Geog.

1120
Human Geography
 Module II: 3
Spatial Diffusion & Diffusion Barriers
 Determinants of Spatial Interaction:
Recap: 3. Intervening Opportunities:

The presence of a nearer opportunity that greatly diminishes the

attractiveness of sites farther away
 Alternative origins and/or destinations
 -- alters the Complementarity of places
 Not a pre-condition for interaction but …
 Important in determining the volume & pattern of
movements and flows …

 Volumes, Patterns, Movements, Flows are all tied to the Spread

of phenomena & related changes:
 4. Spatial Diffusion as another determinant:
 Determinants of Spatial Interaction:
4. Spatial Diffusion:

• The spread of any phenomenon over space and its growth

through time, or..

• The spatial spreading of a culture element or phenomenon, or..

• The spread or movement of a concept, practice, article or

population from one point of origin to other areas.

Note:
• “Spread” connotes interaction or linkage between at least two
spatial units,

 hence Spatial Diffusion as a (4th) factor / determinant in Spatial

interaction.
 Determinants of Spatial Interaction:
Spatial Diffusion:

• Facilitated by:

1. Vectors or Carriers (Transmitters, Conveyors)

2. Adopters (Acceptors)

3. Non-Adopters (Rejecters)
 Spatial Diffusion

This process of spreading and adoption of an innovation across

space, e.g., a cultural element, from its place of origin across
a wider area may be through any or a combination of the
following Types:

• Hierarchical Diffusion
• Contagious Diffusion Patterns
• Expansion Diffusion
• Relocation Diffusion Relationships
• (*Stimulus Diffusion)

Classified based on 2 characteristics:

 Spatial Diffusion
(a) Patterns & (b) Relationships.

 Patterns
Diffusion through spatial structure (Location, interaction, etc., in
a functional unit)

1. Hierarchical Diffusion
 (Pattern: Spread upwards or downwards)

2. Contagious Diffusion
 (Pattern: Spread outwards)
1. Hierarchical Diffusion:
Spread or movement from a node through various levels in a
network –- up or down

 E.g., the Spread of an idea or innovation from a node – large

metropolitan area to smaller cities and towns, e.g., fashion trend,
 …or The spread of HIV-AIDS from large urban centers to smaller
towns in a country.
 or, The spread of an idea first among the most connected
individuals, and then spreading to other individuals
 1. Hierarchical Diffusion: from node through network e.g.,
Western Technology – Cell phones

A Four-level Hierarchical System

 Hierarchical Diffusion:

Spread or movement from a node downwards – cascading

diffusion is more prevalent than an upward movement;

 The spread may be in the form of “leap-froging” i.e., skipping

certain levels:

• e.g., ideas leapfrog from one important person to another,

or …

• from one urban center to another, temporarily bypassing

other persons or rural territory.
 1. Hierarchical Diffusion: from node through network e.g.,
Fashion idea launched from industry hub (NYC or LA):

1
A 3-level Hierarchical System 2
3
 By contrast, Contagious diffusion involves
 The wave-like spread of ideas (as a pattern in space), without
regard to hierarchies, in the manner of contagious disease,…or…

 Distance-controlled spreading of an idea or a disease through a

local population by contact from person to person, or …

 The spread of an innovation (e.g., cultural, disease, etc.,) by

person-to-person contact, moving wave-like through an area and
population …

…. without regard to social status or hierarchy.

…Thus,
It occurs when numerous places or people near the point of origin
(“ground zero”) become adopters (or infected, in the case of a
disease)
 Contagious Diffusion

Like the waves

produced by dropping a
rock into a pond, the
phenomenon spreads
out through a uniform
… or .. A Wave-like spread through
medium:
contact without regard to
hierarchies:
2. Contagious Diffusion:

Movement outward in all directions, similar to the spread of a

contagious Disease,

e.g., the spread of the Common Cold, or Flu, …

or … Adoption or application of a new farming technique

 Contagious Diffusion
 Contagious diffusion is based on proximity and contact.

