TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter written by Pierre FRANKHAUSER and Denise PUMAIN.
Is the craze for fractals only a fad? Over the last two decades, fractals have fascinated us with the images that they have produced or reproduced but, in social sciences applications, they have fallen short of the expectations of researchers. The measures that have been generated by them have not established themselves alongside more traditional indicators and their use in dynamic models of complex systems has proven to be difficult to implement. It is natural though that they still inspire research in geography, in particular spatial analysis. The irregular and fragmented forms of relief or, urban patterns, the ramifications of hydrographic or transport systems, the hierarchized structures of the world's territories and city systems all have properties, and fractal analysis could propose new interpretations. The self-similar morphology of fractal objects, reproducing the same structures at different scales, is an important feature of the spatial organization of several geographical objects. This essential property has been used in explanatory theories of hierarchical systems, as with central place theory for city systems, but with spatial models that were based on traditional geometry. Introducing fractal geometry as a reference in geographical models is therefore a way to demonstrate certain specific processes of the spatial organization, particularly cities and systems and to find new expressions, especially for dynamic interpretations.
The spatiality of human societies is a paradox. On the one hand, when societies humanize and space the...
