The living space, and local and regional economy:An examination of human mobility and human living

The paper examines human mobility and human living, and how human beings relate with space. The paper’s objective is to reevaluate and advance the theory on locality, and local and regional economy. The paper initially gives a brief and broad overview on the existing theoretical frameworks to position its arguments. It then examines the formation of the Philippine territory and the Filipino people to look at the different forms in how human beings relate with space and the natural environment. After that, it uses an anthropo-historical perspective to look at the major lifestyles and human relationships with the natural environment from the dawn of human history to the present time. The objective is to ferret-out the spatial requirements and lifestyle stereotypes of human existence. It asserts that human existence has two forms: existence as individuals and existence as members of the human species. Furthermore, it asserts that human existence is sustained through a material exchange with the natural environment, and therefore spatiality is a necessity for human existence. From these perspectives, the paper argues that human living understood as the process of human existence has three modes: economic production (acquisition of the means to satisfy material and psychological needs), individual reproduction (recovery of the life force of the individual), and species reproduction (reproduction of the human species). The paper then pointed-out four major stereotypes of human lifestyle according to human mobility and spatiality for human existence. A. Nomadic lifestyle stereotype. B. Sedentary agricultural lifestyle stereotype. C. Lifestyle stereotype under simple reproduction. D. Lifestyle stereotype under expanded reproduction. Finally, the paper reconstitutes and redefines locality, and local and regional economy to give focus on human beings and human living. Locality is the entity that holistically unites the different processes of individual reproduction, species reproduction, and economic production at a defined space. Local and regional economy is the unfolding at a defined space of individual reproduction, species reproduction, economic production, and their interactions.