 It is subject to distance decay as intensity attenuates / tapers off

the further you get from the point of origin; or

Follows rules of distance decay at each step:

 Short distance contacts are more likely than long distance

contacts

 Tobler’s 1st Law of Geography:

“Everything is related to everything else, but …Near things are
more closely related than distant things.”

 Over time, the idea spreads far from the original site or source.
 Recap: Spatial Diffusion

(a) Patterns & (b) Relationships.

a) Patterns
Diffusion through spatial structure (Location, interaction, etc., in a
functional unit)
1. Hierarchical Diffusion:
• Cascading /downward / trickle down & Upward / Bubble –up
types

2. Contagious Diffusion:
• Based on proximity and contact, & subject to distance decay
  b). Relationships:
Relationship between (1) carriers / vectors and (2) the center of
origin:
1. Expansion Diffusion

• (i.e., relationship with the origin in terms of numbers / Size

– Relative Aggregate)

2. Relocation Diffusion

• (i.e., relationship with the origin in terms of location --

movement / spread to, and establishment in a new location /
place)
 Note that there could be an increase in numbers / Size (Expansion)
after Relocation (a combination of types)
 3. Expansion diffusion
 The spread of a feature or trend among people from one area
to another in a snowballing process

 Outward spread & increase in numbers, e.g., Adoption of

Western Apparel (e.g., Blue jeans) or increase in immigrant
population

 Expansion Diffusion may also be the result of an earlier

contagious or hierarchical Diffusion
 Expansion Diffusion

 Can also be seen as:

 When innovations spread to new places while staying strong in

their original locations. …

 e.g., Islam has spread throughout the world by Birth, Conquest,

Trade and Migration, yet stayed strong in the Middle East, where it
was founded. … or …

 The spread of an idea through a population in a way that the

number of those influenced becomes continuously larger.
 4. Relocation diffusion
 Spatial relocation in which the phenomenon leaves an area of
origin as it is transported to a new location;
 The spread of a feature or trend (innovation) through bodily
movement of people from one place to another.

 Movement from origin to a new location, or physical

movement across space
e.g., European Migration to S. Africa Location 2; T2
With Expansion

Location 1; T1
 Relocation diffusion
 A form of diffusion where the “innovation” – items, ideas,
phenomenon – being diffused are:

• transmitted by their carriers as they relocate to new areas:

Location A / Origin Location B / Destination

Relocation diffusion thus…
Involves the actual or bodily movement of the original adopters,
or phenomena from their point of origin, to a new place.
 Relocation diffusion
 Spread of a phenomenon resulting from the migration of people
who practice or are part of that phenomenon;
 People take their cultural baggage, economic know-how, and
technology with them, e.g., British colonialists and the English
language

Countries with
English as the
official
language

Initial Spread (1600-1900) of the English language from England to

much of the world
 Spatial Diffusion
Spatial Diffusion may be in the form of either Hierarchical
Diffusion, Contagious Diffusion, Expansion Diffusion, or
Relocation Diffusion or some combination thereof :
e.g.,:

• Ebola Virus (current history): Contagious; hierarchical and

Expansion

• Immigration of a family: Relocation and Expansion

• Religion: Contagious & Expansion

• Could be Hierarchical as well:

 Combination of Hierarchical & Expansion, e.g., the spatial
diffusion of cell-phone use:

Hierarchical & Expansion diffusion

  Dispersal Characteristics of Diffusion:
Expansion & Relocation Diffusion
 The difference between expansion diffusion and relocation
diffusion has to do with what happens at the point of origin.

 In expansion diffusion, what is being diffused remains at the

point of origin, often becoming more intense:

 With relocation diffusion, what is being diffused evacuates the

point of origin and moves on:
Spatial Diffusion of Christianity from Europe:  Syncretism:
The development
of a new form of
culture trait by
the fusion of 2 or
more distinct
parental traits:

• Christianity, however is blended with other

religions to create syncretic religions, for
example, in parts of Africa and
elsewhere…

 Stimulus Diffusion:
  Diffusion & The 3 McDonald’s Burgers

Regular McDonald’s Beef Chicken Maharaja Mac McAloo Tikki Burger

Burger
How Different are these?

