Land, space and spatial planning in three time regions

Abstract

What is space? The term denotes primarily an ubiquitous natural resource. It also denotes a cultural resource, an artifact fashioned out of natural space by means of legal enactments and physical design. This paper identifies three varieties of cultural space which have their source in three different models for the nation: the family, the neighborhood, and the city. All three models are present and effective in every time and place. In certain places, however, and certain times, one is dominant. In the late nineteenth century the city (or civic) model predominated. In the first quarter of the present century the neighborhood model was ascendant. From the Great depression to the end of World War II it was the family model. Currently, the three models are very much in contention with each other for primacy. They present a challenge to both the planner and the GIS specialist. The planner is challenged to invent new settlement forms that adjust the rival spatial regimes to one another. The GIS specialist confronts the task of developing new ways of conceptualizing and capturing geographic data that are equal to the present day complexity and multi-dimensionality of present day cultural space.