The entropic currents in territory analysis and planning: 1964-1983

Abstract

The principal research themes related to the use of the entropic concept in regional analysis and planning are identified. For the twenty-year period studied, four five-year subdivisions are proposed, corresponding to the following stages: initial thrust, thematic development, maturity and after-math. Specially noteworthy are the contributions to research made by A. G. Wilson, M. J. Webber and M. Batty in the respective fields of the application of this concept in designing the gravity model, location models and methodology of spatial aggregation. The common denominator of these approaches is the entropy maximization method. This contrasts with the less prominent role which the concept plays as a descriptive index of territorial location in spite of the efforts made in the fields of theory and application by the operational researcher, H. Theil. The article is completed with a wide-ranging bibliography of utility to both those interested in theoretical geography and also researchers in contemporary geographical thought.