Geography Reference
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in explaining the location of market towns, the defi nition of
their market areas, and the pattern of consumer behaviour. For
example, towns of the same rank were the same distance apart
and their market areas were the same size; consumers would
respond to distance by using the nearest centre. As the model
conditions do not exist, attempts to fi t the model to the real world,
as in the example shown, can only be approximations.
The models became increasingly sophisticated and were
accompanied by many attempts to measure geographical patterns
and processes: training in statistics and quantitative methods
became a sine qua non for geography students. This was a strong
and vibrant new paradigm that relegated older approaches to the
background. Its many methods included multivariate analyses
applied to urban studies to handle large sets of information, often
from census data, predictive models for economic geography
to examine projected patterns of growth, and a whole raft of
diffusion and simulation studies in fi elds such as migration,
spread of innovations, and diseases, which allowed best estimates
of the ways in which fl ows would occur over space and time.
Statistical data sources, especially those provided by census small
area statistics and other offi cial statistics, supplemented by social
surveys, came to the fore.
By the late 1970s, however, doubts about the value of this
paradigm were emerging. The methods had become far more
sophisticated but the outcomes were still descriptive; there
were plenty of models but not so many well-founded theories.
With its emphasis on the geometry of space, spatial analysis
produced theories based on oversimplifi ed assumptions of human
decision-making. It employed the concept of 'economic man' who
was rational, had perfect knowledge, optimized opportunities,
and minimized costs. Economic man, for example, would obtain
services from the nearest available location, assess all the options
when changing place of residence, and locate a business where
all necessary conditions were met. Human geographers began to
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