Special Issue on Applied Geography in Academia: Content, Curricula, Status, Methods, and Future

摘要

In recent decades, applied geography has shown an increase in both importance and presence in many geography departments, but, as with the establishment of GIScience as a focused curriculum it still exists as a somewhat amorphous subdiscipline. There seems to be little consensus about what constitutes applied geography, how it is situated with the larger discipline and the geographic tools, effective methods of instruction, its placement within different types of departments, significant events driving applied geography, the linkage to geographic theory, its market in both academia and the public and private sector, or its future. While much of this might seem obvious, little of it has been documented and there is the likelihood that what is known is both anecdotal and possibly incorrect. If applied geography is to survive as a subdiscipline it is important to begin to document and formalize what is known about its many aspects as an academic pursuit. Not only will this promote applied geography educators to begin to consider what they teach and how they teach it, but it also informs graduate students of important research questions needing investigation. This special issue of the International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research is designed to begin a dialogue among applied geography educators, students, and practitioners to enrich the intellectual roots of the subdiscipline. Selected papers from a special session at the 2017 AAG meeting, augmented by an invited paper are used here as the beginnings of that dialogue.