Contemporary Social Physics : Decoding Social Behaviour with Advanced Geospatial Tools

This volume delves into how cutting-edge geospatial tools are revolutionizing social physics―the quantitative study of human behavior and spatial dynamics. Through real-world case studies, the book demonstrates how geospatial analysis is applied to pressing social and environmental challenges, from migration flows and resource distribution to healthcare access, crime, disaster management, and urban planning. Readers will explore how these tools reveal the complexities of human movement, socio-spatial interactions, and behavioral patterns.

The book is structured into five sections, each tackling key topics at the intersection of social physics and geospatial analysis:

• Population Dynamics and Social Behavior: Examines refugee settlements, migrations, resource allocation, and the socio-spatial impacts of political violence and the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Social Learning and Environmental Management: Highlights how social learning influences agriculture, healthcare, and environmental management, with geospatial techniques improving outcomes like riverbank stability and crop yields.
• Spatial Heterogeneity and Social Behavior: Investigates how social behavior shifts across different spatial contexts, with a focus on crime, inequality, and pandemic response, including detailed insights into Kolkata’s COVID-19 management.
• Social Physics and Sustainability: Demonstrates how geospatial tools can advance sustainability efforts, including waste management, transportation optimization, and urban planning for peri-urban areas.

Ideal for academics, researchers, urban planners, and policymakers, this volume provides innovative methodologies to address complex social, environmental, and economic challenges. Whether examining migration trends or advancing sustainability, this book equips readers with the tools to transform how we understand human behavior and space.

Dr. Anu Rai is an Assistant Professor of Geography in School of Basic and Applied Sciences (SoBAS) of Adamas University. Being specialised in Regional Planning and Development, Dr. Rai is much interested in exploring the anatomy of spatial events from the perspective of neighbourhood analyst. Mapping infrastructure accessibility and availability for vulnerable communities; modelling spatial interactions and resultant space reconstruction and developing more viable, transparent and real option strategies are her core domain of investigation.

With keen interests in the issues of healthcare accessibility, availability and patient-migration in search of better opportunity for healthcare services, Dr. Rai has authored book entitled "Medical Tourism in Kolkata, Eastern India" published by Springer Nature Switzerland AG, Nov 2019. This book examines the global influence and scope of medical tourism with an emphasis on the city of Kolkata in Eastern India as an emerging destination at the regional scale. Through a geographical research perspective, the book discusses the importance of the phenomenon of medical tourism including recent trends, policies, and scale studies to develop sustainable strategies for medical tourism at particular micro destinations.

Dr. Supratim Karmakar is an Assistant Professor of Geography in School of Basic and Applied Science of Adamas University, Kolkata. Having a specialization in Urban and Transport Planning, Dr. Karmakar has a keen interest in Human Geography. He has completed his doctoral research in the area of Geography of Crime. As an extension of his research work, he continued to delve in the sphere of Gender studies from the perspectives of gender related crimes. Dr. Karmakar has publications related to Crime mapping techniques with special focus on identification of crime hotspots. Evolution of geography of crime throughout the world and the change in perspectives his major area of interest.

Dr. Suman Chatterjee is an Assistant professor in Department of Geography at the Adamas University. Prior to that, he completed his PhD as junior and senior research fellow from Department of Geography, Jadavpur University. His research interests are sustainable environmental and public health management in India and neighbouring countries and applications of geo-spatial techniques in environmental and public health management.

Prof. (Dr.) Jitendra K. Pandey completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry (Polymer Science), 2007 from National Chemical Laboratory-Pune. His research areas are in Bio/ Nano- composites, degradation and stabilization of polymer composites, nano-material for water treatment, synthesis, characterization and analysis of reinforced composites. He has 70+ Research articles, 6 Books, 17 Patents to his credit. He was associated in Research and Development in University of petroleum and energy studies Dehradun, Brain Pool Fellow Seoul National University, South Korea, The University of Tokushima, Japan, Max Planck Institute of Colloid and Interfaces, Glom Germany in various roles prior joining Adamas University.