1. Hindus do not eat beef

2. Vegetarian Burger is culturally acceptable

… But they are all “Burgers”! -- The idea of McDonald’s Burgers

was acceptable but not in its original form, hence local adaptation:
 Stimulus Diffusion:
 The spread of an underlying principle, or idea, as an innovation
sparked by an “original” innovation, that diffused into an area
from another source or culture. …

• e.g. The Chicken Maharaja Mac & the McAloo Tikki Burgers

… or …

• The use of currency:

We all use money but in different currencies in different

 Stimulus Diffusion:

 Competitors have adopted innovative features of Apple’s

iPhone and iPad.
Stimulus Diffusion:
 The “original” innovation may thus spread in a new form, in that all
the characteristic(s) of the original innovation or idea itself /
themselves apparently fail (s) to diffuse. …

• i.e., The specific trait (s) may be rejected, but the underlying
concept(s) is/are accepted or modified.

• e.g. Some types of games: spread of Rugby from England and

modified into American football:
 Stimulus Diffusion:

…Is thus,

 A form of diffusion in which a cultural adaptation is created as

a result of the introduction of a cultural trait from another
place.

 In other words, it is the spreading of an underlying principle of

an idea when the idea as a whole cannot spread to a particular
culture.
Recap: Stimulus Diffusion:
 The spread of an underlying principle, or idea, as an innovation
sparked by an “original” innovation, that diffused into an area
from another source or culture. …
• e.g. The Vegan Chicken Maharaja Mac & the McAloo Tikki
Burgers
… or …
 The use of currency:
We all use money but in different currencies in different
countries. …
… or ..The spread of Rugby from England
to the US, modified as American football
 The specific trait (s) may thus be rejected, but the
underlying concept(s) is/are accepted or modified
 Stimulus Diffusion:

…Is thus,

 A form of diffusion in which a cultural adaptation is created as a

result of the introduction of a cultural trait from another place.

 In other words, it is the spreading of an underlying principle of an

idea, when the idea as a whole, cannot spread to a particular
culture.
 Spatial diffusion

 Stimulus, Contagious, Relocation and Hierarchical diffusion can all

result in Expansion diffusion (increase in numbers / size).
Expansion diffusion (e.g., Stimulus) • The underlying
principles continues,

• …the form changes

through adaptation

• …but overall
numbers of the
principle increases,
e.g., via mass
production
 The Diffusion process over Time; and the Determinants of, &
Barriers to Diffusion:
 Diffusion

 If an innovation appeals to, is acceptable to, or has merit in the

eyes of potential adopters, and they become adopters,

 the number of contacts of adopters with potential adopters

will then compound or increase (expansion diffusion)

 Consequently,

• the innovation will spread slowly at first, and

• then more and more rapidly until saturation or a barrier is

reached:
 Diffusion of Innovation Over Time:
Saturation Level
or
Barrier
3
2

• Innovations follow an S-Curve: 1. (Early Stage): slow buildup; 2.

(Intermediate Stage): rapidly spread and 3. (Late Stage): leveling off :

 spread 1. slowly at first, and then 2. more and more rapidly until 3.
saturation or a barrier is reached.
 Diffusion S-Curve
• Diffusion of Innovations follow an S-Curve:
• 1. (Early Stage): Slow buildup;
• 2. (Intermediate Stage): Rapid spread and
• 3. (Late Stage): Leveling off till saturation or a barrier is reached
Diffusion S-Curve: Adoption of Cell / Smart Phones

III

II
Adopters

Example: Cell / Smart Phones Time

How does the adoption process begin in the first place?

