Reflecting the revival of interest in a social theory that takes place and space seriously, this book focuses on geographical place in the practice of social science and history. There is significant interest among scholars from a range of disciplines in bringing together the geographical and sociological ‘imaginations’. The geographical imagination is a concrete and descriptive one, concerned with determining the nature of places, and classifying them and the links between them. The sociological imagination aspires to explanation of human activities in terms of abstract social processes. The chapters in this book focus on both the intellectual histories of the concept of place and on its empirical uses. They show that place is as important for understanding contemporary America as it is for 18th-century Sri Lanka. They also show how the concept can provide insight into ‘old’ problems such as the nature of social life in Renaissance Florence and Venice. The editors are leading exponents of the view of place as a concept that can ‘mediate’ the geographical and sociological imaginations.

This book illuminates the profound influence of geography on everyday life. Concentrating on the realm of social reproduction – gender, family, education, culture and tradition, race, ethnicity the contributors provide both an articulation of a theory of territory and reproduction and concrete empirical analyses of the evolution of social practices in particular places. At the core of the book’s contribution is the concept of society as a ‘time-space’ fabric, upon which are engraved the processes of political, economic and socio-cultural life. A second distinctive feature of the book is its substantive focus on the relation between territory and social practice. Thirdly, it represents a significant step in the redefinition of the research agenda in human geography.

This book illuminates the profound influence of geography on everyday life. Concentrating on the realm of social reproduction - gender, family, education, culture and tradition, race, ethnicity the contributors provide both an articulation of a theory of territory and reproduction and concrete empirical analyses of the evolution of social practices in particular places. At the core of the book's contribution is the concept of society as a 'time-space' fabric, upon which are engraved the processes of political, economic and socio-cultural life. A second distinctive feature of the book is its substantive focus on the relation between territory and social practice. Thirdly, it represents a significant step in the redefinition of the research agenda in human geography.

This book highlights the increasingly important contribution of geographical theory to the understanding of social change, values, economic & political organization and ethical imperatives. As a cohesive collection of chapters from well-known geographers in Britain and North America, it reflects the aims of the contributors in striving to bridge the gap between the historical-materialist and humanist interpretations of human geography. The book deals with both the contemporary issues outlined above and the situation in which they emerge: industrial restructuring, planning, women’s issues, social and cultural practices and the landscape as context for social action.

This new and comprehensive book offers a holistic introduction to cultural geography. It integrates the broad range of theories and practices of the discipline by arguing that the essential focus of cultural geography is place. The book builds an accessible and engaging configuration of this important concept through arguing that place should be understood as an ongoing composition of traces. The book presents specific chapters outlining the history of cultural geography, before and beyond representation, as well as the methods and techniques of doing cultural geography. It investigates the places and traces of corporate capitalism, nationalism, ethnicity, youth culture and the place of the body. Throughout these chapters case study examples will be used to illustrate how these places are taken and made by particular cultures, examples include the Freedom Tower in New York City, the Berlin Wall, the Gaza Strip, Banksy graffiti, and anti-capitalist protest movements. The book discusses the role of power in cultural place-making, as well as the ethical dimensions of doing cultural geography. Understanding Cultural Geography: Places and Traces offers a broad-based overview of cultural geography, ideal for students being introduced to the discipline through either undergraduate or postgraduate degree courses. The book outlines how the theoretical ideas, empirical foci and methodological techniques of cultural geography illuminate and make sense of the places we inhabit and contribute to. This is a timely synthesis that aims to incorporate a vast knowledge foundation and by doing so it will also prove invaluable for lecturers and academics alike.

This proceedings volume introduces recent work on the storage, retrieval and visualization of spatial Big Data, data-intensive geospatial computing and related data quality issues. Further, it addresses traditional topics such as multi-scale spatial data representations, knowledge discovery, space-time modeling, and geological applications. Spatial analysis and data mining are increasingly facing the challenges of Big Data as more and more types of crowd sourcing spatial data are used in GIScience, such as movement trajectories, cellular phone calls, and social networks. In order to effectively manage these massive data collections, new methods and algorithms are called for. The book highlights state-of-the-art advances in the handling and application of spatial data, especially spatial Big Data, offering a cutting-edge reference guide for graduate students, researchers and practitioners in the field of GIScience.