Contemporary Relevance of Human Geography :
With the change in time and technology, paradigms of geographic perspectives have shifted towards the needs of the hours. Necessity and challenges associated to human beings have produced new themes and contents in the Human Geography. Themes like, location, distribution, growth, space, time, region, diffusion, etc. have taken new dimensions and significance.
Contemporary issues have emerged in every sub-field of Human Geography as described below:
- Contemporary issues in Population Geography: The recent population geography has become more thematic and applied. Themes like population dividend, ageing population, population density, over-population, population policy, population composition in terms of gender, cast and religion etc. are pronounced and significant for the betterment of society. Studies on these issues have become important for educational, health, and other physical infrastructural development. Population distribution analysis based on geo-spatial technology has become useful to address the challenge like crime, hunger, sanitation, congestion, water etc. Nowadays demographic studies are being taken as study of well being. The demographic studies with the integration of GIS technology have shifted its applicability in planning and allocation of resources. Demographic dividend, demographic transition, economic growth, employability, human capital and life expectancy have become contemporary key themes of study under population geography as a sub field of Human Geography.
- Contemporary issues in Social Geography: Majority of the contemporary planning is oriented to social well being. Every social issue being studied with geographical perspective come under the gamut of social geography. Whole of the world is facing problems arising out of social composition. How the social space can be constructed in a better manner is key area of study nowadays. Challenges free and socially sustainable social-space construction is the key theme of contemporary Social Geography. The challenges and problems of socio-cultural space are being studied and addressed well with the amalgam of spatial intelligence and geo-spatial technology. Theme based studies like housing, health, gender, culture, religion, languages have picked the pace to address the issues in planning, resource allocation and better society establishment/management.
- Contemporary issues in Political Geography: Governance is the utmost applied issue being studied under the political geography. Overall development is the outcome of efficient governance which is only possible through the rationalisation of the, administrative boundary and the resources. Now a days politics for geographic space is the matter of less debate due to precision of GIS technology application. Rationalization of frontiers of socio-economic zones, borders and administrative boundaries are the key study area under the contemporary political geography. Amalgam of politics and governance has made regional development more prioritized and judicious. Mapping and spatial analysis of political issues based on the challenges and needs have become more contemporary themes at global level.
- Contemporary issues in Economic Geography: the relevance of the Human Geography in the modern era is marked by the issues being studied under economic Geography. The scope of economic geography has become applied and significant from planning and globalization perspective. The corrections of the widespread spatial inequality in economy is the contemporary objective of studies under the discipline of economic geography. The popularity of such themes under human geographic research have increased due to complex challenges and competition of economy. The refinement in the research tools also signifies the relevance of human geography in economic development rivalry. The scientific interpretation and geo-spatial technical study of interrelationship between economic activities and ecological consequences have become burning research question in this globalized era, where each country is trying to geoformed their development model in a sustainable and eco-friendly manner.
Apart from the above sub-fields of human geography, the relevance of this discipline can also be traced through the applied research in urban planning, agricultural development, disaster management, defense research, tribal development and rural development issues. The significance of human geographical studies in the contemporary studies has also been substantiated by the trending synthesis of geo-informatics and spatial intelligence concern.
