Showing papers in "Annals of The Association of American Geographers in 2005"
TL;DR: The 1989 privatization of the water supply sector in England and Wales is a much-cited model of market environmentalism, the introduction of market institutions to natural resource management as a means of reconciling goals of efficiency and environmental conservation as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The 1989 privatization of the water supply sector in England and Wales is a much-cited model of market environmentalism—the introduction of market institutions to natural resource management as a means of reconciling goals of efficiency and environmental conservation. Yet, more than a decade after privatization, the application of market mechanisms to water supply management is much more limited than had been expected. Drawing on recent geographical research on commodities, this article analyzes the reasons for this retrenchment of the market environmentalist project. I make three related claims: resource commodification is a contested, partial, and transient process; commodification is distinct from privatization; and fresh water is a particularly uncooperative commodity. To illustrate these claims, I explore how water's geography underpinned the failure of commodification initiatives in England and Wales. I focus specifically on contradictions faced by industry regulators, water companies, and ...
609 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a dual-track land system in China is analyzed, characterized by significant asymmetry for arbitrage, and it is shown that the loss of farmland to non-agricultural developments has slowed down in recent years, that the state's intention to increase land use efficiency has been severely compromised by the socialist legacy.
Abstract: In the era of state socialism under Mao, land in China was treated as a means of production and was allocated administratively by the state free of charge. To accommodate the interests of foreign investors without violating the socialist principle of public ownership, the Chinese state has, since the 1980s, separated land use rights from land ownership and opened up a new market track for the conveyance of land use rights to commercial users. The result has been a distinct dual-track land system in the new political economy, characterized by significant asymmetry for arbitrage. Discrepancy between the state's intention and actual outcome has been a consequence of the internal diversity of power relations concerning land development. Our data analysis reveals that the loss of farmland to nonagricultural developments has slowed down in recent years, that the state's intention to increase land use efficiency has been severely compromised by the socialist legacy, and that illegal activities are perva...
514 citations
TL;DR: The concept of effective sovereignty as discussed by the authors was proposed to argue that states participate in sovereignty regimes that exhibit distinctive combinations of central state authority and political territoriality, and that states are not inherently territorial nor are they exclusively organized on a state-bystate basis.
Abstract: I propose a concept of effective sovereignty to argue that states participate in sovereignty regimes that exhibit distinctive combinations of central state authority and political territoriality. Two basic conclusions, drawing from recent research in political geography and other fields, are that sovereignty is neither inherently territorial nor is it exclusively organized on a state-by-state basis. This matters because so much political energy has been invested in organizing politics in general and democracy in particular in relation to states. Typically, writing about sovereignty regards sovereignty as providing a norm that legitimizes central state authority. Unfortunately, little or no attention is given as to why this should always entail a territorial definition of political authority and to why states are thereby its sole proprietors. The dominant approach continues to privilege the state as the singular font of authority even when a state's sovereignty may be decried as hypocrisy and seen...
502 citations
TL;DR: The Dictionary of Human Geography, 4th edition as mentioned in this paper is the most widely used reference book in the field of human geography, regardless of what any reviewer or cadre of graduate students may have to say about it.
Abstract: volume reveals topics and critiques that are not covered (among the missing: travel behavior, livelihood, biotechnology). Of course, the editors had to be selective, but they do not spell out the criteria that guided their selection process. What were the grounds on which certain concepts gained entry while others did not? In our department, graduate students seem to be the Dictionary’s most avid users, so I invited their views in the context of writing this review. All agreed that it played an essential role in their education (‘‘great help in reviewing for orals,’’ ‘‘wonderful reference source’’), and all frequently made use of the extensive cross-references and the complete references at the end of each entry. The students reported finding, however, that most entries assume a level of knowledge that they don’t always have, such that students who are new to geography or to social theory have difficulty grasping the concepts described. Students had also found, perhaps ironically, that entries were most helpful only after they had studied a topic, not when it was new; after achieving some familiarity with a topic, students will look to the Dictionary for clarification. Despite the editors’ caveats and wishes to the contrary, The Dictionary of Human Geography, 4th Edition will be seen, for better or for worse, as having charted the discipline of human geography. It is destined to be the most widely read book in the field, regardless of what any reviewer or cadre of graduate students may have to say about it. An ambitious and far-reaching volume, this dictionary deserves the attention it will command; but let us also be attentive to the editors’ admonition that each entry is but an entry, not the entry on a particular concept in human geography.