 Determinants of Spatial Interaction: Diffusion
 1. Knowers & Non-Knowers; 2. Adopters & Non-Adopters

 People need to “know” about or exposed to the innovation before

they can choose to adopt it:

 1. Non-Knowers; 2. Knowers; & 3. Adopters & Non-Adopters:

a. Isolated Non-Knowers (Ignorant because of location)

b. Non-Knowers (Ignorant but have the potential of knowing)

c. Knowers but Non-Adopters (Constrained by some factors, e.g.,

religion, finances, etc.)

d. Adopters
 Determinants of Spatial Interaction:
 Critical Mass:

• A sufficient number of adopters in a social system required so

that the rate of adoption becomes:

1. Self-sustaining, and

2. Creates further growth.

The point of inflexion

 Determinants of Spatial Interaction:

Critical Mass:

• In a society or one of its subcultures, the Critical Mass would be

a function of:

1. Size of the population – easier to obtain a critical mass in a large

population,

2. Interrelatedness – the greater the cohesion within the group,

the easier to obtain a critical mass, and

3. level of communication – the greater the degree of accessibility

& connectivity in the spatial unit, the easier to obtain a critical
 Diffusion of Innovation Over Time:
1

3
4

a. Usually takes a while for enough potential adopters to find out about it;
b. It takes even longer for a critical mass to adopt it;
c. Spreads more rapidly until most potential adopters are exposed to it.
 Diffusion Barriers
• The Diffusion process does not go on unconstrained:

• Certain Factors (human, and or physical) tend to interrupt,

hinder, stop, limit or inhibit the process, e.g.,

a. People may not be interested in adopting the new idea or

innovation (culture, economic, political, etc.);

b. Physical or environmental obstacles may hinder or stop the

process (mountains, political boundaries, oceans, etc.);

• The area may also be saturated – when all available people

have adopted the innovation
• Diffusion Barriers are thus:
• Conditions (human, and or physical) that tend to interrupt,
hinder, stop, limit or inhibit either the flow of information or
movement of people, goods, or even diseases, etc., and …

• …thus prevent the spread, acceptance, or movement of an

“innovation”.
For example:

• For People, it may be tied to their unwillingness to overcome

due to:
a. Friction of distance;

• For other Physical phenomena / processes, information, diseases,

the barrier may be tied to, or expressed in the form of:
b. Distance decay:
 A. Friction of Distance: Impact of Distance on Interactions
 Distance creates a barrier to interactions or movement / travel:
the greater the distance, the greater the barrier:

• The Friction of Distance makes “Perceived distance” greater,

and may discourage travel or interaction;

• The Friction of Distance Varies from place to place & time to time:
 E.g., Transportation & Communications in Developed Countries &
Developing Countries:

• Good connectivity (directness in communication /Transportation)

between places lessens impact of distance

• Poor connectivity (obstacles in communication /Transportation)

between places heightens impact of distance
B. Distance Decay: Impact of Distance on Interactions

• The diffusion of an innovation may attenuate, weaken or

decrease as distance from the origin increases …

Because of:

1. The tapering off of processes, patterns, or events over

distance; or…

2. The declining intensity of any pattern or process with

increasing distance from a given location, …
 Diffusion Barriers

C. For both Humans and physical processes, the diffusion field or

area may be saturated …

– e.g., when all available people have adopted the innovation; … or

for people, there is congestion.

 Saturation or congestion constitute forms of barriers in the

diffusion process …

 Types of Diffusion Barriers:

 Recap: Diffusion Barriers

• The Diffusion process does not go on unconstrained:

• Certain Human, and or Physical Factors tend to interrupt,

hinder, stop, limit or inhibit the process, e.g.,

a. People may not be interested in adopting the new idea or

innovation (culture, economic, political, etc.);

b. Physical or environmental obstacles may hinder or stop the

process (mountains, political boundaries, oceans, etc.);

• The area may also be saturated – when all available people

have adopted the innovation
 Diffusion Barriers
• The factors can be classified as:
I. Physical barriers,
II. Socio‐cultural barriers, or
III. Psychological barriers
People / Human

• Physical Barriers: objects (–Natural and/or human-made) in the

environment that prohibit interaction from taking place.
• Biological Barriers (?) Vaccination; Immunization; Quarantining /
Isolating
• Socio‐cultural Barriers: prohibit diffusion when a person’s beliefs,
culture or place in society prohibit interaction with certain people
or places.

