William Pattison's four traditions of geography, often referred to as just the four traditions of geography, are a proposed way to organize the various competing themes and approaches within geography.[1][2][3] Proposed in a 1964 article in the Journal of Geography to address criticism that geography was undisciplined and calls for definitions of the scope of geography as a discipline that had been ongoing for at least half a century, the four traditions of geography propose that American geographers work was consistent, but fit into four distinct traditions rather than one overarching definition.[1][2] The original traditions proposed by Pattison are the spatial tradition, the area studies tradition, the Man-Land tradition, and the Earth science tradition. A theme among these traditions is interconnectedness, and it has been referenced in relation to the Tobler's first law of geography.[4]
The four traditions of geography have been widely used to teach geography in the classroom as a compromise between a single definition and memorization of many distinct sub-themes.[2][5] There are many competing methods to organize geography.[6] The original four traditions have had several proposed changes.[5][6]
Tambassi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).