373 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an agent-based spatial model was used to simulate the impact of the growing rural population on the forests and panda habitat in Wolong Nature Reserve for giant pandas.
Abstract: Traditional approaches to studying human–environment interactions often ignore individual-level information, do not account for complexities, or fail to integrate cross-scale or cross-discipline data and methods, thus, in many situations, resulting in a great loss in predictive or explanatory power. This article reports on the development, implementation, validation, and results of an agent-based spatial model that addresses such issues. Using data from Wolong Nature Reserve for giant pandas (China), the model simulates the impact of the growing rural population on the forests and panda habitat. The households in Wolong follow a traditional rural lifestyle, in which fuelwood consumption has been shown to cause panda habitat degradation. By tracking the life history of individual persons and the dynamics of households, this model equips household agents with “knowledge” about themselves, other agents, and the environment and allows individual agents to interact with each other and the environment ...
289 citations
TL;DR: The nature of space transduced by code is detailed and illustrated with respect to domestic living, work, communication, transport, and consumption.
Abstract: The effects of software (code) on the spatial formation of everyday life are best understood through a theoretical framework that utilizes the concepts of technicity (the productive power of technology to make things happen) and transduction (the constant making anew of a domain in reiterative and transformative practices). Examples from the lives of three Londoners illustrate that code makes a difference to everyday life because its technicity alternatively modulates space through processes of transduction. Space needs to be theorized as ontogenetic, that is, understood as continually being brought into existence through transductive practices (practices that change the conditions under which space is (re)made). The nature of space transduced by code is detailed and illustrated with respect to domestic living, work, communication, transport, and consumption.
279 citations
TL;DR: Swyngedouw as mentioned in this paper describes urban political ecology as "one of the most important areas of research in the field of political ecology in the last decade" and presents a survey of the literature.
Abstract: Erik Swyngedouw. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. xii and 209 pp., maps, diags., tables, photos, index. $85.00 cloth (ISBN 0-19-823391-4) Urban political ecology has certainly been one of t...
276 citations
TL;DR: In this article, comic books are used as a medium through which national identity and geopolitical scripts are narrated, using the example of post-9/11 9/11 Captain America comic books to integrate various strands of theory from political geography and the study of nationalism.
Abstract: This article introduces comic books as a medium through which national identity and geopolitical scripts are narrated. This extension of the popular geopolitics literature uses the example of post-11 September 2001 (“9/11”) Captain America comic books to integrate various strands of theory from political geography and the study of nationalism to break new ground in the study of popular culture, identity, and geopolitics. The article begins with an introduction to the character of Captain America and a discussion of the role he plays in the rescaling of American identity and the institutionalization of the nation's symbolic space. The article continues by showing how visual representations of American landscapes in Captain America were critical to constructing geopolitical “realities.” A reading of post-9/11 issues of the Captain America comic book reveals a nuanced and ultimately ambiguous geopolitical script that interrogates America's post-9/11 territorialization.
222 citations
TL;DR: Geographically weighted regression (GWR) and choropleth mapping can reveal this spatial nonstationarity and shed light on its form as mentioned in this paper, showing that there is a positively significant relationship of minorities with air toxic releases over a large swath of urban and suburban New Jersey, although this pattern is not evident for all urban areas.
Abstract: Conventional multivariate regression can hide important local variations in the relationships among independent and dependent variables in models of environmental equity. Geographically weighted regression (GWR), in combination with choropleth mapping, can reveal this spatial nonstationarity and shed light on its form. We use GWR, in combination with conventional univariate and multivariate statistics, to model the density of air toxic releases in New Jersey, as listed in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). The GWR analysis shows that the relationships among race, class, employment, urban concentration, and land use with air toxic release density in New Jersey vary significantly over space. Generally, there is a positively significant relationship of minorities with air toxic releases over a large swath of urban and suburban New Jersey, although this pattern is not evident for all urban areas. Northeast New Jersey, the most densely populated part of the state...
