Question

How would geography be useful in helping to plan the future of a community? Give your response in the form of a short paragraph.

Answer 1

Different fields of geography will provide a different perspective on how to prepare for the future. For example, climatologists will be familiar with the use of climate change scenarios to plan for the future. Economic geographers will be familiar with models that can forecast the growth of cities within a network and interregional or international trade. Geographers with an interest in water and land resources and soils can help plan for the sustainable use of these resources. However, beyond this, many geographers have expertise in more than one area, and can bring an view of the future that integrates different areas, such as water resources, urban growth, land use change and climate change.

In addition to this integration, geographers begin with a map, and this grounding in spatial patterns has prepared them to understand processes that can change these patterns rapidly and the long-term stability of other spatial patterns.