Progress in portraying the physical landscape

Abstract

Paradoxically, in view of the recent emphasis upon spatial analysis, systems investigation and increasing unity of approach within physical geography, developments in the portrayal of the results of spatial analysis of the physical environment have occurred unevenly in the major geographical arenas.

Seasonal Land-Cover Regions of the United States

“…Regionalization, in this regard, represents a special form of classification (Grigg 1967). Classifications of landscape regions may be based on one variable (monothetic) or many (polythetic) (Spence and Taylor 1970;Gardiner and Gregory 1977). Examples of monothetic or univariate regionalization include Kochler's map of the potential vegetation of the United States and Anderson's depiction of land-use and land-cover regions for that same nation (Kuchler 1964;U.S.…”

“…Regionalization, long a hallmark of geographic research (Grigg 1965;1967;Spence and Taylor 1970;Gardiner and Gregory 1977;Haggett et al 1977;Hart 1982;Turner, Moss, and Skole 1993), is garnering increasing attention among students of global change (Mather and Sdasyuk 1991;Peplies and Honea 1992).…”

Exploring the proper relation between physical and human geography

“…Critical physical geography, the focus of this special issue, is a recent entrant in a longstanding conversation that has taken place in many venues, Progress in Physical Geography very much among them. From the journal's start in 1977 (Gardiner and Gregory, 1977) through to more recent issues (Castree, 2012;Wilcock et al, 2013), the question of how, or whether, to integrate physical and human geography has been a persistent and recurring theme. I focus here on two early statements in that discussion: John Thornes' 1981 piece arguing for a more radical approach to meteorology, and Ron Johnston's 1983 article tackling the potential integration of physical and human geography more broadly.…”