199 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the assessment of devolution by the citizens upon whom it presses obligations and found that community is not a sturdy support for neoliberalism but rather is best analogized as a trapdoor.
Abstract: The devolution of state authority is frequently cited as a central component of neoliberalism. Such devolution reduces the state's obligations for the welfare of its subject populations. “Community” is often invoked as a potential recipient of heightened obligations, in part because of widespread and warm associations with the term. Although much academic work tracks the logic of neoliberal projects, little interrogates the assessment of devolution by the citizens upon whom it presses obligations. I undertake this task here, drawing upon extensive qualitative data gathered from a set of diverse and contiguous neighborhoods in Seattle as part of a project examining one such exercise in devolved authority, community policing. Interviews of residents in these neighborhoods demonstrate that community is not a sturdy support for neoliberalism but rather is best analogized as a trapdoor. Residents do not envision a robust political role for community and outline a range of obstacles to localized self-g...
177 citations
TL;DR: Derek Gregory as mentioned in this paper has published a collection of maps, photos, notes, and index of the world map, including a map of the city of Malden, MA, USA.
Abstract: Derek Gregory. Malden MA: Blackwell Publishing 2004. xix and 367 pp., maps, photos, notes and index. $59.95 cloth (ISBN 1-5771-8089-5); $27.95 paper (ISBN 1-5771-8090-9) Derek Gregory has an extrem...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compare network maps and bounded-territory representations for the Inka, Mauryan, and Sassanian polities, and show that network approaches enable to depict competition within and among polities as they grow, the efficient use of nodal points as a focus for political leaders, and the realities of nonoverlapping ritual, social, and economic activities that have an impact on political cohesion.
Abstract: With broad lines and dark shading, the cartographic depictions of ancient states and empires convey the impression of comprehensive political entities having firm boundaries and uniform territorial control. These depictions oversimplify the complexities of early state growth, as well as overstating the capacity of central governments to control large territories. Archaeological and textual evidence suggests that ancient states are better understood through network models rather than bounded-territory models. Network approaches enable us to depict competition within and among polities as they grow, the efficient use of nodal points as a focus for political leaders, and the realities of nonoverlapping ritual, social, and economic activities that have an impact on political cohesion. Network maps and bounded-territory representations are compared for the Inka, Mauryan, and Sassanian polities.
TL;DR: A theoretical division is reemerging in political economy between those who see the world and those who do not see it as mentioned in this paper, and this division has been identified as a major obstacle in the development of political economy.
Abstract: Richard Peet. London: Zed Books, 2003. and 250 pp. bibliography and index. $25 paper (ISBN 1-84277-073-X). A theoretical division is reemerging in political economy between those who see the world ...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present findings of a field study conducted on flood hazard in the Rawalpindi/Islamabad conurbation in Pakistan, where insights from three intellectual traditions within resource geography are coupled with the landscape idea within cultural geography to develop the integrative concept of a "hazardscape".
Abstract: This article reconsiders vulnerability to contemporary hazards within the context of a globalizing world, characterized by the hegemony of technocratic and social modernity. It presents findings of a field study conducted on flood hazard in the Rawalpindi/Islamabad conurbation in Pakistan. Insights from three intellectual traditions within resource geography—pragmatism, political ecology, and “socionature”—are coupled with the landscape idea within cultural geography to develop the integrative concept of a “hazardscape.” This concept is defined as both an analytical way of seeing that asserts power and as a social-environmental space where the gaze of power is contested and struggled against to produce the lived reality of hazardous places. Analyses of the Lai Nullah hazardscape in the Rawalpindi/Islamabad conurbation reveal that flood victims perceive a much greater range of choice in dealing with the flood hazard than do policy makers. On the other hand, flood managers, typically state agents, ...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine how transnational forces have reshaped local realities and power structures in the Yucatan to construct and reproduce Gringolandia as a new tourist space.
