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Contents:

Introduction; 1 - Fractals and scale in environmental assessment and monitoring; 2 - Population and environment interactions: spatial considerations in landscape characterisation and modeling; 3 - Crossing the divide: linking global and local scales in human-environment systems; 4 - Independence, contingency, and scale linkage in physical geography; 5 - Embedded scales in biogeography; 6 - Scaled geographies: nature, place and the politics of scale; 7 - Scales of cybergeography; 8 - A long way from home: domesticating the social production of scale; 9 - Scale bending and the fate of the national; 10 - Is there a Europe of cities? world cities and the limitations of geographical scale analysis; 11 - The politics of scale and networks of spatial connectivity: transnational interurban networks and the rescaling of political governance in Europe; 12 - Scale and geographic inquiry: contrasts, intersections and boundaries.

Review:

The more we try to find a universal theory of everything the more we realise that scale is the problem. In ecology we recognise the paradox of scale: what affects a single organism may not be the key factor for its population or species. This means that we have to decide which factors operate where and whether we can truly have an universal ecology. Luckily, as this text shows, we are not alone. Many areas of spatial study have come to the same conclusion. What we didn't have, until now, is an opportunity to study easily the issues that scale brings across a range of areas. The introduction sets the scene with a discussion of the ways in which scale can be envisaged: cartographic, operational, biophysical, hierarchical etc. Not surprisingly, this will affect the results we get from our studies and the confidence with which we can transfer results from one aspect to another. The remainder of the text explores these themes through a range of cases. Although the first chapter looks at fractals we are immediately shown the ecological dimension of this through the case of land-use change modelling. It's not just our results that are affected by scale but the theory upon which our methods are based! Chapter two continues this theme with an examination of land use change in Thailand whilst the next chapter returns to the theory of human-environment interactions that was the basis of the first two chapters. Chapter four takes a different route to look at scale in physical geography. Here the situation can be slightly more clear cut as river systems, for example, can be subdivided but the fundamental process stays the same. Chapter five is the most obvious one for ecology with its consideration of biogeography and scale. The resolution with which something is viewed affects how we measure it and see it. An obvious case is species distribution maps where a global map may present a far healthier picture than the actual location of individuals. That our cases may also change in size from micro-organisms to elephants further complicates the situation. Chapters six and seven take scale into new areas. The former deals with politics using the case of how a national water supply can become a local asset. Linked to this is cybergeography, a new field looking at the way in which we divide e-space (or allow access to it which is very much a spatial and political theme. Eight and nine take up a similar theme in the way in which scales interact. Both deal with how human geography and illustrate how local themes can be used to create (or cause problems for) the global scale - the former looks at the US women's movement and the latter with international politics but the message is the same. Another paired set - chapters 10 and 11 look at the city and the scale of its influence. In the global city, where is the boundary? The editors conclude this work with a brief overview of the key issues.

This is a fascinating book but one which takes time to assimilate. As the editors concede, it covers an intimidating array of subjects but shows how one aspect - scale - can affect all of them in surprisingly similar ways. This depth and breadth of coverage makes the text an invaluable one. It's worthwhile to see one's own discipline highlighting that which one knew about but even more worthwhile to see another subject far removed having similar issues. This is not a text for beginners but anyone interested in the issue of scale should read it as one of the accessible overviews on this topic in recent times.