Four Traditions of Geography: W.D. Pattison

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FOUR TRADITIONS OF

GEOGRAPHY
W.D. Pattison
W.D. Pattison
 In 1964, W.D. Pattison, a professor at the
University of Chicago, wanted to counter the idea
that geography was an undisciplined science by
saying that geographers had exhibited broad
enough consistency such that there were four
distinctive, but affiliated traditions.
Tradition One
 Spatial Tradition (also called Locational Tradition

 Some Core Concepts:


 Mapping, Spatial analysis, Boundaries and densities,
Movement and transportation, Quantitative techniques and
tools, such as computerized mapping and Geographic
Information Systems (GIS), Central Place Theory, Areal
distribution, and Spatial patterns
 In other words: NOT JUST WHERE THINGS ARE BUT
OUR PERCEPTION OF WHERE THINGS ARE 
Tradition One
 
Modern geographer:
Alfred Wegener; climatologist
1)   Studied spatial arrangement of landmasses,
used geographical and geological evidence
2)   Continental drift – landmasses were once part
of supercontinent (plate tectonics)
Tradition Two
Area Studies Tradition (also called Local Tradition)

Some Core Concepts


Description of regions or areas, World regional geography,
International trends and relationships, How regions are
different from one another.

Facts about a region: religion, language, race, climate,


population, etc…
Some geographers become experts on regions.
Tradition Two
Modern geographer:
Carl Sauer (1889-1975); American
1)  The work of human geography is to discern the
relationships among social and
physical phenomena
2)  Everything in the landscape is interrelated.
Tradition Three
Man-Land Tradition: (also called Human-
Environmental, Human-Land, or
Culture-Environment Tradition) 

Core Concepts: Human impact on nature, Impact of


nature on humans, Natural hazards, Perception of
environment, Environmentalism, and Cultural, political
and population geography
The relation ship between humans and the physical
environment…most often taught in schools
Tradition Three
Modern geographer(s): 
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) and Carl
Ritter (1779-1859); German
1)   Move beyond describing earth’s surface to
explaining why certain phenomena are present or
absent.
2)   Origin of “where” and “why” approach
3)   Environmental determinism – how the physical
environment causes social development
Tradition Four
Earth Science Tradition

Core Concepts: Physical geography: lithoshpere,


hydrosphere, atmosphere, and bioshpere; Earth-sun
interaction; Offshoots are geology, mineralogy,
paleontology, glaciology, geomorphology and
meteorology
Study of the physical geography of earth and what
shapes the earth (processes)
Tradition Four
Modern geographer:
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804); German
1)   All knowledge can be classified logically or
physically
2)   Descriptions according to time comprise history,
descriptions according to place compromise
geography
3)   History studies phenomena that follow one another
chronologically, whereas geography studies
phenomena that are located beside one another.
What is Human Geography
 How do the 5 Themes of Geography connect with
Pattison’s Four Traditions?

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