Social Science & Medicine ] (]]]]) ]]]–]]] Geographical Gerontology: The constitution of a discipline Gavin J. Andrews a,Ã , Malcolm Cutchin b , Kevin McCracken c , David R. Phillips d , Janine Wiles e a McMaster University, Canada b University of North Carolina, USA c Macquarie University, Australia d Lingnan University, Hong Kong e University of Auckland, New Zealand Abstract Health and healthcare have always been central considerations in geographical gerontology. This paper reviews progress in this part of the field over the past decade (1995–2006) and also looks to the future. It demonstrates how geographical gerontology is currently constituted of multiple fields of empirical interest studied by multiple academic disciplines. Specifically, the continuation and development of traditional perspectives on older population health—in terms of dynamics, distributions and movements—are traced, as well as emerging post-modern perspectives and qualitative approaches that sensitively investigate the complex relationships between older people and the varied places within which they live and are cared for. Mirroring theoretical developments and diversity in the social sciences, the future research challenges that lie ahead will involve the articulation of varied and often hidden cultural practices and social processes, and hitherto taken-for-granted—as well as new—social and spatial relations, between older people, health and place. If however geographical gerontology is to meet these challenges most effectively, there has to be greater collaboration and communication within and between its constituent disciplines and diverse empirical areas. This will help it become recognized to a greater degree as a distinct discipline. r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Geography; Gerontology; Space; Place; Ageing; Population Introduction Geography is clearly only one of numerous disciplines which are actively involved in geronto- logical work that has a geographical element. In some cases (such as sociology, demography and environmental psychology), the spatial perspective has been ongoing and longstanding whereas in others (such as epidemiology, social medicine and public health), place is either a new interest or has been relatively recently (re)discovered, in spite of earlier interests (Diez-Roux, 1998; 2002). A corol- lary of this multi-disciplinarity is that the geogra- phical perspectives employed and pictures presented vary greatly, from studies developing and convey- ing a genuine, rich feel for location and place to those collapsing geography to the broad brush typologies such as ‘‘rural–urban’’ or concertinaed geographic classifications such as the USA’s ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/socscimed 0277-9536/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.02.047 Ã Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 905 525 9140. E-mail address: andrews@mcmaster.ca (G.J. Andrews). Please cite this article as: Andrews, G. J., et al. Geographical Gerontology: The constitution of a discipline. Social Science & Medicine (2007), doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.02.047