• Psychological Barriers: generally fear or ignorance, which keep

individuals from interaction with certain people or places, hence
prohibiting the spread of a particular phenomenon
 Diffusion Barriers
Physical & Human Barriers that stop, limit or inhibit the process:

1. Absorbing Barriers:
• End or stop the process or halt the spread (e.g., Culture,
Mountains, forests, oceans, steel wall boundary, distance etc.).

2. Permeable Barriers:
• Allows the process to continue, but slows it down (e.g., low
Income level, US-Mexican border).

3. Reflecting / Deflecting Barriers:

• Simply sends the process in another direction (e.g.,
mountainous terrain around urban areas).
1. Absorbing barrier:
• Ends or stops the process :

Tall metal fence along U.S. Mexico border @ Tijuana.

e.g., Donald Trump’s “Wall”
… could be Deflecting / Reflecting and a permeable barrier too!
Trump’s Mexico Border Wall: Prototypes

Designed to be Absorbing
Barriers: End /stop / halt the
illegal immigration
Trump: 'We're going to be guarding our border with the
military' until wall is complete
By Betsy Klein, Barbara Starr and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
Updated 7:37 PM ET, Tue April 3, 2018

"I told Mexico, and I respect what they did, I said, look, your laws are
very powerful, your laws are very strong. We have very bad laws for
our border and we are going to be doing some things, I spoke with
(Defense Secretary James) Mattis, we're going to do some things
militarily.
Until we can have a wall and proper security, we're going to be guarding
our border with the military. That's a big step," he said during a
luncheon with leaders of the Baltic states.
 2. Permeable barriers:
 Allow the process to continue
but slows it down

Wildlife
friendly

Trump wants to eliminate such

permeable barriers
Permeable barriers:

Allow the process to

continue but slows it
down:
 Permeable barriers:
 Allow the process to continue but slows it down:
Permeable Barriers:

Some make it;

Some Don’t!
 Permeable barriers:
Allow the diffusion process to continue but slows it down:

Some employers need seasonal help

in the form of legal Guest Workers:
  Permeable barriers:
Allow the diffusion process to
continue but slows it down

CNN, Wed April 23, 2008:

$20M 'fence' scrapped for not catching enough illegals

TUCSON, Arizona (AP) -- The government is scrapping a $20 million

prototype of its highly touted "virtual fence" on the Arizona-Mexico
border because the system is failing to adequately alert border patrol agents
to illegal crossings, officials said.

The "fence" consists of 9 surveillance towers along a 28-mile section of

border
 A Permeable
Barrier: The U.S.
(San Diego) –
Mexican (Tijuana)
To
M
border crossing
ex
ico
To
US
A
• Allows the
process (i.e., the
flow of people,
vehicles, and
goods) to
continue but
slows it down:
Notice the different number of lanes: about 5 outbound from US , and …
over 25 inbound. … Maybe because incoming traffic to the US is checked (for
drugs, illegals, contraband goods) much more strictly then outgoing traffic to
Mexico.
 Deflecting Barriers:
Deflecting Barriers: Mountains A Flood barrier

3. Reflecting / Deflecting Barriers: Simply send the process back or

in another direction
 Diffusion Barriers
2. Deflecting / Permeable & Reflecting Barriers are forms of
Interrupting Barriers:
• Because they…

 Delay or deflect the path of diffusion, … and...

