ABSTRACT
The human ecological research program also involved the extensive use of mapping to reveal the spatial distribution of social problems and to permit comparison between areas. Burgess was particularly interested in maps and used them extensively, requiring all his students to acquire proficiency in basic mapmaking techniques. Burgess and his students scoured the city of Chicago for data that could be used for maps, gleaning information from city agencies and making more extensive use of census data than any other social scientists of the time. This was one of the most important legacies of the urban ecology studies undertaken at the University of Chicago in the 1920s as mapmaking became part of the methodological toolkit of the developing disciplines of sociology, criminology, and public policy. Burgess was not a systematic theoretician but an eclectic promoter of theory and methodology. He sought to develop reliable tools for the prediction of social phenomena such as delinquency, parole violation, divorce, city growth, and adjustment in old age.
