Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2012, 48(5): 833-858 | DOI: 10.13060/00380288.2012.48.5.02

Human Behaviour in Space and Time: Theoretical-Methodological Foundations

Bohumil Frantál, Pavel Klapka, Tadeusz Siwek

1 Ústav geoniky AV ČR, v.v.i., Brno

2 Přírodovědecká fakulta, Univerzita Palackého, Olomouc 3 Přírodovědecká fakulta, Ostravská univerzita, Ostrava

The article deals with the issue of spatio-temporal human behaviour in the scope of the social sciences with increased attention to human geography. It endeavours to present possible approaches to the study of human behaviour in the geographical and social environment and the limits and constraints that affect behaviour. The article is inspired by the works of Swedish geographers, who were the first to introduce the time-dimension into geographical research, thus creating a four-dimensional framework for the research of behavioural geographical phenomena. The /authors' line of argument starts with the fundamental theoretical concepts and methodological tools of time-geography. Following the presentation of the theoretical basis, the authors document and develop a critical discussion of its defi ciencies and how the discipline has tackled them. The struggle to rehabilitate time-geographyby its proponents emerged with the renaissance of the discipline and the development of new applications within different areas of social scientific research and spatial planning. The authors put forward some examples of research on new socially stimulating issues and refl ect on the cyberspace expansion that has introduced new forms of interactions and time-space constraints. Finally, the authors discuss the current potential of the spatio-temporal approachin human behaviour research within the social sciences.

Keywords: human behaviour, space, time, time-geography, social science

Published: October 1, 2012Show citation