Abstract: With Cancun, the site of the 2003 World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, being presented as a metaphor for the inequities purported to emerge from globalization, this is an opportune time to examine the resort and its surrounding region as a product of transnational forces. Locals refer to Cancun as “Gringolandia,” a term that reflects the circus-like spectacle of the overbuilt resort, embedded in a region deeply divided by uneven development and the ensuing inequitable power relations. The principal objective of this article is to understand how transnational forces have reshaped local realities and power structures in the Yucatan to construct and reproduce Gringolandia as a new tourist space. We commence with an historical overview of the planning, inception, and subsequent evolution of the physical and socioeconomic spatial divisions manifest in the resort today. We then analyze the two forces that have played perhaps the greatest role in constructing Gringolandia: the transnational econ...
TL;DR: Salzinger as mentioned in this paper argues that "getting to the heart of global capitalism means getting to the truth about the nature of the world economy." The paper is based on the same idea.
Abstract: Leslie Salzinger. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2003. xi and 217 pp, notes, appendices, index. $21.95 paper (ISBN 0-520-235539-8). Getting to the heart of global capitalism means gr...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a method for estimating the number of independent observations that is equivalent to the sample size, n, of a data set, based on the sampling distribution of a sample mean or sample correlation coefficient.
Abstract: As spatial autocorrelation latent in georeferenced data increases, the amount of duplicate information contained in these data also increases. This property suggests the research question asking what the number of independent observations, say , is that is equivalent to the sample size, n, of a data set. This is the notion of effective sample size. Intuitively speaking, when zero spatial autocorrelation prevails, ; when perfect positive spatial autocorrelation prevails in a univariate regional mean problem, . Equations are presented for estimating based on the sampling distribution of a sample mean or sample correlation coefficient with the goal of obtaining some predetermined level of precision, using the following spatial statistical model specifications: (1) simultaneous autoregressive, (2) geostatistical semivariogram, and (3) spatial filter. These equations are evaluated with simulation experiments and are illustrated with selected empirical examples found in the literature.
TL;DR: In this paper, J.R. Johnston, Derek Gregory, Geraldine Pratt, and Michael Watts, eds. present a dictionary of dictionaries for the English language, with a focus on dictionaries of women.
Abstract: R. J. Johnston, Derek Gregory, Geraldine Pratt, and Michael Watts, eds. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2000. xvii and 958 pp. index. $38.95 paper (ISBN 0-631-20561-6). Although, in our family, the dictiona...
TL;DR: Swyngedouw et al. as discussed by the authors, Social Power and the Urbanization of Water, by Erik Swyngdouw. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004 xii and 209 pp., maps, diags, tables, photos, index.
Abstract: Erik Swyngedouw. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004 xii and 209 pp., maps, diags., tables, photos, index. $85.00 cloth (ISBN 0-19-823391-4). Social Power and the Urbanization of Water, by Erik...
TL;DR: The authors argue that the issue of what makes research relevant cannot be separated from the questions of why research should be relevant, how research becomes relevant, the goals of research, and for whom it is intended to be relevant.
Abstract: As a discipline, geographers have debated what it means to make research relevant. In this article, we argue that the issue of what makes research relevant cannot be separated from the questions of why research should be relevant, how research becomes relevant, the goals of research, and for whom it is intended to be relevant. In this sense, the determination of relevance is a social and political process. We make this point through an evaluation of various writings on relevance, editorials that have appeared in the Newsletter of the Association of American Geographers, and through interviews with researchers. We argue that relevance can be intended, but that commitment to relevant research requires a long-term view and an appreciation for the indirect pathways of relevance.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors develop an explanation of road expansions, using a positive approach combining a theoretical model of economic behavior with geographic information systems (GIs) software in order to mimic the spatial decisions of road builders.
