Abstract
Through space-adjusting technologies and social practices, innovation has progressively transformed the space and time constraints on the geographical range and nature of human activities, and on the interactivity of people at local through global scales. This essay explores explicit measurements and representations of the time-space convergence and divergence of places and their impacts on individuals, families, communities, regions, and nations. At such scales, the nature of time-space is differentially experienced, based on gradations and cleavages in human conditions that result from socio-economic systems that differentially allocate wealth, education, infrastructure, and other affordances for breaking down the rigidity and restrictions on mobility and opportunity. The essay addresses questions regarding the measurement of time-space convergence at different geographical scales, considers the implications of convergence processes for human well-being, and explores the use of time-geography concepts to help reduce constraints on opportunities for people to engage successfully and equitably in a world where the significance of distance can change rapidly and with uneven impact on places, regions, and nations.
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Janelle, D.G. (2017). Time, Space, and the Human Geographies of Opportunity. In: Wuppuluri, S., Ghirardi, G. (eds) Space, Time and the Limits of Human Understanding. The Frontiers Collection. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44418-5_38
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