This book highlights the increasingly important contribution of geographical theory to the understanding of social change, values, economic & political organization and ethical imperatives. As a cohesive collection of chapters from well-known geographers in Britain and North America, it reflects the aims of the contributors in striving to bridge the gap between the historical-materialist and humanist interpretations of human geography. The book deals with both the contemporary issues outlined above and the situation in which they emerge: industrial restructuring, planning, women's issues, social and cultural practices and the landscape as context for social action.

Introduction: Humanism and Historical Materialism in Contemporary Social Geography Part 1: Issues 1. The Social and Economic Imperatives of Restructuring: A Geographic Perspective 2. Restructuring the Relations of Work and Life: Women as Environmental Actors, Feminism as Geographic Analysis 3. Theory, Hypothesis, Explanation and Action: The Example of Urban Planning 4. Synthesis in Human Geography: A Demonstration of Historical Materialism Part 2: Methods 5. Quantitative Techniques and Humanistic-historical Materialist Perspectives 6. Theory and Measurement in Historical Materialism 7. Structure and Agency in Economic Geography and Theories of Economic Value 8. Responsive Methods, Geographical Imagination and the Study of Landscapes 9. A Critique of Dialectical Landscape Part 3: Directions 10. Historical Considerations of Humanism, Historical Materialism and Geography 11. On the Dialogue Between Humanism and Historical Materialism in Geography 12. Fragmentation, Coherence and Limits to Theory in Human Geography .