Foundations and Concepts in Welfare Geography
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22944913Keywords:
Spatial Justice, Sustainable Development, Welfare Geography, Welfare, Welfare TheoriesAbstract
This research addressed the foundations and concepts of welfare geography as one of the modern fields in the discipline of geography, through examining the relationship between place and human beings from the perspective of spatial justice, within the framework of the intellectual transformations that geography has witnessed since the 1970s, transitioning from quantitative analysis to a focus on human and social issues. The research aimed to present welfare geography within an academic framework and to introduce its methodological content as a branch that has not received adequate attention in local and regional literature. To this end, the study adopted a methodological integration encompassing the descriptive-analytical approach, the critical-comparative approach, and the functional approach for analyzing the theories that explain the phenomenon of welfare and clarifying their functions in society. In doing so, the study addressed a research gap represented by the absence of specialized Arabic literature in this field, making it a foundational attempt to fill this academic void. The findings concluded that welfare is a spatial phenomenon manifested in the distribution of resources and services among regions, and that embedding it within a geographical framework provides a scientific basis for formulating policies that take spatial justice into account and reduce disparities between areas. This makes welfare geography both a scientific and practical necessity in addressing issues of sustainable development and social deprivation.
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