Spatial Behavior : A Geographic Perspective

How do human beings negotiate the spaces in which they live, work, and play? How are firms and institutions, and their spatial behaviors, being affected by processes of economic and societal change? What decisions do they make about their natural and built environment, and how are these decisions acted out? Updating and expanding concepts of decision making and choice behavior on different geographic scales, this major revision of the authors' acclaimed Analytical Behavioral Geography presents theoretical foundations, extensive case studies, and empirical evidence of human behavior in a comprehensive range of physical, social, and economic settings. Generously illustrated with maps, diagrams, and tables, the volume also covers issues of gender, discusses traditionally excluded groups such as the physically and mentally challenged, and addresses the pressing needs of our growing elderly population.

Reginald G. Golledge, Ph.D., is Professor of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His interests include spatial cognition, the acquisition and use of spatial knowledge across the life-span, cognitive mapping, individual decision-making, household activity patterns, and gender issues in spatial cognition. Legally blind, some of his current research includes: comparison of spatial abilities of blind and sighted persons; development of a Personal Guidance System (PGS) for blind travelers; disposable tactual strip maps for blind travelers; evaluation of auditory/tactual information systems as travel planning aids; and travel needs of the non-driving disabled.

Robert J. Stimson, Ph.D., is Professor of Urban Studies at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. He is also a Director of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute and responsible for the operation of its Queensland office. Educated in geography at the University of New England and later taking his doctorate at the Flinders University of South Australia, Stimson is recognised as one of the leading urban researchers in Australia. He has published widely in social, economic and behavioral aspects of urban development in Australia, and more recently has worked on aspects of the internationalization of the Australian space economy and the growth of mega city regions in the Pacific Rim region. Stimson has longstanding multidisciplinary interests including the application of survey research methods in the investigation of spatial behaviour and the role of institutions in public policy and urban development and planning. His previous appointments include Dean of the Faculty of Management at the University of Canberra, Director of the Australian Institute of Urban Studies, and as a geographer in the School of Social Sciences at the Flinders University, South Australia, where he was also Director of the Centre for Applied Social and Survey Research.