Strukturen Sehen. Über die Karriere eines Hexagons in der quantitativen Revolution

Abstract. Publications from the early quantitative revolution in geography saw a significant change in the use of visual material. While the old regionalist paradigm of "Länderkunde" was dominated by images of "geographical individuals" the new geography was dominated by abstract models and visualized laws and theories. Overall visual material gains in importance, both quantitatively and qualitatively. This paper follows the changed functions, possibilities and promises of visualizing epistemic things in geography's new paradigm. This is done by following the translations, transformations and mobilizations of the famous hexagon Walter Christaller published in his 1933 "Theory of central places in South Germany". Since the 1940s this Hexagon has become not only an icon of the new geography, but an instrument for making quantitative-theoretical thinking in the geography plausible and at the same time to build a visual bridge between the old and the new geography.