FUTURES IN GLOBAL SPACE /WWW.MODELS.GIS.MEDIA [BBR]1[/BBR]/

Geographers deal with global and local space and their interrelationsh ips and thus bring new insights, perspectives, and methods to global q uestions. This is appealing to futurists since the principle of 'think globally-act locally' has been an inspiration For many years. in this paper I explore how old and new approaches in geography, as well as n ew information technologies such as the World Wide Web (WWW) and Geogr aphic Information Systems (GIS), might contribute to global modeling. I briefly review also the history of global economy models to discover lessons for future attempts to construct global models, not least how prevailing paradigms and institutional expediency determine the intel lectual effort, and its impact. I then describe some of the new direct ions being undertaken by global modelers, quantitative geographers and regional scientists in the 1990s, and the possibilities and challenge s for the next few years, and their contribution to the knowledge buil ding process and its context. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.