The Dictionary of Human Geography

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reassembled in new constellations. In a

parallel series of essays that centred on

the technical transformations in the cir-

culation ofmoneythat lie at the heart of

Harvey’s theses, for example, Thrift

(1997a) showed that ‘new forms of elec-

tronic detachment have produced new

forms of social involvement’: that con-

temporary processes of time–space com-

pression still depend on the intimacy of

interpersonal contact.

(3) These contributions emphasize that

time–space compression isspatially differ-

entiated. Harvey’s original account of ‘the

shrinking world’ focused on the global

northand was insensitive to the mul-

tiple and compound geographies of

time–space compression, but since then

he has provided more nuanced discus-

sions that pay closer attention to the

globalsouthand to the politico-military

carapace of contemporaryaccumulation

by dispossession(Harvey, 2003b, 2005;

cf. Agnew, 2001; seeprimitive accumu-

lation). Harvey continues to emphasize

thepolitical economyof time–space

compression, and while it is not neces-

sary to accept Massey’s (1993, p. 60)

characterization of this as an ‘econo-

mism’, time–space compression does

have other vital dimensions that are con-

nected but cannot be reduced to the

logics of capital. Late-modern war

emphasizes the enhanced power of mili-

taryviolenceover time and space, for

example, and the formation of trans-

national public spheres reveals the im-

portance of globalflowsof images and

information to the formation of net-

work societies. All of these dimensions

have their own hierarchies, margins

and exclusions – hence the crucial im-

portance ofpositionality(Sheppard,

2002) – and these variable topologies

imply that time–space compression op-

erates alongside processes oftime–space

expansion. dg

Suggested reading

Agnew (2001); Harvey (1989b, chs 15–17).

time^space convergence A decrease in the

friction of distancebetween places. As this

definition suggests, the concept originated

withinspatial science, where it was first

formulated by Douglas Janelle (1968). He

defined the convergence rate between two

locations as the average rate at which the

time needed to travel between them decreases

over time: the measure was supposed to be

‘mathematically analogous to velocity as de-

fined by the physicist’.

Janelle (1969) attributed time–space con-

vergence to technical change: ‘as a result of

transportinnovation, places approach each

other in time–space’. Janelle showed that

time–space convergence is usually discontinu-

ous in time – convergence curves are typically

jagged, corresponding to pulses of technical

innovation – and uneven overspace: ‘Any

transport improvement will tend to be of

greatest advantage to the highest-ordered

centre that it connects’ (Janelle, 1968). Forer

(1974) noted that the converse is also true –

that time–space convergence is partly a function

of the hierarchical structure of the settlement

system – so that Janelle’s model of ‘spatial

reorganization’ entailed a double movement in

which ‘places define spaces’ and spaces in turn

progressively ‘redefine’ places.

Other geographers distinguished distance-

convergencefromcost-convergenceand identified

a pervasive tendency for the friction of dis-

tance to decrease under the sign ofmodern-

ity. Since the friction of distance is a

fundamental postulate of classical central

place theory,diffusion theoryandloca-

tion theory– it is, after all, what makes the

identification of spatial patterns possible –

time–space convergence was supposed to

‘scramble’ and ‘play havoc’ with these stand-

ard geometricmodels(Falk and Abler, 1980).

Time–space convergence was thus linked to a

concept ofplastic space: ‘a space defined by

separation in time or cost terms, a space

which the progressions and regressions of

technology make one of continuous flux’

(Forer, 1978).

These were simple but suggestive ideas, yet

Forer (1978) suggested that most contempor-

ary geographers had paid little attention to

them because they addressed ‘the larger can-

vas of economic history and the long-term

development of society’. Ironically, however,

it was precisely those links that turned out to

be most important. Pred (1973) had already

provided an imaginative reconstruction of the

changing time-lags within the circulation of

public information through major newspapers

published on the eastern seaboard of the

USA between 1790 and 1840. Although his

studies mapped the geography of time–space

convergence and its hierarchical structure,

and made explicit reference to Janelle’s contri-

butions, Pred was more interested in the

Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_T Final Proof page 758 31.3.2009 9:40pm Compositor Name: ARaju

TIME–SPACE CONVERGENCE