Abstract: Although a large literature now exists on the drivers of tropical deforestation, less is known about its spatial manifestation. This is a critical shortcoming in our knowledge base since the spatial pattern of land-cover change and forest fragmentation, in particular, strongly affect biodiversity. The purpose of this article is to consider emergent patterns of road networks, the initial proximate cause of fragmentation in tropical forest frontiers. Specifically, we address the road-building processes of loggers who are very active in the Amazon landscape. To this end, we develop an explanation of road expansions, using a positive approach combining a theoretical model of economic behavior with geographic information systems (GIs) software in order to mimic the spatial decisions of road builders. We simulate two types of road extensions commonly found in the Amazon basin in a region: showing the fishbone pattern of fragmentation. Although our simulation results are only partially successful, they call attention to the role of multiple agents in the landscape, the importance of legal and institutional constraints on economic behavior, and the power of GIs as a research tool.
TL;DR: Zimmerer and Bassett as mentioned in this paper have published a collection of previously published work, including a survey of the Zimmerer-Bassett work. v and 310 pp., maps, diags, notes, and index.
Abstract: Karl S. Zimmerer and Thomas J. Bassett, eds. New York & London: Guilford Press, 2003. v and 310 pp., maps, diags., notes, and index. $ 27.00 paper(ISBN 1-57230-916-4).This collection of previously ...
TL;DR: An integrated analysis of landscape change in the alpine zone of Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Nepal, is presented based on the results from five separate research expeditions conducted between 1984 and 2004 as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: An integrated analysis of landscape change in the alpine zone of Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Nepal, is presented based on the results from five separate research expeditions conducted between 1984 and 2004. Research results indicate that alpine ecosystems (4,000–5,200 m) within the Imja and Gokyo valleys have been significantly impacted during the past twenty to thirty years as a result of poorly controlled tourism. Impacts within the alpine zone include the overharvesting of fragile alpine shrubs and plants for expedition and tourist lodge fuel, overgrazing, accelerated erosion, and uncontrolled lodge building. Evidence suggests that similar scenarios of landscape change in the alpine zone are occurring elsewhere around the Everest massif as the result of adventure tourism. This article stresses that the alpine zone is a comparatively neglected landscape that is in need of greater protection, conservation, and restoration involving integrated, applied research to the clarification of...
TL;DR: The authors examines the localized geopolitics of wartime displacement and postwar returns in two contrasting Bosnian counties, Zvornik in eastern Bosnia and Jajce in central Bosnia, based on extensive fieldwork in both places, and documents how the Bosnian wars radically transformed the demographic character and cultural landscape of both places.
Abstract: The Dayton Peace Accords brought the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina to an end but left ethnonationalism undefeated and the country divided. The Accords legitimized the wartime entity Republika Srpska, created by ethnic cleansing, yet offered the possibility of reversing ethnic cleansing with Annex VII, which declared the right of those displaced to return to their prewar homes. Implementing Annex VII across ethnonationalist-dominated localities was a struggle of power, capacity, and law over the control of place in postwar Bosnia. This article examines the localized geopolitics of wartime displacement and postwar returns in two contrasting Bosnian counties, Zvornik in eastern Bosnia, and Jajce in central Bosnia. Based on extensive fieldwork in both places, the article documents how the Bosnian wars radically transformed the demographic character and cultural landscape of both places. The postwar effort to implement Annex VII developed as a struggle over place between entrenched local ethnonational...
TL;DR: The conceptualizations of Bikini atoll held by members of the Bikinian community, U.S. military and government officials, other people living in the Marshall Islands, and visitors to the atoll were reviewed in this article.
Abstract: Bikini Atoll has been reshaped through time according to Western mythologies regarding “deserted” islands. Geographers have increasingly recognized that landscapes are shaped by the ways human agents conceptualize places. Ideals that shape places are not only based on interpretations of a given place, however, but are also formed by the semiotic linking of representations of similar landscapes. Conceptualizations of Bikini Atoll enabled the drastic alteration of the landscape by nuclear testing in the 1940s and 1950s as well as subsequent development projects such as the current tourism operation on the atoll. The information presented in this article stems from interview research conducted in the Marshall Islands in 2001 and 2002 as well as from a review of historical accounts of the atoll from 1945 to the present. The conceptualizations of Bikini Atoll held by members of the Bikinian community, U.S. military and government officials, other people living in the Marshall Islands, and visitors to ...
