ANALYSIS OF SPATIAL BEHAVIOR BY REVEALED SPACE PREFERENCE

In the study of spatial behavior we are interested in finding the rules for spatial choice which, when applied to any unique distribution of spatial opportunities, are capable of generating spatial behavior patterns similar to those observed. Behavioral postulates in geographical theories should incorporate these rules rather than descriptive statistics of actual behavior in a spatial system, since the latter are incorporating knowledge of the same spatial system that the theory hopes to generate and, in so doing, to explain. The concept of revealed space preferences is proposed as the organizing concept for finding these rules. This concept is similar to that of revealed preference in the theory of consumer demand. If spatial choice is viewed as a comparison and evaluation of alternative spatial opprtunities against a personal preference function, then, from any consistent statement of preferences from the paired comparison of spatial opportunities, it ought to be possible to derive a unique ranking of those spatial opportunities. Such a ranking is graphically portrayed on the familiar indifference surface. This article evaluates one method of finding this preference structure (indifference surface) by generating hypothetical spatial behavior patterns in accordance with a known ranking of spatial opportunities and shows that it is possible to find that ranking from the spatial behavior patterns. A mathematical proof shows why this is possible and also indicates the circumstances in which the proposed model is valid and those where it is weak. © 1969, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.