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Open Access Publications from the University of California

The Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science (CSISS) was founded in 1999 with support from the National Science Foundation under its program to promote research infrastructure in the social and behavioral sciences. CSISS programs (1999–2013) recognized the growing significance of space, spatiality, location, and place in social science research.

The foundations of spatial analysis span many disciplines over many generations of researchers and practitioners. CSISS Classics provides summaries and illustrations of major contributions to spatial thinking in the social sciences. Primary emphasis is given to research before 1980, with an attempt to capture and acknowledge the repository of spatial thinking in the social sciences for the last few centuries. The summaries, along with key references, are intended as guides for those interested in exploring intellectual inheritance from previous generations.

Cover page of Linked Index to <em>CSISS Classics</em> Collection

Linked Index to CSISS Classics Collection

(2015)

CSISS Classics provides summaries and illustrations of major contributions to spatial thinking in the social sciences. This collection focuses on research before 1980, with an attempt to capture and acknowledge the repository of spatial thinking in the social sciences, and related disciplines and professions, for the last few centuries

Cover page of Rupert B. Vance, Space and the American South. <em>CSISS Classics</em>

Rupert B. Vance, Space and the American South. CSISS Classics

(2006)

Vance paid close attention to the geographic patterning of economic and demographic factors across places. He was especially interested in what set the American South apart from the rest of America. His research explored ecological and geographic factors in Southern exceptionalism; the spatial basis of Southern migration; and the importance of regionalism.

Cover page of Leonhard Ludwig Finke, Medical Geography. <em>CSISS Classics</em>

Leonhard Ludwig Finke, Medical Geography. CSISS Classics

(2005)

Finke (1747–1837) was a pioneer of medical geography, a medical officer, and physician in Germany who advanced ideas about  environmental conditions and the need for regional and world perspectives for disease mapping.

Cover page of G. William Skinner, Marketing in Rural China, 1964–1965. <em>CSISS Classics</em>

G. William Skinner, Marketing in Rural China, 1964–1965. CSISS Classics

(2004)

G. William Skinner's studies into rural Chinese economic systems displayed the value of spatially explicit theories, such as central place theory, in applied situations that served to explain or even fundamentally reshape our understanding of how social and economic systems are organized and function.

Cover page of Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Space. <em>CSISS Classics</em>

Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Space. CSISS Classics

(2004)

Georg Simmel developed many important insights on the social construction of space, linked to developments in urban ecology and communciation studies. These include concepts of personal space, social distance, and social boundaries.

Cover page of Richard Meier, Communications Theory of Urban Growth, 1961. <em>CSISS Classics</em>

Richard Meier, Communications Theory of Urban Growth, 1961. CSISS Classics

(2004)

Meier's Communications Theory of Urban Growth was one of the first works to  recognize the importance of communications functions and networks in the spatial development and sustenance of urban areas.

Cover page of Gordon R. Willey, Settlement Patterns in Archaeology. <em>CSISS Classics</em>

Gordon R. Willey, Settlement Patterns in Archaeology. CSISS Classics

(2004)

Willey's looked at archaeological evidence on a regional scale. He demonstrated  this approach in Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Virú Valley, a work now recognized for changing the way that archaeologists view landscapes.

Cover page of Lou Skoda and J.C. Robertson, The Isodemographic Map of Canada, 1972. <em>CSISS Classics</em>

Lou Skoda and J.C. Robertson, The Isodemographic Map of Canada, 1972. CSISS Classics

(2003)

In 1972 Lou Skoda and J.C. Robertson published an isodemographic map (a cartogram) of Canada that represented a population-oriented rendering of the 1966 Canadian census divisions. The map was developed with a physical analog model that kept all of Canada together in a contiguous mass while preserving recognizable divisions and province outlines.

Cover page of Ernest George Ravenstein, The Laws of Migration, 1885. <em>CSISS Classics</em>

Ernest George Ravenstein, The Laws of Migration, 1885. CSISS Classics

(2003)

In a paper to the Statistical Society in England in 1885, E. G. Ravenstein outlined a series of "laws of migration" that attempted to explain and predict migration patterns both within and between nations. The ideas derived from his work continue to inform studies of human migration more than a century later.

Cover page of Peter Gould and Waldo Tobler, An Experiment in Geo-Coding. <em>CSISS Classics</em>

Peter Gould and Waldo Tobler, An Experiment in Geo-Coding. CSISS Classics

(2003)

This CSISS Classic documents a simple experiment that captures the importance of identifying precise locations in everyday life—mailing a postcard to a friend.