• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.184-198
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• 2002

Since the mid-1980s there has been an intensive debate on a regional geography in abroad, and its renaissance has been widely expressed. Under the influences of these academic circumstances, many Korean scholars have tried to introduce this trend and at the same time to propose new development lines of the Korean geography with a critical perspective. However, the empirical study of Korean regional geography including area studies is characterized by a quantitative deficit on the one hand and by its peripheral position on the other. The main reasons of this marginalization of Korean regional geography that we can find include a undifferentiated import of new systematic/nomothetic geography in the 1960s and 1970s, a historical interruption with a tradition of old Korean geography, and the practical difficulties of regional geographical approach itself. Now we face with the fundamental changes including globalization/regionalization and an increasing actual demand for the information on different scales of space and place. In order to cope with these challenges, we inevitably need to revitalize various forms and modem characteristics of regional geographical approaches and try to reexamine the basic concepts, methods, and frameworks of regional geography.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.160-197
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• 1996

The purpose of this study is to review research trends and issues of economic geography in Korea for the last fifty years by sub-fields of agricultural geography, industrial geography, commercial and service geography, and transportation geography. Research in Korean economic geography has progressed significantly in terms of the scope and the number of papers published during the last a half a century. Agricultural geography was a leading field of economic geography in Korea before mid-1970s. Since the mid-1970s, however, agricultural geography has turned over the leading role in economic geography to industrial geography. Classification and structure of agricultural region has been the most popular research theme in Korea, even though diverse topics has been dealt in the research of agricultulal geography in Korea during the last fifty years. In recent years, emphasis is given to study on the dynamics of agricultural region and regional differentiation of part-time farming. It is suggested that the future issues of research in agricultural geography in Korea are agricultural restructuring and changes in agricultural space under the WTO system, changes in rural area and agricultural region with the progress of informatization, changes in agricultural structures and rural society by the increase of part-time farming, governments agricultulal policy and its impacts, competitive advantages of Korean agricultulal products, and environmental impacts of agricultural restructuring. Research in industrial geography has remarkably progressed since the 1980s. Locational changes, regional industrial structure and formation of industrial region were the major topics of interest in the research of industrial geography in Korea before 1980. Since the early 1980s, in addition to the topics which were interested in before 1980, changes of industrial organization and industrial location, changes of production systems and industrial space development of high technology industries and science parks, industrial restructuring and regional economy, foreign direct investments, industrial linkages and industrial districts, and industrial policy and regional development have been the major research themes of industrial geography in Korea. Considerable number of papers has been published both in Korean journals and in foreign journals during this period. Considering global changes in the organization of industrial space, future research should be more focused on firms strategy for regaining competitive advantages, local and global perspectives of industry, industry and environmental changes, in addition to the topics which have been dealt in recent years. Research in commercial and service geography and transportation geography was negligible in Korea before the late 1970s. These two sub-fields in economic geography have begun to develop since 1980s. Periodic markets, structure of commercial area, and distribution of products were the major topics of interest in the 1980s in the commercial and service geography in Korea. In the 1990s, however reserch in producer services has been active with growth of producer services in Korean economy. It is suggested that regional changes with progress of informatization and technology, changes of international trade and regional changes, development of efficient distribution system, role of producer services in regional development, and network of producer services are the major issues to be studied in the future in the field of commercial and service geography in Korea. Commuting, distribution of products, and transportation networks have been the major topics of research in transportation geography in Korea. Diverse quantitative techniques have been applied in the most of the researches in transportation geography. It is required that future studies in transportation geography should also focus on societal and behavioral issues, policy issues regional impacts of new transportation facilities, an analysis of transportation system at the global or international level. Since the 1980s economic geography in Korea has considerably progressed with publication of papers and books. The progress can be regarded as successful in quantitative aspect, but not in quantitative aspects. For the development of Korean economic geography in both quantitative and qualitative aspects, it is necessary to promote international collaborative researches and interdisciplinary cooperations. Attention should also be given to the research on changes in competitive advantages and economic restructuring, changes of economic space with the development of high technology and the progress of informatization. economic development and culture. and foreign regional studies.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.150-160
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• 2002

