Human Geography and the Study of Governance and Society: Perspectives from the UK

In this chapter I focus on human geography and the study of governance and society reflecting on the linkages and synergies between human geography and the study of governance and society by employing a biographical approach drawing on the UK. Human geography focuses on the ways in which social processes express themselves over space and in turn are enabled and limited by those spatial arrangements (Cox, 2023, 1). It is studied systematically: focusing for example on agriculture or settlement, seeking to understand the processes that influence it and the spatial patterns that cause it (Hardill et al, 2001, 243); and regionally: studying geography through areal differentiation (ibid, 242), thereby offering different ways of understanding geographical space. Understanding uneven geographies is facilitated by understanding the public policy landscape and governance structures. Human geography and public administration and public governance (PA) can offer an explanatory nexus in understanding social and economic issues.