a geographical space to 'rural' as a concept purportedly thought to define geographical space.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The concept of ‘rural’ as a psychosocial process: From concept attainment to concept unlearning

Dymitrow

2019

Quaestiones Geographicae

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Realising that human geography has been defined less by its canonical works but rather by its canonical concepts, the current status of the concept ‘rural’ puts a question mark over progress in human geography in terms of how well we have been able to adapt knowledge to reciprocate with societal change at large. As one of the oldest geographical concepts still in widespread use, ‘rural’ stands in stark contrast to the immense changes encountered by the society during the last century, let alone decades. And while this problem has been approached both empirically and philosophically, not enough stress has been put on the cognitive and sociological processes that have governed the attainment and retention of ‘rural’ in science, and beyond. In this vein, the aim of this paper is to provide a structured argument for facilitating a view of ‘rural’ less as a geographical space and more as a concept purportedly thought to define such space by way of inculcation.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The concept of ‘rural’ as a psychosocial process: From concept attainment to concept unlearning

Dymitrow

2019

Quaestiones Geographicae

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“…Indeed, the distinction between rural and urban, although still meaningful to many, has been argued to be of little analytical utility (e.g. Dymitrow & Brauer, 2018;Thisse, 2014). This might be so, but the higher level of incomes characteristic of settlements at the upper tiers of the urban hierarchy do potentially make a difference.…”

Section: Not In Isolation: the Fallacy Of Ontological Cityismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Advantage? Sustainable Consumption and Ontological Cityism Across the Urban Hierarchy

Lerpold

Sjöberg

2021

Sustainable Consumption and Production, Volume I

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Urban areas are often, and not without reason, portrayed as an opportunity to reduce environmental impacts: more effective use of land, better opportunities for the provision of public transport and less need on a per capita basis for investment in physical infrastructure. This is also the message of the literature on urban scaling. The very nature of the agglomeration economies that allow for economising on natural resources may, however, result in higher levels of per capita consumption. A major reason is that high density often translates into higher costs of space, in turn encouraging the concentration of high(er) productivity activities in major cities. As a result, spatial sorting occurs (e.g. with respect to educational attainment and incomes) and with it potentially also a differentiation of consumption patterns. In consequence, not just size and density, but also position in the urban hierarchy may need to be taken into account in assessing sustainability outcomes. To grasp the issue of urban sustainability, however, intra-urban differentiation too, will have to be considered in tandem with the inter-urban issues of boundary drawing for measurement—what we call “ontological cityism”. This is especially so if the focus shifts from the environmental to the social dimensions of sustainability, and if the trade-offs across the three pillars of sustainability are to be understood.

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“…Everybody makes metaphysical assumptions; however, such assumptions can be done more or less explicitly depending on the nature of the subject matter, the degree of establishment of the undertaken approach (hypothesis or method) or simply reflecting the requirements of a particular culture (cf. Dymitrow & Brauer, 2018).…”

Section: General Teaching Assumptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introducing "captaining": How to best combine group work with individual achievement within higher education examination

Dymitrow

2020

JPR

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This paper deals with the problem of making group work and individual achievement meet in the context of combined examination at universities. The underlying idea of this research derives from the policy that is increasingly gaining power at many university departments, namely that it is inappropriate to examine students on the basis of group work alone, while at the same time limited departmental resources cannot allow for increasing the number of individual examinations. This paper attempts to square this paradox by elaborating on new ways to individualize compulsory group work so that it fulfils both formal and educational objectives, but also so it feels meaningful, motivative and fair to the students. This multifaceted challenge is captured in a novel methodological approach named "captaining". By drawing on existing theoretical frameworks, own experiences and subsequent evaluation, "captaining" is presented as a promising alternative to the individualism vs. collectivism dilemma, as well as to extra-educational factors impacting the implementation of best examination practices.

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Meaningful yet useless? Factors behind the retention of questionable concepts in human geography

Cited by 16 publications

References 107 publications

The concept of ‘rural’ as a psychosocial process: From concept attainment to concept unlearning

The concept of ‘rural’ as a psychosocial process: From concept attainment to concept unlearning

Urban Advantage? Sustainable Consumption and Ontological Cityism Across the Urban Hierarchy

Introducing "captaining": How to best combine group work with individual achievement within higher education examination

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