Quantitative Methods in Dutch Geography and Urban and Regional Planning in the Seventies: Geographical Curriculla and Methods Applied in 'Spatial Research'

摘要

In this paper an attempt is made to give some, sometimes fairly personal, impressions about the development and use of quantitative methods in Dutch geography and urban and regional planning during the seventies. The paper consists of three main parts. First, impressions about the development of human geography in general in Holland during the last ten years are given. Next, the gradual development of the training in quantitative methods and research methodology at the five departments of human geography during the seventies is described. The third part of the paper intends to throw some light on the use of quantitative methods in -what is called 'spatial research' or 'spatial sciences' in the Netherlands during the seventies. Disciplines like regional economics, transportation research, rural and urban sociology and physical planning make contributions to spatial research too, especially where quantitative methods and mathematical model building are concerned. Moreover this broadening of scope offers the opportunity of an interesting comparison of curricula in human geography and spatial research activities in general.