ABSTRACT

We can make a distinction between location and site. Location refers to relative space, the space of connections, hierarchies, economic transactions and social relations. It is a space abstracted from territory. Site, in contrast, refers to the absolute space that a city occupies. In much of recent urban geography and indeed of urban studies in general, the abstract space of location is the more dominant theme, an intellectual trajectory that tends to ignore, marginalize or simply forget the importance of absolute space to understanding cities.