ABSTRACT
Firstly, one can consider the spatial elements of regional organisation. In this respect, many investigations have been carried out to delimit the areas within which one or more physical or human elements are located, and which may be considered as the basis of the ocean organisation on a regional scale (Anderson 1982). Examples of this way of visualising regions are provided by geomorphologic areas, intended as areas characterised by homogeneous geomorphologic features differing from those of the surrounding territory; and by tourist areas, characterised by distinctive types of tourism. To emphasise the relevant conceptual and methodological viewpoints one could speak of ‘regions as areas’, with regionalisation giving rise to a web of areas characterising the earth’s surface or a given part of it.
