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Geography 550

Seminar Theme: Information and Spatial Organization


This graduate seminar will address the impact of formal and informal informational transactions on the spatial structure of economic activities. We will start out by exploring the definitions and conceptual content of some basic terminology traditionally used by geographers to describe processes of change in spatial structures: centralization, dispersion, agglomeration, urban hierarchy, span of control, etc. We then investigate the concept of information and communication in the context of modern economic activities (particularly high-tech industrial activities, services and consumption) operating in different geographic and institutional settings. Finally, we intend to bring these two strands together in view of possible conceptual models merging ideas and variables from economics, organization theory, regional science, urban geography and the geography of organizational behavior.

Throughout, we will be open to the implications of our discussion for Business Geographics, GIS, the application of WWW technology, and potentially all subfields of economic and business geography.

Readings for Geography 550 will be provided (on-line or as references) on this page well in advance of the beginning of the seminar. Potential participants are encouraged to express their interest as early as possible and are invited to consult these pages and discuss possible seminar contribution with me.

All seminar participants will select sub-themes for individual investigations; at the same time, all participants will assume collaborative responsibilities for all or some of the themes selected by others. Seminar "products" will include (mix to be determined):

  1. individual and/or group seminar presentations; and
  2. hypertextually organized statements for the WWW.

Selected Seminar Resources [Under Construction]

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1998 [econgeog@u.washington.edu]