Building models for spatial analysis

Societies organise their space; this organisation, which has its own rules, is one of the necessary conditions for their reproduction as societies. The name choremes is given to the basic structures of spatial organisation, which are few in number, this paper proposes the first rational inventory of such structures, which are as many signs of domination over nature and people. The combination of these choremes produces a specific organisation of particular spaces. The theory is outlined here, with its corresponding experimental method based on the use of spatial models, the composition of elementary models into specific models and their relationship with theoretical and general models; this is a step towards the solution of the contradiction between deductive and inductive methods, between nomothetical and idiographical approaches.Brunet Roger. Building models for spatial analysis. In: Espace géographique. Espaces, modes d'emploi. Two decades of l'Espace géographique, an anthology. Special issue in English. 1993. pp. 109-123