The purpose of this study is to introduce the new regional geography approaches that have been lively discussed in English speaking countries since 1980s. The discussion of the new regional geography is based on intellectual interchange between geographers and social theorists. The new regional geographers regard a space as a more active thing. A space is not a merely passive container. It is not a outer settings, but a essential dimention of the human being. The new regional geography has been discussed in four perspectives: structuration theory perspective, spatial division of lavour theory perspective, world-systems theory perspective, and post-poststructuralism perspective. The new regional approaches well provide a new direction to regional studies. However, it is so abstracted in concepts for the empirical examinations that it is necessary to introduce a meso-level of concept.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.223-234
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• 2004

Geography as a field of learning had its beginnings among the scholars of ancient Greece. The emergence of modern Geography was much due to the collection and classification of information about overseas areas. Today, world regional geography, which may be called area studies in other social sciences, is regarded as an introductory geography course in many American universities. World regional geography, however, has been much neglected by Korean geographers. Many factors have made Korean geographers not concentrate their efforts to area studies. The exterior factors include the great expenses for the area studies' fieldworks, and the many geographers' involvement in the writing of geography textbooks and atlases for school students. The interior factors include all the ethno-centric, mysterious, and authoritarian perspectives a large number of Korean geographers strongly stick to.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-24
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• 2016

This paper is to consider trends and issues of regional research in major sub-fields of human geography in Korea, following the previous one which dealt with contexts and general trends of new regional geography in Korea since the 2000s. They include historical and cultural geography on place and landscape, economic geography on industrial districts or agglomerated regions (i.e. clusters) and urban (and social) geography on urban networks and differentiation. Even though researchers in sub-fields have used different terms and concepts to identify region, they are in common to relate specificities of region to general processes such as (de)modernization, (de)industrialization, and globalization, to understand region as social and discursive constitution as well as substantive reality, and to give more attention to socio-spatial networks and relationality than territoriality of regions. These common points seem to reflect the emerging trend of new regional geography, and to get rid of existing traditional concept of region. It is suggested that major tasks for conceptualization of region in future research are to overcome dichotomy of speciality and generality, of substantive reality and discursive constitution, and of territoriality and relationality, and that important issues for empirical research on region include regional synthesis from new perspectives, uneven regional development as relational process in and between regions, and producing practice for alternative regions.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.355-376
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• 2007

The aim of this study is to examine the changes of approach methods of research framework in the history of Korean economic geography during the last fifty years($1956{\sim}2005$). The five factors that have influenced Korean economic geography are Korean geography, European, American, and Japanese geography, fundamental theories of economics and business administration, regional problems, and culture. The study of Korean economic geography can be divided into four periods: 'period of cradle of economic geography($1956{\sim}1962$)', 'period of establishment of economic geography(1963$\sim$later 1970s)', 'period of leap of economic geography(the former half of 1980s$\sim$the former half of 1990s)', and 'period of transition of economic geography (since later 1990s)'. And research framework of Korean economic geography has changed from the regional structure theory in 'period of leap' to the spatial system of economies and network theory in 'period of transition'. Spatial system of economies and network theory consists of spatial system of world economies, spatial system of national economies, spatial system of regional economies, spatial network of enterprise economies, and spatial network of information economies.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.288-302
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• 2013

This paper aims to compare and analyze the undergraduate geography curriculums of Korean and American universities. is rarely offered as an undergraduate geography subject in both Korean and American universities. This may be due to the fact that the four fields of geography(human geography field, physical geography field, regional geography field, and other geography field) are not easily able to be integrated and taught as an independent geography subject. The ratio of the subject number of human geography field(39.4%) is greater than that of physical geography field(24.5%) at the geography departments of Korean universities, but the ratio of the subject number of physical geography field(32.8%) is a little more greater than that of human geography field(29.4%) at the geography departments of American universities. The ratio of the subject number of regional geography fields at the geography department of American universities(18.1%) is greater than that of Korean universities(13.8%), so more stress seems to be laid on the field of regional geography in American universities than in Korean universities. Although the geography curriculums of Korean universities seems to follow generally those of American universities, this paper reveals that there is also differences between the geography curriculums of Korean and American universities in terms of their emphasis on four fields of geography. The differences could be explained by the historical context of the geography departments of Korean universities during the last half a century.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.69-89
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• 2000

