THINKING AND ACTING SPATIALLY: GLOBALISATION, CRITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND PLANNING

Abstract

This paper presents a series of “critical geographies”: examples of economic, environmental and social challenges with a spatial dimension, and the way that policy has failed to respond adequately to them with place and space in mind. Overshadowed by the globalization/mondialisation concept, for a variety of reasons, policy- and decision- making too rarely incorporate the implications of the ways we use the land and the consequences for different places. The neglect of place, in particular the way that different policies combine to affect places in different ways, has contributed to a range of negative economic, social and environmental outcomes. This paper makes some suggestions for ways in which spatial thinking can be advanced in policy- and decision making. In particular, to advance a greater spatial intelligence, we need to develop central spatial analytical maps for policy-makers – a kind of “GIS for policy”. Many countries lack single documents which provide an overarching framework about the spatial dimension of policies and programmes, and how they interact (including the unintended consequences) to affect the development of the country.