LITERATURE REVIEW ON WESTERN COASTAL TOURISM RESEARCH FROMPERSPECTIVE OF EVER-CHANGING THOUGHTS ON SPACE
LIU Jun1, HUANG Xiu-bo2
1. School of Tourism Management, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China;
2. School of Geography Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
Abstract From the perspective of ever-changing thoughts on space in human geography, especially taking the analytical framework of changing spatial ideas which was put forward by Ye Chao in the article "The significant turns of thoughts on space in Human Geography" (in HUMAN GEOGRAPHY Vol.27.No.5 2012) as a reference, this article re-examines and discusses the evolution process of western coastal tourism research topics from the late half century. The paper finds out that, as the research paradigms in human geography changing from positivism, humanism, radicalism to postmodern geography, the spatial ideas have undergone four turns, i.e. geometry of space, human spatiality, radical space (production of space), and postmodern space. With the transformation of research paradigms and the becoming of spatial ideas in human geography,the research themes of western coastal tourism have gone through from "models and evolution of coastal resorts' spatial morphology" to "the cultural interpretation and social construction of coastal tourism space",and "the politics of coastal tourism space and landscape of power". Among those themes, the first from perspective of geometry of space mainly explores and analyses the evolution process of land-use patterns and functional structure in coastal resorts, which focuses on the materiality of coastal tourism space. Different from that, the second theme from perspective of human spatiality pays much attention to the sociality of coastal tourism space, scholars at this standpoint always explain and interpret coastal tourism space by semiotic approach, and discuss how they are socially constructed by different stakeholders. And yet, the third theme from perspective of radical space is likely to emphasize the politics of coastal tourism space. Finally,the author points out that one can understand the inherent changing logic of western coastal tourism researchby means of the theory of ever-changing thoughts on space in human geography.
2014, Vol. 29 
