Spatial diffusion

Articles

• Spatial structure
  6 August 2004, by B. E., Th. St.-J.

  The word "structure" comes from Latin struere which means to build, to arrange, and contains the notion of an organised thing. Spatial structures exist, because geographical space is not constituted by a set of unique places, occupying random locations. The successive choices of actors and, more broadly, the answers given by societies to the issue of space control , obey to certain logics, even if the overlapping and interweaving of these logics make their legibility more or less evident; (...)

• Spatial diffusion
  15 December 2004, by Th. St.-J.

  Diffusion is as well the action as the result of action to spread, or to transmit and propagate in a uniform way. It is thus expressed by all moves which, whatever their driving force, are trying to spread something in a system in an homogeneous way, thus tending to bring it from one equilibrium state to another equilibrium state when, under certain conditions, the system is saturated because its absorbing potential is exhausted. The notion of diffusion, considered from the action (...)

• Spatial interaction
  3 December 2004, by Cl. G.

  Although the notion of spatial interaction plays a central role in the definition of contemporary geography, it is extremely difficult to define, so various are the definitions that have been proposed for it. An attempt may however be made to make a rough classification of these definitions in order to distinguish between what constitutes the heart of the notion, and what points to extensions of it and the theoretical issues it raises.
  1. The spatial interaction and gravity model.A (...)

• City system
  10 May 2016, by D. P.

  A city system; is a group of cities, which, in their evolution, have become interdependent because of the many relationship networks that they have and that interconnect them to a greater extent than other cities located in the environment. It is often the borders of a national territory that constitute the boundaries of a city system, because of the homogeneity of the norms the territory imposes, which contribute to forming some of their relationships. With time, city systems have indeed (...)

• Polycentrism
  10 May 2016, by B. E.

  Polycentrism refers to a mode of organisation of space comprising units that each have different degrees of centrality. The use of the term "centre", or the qualifier "central", suggests an idea of concentration, weight, and/or decisional power in comparison to the rest of the entity considered. Synonymity with the words "poly-nuclear" and "multipolar" has long been assumed in geography. As for the notion of the "pole", while the word can be used to describe the structure of an object (...)

• Theories of spatial analysis
  12 January 2005, by D. P.

  The general theoretical position of spatial analysis consists in proposing a partial explanation as well as prediction possibilities about the state and probable evolution of geographical objects / entities, on basis of knowledge of their situation with respect to other geographical objects.
  There exists not yet any general theory of geographical space that could be a theory of concentrations, of spacing, of spatial structures and of evolution of spatial systems, relying on knowledge of (...)

• Neolithisation
  25 January 2006, by C.G.

  The transition from an economy based on predation (hunting, gathering, fishing) to an economy based on the voluntary production of given plants and animals has been an essential process in the History of societies. In a limited number of places on Earth, some societies, confronted with particular constraints, achieved mastery in the reproduction of vegetal and animal species. This new relation to nature could then spread out from these places, either because of the expansion of these (...)

• Theories of spatial analysis
  3 December 2004, by D. P.

  The general theoretical position of spatial analysis consists in proposing a partial explanation as well as prediction possibilities about the state and probable evolution of geographical objects / entities, on basis of knowledge of their situation with respect to other geographical objects.
  There exists not yet any general theory of geographical space that could be a theory of concentrations, of spacing, of spatial structures and of evolution of spatial systems, relying on knowledge of (...)

• Process
  26 August 2004, by D. P.

  In geography, the notion of process integrates the idea of movement (from Latin pro-cedere: to go forward), of chain of actions or facts. Just as the idea of “dynamics", with which it is sometimes confused, a process makes part of a temporal approach of diachronic type.
  But in a process, the chain of facts is primarily of causal type and secondarily chronological. The succession of phenomena depends on an operative logic that allows integrating them into an interpretable framework. A (...)

• Law
  6 October 2004, by D. P.

  A law is a general formula expressing a constant or usual relation between phenomena; laws brought to the fore by science of nature apply in physical geography; in human geography, laws are the necessary reference for the explanation, whether the object under study conforms itself to it or deviates from it (notions of exception, of residual with regard to a model); the term law is often considered as too strong and replaced by rule, or regularity, as the observed relations do not reflect (...)

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