ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the application of spatial analysis to environmental research and the study of environmental change. It argues special attention to human dimensions of global environmental change, spatial analysis using remotely sensed data and geographic information systems, experimental methods, and the study of institutions within a spatially explicit context. New priorities position the environmental social sciences at the center of research on global change. There is growing evidence that socioeconomic uncertainties are greater than biophysical uncertainties, for example, in the study of climate impacts. Many scholars are using landscape ecology methods to better understand land use dynamics, and spectral analysis is being refined to work at the local level with more detailed requirements. New generation models benefited from the progress made by global circulation models, growing evidence of the global nature of environmental problems, and the democratization of computer technology through its wide availability.
