The paper proposes a new method of research in regional geography which was initiated by the GIP Reclus team, headed by Roger Brunet. The search for choremes (the basic structures of social space) and chorotypes (recurrent combinaisons of choremes) allows research in regional geography to focus again on regularly recurring patterns, a somewhat neglected direction, and thus to account for specific local factors. Starting from a number of regional examples (notably that of Brazil) a method of analysis in examined, which provides both a direction for research and a communication medium.