Geographia Polonica (2014) vol. 87, iss. 3
Relationships between human-environment-space of place – The evolution of research paradigms in geography and the challenge of modernity
Geographia Polonica (2014) vol. 87, iss. 3, pp. 409-421 | 
Full text
doi: https://doi.org/GPol.2014.28
Abstract
This paper presents the evolution of research paradigms in geography related to the study of relationshipsbetween humans, environment and place, and their tenacious role in functional and spatial analyses of the environmentalmegasystem. The author describes ontological, epistemological as well as axiological dimensionsof interdependencies between humans, environment, and place, understood as space in which the integrationof nature and culture takes place, influencing, among other things, human behavior and generation of thequality of human living conditions. Surveys conducted among the inhabitants of the environs of Warsaw revealedhow different the perception and valuation of environmental issues is depending on space of place, itsstructure, and function. The author also emphasized the potential of environment as a value, which presently,in connection with the quality of human life, is perceived in the category of supply and demand.
Keywords: relationship, environment, space, place, paradigm, Warsaw Metropolitan Area
[m.degor@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland