Key Texts in Human Geography: A Reader Guide

"An essential synopsis of essential readings that every human geographer must read. It is highly recommended for those just embarking on their careers as well as those who need a reminder of how and why geography moved from the margins of social thought to its very core."
―Barney Warf, Florida State University

"Key Texts in Human Geography will surely become a ′key text′ itself. Read any chapter and you will want to compare it with another. Before you realize, an afternoon is gone and then you are tracking down the originals…"
―James D. Sidaway, School of Geography, University of Plymouth


A unique resource for students, Key Texts in Human Geography provides concise but rigorous overviews of the key texts that have formed post-war human geography.

The text has been designed as a student-friendly guide that will:

• explain the text in relation to the geographical debates at the time of writing
• discuss the text′s main arguments and sources of evidence
• review the initial reception, subsequent evaluation, and continued influence of each key texts contribution to how geographers understand space and place

Intended Audience: Written in a clear and accessible way, by acknowledged scholars of the texts, an essential resources for undergraduates, Key Texts in Human Geography will be widely used and highly cited in courses on methods and approaches in geography.

Phil Hubbard is Professor in Urban Studies in the University of Kent’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research.

Rob Kitchin is a Professor in Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute and Department of Geography. He was a European Research Council Advanced Investigator on the Programmable City project (2013-2018) and a principal investigator on the Building City Dashboards project (2016-2020) and for the Digital Repository of Ireland (2009-2017). He is the (co)author or (co)editor of 31 other academic books, and (co)author of over 200 articles and book chapters. He has been an editor of Dialogues in Human Geography, Progress in Human Geography and Social and Cultural Geography, and was the co-Editor-in-Chief of the International Encyclopedia of Human Geography. He was the 2013 recipient of the Royal Irish Academy’s Gold Medal for the Social Sciences.

Professor Valentine has held prestigious international visiting fellowships at the Universities of Sydney, Australia and Otago, New Zealand and has visited and given keynote addresses at a range of prestigious international conferences. She was co-founder and co-editor of the international journal Social and Cultural Geography, and co-edited Gender, Place and Culture. She has undertaken international research in Europe, Africa and the USA and is committed to developing the University of Sheffield′s international strategy within the Faculty of Social Sciences.