“FROM APPLYING EFFORT TO APPLIED DISCIPLINE”- GEOGRAPHY AS THE DYNAMIC FIELD WITH TODAY’S CONTEXTUALIZING ISSUES OF SOCIETY AND NATURE.

Geography is one of the oldest sciences that have formed their identities through fundamental research focused on budding new theories and methods, but also by solving specific spatial, social and economic problems. The awareness of importance of using geographic skills and spatial ways of thinking has greatly increased in the last decades. This is foremost a result of increasing challenges in the contemporary world, which can be largely attributed to scarcity and a rapid depletion of natural and social resources. On the other hand, the evolution of geo-information techniques has offered a new approach in solving variety of global problems, including spatial management. At the same time, the last decades have seen an increased awareness of the importance of space, the so-called spatial turn in social sciences, which has provided an opportunity for the affirmation of geography in a new theoretical discourse of understanding the space and place. Thanks to its fundamental characteristic as a bridge between nature and society coupled with potential benefits from application of new information techniques, geography should definitely become one of the key sciences of the 21st century. However, applied geography today often takes place outside the academia, resulting in theory and practice becoming more separated, while geography tools and approaches are often used by professionals from other fields. At the same time the ideas of multidisciplinary approach in solving complex issues unfortunately, are sometimes far from the reality. This is exactly the reason why there is a need for an academic discussion about past experiences and future potentials of applied geography focused on problem-solving research in all geographic disciplines. Hence, Applied Geography is a dynamic field that changes over time but always maintains a central focus on attempting to solve practical problems our societies face. Studies in Applied Geography are versatile in terms of subject matters but the foundation of this field is based on applying geographic concepts and geospatial technologies to solve real world problems. Given that, it is difficult to define Applied Geography with a strict structure since Geography itself cannot be defined that way and Geography lacks a set of fundamental theories to call its own. The relevance and value of applied geographical research has never been more apparent given the plethora of problem situations which confront modern societies – ranging from extreme natural events through environmental concerns. This paper seeks to exhibit the fundamental principles and empirical praxis of applied geography and provides an overview of the principles and practice of applied geography. Consideration is given to the relationship between ‘pure’ and ‘applied’ research, and the particular concept of ‘useful knowledge’ is introduced. Finally, a prospective perspective is adopted to consider the question of the value of applied geography for contemporary societies.