Professor Peter Haggett (1933-2025)
Peter Haggett was one of the important figures in the Anglophone research and teaching community of geographers in the second half of the 20th century, particularly in the field of location study, regional geography and methodology. Born in 1933, he studied geography as an undergraduate at the University of Cambridge, where he later also obtained his PhD. Following posts at University College London (UCL) (1955–57) and at Cambridge, he was offered a chair in urban and regional geography at the University of Bristol in 1966. He remained affiliated with Bristol until his retirement in 1995. Haggett was a visiting professor at many universities in the U.S., Australia, and Asia. He was awarded six honorary doctoral degrees and numerous awards and gold medals, including from the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) and the American Association of Geographers (AAG). At the age of 92, he passed away on 9 February 2025.
Above all, Peter Haggett spearheaded the transformation of geography from a descriptive ‘art’ to a spatial science. This was in line with methodological advancements within the discipline, thanks to the development of computers during the period known as the ‘quantitative revolution’. His research areas included geography as a modern science, regional geography, locational analysis, and quantitative methods. Well versed in both human and physical geography, his work on the spatio-temporal diffusion of diseases was emblematic within the discipline for decades (with very few exceptions) until the topic became common knowledge during the 2020–21 global COVID-19 pandemic. In hindsight, he was aptly described as a ‘model geographer’ due to his passion for modelling and abstraction, as well as being considered a template teacher and researcher.
“From a distance of more than 50 years, it is hard to appreciate quite how disruptive – to use a modern term – the spatial science that Peter helped diffuse across the discipline was to contemporaneous practices of regional geography. With mathematically imbued formalisations of spatial thinking, Peter and his peers searched for ‘rules’ (or regularities) in spatial organisation and behaviour, established precepts (or guiding concepts) for their analysis (for example, scale, flows, networks, hierarchies, surfaces), and believed in the existence (or possibility) of a systematic and spatially organised approach to geographic study. This ‘new geography’, which Peter pioneered, represented a clear shift in how to study geography and, by extension, to be a geographer.”
(R. Harris et al., 13 March 2025, University of Bristol’s website)
In terms of geography education, Peter Haggett’s introductory exercise on ‘The Beach’ was well known to many beginners of the subject. By approaching a beach from a spatial analysis perspective and applying the most fundamental geometric classification techniques, Chapter 1 of his widely read book Geography: A Modern Synthesis made students aware of geographical thought and also taught them how to study location. The textbook was published in various editions, with the final one paying tribute to globalisation by slightly adjusting the title to ‘A Global Synthesis’. In more varied formats, The Beach was also covered in Holt-Jensen’s 2004 textbook 'Geography: History and Concepts', as well as in Pauline Couper’s ‘A Student’s Introduction to Geographical Thought’ (2015).
In their attempt to establish geography as a spatial science, Haggett and his contemporaries were labelled ‘space cadets’ due to the causal role they attributed to territory, space and place in social contexts. Haggett’s work is considered an important foundation of the discipline in both human and physical geography, as well as in their integration. Peter Haggett contributed an entry on a subject named ‘geography’ to the 3rd edition of the ‘Dictionary of Human Geography’ (Johnston, Gregory & Smith, 1994). This probably suggests that the community considered him to be the authority on presenting his view of the discipline in the broadest terms. He was also included in the encyclopaedic edited volume ‘Key Thinkers in Geography’ (Hubbard, Kitchin & Valentine, 2004). This text is highly recommended for gaining an understanding of the individual and collective dimensions of contemporary geography and those who helped creating it.
At the UL’s Department of Geography & Spatial Planning, teaching practice made particular use of Haggett’s contribution. His understanding of and approach to geography formed one of the pillars of the Master seminar dealing with ‘Foundations and Trends in Geography’ (now 1st year Master in Geography & Spatial Planning). Reading Haggett’s definition of geography from the 1994 third edition of the Dictionary revealed the prevailing understanding of the discipline at that time. In comparison, the definition written by Derek Gregory, published in the fifth edition fifteen years later, highlights innovation and diversification that have occurred within the discipline more recently. When starting to explore the basics of geographical analysis, a trip to The Beach is also always recommended.
Markus Hesse
Further reading
Harris, R., Hoare, T., Jones, K., Richards, D., & Wylie, J. (2025). Professor Peter Haggett (1933–2025). The Geographical Journal. DOI: 10.1111/geoj.70006.
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