ABSTRACT
Marc De Smidt stressed the primordial importance of scale in regional geographical research, particularly in research within the structurationist mould. The basic problem of regional geography is how to select the interdependent elements on the same as well as on different scales. Classical geography and regional geography assumed that the regions were an intricate product of the combination of natural and human forces. At present, space is considered to be a realization of human perceptions, ideas, intentions, and technology. Consequently, people may disengage themselves from local or regional constraints by their capacity to organize localities as parts of larger wholes. Regional geography is therefore compelled to come to grips with the development of the larger societies that are comprised of regional populations. A main characteristic of the new regional geography is its rejection of the claim to study individual regions that cannot be accounted for by general principles or generalizations.