The regional geography had been at the height of prosperity in the first half of the twentieth century since Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Ritter. The geography remained stationary in the late 19th century had greatly developed around the regional geography in European countries since the early 20th century. Particularly, A. Hettner and O. $Schl{\ddot{u}}ter$ in Germany, Vidal de la Blache in France and A. J. Herbertson in Britain developed their own methods of regional studies and produced many results of empirical studies ; accordingly the regional geography had been at the height of prosperity in the 1920s and 1930s. This paper aims to study the regional concepts and the methods of regional studies of Germany geographers in the 1920s and 1930s. This study is useful to understand the current methods of classifications of regions and descripitive systems of regions. The noteworthy results of studies are summarized as follows : First, The regional geography of Germany had been developed by Hettner who regarded the geography as the chorological science of the earth's surface, $Schl{\ddot{u}}ter$ who did the geography as the study of cultural landscape and Penck's students, the morphologists of landscape (Landschaftsmorphologie). Hettner defined the geography as the chorological science, maintained that the earth's surface was classify according to its localized difference -continents, lands, districts and localities(Erdteile, $L{\ddot{a}}nder$, Landschaften und Ortlichkeiten) and emphasized on the total character of areas. He tried to classify downward from continents to localities based on the sizes of regions. He also gave the logic of causal relation to schematic approach(Das $L{\ddot{a}}nderkundliche$ Schema) and further developed it. $Schl{\ddot{u}}ter$ argued that The process of change on the landscape through time must be studied. And Passarge and Penck's pupils, morphologists of landscape, tried to classify the landscape synthetically. Thereafter, De Geer and $Gran{\ddot{o}}$ employed the creative methods of regional classification which used signs and simbols. Second, The regional geography of Germany differed from that of France on the next points ; 1. The former was analytic, but the latter was synthetic. 2. The former placed great emphasis on physical elements, terrain and climate etc., but the latter did great emphasis on both physical and human elements. 3. The former gave priority to the studies of large scale regions, but the latter did priority to the studies of small scale regions. In 1920s and 1930s the regional study of Germany geographers exerted direct influence on the development of geography of Japan. Especially, Tanaka Keiji, Japanese typical regional geographer, tried to classify Japan synthetically on the bases of terrain, climate, vegetation and human elements under the influence of European geographers. He exerted great influence on both Japanese and Korean geographers at that time.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.142-153
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• 2006

The purpose of this paper is to develop effective lesson planning and to describe what happened when GIS was integrated in the teaching and learning of regional geography in a highschool classroom. To achieve this, first, regional geography learning modules were designed using strands model. Second, six hour instructions were carried out. Third, students' reflections were analysed. Fourth, suggestions for the next implementation of GIS in regional learning are discussed. The results of the study are as follows. First, students showed interest in learning with GIS and they engaged actively in the teaching-learning process. Second, GIS was effective for enhancing students' achievement on concepts about GIS and mapping. Third, GIS promoted students' interest on regional learning. Fourth, students preferred collaborative GIS learning. Finally, GIS was not shown to be entirely effective in this case, due to the limited access to appropriate hardware and lack of time.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.357-378
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• 2014

The concern on new regional geography in Korea has emerged in the 1990s under the influence of paradigm shift of Western geography, that is, the withering of positivist geography and the introduction of grand social theories into geography. New regional geography in Korea also seems to have developed in the rapidly changing process of glocalization of capitalism which has accompanied with the transformation toward post-Fordism with high-tech innovation, development of transportation and communication technology with time-space compression, and increasing social and cultural mobility with change of identity. But it can be pointed out that discussion on methodology for regional geography in Korea has been shrunken since the mid 2000s, and there has been relatively little empirical research with synthetic approach to region. But more concern on methodology in terms of place, territory, network, scale, etc. rather than the concept of region itself has increased, and empirical researches on regions in specific fields of human geography have been promoted. It is argued that the traditional distinction between synthetic and analytic approaches seems no longer significant. But geographers need to extend the concept of region in relation to other diverse spatial concepts, and to purse simultaneously structural analysis on glocalization process and practical strategies responding positively to the process.