Human geography as a generalizing social science: trans-atlantic contrasts in local government ( UK and USA).

In recent decades, human geography has been presented as the search for laws of spatial organization, an implicitly uniformitarian philosophy. It is argued that although general processes may be operating in a variety of contexts, understanding their detailed realizations in the landscape requires a focus on how particular interpretations of those processes, operating cumulatively, have led to a diversity of landscapes. This is illustrated with reference to local government in the UK and the USA.-Author