A decade has passed since the National Research Council published "Rediscovering Geography." This study aimed to provide "a blueprint for the future of the discipline, recommending how to strengthen its intellectual and institutional foundation and meet the demand for geographic expertise among professionals and the public." It did so by focusing on four areas: modeling complex systems, interactions between scales, interactions between society and nature, and geographic learning. In many ways, "Rediscovering Geography" was a position statement for the discipline, focusing on intellectual institution building. In the decade that has passed, geography as a formal discipline and geography as an intellectual domain of knowledge have undergone dramatic growth both within and outside the academy. The increased visibility and vitality of the geographical sciences make this an appropriate time to take a fresh look at strategic directions for the geographical sciences. In the tradition of "Rediscovering Geography," the Committee on Geographical Sciences of the National Research Council will convene an ad hoc committee to develop "Strategic Directions for the Geographical Sciences in the Next Decade." The committee will identify a limited number of priority research questions and directions and to show how the geographical sciences can contribute to science and society over the next decade. The committee will formulate the questions and seek community input from town hall sessions at professional meetings and through correspondence with relevant university departments. Following its deliberations, the committee will summarize research progress to date, outline future challenges, and present time-lines and resource needs for realizing the challenges. The committee's conclusions and recommendations will be presented in clear, well-illustrated ways that speak to geographers, to other disciplines, to direct users of geographic knowledge and techniques, and to society as a whole.
Committee deliberations and its report and recommendations should help to mobilize the current generation of geographical scientists. The committee also will identify intellectual capital needs that may shape and therefore be met by the next generation. A set of strategic questions can change the scale of research in the geographical sciences from essentially small-scale, short-term, non-cumulative individual exercises into the sort of coordinated, strategic approach that leverages long-term and often multi-disciplinary collaborations to address large questions that matter to science and society. This project is expected to bring together leading scholars from across a broad range of the subfields of geography and related disciplines, emphasizing the integrated character of fundamental geographic inquiry as well as intellectual and practical benefits. The committee's conclusions and recommendations also will aim to communicate the excitement of basic research in the geographical sciences to nonspecialists, including elected officials, policy and decision makers, and the general public.
