Geography Education Responding to Global Forces: Redefining the Territory

Abstract

In a digitally networked world, traditional narratives of space and place struggle to explain the multiple layers of interactions between people and place at local, national and global levels. The twenty-first century has brought mobility to new levels, where the speed of transactions enables instant communication between people located anywhere and any place—provided they have access to a mobile network. Likewise, whilst the traditional networks exist and flows of goods and people traverse the landscape, the pace of interconnectivity helps bring the outside world to local communities located the world over. This movement of people and goods is transforming lives and expectations of living in ways that are testing past values and moral geographies. Just as geography was the discipline to apply models and systems analysis to understanding our global connections in the 1970s and 80s, geography is a key discipline for learning within these new and evolving worldviews. Geography education can play a critical role in the quest for global understanding in this complex and dynamic world. Sustainable lifestyles, managing natural systems, hybridity and maintaining a sense of place as a citizen in what is becoming an increasingly urban lifestyle for most of the world’s people requires an adaptable conceptual framework. Geography is the discipline which provides the most comprehensive overview of space and place interaction. Simple constructs such as the basics of everyday life help provide a lens into this world of complexity and help to nurture understanding and tolerance of diversity.