Contemporary geography
The time geography deals with the spatial and temporal framework of the actions of individuals . It represents a current within social geography .
Discipline history
The Swedish geographer Torsten Hägerstrand , who worked at Lund University, is generally considered to be the founder of contemporary geography . After numerous publications, mostly in Swedish, he published his groundbreaking contribution in 1970 with the title “What about people in regional science?”, Which summarizes the basic assumptions of his approach. In the years that followed, Hägerstrand and his colleagues (Törnquist, Lenntorp, Ellegård, Mårtensson and others) developed the terminological and conceptual geography of the time and later referred to it as the "Lund School". The aim of classical geography of time was to arrive at a comprehensive social theory by analyzing the spatiotemporal behavior of individuals: "I am looking for a way of finding conceptual coherence in the geographer's understanding of the human world all the way from home to globe and from day to lifetime ". Later, the findings of contemporary geography were also used in sociology, especially in the structuring theory of Anthony Giddens : “Zeitgeography deals with the constraints that influence the design of routines in daily life and shares these with the theory of structuring Emphasis on the importance of the practical nature of daily activities under conditions of co-presence for the constitution of social behavior ”. In contrast to the majority of sociological approaches, Giddens understands space and time not just as boundary conditions for action, but as central dimensions of order in society.
Basic concept of contemporary geography
Due to the fact that every person is in exactly one place at any time of their life, both spatial and temporal coordinates can be specified for each individual and mapped using a three-dimensional cartographic representation. In this form of representation, time is projected as a third dimension in addition to two spatial dimensions, so that movements of people in space and time can be mapped as lines in three-dimensional space (“time path”). Depending on the time scale chosen, it is thus possible to map space-time movements of individuals during their entire life (“life path”) or even during a week or a day (“week path” or “day path”). The possibilities of the individual when moving through space and time are directed towards the implementation of so-called “projects”, which are based on a planned draft of the action. The implementation of the (conceptual) drafts into (actual) projects is limited by various restrictions, which are referred to as "constraints": First, these are physical-material factors that are caused by the indivisibility of the human body and the natural need for sleep are conditional or are dependent on the availability of suitable means of transport (" capability constraints "). Second, there are social necessities to be in a certain place at a certain time (“ coupling constraints ”). Thirdly, there are hegemonic regulations governing accessibility to certain places, for example through access bans or opening times (“ authority constraints ”). “Constraints” can therefore be interpreted as a space-time-institutional framework for the individual's options for action.
Capability constraints
Capability constraints limit the activities of the individual depending on biological needs as well as the available resources and the resulting opportunities for spatial mobility. Everyday necessities such as the need for sleep or the ingestion of food reduce the amount of time that can in principle be used for other activities. Since, for example, you usually have to go to your own apartment to sleep, there is a maximum possible spatial travel distance per day. This varies considerably depending on the means of transport available. Due to the development of the means of transport, the maximum achievable distance could be continuously increased in the last two centuries, but this did not lead to a fundamental dissolution of the operating principle of the capability constraints. Although it is possible to reach another continent by plane in just a few hours, the space between the starting point and the destination remains inaccessible to travelers.
Coupling constraints
In addition to the "capability constraints", the "coupling constraints" in particular limit the daily time path of the individual. This form of “constraints” includes when, where and for how long a person has to interact with others spatially and temporally. As a rule, the coupling constraints depend on role models and expectations of other people regarding the design of these roles. For example, there is a need for the employee to be present at the workplace ( compulsory presence ) at certain, usually contractually agreed times, and the time and space are determined in particular on the occasion of meetings . Similarly, students and teachers are expected to be in the classroom during class time. As further examples, the purchase of goods requires a co-presence of sellers and buyers during shop opening hours, offices and public institutions are only accessible in certain time windows, etc. In addition, there are a large number of role expectations that are not regulated by law, but are normatively determined and therefore sanctioned Impose space and time rules on individual attendance. These can be family responsibilities that are related to household and family chores, or leisure appointments that have been agreed with others.
"Coupling constraints" are aimed at the meeting of the time paths of different people. This spatiotemporal convergence of individual time paths is what Hägerstrand calls a "bundle". A special form of “bundles” are interactions supported by telecommunication and thus space-spanning interactions that do not require a spatial, but a temporal co-presence: “Telecommunication allows people to form bundles without (or nearly without) loss of time in transportation. [...] It is true that a call may save much time, especially when it concerns the arrangement of future meetings. But at the same time, it is an outstanding instrument for breaking other activities ". The time saved by telecommunications technology consequently relates exclusively to the time saved that would have to be used for spatial mobility in the case of personal contacts, but not to contact time as such. Against this background, newer, Internet-based forms of communication such as messenger systems or online chats , which are often used to maintain social contacts instead of face-to-face meetings, do not necessarily save time - at least not if the use of new communication technologies also increases or increases the frequency of contact But with "virtual" communication, the elimination of facial expressions and gestures creates new barriers to understanding that have to be compensated for by investing additional time.
Authority constraints
With the description of the space-time prism of the individual in the form of the capability constraints, the outer limits of the maximum achievable space are determined. These external borders are further restricted by the socially or contractually regulated presence obligations at certain times in certain places in the form of coupling constraints. In addition to these outer limits of accessibility, however, the movement of the individual is limited by further access barriers that lie within the prism and are referred to by Hägerstrand as “authority constraints”. Areas protected by authority constraints are called "domains". These non-public places are protected by the use of power and consequently not freely accessible to every individual. The primary purpose of domains is to protect against access to resources by (unauthorized) third parties.
While smaller domains are often only temporarily maintained and defended through direct forms of conflict with competitors (e.g. a place in a queue, a telephone booth, an armchair in the cinema or a lounge chair on the beach), larger private domains are usually legitimized by legality ( for example land use rights, property rights to land, house rights in the rented apartment, etc.). In addition, authority constraints can be identified that grant certain social groups access to rooms, but exclude other groups. Most companies are only accessible to their employees, and nation states regulate access to their territory for non-nationals. This means that domains are hierarchized: Access to a state does not yet allow entry to any site of any company, and not everyone who has access to the company can easily get into the office of the CEO. In addition, it is obvious that control over domains is also associated with normative behavioral expectations of the individuals who are within the domain; The behavior expectations of the surrounding domain are passed on to the (sub) domains in it: “Those who have access to power in a superior domain frequently use this to restrict the set of possible actions which are permitted inside subordinate domains. Sometimes they can also oblige the subordinate domains to remove constraints or to arrange for certain activities against their will ".
literature
- Torsten Hägerstrand: What about people in regional science? In: Papers of the Regional Science Association . Volume 24, 1970, pp. 7-21
- Torsten Hägerstrand: Survival and Arena. On the lifehistory of Individuals in Relation to Their Geographical Environment . In: The Monadnock . Volume 49, 1975, pp. 9-29