 In the case of permeable barriers (– most barriers), they

permit the passage of at least some innovations.
Note:
• Diffused Ideas or artifacts usually go through some form of
modification / alteration of meaning or form to make them
acceptable to the adopting or borrowing group

 This process is called Syncretism (e.g., religion):

 Recap: Syncretism:

 The development of a new form of culture trait by the fusion of

2 or more distinct parental traits:

 E.g., The diffusion of Christianity to certain areas is blended

with other religions to create syncretic religions, …

 …for example, in parts of Africa and elsewhere…

 The diffusion of Christianity in certain cases has gone through

some form of modification / alteration / adaptation to make it
acceptable to some adopting or borrowing individuals or groups
… as a new form of religion.

 Syncretism is thus an expression of Stimulus diffusion

 Diffusion Traditional / Other Abrahamic
& Religions Religions
Religious Syncretism
Syncretic
Religions
 In the Christian or Islamic communities, religious beliefs are also
sometimes characterized by Syncretism, with some combination of
the beliefs and practices of traditional religions (Animism).
 Religious syncretism as an expression of Stimulus diffusion
exhibits:
• The blending of two or more religious belief systems into a new
and complex system, or …
• The incorporation into an established religious tradition of beliefs
from unrelated traditions, making it a rather complex religion:
Diffusion & Religious Syncretism, e.g., Brazil’s Santo Diame
 Santo Daime is a syncretic religion founded in Brazil, which
incorporates elements of several religious or spiritual traditions
including:
• Catholicism,
• Spiritism,
• African animism … and
• Indigenous South American shamanism
 Note the diffusion of various peoples & their cultures to Brazil

A very
Complex
religion
based on
Diffusion
 Spatial Diffusion
 Complexity of Diffusion in certain cases ..

 Spatial Diffusion and The Social Media

Social Media:
I. Forms of electronic communication (vectors) e.g., Websites
for social networking and microblogging, through which users
create online communities to share (i.e., spread/ diffuse)
information, ideas, personal messages, and other content, such as
videos;

II. Forms of media including websites and computer programs that

allow people to communicate and share (i.e., spread/ diffuse)
information using the internet and mobile phones (vectors)

 A very complex form of diffusion: Largely combines the Hierarchical,

Contagious and Expansion but largely excludes the Relocation type!
Diffusion and The Social Media

 Recap: Invisible space

 Cyberspace:
• The virtual computer world (invisible space), and more
specifically, an electronic medium used to form a global
(earth’s surface) computer network to facilitate online
communication (interaction).

• It’s core feature is an interactive and virtual environment for a

broad range of participants (people on the earth’s surface).

…can thus be considered as a very sophisticated & special form of

Invisible space in human interactions on the earth’s surface:
 Diffusion and The Social Media

 It is complex and sophisticated, because it involves an invisible

framework (space) within which occur:
• Social interactions,
• Financial transactions,
• Information sharing & dissemination, etc., …
… which may be expressed in some combinations of the
Hierarchical, Contagious and Expansion types of diffusion.
 The barriers can be absorbing, permeable, & even deflecting.
 While Social interactions and Information sharing &
dissemination exclude the Relocation type, …
 The end result of Financial transactions is Relocation!
 Diffusion and The Social Media
 It’s complexity and sophistication are also tied to Relational /
Invisible Spaces like:
• Cultural spaces,
• Political spaces,
• Economic spaces,
• Religious spaces, etc. …
… which are also very complex.
 Generally, however, in terms spatial interaction with respect to
levels of communication, Social Media offers a greater degree of
accessibility & connectivity., … BUT …

It must be noted that:

 The diffusion pattern of the Internet, per se , as an innovation, is a
function of economic, political, cultural and geographical factors.
  Note: Diffusion Barriers may change or be compromised
 E.g., An Absorbing / Reflecting / Deflecting barrier can, under
some desperate situations or circumstances, be turned into a
Permeable barrier …

…These Central American

migrants broke the barrier
(behavior) because they were
desperate!
 Nicole Darrah

US troops seen setting up

barbed wire near Mexico
border

• New Diffusion Barriers may emerge in response to new situations

or circumstances
 Diffusion Barriers
 Absorbing

 Reflecting /

Deflecting
 Permeable

Why do people make such desperate choices to move (behavior)

from one location to another?  Spatial Behavior: