TY - CHAP
T1 - People, places and a pandemic
T2 - critical quantitative geography and the spatial variable
AU - Harris , Richard J
AU - Robinson, Caitlin
AU - Wolf, Levi J
AU - Manley, David J
AU - Tranos, Emmanouil
AU - Day, Joe
AU - Fox, Sean
AU - Hayes, David A
AU - Shi, Qiujie
AU - Timmerman, Richard M
AU - Zhang, Ce
AU - Zhu, Rui
AU - The Quantitative Spatial Sciences Research Group,
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - In his inaugural lecture, at the University of Sheffield, Ron Johnston said he believed that geographers “will recognise the social inequalities of spatial systems, diagnose their causes, and prescribe policies for their removal.” He then sought to demonstrate the social validity of geographic research with reference to what he described as “the spatial variable”, which “operates because every place on the global has a unique location”, arising, at least in part, as a product of the interaction between an individual and their social environment. His examples touch on the more normative models of (presumed) human behaviour that characterised the spatial science and economic geography of the period but were largely more idiographic, reflecting a pragmatic empiricism that was used to shed light on spatial inequalities and to reveal spatial variation – ways of working and of thinking that would be present in much of Johnston’s subsequent work. In this chapter we revisit the spatial variable in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in England as well as some of our memories of Ron. We consider the geography of the pandemic not only in spatial terms but in social terms too – specifically, the increased exposure of more deprived neighbourhoods to higher rates of COVID-19 infection. In doing this, what we outline is a form of critical, quantitative geography that is not preoccupied with abstract ‘law-making’ or overly complex statistical formulations but is more heuristic, using data and modelling to highlight the socio-economic inequalities of spatial systems. We reflect on how critical quantitative geography might develop in an era of geographic data science, and how the emphasis can stay on the geography and the social science, not just the data and computation.
AB - In his inaugural lecture, at the University of Sheffield, Ron Johnston said he believed that geographers “will recognise the social inequalities of spatial systems, diagnose their causes, and prescribe policies for their removal.” He then sought to demonstrate the social validity of geographic research with reference to what he described as “the spatial variable”, which “operates because every place on the global has a unique location”, arising, at least in part, as a product of the interaction between an individual and their social environment. His examples touch on the more normative models of (presumed) human behaviour that characterised the spatial science and economic geography of the period but were largely more idiographic, reflecting a pragmatic empiricism that was used to shed light on spatial inequalities and to reveal spatial variation – ways of working and of thinking that would be present in much of Johnston’s subsequent work. In this chapter we revisit the spatial variable in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in England as well as some of our memories of Ron. We consider the geography of the pandemic not only in spatial terms but in social terms too – specifically, the increased exposure of more deprived neighbourhoods to higher rates of COVID-19 infection. In doing this, what we outline is a form of critical, quantitative geography that is not preoccupied with abstract ‘law-making’ or overly complex statistical formulations but is more heuristic, using data and modelling to highlight the socio-economic inequalities of spatial systems. We reflect on how critical quantitative geography might develop in an era of geographic data science, and how the emphasis can stay on the geography and the social science, not just the data and computation.
M3 - Chapter in a book
BT - Geography and A Geographer
PB - LSE Press
ER -