ABSTRACT
In social surveys and regional town-planning schemes it is invariably assumed that the geographer is primarily concerned with the physical ground-plan on which the city rests. This is the only field to which he is given undisputed claim by his colleagues. It is sometimes further conceded that the “human” geographer follows up such appraisal by tracing the effects of this physical ground-plan on the growth and character of the city, but as a rule the investigation of these particular aspects is handled by the economist, sociologist, historian or architect. There are, however, numerous thorough studies of cities by foreign geographers, which indicate clearly that urban geography has a well-established scope and techniques. It seems necessary, therefore, to assess the contribution of geography to the examination of the city as revealed in such studies in order to indicate to the geographer and to specialists in the cognate fields the status of the subject and to suggest lines of future investigation. Such a review will also demonstrate to the student of urban problems, that the trained geographer has an equipment and technique which can be applied to the examination of particular problems of social and physical planning.
