Integrated geography (also referred to as integrative geography, environmental geography or human–environment geography) is where the branches of

human geography Human geography or anthropogeography is the branch of geography that studies spatial relationships between human communities, cultures, economies, and their interactions with the environment. It analyzes spatial interdependencies between social ...

and

physical geography Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere ...

overlap to describes and explain the spatial aspects of interactions between human individuals or societies and their

natural environment The natural environment or natural world encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally, meaning in this case not artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses t ...

, these interactions being called coupled human–environment system. As the discipline of geography is fundamentally interdisciplinary, integrated geography is at the discipline's core and is less of a branch than the trunk from which the other branches diverge. Summed up, environmental geography is about humans and nature and how we affect the environment and our planet.

Origins

It requires an understanding of the dynamics of

, as well as the ways in which human societies conceptualize the environment (

). Thus, to a certain degree, it may be seen as a successor of ''Physische Anthropogeographie'' (English: "physical anthropogeography")—a term coined by

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hi ...

geographer

Albrecht Penck Albrecht Penck (25 September 1858 – 7 March 1945) was a German geographer and geologist and the father of Walther Penck. Biography Born in Reudnitz near Leipzig, Penck became a university professor in Vienna, Austria, from 1885 to 1906, a ...

in 1924—and geographical

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.T ...

human ecology Human ecology is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments. The philosophy and study of human ecology has a diffuse history with advancements in ecolog ...

(Harlan H. Barrows 1923). Integrated geography in the United States is principally influenced by the schools of Carl O. Sauer (Berkeley), whose perspective was rather historical, and Gilbert F. White (Chicago), who developed a more applied view. Integrated geography (also, integrative geography, environmental geography or human–environment geography) is the branch of geography that describes and explains the spatial aspects of interactions between human individuals or societies and their natural environment, called coupled human–environment systems.

Focus

The links between human and physical geography were once more apparent than they are today. As human experience of the world is increasingly mediated by technology, the relationships between humans and the environment have often become obscured. Thereby, integrated geography represents a critically important set of analytical tools for assessing the impact of human presence on the

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

. This is done by measuring the result of human activity on natural landforms and cycles. Methods for which this information is gained include

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Ear ...

, and

geographic information system A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with software tools for managing, analyzing, and visualizing those data. In a ...

s. Integrated geography helps us to ponder the environment in terms of its relationship to people. With integrated geography we can analyze different social science and humanities perspectives and their use in understanding people environment processes. Hence, it is considered the third branch of geography, the other branches being physical and human geography.Arild Holt-Jensen (1999): ''Geography - History and Concepts: A Student's Guide''. London: SAGE.

References

{{Social sciences Human-Environment interaction Environmental social science Human geography Physical geography