Do Regions Exist? Implications of Synergetics for Regional Geography

Bibliographic Data

ID4139953
AuthorsDavid I Stern (0000-0001-6595-4268, Boston University, corresponding author)
Year1992
Volume24
Issue10
Pages1431-1448
Publication date1992-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironment and Planning A Economy and Space (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0308-518X • E-ISSN: 1472-3409
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1068/a241431
OpenAlexW1966437917
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited73

The principal critique of the regional concept was that a region could be no more than the sum of its parts and therefore it could have no separate existence. The synergetics paradigm effectively eliminates the reductionism - holism debate. Were the region to be considered as a self-organizing complex system, the reductionist critique of the regional concept could be countered. Additionally, there are parallels between the application of the synergetics paradigm to geography and some developments in 'nonpositivist' geography. These developments could answer parts of the nonpositivist critique of 'positivist' geography and possibly bring the two schools of thought closer together

Complex system · Economics · Epistemology · Holism · Parallels · Physics · Positivism · Reductionism · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Critical Realism in Sociology · Philosophy · Regional resilience and development · Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis

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