Jordi Martí-Henneberg

Evolution of the Territorial Coverage of the Railway Network and its Influence on Population Growth: The Case of England and Wales, 1871–1931

Abstract The introduction of the railway network brought with it an unprecedented improvement in accessibility. In this work, the authors analyze the evolution of the territorial coverage of the railway network and its influence on the uneven distribution of population. To carry out this research, they used comparable data on total population obtained from census records relating to civil parishes of England and Wales, taken at 10-year intervals from 1871. The hypothesis that they wished to test was that good access to a railway station was related to significant increases in population. This exercise provides a better understanding of regional variations in population growth and allows the authors to identify current differences between urban and rural areas that have resulted from their historical evolution.

Best of Times, Worst of Times: A Tale of Two (Spanish) Geographies

This paper presents an analysis of the current situation of Spanish geography in higher education. The authors show that Spanish geography has undergone a profound transformation in the new democratic era, resulting in a thriving community struggling to find its place amongst other disciplines. To assess the current health of the discipline in higher education, they discuss the two ends of the spectrum as perceived by many Spanish geographers: either geography is losing its place in Spanish academe (the worst of times, in Dickenss words), or it is starting a new golden age (the best of times). What was found is that the current situation does not necessarily involve a weighted combination of these extreme views, as one would be tempted to think: it might be that geography is actually at one of the poles. It was also found that the divide between classical physical and human geography is widening, with very different views on what geography is about, its societal role, and the future strategies to advance the discipline. In view of this diversity and the need to implicate themselves in this debate, the authors end up providing some suggestions from their own perspective. Their proposals to strengthen geography in higher education are both strategic and methodological, without forgetting that the problems geography faces in higher education are not particular to geography –but are shared by the arts and social sciences in technocratic societies.

Geographical Information Systems and the Study of History

The articles in this special issue are unique in their use of historical geographical information systems (hgis) to explore a common theme—transport infrastructure and its effects on population distribution in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europe. Collectively and individually, they demonstrate how to integrate spatial analysis into historical research and how to bring a historical dimension to geographical analyses.

The Map of Europe: Continuity and Change in Administrative Boundaries (1850–2000)

This article presents a series of digital maps that track the evolution of intermediate level administrative boundaries in Western and Central Europe between 1850 and 2000. Our research led us to consider why neighbouring states often base the organisation of their respective administrative units on quite different principles. Although each European state has its own history and dynamic, it is also possible to distinguish a series of general characteristics and common traits. We have identified two basic groups of patterns, which we have called the rationalistic and conservative models. The former is characterised by a radical reform of the previous system of territorial organisation and administration. This generally took place after the French Revolution of 1789 and followed the example of the administrative reforms implemented in France under Napoleon. The latter has largely respected and conserved traditional boundaries and institutions and has only modified them when they become unviable and effectively obsolete. This offers considerable flexibility in the face of changing circumstances, as particularly observed in the sub-group of that we have referred to as ‘functionalist states’.

Railways as a Factor of Change in the Distribution of Population in Spain, 1900–1970

Abstract The central focus of this work is to test a new methodology to measure the impact of the railway on the distribution of population, in this case in Spain. To achieve this, it was necessary to previously integrate data relating to population and railway lines into a geographical information system. The result was a spatial database that includes population data from homogeneous census series obtained for the municipal scale and the evolution of the railway network in service at corresponding points in time. This allowed the authors to apply spatial-temporal analysis. By so doing, this work constitutes an analysis of a new methodology, as they used exploratory spatial data analysis and geographically weighted regression to detect spatial patterns and estimate the influence of the railway and distance from the coast on population change. The results obtained show that the influence of the railway was very pronounced in some areas, while in others it was just one of the factors that could explain major changes in population distribution.

The railway network and the process of population concentration in Spain, 1900-2001

This paper proposes a methodology for quantifying the territorial impact on population distribution of the railway. The central hypothesis is that access to railway services provides the best-connected areas with a long-term comparative advantage over others that are less accessible. Carrying out a historical analysis and providing comparable data at the municipal level allows us to determine the extent to which the railway has fostered the concentration of population within its immediate surroundings. The case study presented here is that of Spain between 1900 and 2001, but the same methodology could equally be applied to any other country for which the required data are available. In this case, key data included a Geographic Information System with information about both the development of the railway network and census data relating to total population at the municipal level. The results obtained suggest the relevance of this methodology, which makes it possible to identify the periods and areas in which this influence was most significant.

Introduction to the Special Issue on the Common Ground of History and Geography

The main reason for this special issue is the will to promote pioneering research which stands at the frontier between geography and history. The common ground shared by these two disciplines offers the possibility to develop themes in which both time and place play a central role. It is quite evident that territory is the result of historical development. It is, however, less widely accepted that the way in which phenomena are located is essential for their historical interpretation. This is the consequence of a relative lack of collaboration between geographers and historians. This field of spatiotemporal knowledge has not been developed to its full potential due to a previous lack of availability of the empirical approaches and quantitative methodologies required to achieve this; simple description offers only limited possibilities for further scientific advances in this area. Long gone are the times in which the geographer Paul Vidal de la Blache (1845–1918), who had been trained as a historian, established a way to create elegant monographic studies of regional geography in the form of his Tableau de la Géographie de la France (1903). This paved the way for a highly fruitful line of qualitative work in which history was seen as fundamental to geography. Historical geography is probably the only specialty in which these links are equally well established, although such work has mainly been carried out by geography departments. In the field of history, on the other hand, geography has rarely been seen as more than a discipline that studies the

A Method for Exploring Long-Term Urban Change Using National Historical GIS Databases

Abstract This article describes a new approach for analyzing data within national historical geographic information system databases that can be used to explore long-term trends in landscape evolution. The methodology is based on clustering together areas with similar demographic characteristics to define urban agglomerations whose territorial extents and populations vary over time. The resulting database can be used in a wide range of ways that allow the empirical study of urban growth and urban sprawl. The article is based on data for England and Wales but given the increasing availability of national historical geographic information system databases for countries around the world, the approach could be replicated for a wide range of different places.

Introduction: A New Look at the Origins of Economic Growth and Regional Inequality

The contributions to this special issue share important themes and methodologies in their quest to explicate economic development and its effects. Nonetheless, each area under examination has its own peculiarities and warrants its own scope of analysis. The result is a special issue that pursues an innovative line of research, exploring parallels and contrasts in economic growth and inequality based on new data at the regional, rather than simply the national, level.

Patterns of Population and Urban Growth in Southwest Europe: 1920-2010:

This work seeks to measure, locate, and explain changes in the distribution of population and urban growth in the territory formed by France, Italy, and the Iberian Peninsula between 1920 and 2010. This is based on population data of more than fifty-six thousand local units obtained from population censuses: the Geokhoris database that we built. Our starting viewpoint is that it is only possible to understand the extent of the urbanization process within the context of the evolution of all of the municipalities. The description of the distribution and growth of population at the local level shows the population concentration in the various urban agglomerations, and, since 1970, a relative deconcentration and extension of the cities. Within this context, a regression model helped us to identify the geographic factors that correlate with these fundamental transformations in population geography, which were also indicative of new forms of social organization within the territory.