Spatially Integrated Social Science

Spatially integrated social science may be defined as the empirical and theoretical practice where space and place are integrating mechanisms across social science disciplines as well as central considerations both as inputs and as outcomes of theories and models. This definition is rooted in the increasingly implemented practice of examining social, political, and economic data and problems in a spatially explicit context using geographic information systems (GIS), geovisualization, and spatial analysis. Space and place serve as input measures in models and analyses, as spatial concepts (e.g., distance, location, connectivity/topology, proximity) and spatial aggregates of place (e.g., neighborhood and region) are incorporated as units of analysis. In addition, processes that are the targets of inference and models are also very often contingent on space or space-time mechanisms such as diffusion, distance-decay effects, or the creation of social spaces as applications of spatial practice.

Human practices are inherently spatial and create social spaces that take on uses determined by the encompassing society. The connections that link people, institutions, economies, and organizations in geographical space pervade a range of different social contexts that may be conceptualized as general network structures embedded within a social and political context that constitutes the social space. The types, functional scales, and ranges of these connections are generated from spatial practice. Thus, social spaces may consist of everything from political and administrative demarcations referenced directly to geography to transport systems, business and interpersonal interactions, flows, and migrations that occur across a variety of distances and scales, and also global trade and transport networks that may extend over a plethora of network infrastructures. Torsten Hägerstrand's conception of time-geography and space-time behavior prisms as well as his idea of the mean information field are all examples of these social spaces.