Theoretical, methodological, and applied frontiers of behavioral geography in China

Behavioral geography is a discipline that explores the interaction between human behavior and geographic space. In the context of digital transformation, it faces a series of new opportunities and challenges in theory and methods, resulting in many new phenomena, problems, technologies, methods, and application scenarios. On the basis of sorting out the international cutting-edge dynamics of behavioral geography and the cutting-edge progress of Chinese behavioral geography research, this article focuses on cutting-edge directions such as big data behavioral research paradigms, AI innovative virtual and real behavioral systems, planning activity systems and local order nesting, special behaviors of the elderly population, behavioral and emotional geography, and proposes new development directions and key scientific issues of Chinese behavioral geography, such as paradigm shift, digital shift, humanistic shift, and emotional shift. Chinese behavioral geography needs to actively promote the innovative development of theory and methods, continuously improve the Chinese behavioral geography school, and strengthen the teaching practice and application innovation of behavioral geography.