Geography and Social Issues

Geography’s way of looking at the world and the kinds of international collaborations promoted by the IGU will become ever more significant in the social arena in the years ahead because the broad trends affecting life on Earth are international in scope and resonate with geography’s core perspectival and analytical approaches. Key demographic, socio-economic, socio-cultural, and geopolitical trends point to the value of studies focused on spatial variability, humanenvironment interactions, space-time linkages, and interdependence across space and scale. If geography is to make important contributions to social well-being in the twenty-first century, its concern with these matters should be pursued in ways that serve to advance sustainability—an overarching goal that cannot be realized in the absence of increased international awareness and the sharing of geographically informed information and ideas. Nonetheless, geography’s influence will remain marginal unless progress is made in combating widespread geographical ignorance on the part of the general public and influential political actors. As such, addressing educational and outreach challenges will be of critical importance to the future of the discipline.