Spatial perspectives on urban systems: developments and directions

Excerpt

Urban systems have long excited the geographical imagination. Starting with early work in theoretical and quantitative empirical geography [including such seminal work as Christaller’s central place theory, Berry’s research on systems of cities (Berry 1958), and Getis’ investigations of land uses (Getis 1964)], cities have been a constant and reliable source of motivation for adopting, adapting, and developing new ways to think about, describe, and try to explain the richness observed in complex human systems. As recent reviews indicate, the geographical interest in urban systems remains as vibrant as ever, with extensive use of GIS for urban research (Du 2001), an increased role of spatial analytical tools as a way to improve modeling practice (Miller 1999), and a literal explosion of applications of both GIS and spatial analysis to the study of urban systems (Páez and Scott 2004). The influence of geography has since extended to a variety of fields with intersecting interests, including regional systems (e.g., Páez and Suzuki 2001), planning (e.g., Hess and Almeida 2007) and civil engineering (e.g., Kim and Niemeier 2001), adding to the richness of a field that continues to thrive-as the present special issue of the Journal of Geographical Systems hopes to confirm. …