TL;DR: In this article, a new set-covering model for dealing with spatial objects (points, lines, polygons, arcs, curves, etc.) is introduced to account for complementary coverage of objects.
Abstract: The assessment of, and planning for, service coverage has been a fundamental aspect of geographic research. In particular, facility placement and associated coverage are central concerns in emergency services, transit route design, cartographic simplification, natural resource management, and weather monitoring, among others. In this article the widely applied set-covering problem is discussed, focusing on its use in geographic analysis. Problematic aspects of set-coverage modeling across space are identified. In particular, geographic information systems (GIS) and enhanced spatial information have accentuated abstraction/spatial representation issues in need of greater consideration in modeling service coverage. To address representational problems with existing approaches, a new set-covering model is introduced for dealing with spatial objects (points, lines, polygons, arcs, curves, etc.). The developed approach accounts for complementary coverage of objects. In doing this, the model decreases ...
TL;DR: The Clorpt model as discussed by the authors is an explanatory model of soil formation that lends itself to the survey, classification, and mapping of soil for agricultural and environmental purposes and aids in soil valuations and soil conservation management needs.
Abstract: Apart from the engineering approach to soil as movable regolith, most specialists who study soil view it as a plant-linked, land-only, and Earth-only entity whose character and properties are explained by a mix of four environmental factors—climate, organisms, relief, and parent material—that operate over time. These factors function to produce soil, where S=f (cl, o, r, p, t …). This relationship constitutes the five-factors, “clorpt,” explanatory model of soil formation that lends itself to the survey, classification, and mapping of soil for agricultural and environmental purposes and aids in soil valuations and soil conservation-management needs. In geomorphology and Quaternary research, it has met success in soil chronosequence and age-dating studies. But inasmuch as soil is the most complex and unparsimonious of all natural science entities, is any model so conceptually endowed that it allows a deep understanding of the full range and nuances of soil-forming processes? Can a conventional mod...
TL;DR: A critical genealogy of the emerging sub-field of postcolonial geography illustrates how human geography has become historically shortsighted as mentioned in this paper, and the marginalization of premodern imperialism rests upon the argument, or more often the assumption, that the imperialisms of the modern period have been fundamentally different from those of the pre-modern period.
Abstract: A critical genealogy of the emerging subfield of postcolonial geography illustrates how human geography has become historically shortsighted. Postcolonial geography interrogates the significance of imperialism and colonialism for disciplinary and material geographies, though its reference points, like those of most other geographical subfields, have been almost exclusively modern (c.1500–present). The marginalization of premodern imperialism rests upon the argument, or more often the assumption, that the imperialisms of the modern period have been fundamentally different from those of the premodern. We criticize this position by focusing on colonialism—as a specific aspect of imperialism—with reference to social, cultural, and political geographical theory and to wide-ranging empirical material. Regarding the social relations and the politics and scales of colonialism in the premodern and modern periods, there are no a priori grounds for distinguishing between modern and premodern forms of imperi...
TL;DR: The authors used event-history analysis to estimate the determinants of diffusion speed across a large panel of developed and developing countries for three very different technologies: continuous steel casting, shuttleless textile weaving looms, and digital telephone mainlines.
Abstract: The diffusion of modern, efficient technology has far-reaching consequences for the geography of economic activity, inequality, and environmental quality. This article examines two popular yet highly controversial claims about the conditions most favorable to the rapid spread of new technology. The first states that latecomer advantage allows developing countries to diffuse new technology faster than developed countries. The second claim, widely articulated by advocates of neoliberal policy reform, is that new technologies diffuse more rapidly where countries are “open” to international trade and investment. To investigate these claims we use event-history analysis to estimate the determinants of diffusion speed across a large panel of developed and developing countries for three very different technologies. These are: continuous steel casting, shuttleless textile weaving looms, and digital telephone mainlines. Our results broadly support both propositions. Countries that adopt new technology lat...