The Geographical Imagination

Geographers attach multiple definitions to the term geographical imagination, many of which can be traced back to the work of Hugh Prince, David Harvey, and Derek Gregory. The term is most often used in relation to understandings of the landscape, the power of maps, studies of identity and oppression, and/or meanings of large territories as they relate to everyday lives such as the city, nature, or the nation-state. At its best, the geographical imagination affords the user ways to pry open the power of assumptions, stereotypes, and expectations associated with space and place, and to delve into how and why they are linked.